Home has been the Nawi Marina since Aldabra arrived here on Thursday, May 30. This is a very new marina, still under development. The facilities here are very nice and the people who run the marina are really kind and helpful. The marina is on an island, so when we want to go to town, we take a small ferry boat that goes back and forth on a very regular basis.
Shortly after we arrived in the marina, Johno moved on shore to be with Thursday’s Child. Stephanie decided to fly to Australia to be with her former in-laws. Once I became an empty-nester, I started slowly reorganizing and cleaning the boat after the semi-chaos of the passage.
I also tried to hang out with friends who were here but leaving soon to go cruising in the Lau Group of islands – Ian and Laura on RaLa, Sarah and Bob on Rhapsody, Bjorn and Anneli on MaricX, Ted and Jenny on Southern Star, Alex and Yvette on Blue Beryl and Finn and Talissa on Beluga, among others. I also spent time with Dale and Katrina on Womble and Chip and Kristina on Second Set, who were flying to North America for a while.
Watching a demonstration of using coconut fronds to make a basket
Local singers at a Kava ceremony at the marina
Celebrating Alex’s birthday on Blue Beryl
\With RaLa and Womble, Stephanie and I took our dinghy to a place called Split Rock for a snorkel. It was great to be swimming in warm water after all this time. I also joined the crew of Thursday’s Child for a tour of the Kokomana chocolate farm and factory. And I joined other groups for drinks or dinners out. As most of my friends left, I started getting to know some newer friends, on Sawadiva and Rayfiki, Pulsar, Ticket to Ride. I went with Pulsar on a great snorkeling trip to Naweta Bay and on a tour of a pearl farm. With Ticket to Ride, I went on a tour of sites near Savusavu, including the Blue Lagoon, some hot springs and a waterfall. Our tour guide, Simon was great.
Stephanie and I returning from our snorkel at Spilt Rock
From right to left, the stages of a coco bean from bean to chocolate nibs, ready to be ground
Drying coco beans
Grinding coco nibs into delicious chocolate
Mary Grace and Frank from Ticket to Ride with Simon, our tour guide, at hot springs in Savusavu people use to cook their food
A river on a farm near Savusavu, with a hot spring behind the rock wall
Waterfall near Savusavu
Looking over at Nawi Island Marina from a hotel in town
As the social scene quieted, I spent time exploring the town of Savusavu, buying a few things that I needed and identifying where I would buy provisions right before leaving. I found a few good places to eat in town.
The boat was pretty much ready to leave when Jeff, my new crew, arrived on July 5 from Mexico. Jeff and his wife Jules were my favorite people to buddy boat and travel with in Mexico. They have now sold their boat and moved to a house, which frees Jeff up a bit to do some cruising on other people’s boats. Lucky for me.
The day after Jeff arrived, we set out from the marina shortly after 6:00 a.m. As we left the slip, we noticed the smell of burning electrical wires. Jeff checked the engine but the smoke cleared and he couldn’t immediately find the location of the short. As we continued out to the bay, I noticed that the tachometer and oil pressure and temp gauges weren’t working. Then I noticed that the alternator wasn’t charging the batteries. So we turned around and went back into our slip in the marina. After turning of the engine, we could not restart it, so we were really glad we went back instead of trying to diagnose the problem underway.
We were able to contact a marine electrician, Pillay, who came to the boat that morning. He spent the better part of the day with us, checking and cleaning connections, and finally removing the stater motor and relay. Both were quite fried.
It has been more than a week since this failure occurred. Pillay ordered parts and has been trying to rebuild our starter motor. Meanwhile, Whangarei Marina Services in New Zealand put a starter motor and relay into a DHL shipment. Pillay has had some snags in his efforts, but the shipment from New Zealand may arrive here tomorrow, Tuesday, July 16. So there’s hope, but we still don’t know how long this delay will be. And we’re watching the weather, because we’re on the cusp of a good weather window to head to the southern Lau Group.
While we’ve had this delay, there were also several days of high winds, so other boats came back to the marina. We were able to visit with Womble and Southern Star, Blue Beryl and Beluga. We said goodbye to Blue Beryl and Beluga for the final time as they headed toward Vanuatu, on their way west and then north. Jeff and I have done a couple of hikes and a tour of the chocolate factory. We’ve also shopped for additional provisions and done some chores on the boat. Jeff installed new cooling fans that he brought from Mexico and rewired a couple that had their wiring disconnected. He also recalibrated the autopilot with the help of Alex from Blue Beryl. And we swapped out the watermaker filters before repacking the lazarette.
It’s frustrating to be stuck in the marina for seven weeks, but cruising on a sailboat in somewhat remote locations requires patience. Jeff has been a great sport about our predicament. But I’m hoping we can leave in a couple of days.
