During a visit to the South Pacific in 1993, we had a stopover in Papeete. My memory is of a dingy hotel with a few bugs for free, a not too vibrant market, and a luggage storage facility at the airport that was closed between 11 and 3. I think Jason only remembers checking up on the Phillies and discovering that they were having a turnaround season.

We were looking forward to docking at the marina to recharge ourselves and Two Fish, but we weren’t overly excited about spending too much time in Papeete.

Needless to say, either our outlooks have changed or Papeete has, but we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. Yes, everything still seems to close between 11 and 3, but who wouldn’t want totake a break from the midday sun and eat a proper lunch. Speaking of food, La Palais des Glaces has super-fantastic ice cream, Carrefours stocks excellent chick pea burgers and the food trucks are the place to go for dinner. After a few nights, the chocolate milk shake woman didn’t need to ask twice for Jason’s order. However, the best food was probably the homemade Chocolate Mousse given to us by a fellow ARC boat (Swiss French, of course).
All of the people we meet are super-friendly and accommodating and greeting strangers on the street with a “Ia ora na” (hello) is expected; “Māuruuru” is thank you.

While here, we have observed a Polynesian cultural oddity: the men love doing wheelies on their bicycles. In both the Society Islands and the Tuamotos, we have seen almost every male bike rider doing wheelies. Blind turn, near a car and rainstorm do not stop the need to do wheelies. I love it, keep poppin’ wheelies!

Tahiti to Huahine from Two Fish on Vimeo.
After cleaning Two Fish and fixing a few items, we knew at some point we needed to leave the dock, so we headed up to Huahine. I can see why some people can spend years in French Polynesia. Huahine alone has many pleasant bays to choose from. We decided to stay near the town of Fare so we could rent some bikes. I am a bit behind in my workouts. Actually, I can’t remember whether I have worked out since St Lucia so the 55km bike ride was a bit of a shock to my system. At one point Jason had to wheel both of our bikes up a steep hill while I followed slowly. It was well worth it as we saw waterfalls and beautiful bays, stopped in a lovely Pareo shop and enjoyed the deep greens and interesting trees.

Another fun excursion was driving One Fish down to the end of the island. Behind the reef, the water was flat and 15 knots felt great. There are so many great spots here and on neighboring islands that I am sure we will re re-visit in the coming years. In fact, in a few days we will join our fellow rally boats and pick up our friends for the leg to Suwarrow but we may just have to visit one more spot before setting off.

When travelling down the inter coastal waterway (ICW) we tried to avoid a rally sponsored by Sail Magazine. We snickered about the group and told our other friends to avoid “the swarm”. Regular updates were swapped on the VHF of swarm sightings and upcoming swarm locations. Now we are on the other side of the coin and have been prejudged and maligned by cruisers outside the ARC rally. To monitor this phenomenon we have created a new language.
ARCmental: to piously judge an ARC rally boat. They were being ARCmental when they said the rally was going too fast, however, they have followed us for the last 5,000 miles.
ARCist: To be hate any member of the ARC rally before any interaction. The ARCist wanted to build a big marina to keep all the ARC boats away from the true cruisers. He plans on asking the Polynesians to pay for it.

When we pulled into Savusavu after our four day passage from Tonga, we were happy to drop the anchor and get some rest. I had been very stressed about double-handing for four days and nights after having had the luxury of so many great crew during our recent passages.  However, Jason chose an easy weather window and the trip was smooth (code name for I was not seasick).  Jason seems to really enjoy the long passages. He was even starting to be glum about the finish line of the trip being near, despite his being a bit exhausted after so many miles.

Our time in Tonga had been dominated by rain, rain and more rain so the blue skies in Fiji were somewhat blinding. At our first Fijian landfall we were required to anchor in the quarantine anchorage, the only ugly spot in all of Fiji.  I was more concerned about bugs from the rusty freighter joing Two Fish, than about Two Fish infecting Fiji.  Three hours and four officials later, all ferried from shore via our dinghy, we tied up to the dock at Copra Shed Marina.  The Marina dock is just a small space for half a dozen boats, but it was very convenient and the price was right: same as a mooring ball!  The first thing we learned was how to say “greetings” in Fiji. Bula!  A lot of Bulas get exchanged in the busy core of Savusavu.  It took us two weeks to stop confusing the Kava ceremony(sevusevu ), the largest town in Fiji(Suva) and our first landfall(Savusavu).

We were greeted by fellow yachties who gave us the lowdown on wifi data cards and food. The highlight from the food front was Grace Kitchen, the quasi-Korean religious sect who believe that the Great Famine will arrive and thus is setting up organic farms in Fiji to feed the people. No proselytizing, just fantastic bibimbap, kim chee and dumplings, and the sweetest cucumbers I have ever tasted.  We came back more than once because the food was good and the employees were so enthusiastic.  If we voiced any compliments, the entire staff would come forward to enjoy the praise, often bringing samples of other tasty treats.

Our trip to Savusavu was calmer than our friends’ trip had been a few days earlier, in unsettled weather.  The wife heard a strange noise and woke up her husband.  An indicator showed that the bilge pump was running.  He opened up the floor board to discover massive amounts of water.    The first check when you see water is to determine whether it is fresh or salty.  Fresh indicates that a water tank has a leak and salty means the great blue ocean is entering the boat.  They realized the source was that the prop shaft had slipped out of the boat.  A three inch hole was inviting the seawater to come in at an alarming rate.  After a very brief period of panic, they stuffed the hole full of odds and ends.  A nearby fellow rally boat volunteered to escort them the last 100 miles.   When they arrived in calm waters, they discovered the shaft was still attached to the boat and could easily be slipped back into place.   Yikes! (FYI, the shaft stayed on because their shaft zincs were in place on both sides of the strut)

The Fijians have been visited by many interested parties over the last several hundred years. Even the US Navy has threatened them once or twice, but the usual Pacific suspects have been more prevalent. Cook came to the middle of the three island chains.  His guide “hid” the location of the main island area.  Today there are charts showing the best anchorages in Fiji, but maybe there are a few that they are still hiding from westerners?  The missionaries traveled here to convert Fijians to Christianity. The Prince of Tonga also settled on the main island for a while. After a confederacy of chiefs was formed, the Kingdom of Fiji was established in 1871; a few years later, Fiji became a British colony-no referendum. One hundred years later, they received their independence and even left the Commonwealth. There has been some infighting between the various ethnic groups and the islands went through a tough period but good relations have been re-established. Unfortunately, Fiji still is challenged by weather events. During February 2016, Tropical Cyclone Winston claimed many lives and destroyed villages across the islands.

After a few days in Savusavu, we bought the requisite kava root for Sevusevu ceremonies and began our Fijian exploration. One of our stops was a small bay with a tiny village on one coast. As is the custom here, we paddled our kava root to shore to ask the village chief for permission to anchor in his bay. After wandering up a village path and through the small groups who were listening to the rugby broadcast, we found him. He welcomed us into his tent; as most of the village was taken out by the cyclone, there were not many freestanding houses left. He rolled out a mat and invited us to sit down so that he could formally welcome us. After he chanted the welcome, he fetched an old children’s map of the world and we showed him where else we had been on Two Fish. He apologized that he was not serving kava on a Saturday, but we were happy not to partake. After a slight hesitation, he asked whether we had batteries on board for his flashlight. Jason paddled back to Two Fish, retrieved some batteries and a solar lamp. We were happy to provide something of value there.

We sailed to Bua Bay at the North West edge of Vanua Levu  and later along the coast of Viti Levu through the “Fiji intercoastal”,  land on one side and invisible reefs on the other. Finding the channel markers is challenging, and nautical charts are not very accurate. Many navigational markers were taken out by Tropical Cyclone Winston and other storms. We transited using charts, offline satellite images and our eyes. The blue dot on the satellite photo above is Two Fish’s GPS location superimposed on a satellite image. Jason was grinning ear to ear as we sailed with spinnaker and full main, wing on wing in a narrow channel beside the coral.  The anchorages are a bit deep (15 to 20 meters) so our other challenge in some small bays was to balance scope with distance to shore and rocks. The reward for our work was entering remote areas with no neighbors and plenty of interesting walks.

After a few anchorage stops, we headed out to the Yasawa islands. Every nation seems to have its Blue Lagoon and Fiji’s is wonderful. At Turtle Bay, we found an awesome snorkeling ground near the beach.  The Yasawa Islands used to be accessible only by private yacht, but now backpackers and celebrities can visit.  Backpackers come via high speed power cats;  the hotels must pick the guests up from the ferry via small speed boats since the islands lack a ferry pier.    The 1%’ers arrive by seaplane, right off the stern of the anchored boats.   Both provide occasional amusement for the anchored boats.

It was hard to leave, but we needed to re-provision, so we headed to Musket Cove resort and then onward to Port Denarau Marina in Nadi. We were given a berth among the megayachts; our yacht friends anchored outside the marina and used our excess dock space as a dinghy parking lot. For the first time ever, we had the luxury of refueling without having to move the boat.  The megayachts fuel at their slips because it is cheaper and easier to run fuel lines to each slip than to build a larger fuel dock.  For the rest of the day Jason kept using the word bunkering, large ship terminology for refueling. We used the extra time to take care of maintenance tasks such as updating our autopilot software. This task reminded me of the old days of computing since we had to connect a cable directly to the processor and keep our fingers crossed that the system would restart.

One of the things we love about Fiji is the range of experiences that we can have here. From unpopulated bays, to small villages, to resort lagoons and marinas, we can understand how other boats have spent multiple years here. At every stop, the Fijians we met were gracious hosts. The snorkel spots have been beautiful and the sharks have kept their distance. As our departure date neared, I was already planning for a return visit.

We were unaware of the Fijian tradition to sing good wishes and safe travels to departing yachts and were pleasantly surprised by the serenaders at Vuda Point Marina.  It was a heartwarming moment.
We then anchored near Fiji’s reef exit for ships, setting ourselves up for a classic Jason departure. As soon as the faintest glimmer of light appeared in the sky, we scurried on deck to ready Two Fish and weigh anchor. By the time we reached the channel, the sun was fully up and we were ready for our four day passage to Vanuatu. Four days and just the two of us on board. As we tried to adjust the chartplotter screens to our usual passage settings, we noticed that our radar didn’t seem to be showing obvious land features. Seems that the magnetrons in Furuno radomes have a limited life and my perpetual insistence on having radar on at all times while on passage had meant that we reached 3000 hours in just 3 years. Maybe the 20,000+ miles traveled had something to do with that?

Our destination was Vanuatu.  We had never heard of it a year ago, but after being with coconut milk runners (nickname for Pacific cruisers) for so long it now seems like common parlance.  Our Pacific Island geography has certain improved, but Africa remains a sore point when playing TravelerIQ.  Vanuatu has Melanesian roots and was colonized by the French and the English.  They agreed to share it, which they thought of as rather sporting, however I suspect the Melanesians were not too thrilled.  Today, English seems to be spoken widely.

We had a fairly kind passage. As we approached Resolution Bay, we could see the smoke from the Volcano that we were hoping to visit.

Jason donned his scuba gear to check that the anchor was set and then raised the Two Fish flag. We knew the real fun would not start until Two Fish veterans from our 2014 French Guiana trip arrived. Salwa and Darren first boarded Two Fish in Fortaleza, Brazil for our sail to French Guiana and Trinidad. Darren could probably single-hand Two Fish and Salwa was the first winner of the crew Small Footprint Award.  My mantra for the previous two months had been, “when Darren and Salwa join, I don’t have to do any more work.” (note: Jason didn’t debunk that opinion until the day before they arrived.)
We were trying to keep a low profile as we hadn’t cleared customs and immigration yet, but that didn’t last long as a neighboring boat alerted immigration to our presence. Thank you busybody boat. Actually, it all worked out well as the immigration rep was in the bay for someone else and was happy to meet us ashore. To give some scale to the fortuitousness of the presence of immigration, one must understand their closest office is a two hour drive away.  The Vanuatuans seem similar to the French, relaxed about checking in. The Brazilians, Americans and Australians could learn a few things.

The next hail for Two Fish was not by radio but via the local communication service: Head to a hill top and yell.  A resident of Tanna was trying to tell us that Salwa had arrived .“Hey, Two Fish, someone has been yelling for you from onshore for the last ten minutes,” our neighbor radioed. Salwa, having survived the 90 minute ride from the Tanna airport to our bay, quickly decided that accommodations on Two Fish were superior to the mosquito cabins onshore. The cabins had received very high scores on Trip Advisor, but were just thatched huts with no screens, a bit too open in a sometimes malarial zone.

Darren had a bit more of a challenging approach; he had missed his second flight in a series of many. So now he would be delayed a couple of days and have a large layover in the Vanuatu industrial core, Port Vila.   The final salt on the wound was a five hour car ride with stops for taxi repair and picking up a new beer fridge.   He took it in good spirits but the effects showed up as he was first to bed that night.

The next day we tackled the volcano. We could see the tell tale sign of venting gas from the shore near the anchorage. We traveled by pick up truck (men outside and women in the cab) for the nighttime trip to the Volcano at Mount Yasur, but it was well worth it.

The village at Port Resolution has suffered much damage from cyclones and we had brought some nails across from Fiji to help in the reconstruction. The village is remote and is a bit stuck between a traditional way of life and the pull to modernization. The fishermen using canoes in the bay have cell phones but now they need to worry about electricity for charging them.

To our delight, we managed to catch up with fellow Antares Field Trip in Port Resolution. The previous time we had seen them was when they visited our NYC Apartment a few years ago. We watched Field Trip sail down the East River in 2013, only imagining that we might be doing the same at some point. It wasn’t all “delight” as one night we returned to the boat to find some bugs both on our table and next to the winch buttons. I shrieked and panicked until I realized they looked dead. Michael, on Field Trip, had dinghied over to play a trick on us with his plastic replicas.

Field Trip has impressed us with their slower paced voyage, as they have been able to spend more time in ports and have gotten to know the local residents. On their sail around Tanna Island, they gave a ride to friends from one of Fiji’s remote islands who happened to be in Vanuatu and they have immersed themselves in the local communities as they travel.

Jason and I prepped for our next trip while Salwa and Darren explored the island a bit more and then we were ready to set sail. It was sad to be leaving friends that we had been with for the past six months.  Our friends on Wishanger sent us off in proper style with three blasts from the loud ship horn.  To a sailor, that was a tearful moment.  Our friends were continuing on their circumnavigation, while we were off to New Caledonia.

Photo credits in this post go to Salwa, Darren and Mark.

After a bumpy, into the wind and waves, start to the trip, the crew and Two Fish quickly settled into old habits. We were headed to New Caledonia, a French territory on the edge of the Coral Sea. Once again, we were going to visit a country that I hadn’t heard of until our Pacific planning. I introduced the crew to the joy of the portable Starbucks Mocha Latte. “So, that is what took up all the room in my luggage,” Salwa said. However, they quickly joined my camp and looked forward to their daily allotment. Because it is an essential passage pleasure, I had to institute strict rationing to prevent any binge drinkers running down the supplies before Australia. Jason, a non-coffee drinker, was amused by the whole process.

Our first stop, Îles des Pins, received a somewhat mixed review.  Many cruisers claim this is one of the best stops in the Pacific.  It was a bit early in the season, so the water was too cold for me, but Darren had no issues taking a quick dip.  The temperature change was a big shocker for our Pacific blood.  We layered on the sweaters in 60 degree (F) weather because we had not seen winter in 3 years.  We assumed all of the world’s oceans were over 80 degrees warm.   The main beach in Îles des Pins had a touristy restaurant with awful food, but the bay was beautiful and it was a welcome rest stop.  We were shocked that the French could produce low quality food but happily ate plenty of carrot salad.

Just a few steps away from the main area, we turned down a random path and hiked through the pine woods.  This turned out to be one of our favorite walks. Darren tried out a new crab shirt logo (see photo) and a dead snake gave us pause, but we trudged on, eventually finding our way back through someone’s overgrown yard. Cook named the spot the Island of Pines in 1774. Unlike other Pacific islands, where sailors planted pine trees to ensure future spar inventory, these pines seemed to be native. Perhaps a pine cone or two floated over from Australia many years ago?

 

We had been so excited to explore that we did not think about our dinghy when we went ashore.  We had beached the dinghy and then tied her to a tree in anticipation of a rising tide.  Lesson learned: we found that as the water came in the small waves splashed into the dinghy. Each wave contained fine sand, leaving us with a very heavy dinghy.  Fortunately, we carry a manual bilge pump on board and a water scoop.  Jason pumped for quite some time and finally One Fish was light enough for the four of us to drag her into deeper water. After some cleaning the boat was as good as new, but, just to be safe, Jason changed the fuel/water separator on the engine.  The next day we left before sunrise for the capital of New Caledonia: Noumea.  The night before  Jason had drawn a map of the nearby anchored boats to help us depart in the dark.  Darren manned the night vision scope and found the yellow no anchoring zone marker.   We would have used the radar but it was out of commission, waiting for a new part in Australia.

When we arrived in Noumea, it was blowing a good 20 plus knots.  We had come to a marina since our starter seemed to be having problems (Note:we have since installed a new starter and all is running smoothly).  So we were down to just one engine.  Docking with only one engine is much harder.  The marina has no weekend staff and had left us cryptic instructions on our berth.  Why do marinas make it so hard?  I think my next job will be a marina manager.  We thought we had found the correct slip but at the last minute realized it was in use as there were existing dock lines.   Jason now had to do a loop through a mooring field full of tiny boats.  The tiny boats were moving actively and there was little space for the oversized Two Fish.  In such a windy location, two engines would have been helpful while executing the tight turns.  Instead Jason used the rudders and blasts of forward and reverse to complete our loop.  On final approach Darren called out the distance to the dock and then executed a huge leap to the dock.  Salwa, inspired by Darren’s bold leap, copied him in a more modest proportion.

Jason had hoisted the French courtesy flag  and our Q (Quarantine) flag before entering New Caledonian waters, as required for all visiting yachts.   It seemed like a good thing to also hoist a New Caledonian flag that we had in our collection.  Not a good call.  This flag indicates that we support secession of New Caledonia from being part of the French state.  Two Fish is a politics-free zone and we have no views on any territories. Fortunately, a passer-by gave us a heads up before the angry gendarme could scold us. The rebel flag was struck immediately.

We were in Noumea for a few days; it looks like the multiple bays and large lagoon would be a great place for a holiday.  We had dinner with friends from Spirit V and Zoom, Jason replaced a water hose, and Darren and Salwa navigated the back roads. I learned that taxi drivers in New Caledonia can be less than helpful; I might still be waiting for the driver with the bigger trunk (see photo) had we not rented a car for the day.  Arriving in Noumea was easy as the Marina did most of the paper work.  However, leaving was a three hour mission.  We had to visit three separate offices in opposite, far away locations, reminding us of Brazilian immigration procedures.

How could I forget? There was a significant happening in Noumea – Jason’s birthday! We chose a French chain restaurant in hopes of tasty sausages but ended up disappointed. Jason’s plate looked like an odd sack of meat.  For the next week, ridiculing this meal became a boat joke.  Time for a rescue operation back on Two Fish engineered by Darren and Salwa: Eclairs and Champagne for all.

You might not recognize Australia in the heads up chart view below, but, after leaving North America in September 2015, we were finally just 4 days and 19 hours from a new continent.

Although New Caledonia has many bays we could have explored, we saw a weather window for sailing to  Brisbane so we decided to take it. Onward to Brisbane! Did I mention it was getting colder? The sea temperature continued to decrease as we headed South. Fleece blankets were retrieved from their hiding spots and hats were de rigueur for night watches.

We entered the harbour (respecting the Commonwealth spelling) at night, with Darren at the helm. Major channels in Australia have blue leading lights; when the leads are in line, you are traveling in the middle of the channel. These were super useful as both the city lights and the large cargo ships can make for a confusing night entry. In addition, the headlights from the dune buggies on the western islands sometimes seemed like approaching vessels, keeping us all alert for a few hours.  There are a few unlit minor channels whose large markers create a hazard at night.  We had one last minute swerve to avoid meeting a marker.  The reason they are unlit is to avoid leading large ships away from the major channel.

For the Brisbane area, the point of clearance is Rivergate Marina. There isn’t much there but the staff are very nice and the flat whites at the café are tasty.  [Jason comment:  There was quite a lot at Rivergate Marina if you want to rebuild your transmission, haul out a ferry, or, install a new electrical system on your megayacht.  Gail’s nothing refers to restaurants, cycle paths and museums.] Australian Customs and Immigration were efficient and friendly. Biosecurity performed a full inspection of our boat, and after an hour or two, we were cleared. Thinking back to the supercilious guy on the dock in Tonga, who told us we were mad to go to Australia instead of New Zealand, we reminded ourselves that negative people are just that.

Australia will allow people to stay 90 days on a e-visa.  Yachts can stay one year and then apply for another one year exemption.  It gets complicated if you try to sell a boat in Australia, but nothing a broker can’t help you through if your last stop is Australia.

With a full day to explore, we headed to the Koala Sanctuary, where we couldn’t resist the tourist photo with the locals. Darren’s koala didn’t want to leave him but Salwa’s koala was uncharacteristically standoffish. I would have carried mine out if they had let me.

We headed to Moreton Bay to explore and anchor for the night. The westerly swell was a bit uncooperative as we lowered the dinghy. Eager not to repeat our Îles de Pins mishap, we secured the dinghy, bow and stern.  Sandhill races on the coast? With points for style, Darren certainly got the gold.  Too bad the westerlies continued so we gave up at nightfall and headed for our eventual Australian home at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron.

Jason was bummed that Salwa and Darren didn’t join for a warmer leg.  Swimming and Scuba were curtailed.  We also had run low on the tank in terms of energy, so we did not explore as much as usual. We only had a few more days with our guests so a whirlwind tour of Brisbane, Noosa headlands and the Gold Coast rounded out our trip.

We couldn’t believe that we were actually in Australia after spending the last year planning for our trip and sailing across the Pacific.  Those who have sailed across the Atlantic can wear red pants, but what color do we earn for the Pacific?  Maybe a floral print? Perhaps my next gift for Jason. The question left for us to answer was “What’s next?”.