Fiji.

Luangahu Island, one of our last islands visited in the Ha'apai Group, Tonga. Waiting for the wind change.

Passing Kao and Tofua vulcanic islands. The last Tongan islands we passed on our way west to Fiji.

A new dawn as we sail west.

Here we are crossing the 180° Meridian and are thus half way across the globe seen from the Greenwich.

And as seen on the radar and plotter.

Suva town in Fiji on a rainy day.

Kava roots which is needed for visiting the smaller islands and are given as gifts to the village chiefs, to allow us to visit. I have a few kg of it in powder, bought in Vava'o, Tonga. It is a kind of drug, but legal and widely used in the part of the Pacific. Even in NZ it is legal and I have been allowed to bring it with me as long as it is in powder form.

Suva's great market.

The prices are very interesting. FD 2.27 to the EUR.

The Fiji people are not wealthy and many do these kind of jobs. These ladies stitch anything you need fixing, for a low price. Their shop was inside the market.

But the Presidential Palace is an outstanding property, so some live the high life here.

Some men wear skirts.

Friday 03.10.2014 at 20:15 (LT).

Today did not start well. As I downloaded the Sailmail emails I received an email from Lise telling me that Mor passed away. Although it was expected and I knew that Mor had decided that she did not wish to live any longer, it was still very sad to receive this news. At least all her health sufferings are now over and she has now piece and will not have to face the retaining she would have to after the hip operation and one month lying in bed. I am glad that I managed to speak to her on the phone a couple of days ago and managed to speak to her for the last time. Ugh it was tough.

The weather has not been the best the last days, with heavy clouds, but this morning it cleared up and we have had a splendid sunny day with clear blue sky and beautiful blue sea. Perhaps Mor arranged this for us so enjoy in this otherwise sad situation?

It was time to move on and I estimated we would need about 64 h to sail the 411 NM to Savu in Fiji, provided we could keep our usual 155 NM average per 24 h. The weather forecast was for 10-13 kn from east for the first 24 h and then increasing to 19 kn and changing direction to ESE as we are getting closer to Fiji. We thus lifted anchor at 16:00 and motored through the narrow pass and out to the Ocean. But the wind did not – yet – come and at this moment we have only about 5 kn from aft and our speed is only 2-3 kn.

We pooled out the genoa to port expecting the wind to change to ESE during the night, so I cross my fingers that it will soon come through. We have time and can wait for the wind shift. 

Fiji is right on the 180° Meridian and for me it will be the first time I will cross it and we will then be exactly on the other side of the Globe from the Greenwich. As to the local time, we are GMT +13 h, so we are about a half day ahead of Europe.

Saturday 04.10.2014 at 06:15 (LT):

Last night we had hardly any wind. At times it dropped to only 4.5 kn and our speed was only 1.8 kn, at times. As I took my watch at 04:00 the wind veered  to the expected ESE and increased to 9-15 kn and our speed picked up to 5-7.5 kn, as well as we could steer a better course of 277° (T). But, so far the progress has been slow. We now have a SE swell of about two meters at a 90° angel on Port, which make us roll a lot.

The sun is just raising giving a beautiful light. The night are very humid and although we are still in the Tropic at 19-20° S, the nights are cold and we need to wear long pants and jumpers.

Until now we have only seen one ship, which was a fairly sized fishing boat,  carrying a lot of spot lights. Its size was, I believe, a Solar ship, but as it did not show up on the AIS screen, I suppose it could have been a whale ship, likely from Japan, and was shy to show what it was fishing. It is now the season for the Whales  to leave Tonga/Fiji waters and head back to the Anartica waters, with their Calves. We often see them around us and see them jumping (breaching) out of the water. A spectacular site not to be missed. We also hear their singing from inside New Dawn, as well as when we are in the water, or just sitting on the deck. At times the sounds are loud, telling us that they are very close to us. Not only the Japanese hunts these whales, but the Sharks are also attacking the Calves, which operate in groups when they attack.The Whale mothers only defence is to hit the Sharks with their tales and hopefully break them up.A cruel world here and all the Pacific Ocean is loaded with Sharks.