We are in Vuda Point Marina waiting for a weather window after November 1st. We did something we have promised ourselves we would never do. We booked airplane tickets from a country in which we are not yet anchored. Hmmm. Now we have a schedule – a bad thing on sailboats -especially in this part of the world.
But we hope to get safely to New Zealand before December 6th (but not earlier than November 10th). Juggling all these dates gets confusing with all the immigration rules. Now, we are in the oval marina of Vuda. Check it out on our location at YIT.nz. It is a very interesting marina set-up. They keep putting more and more boats against the oval shaped wall. It all works. It does provide good entertainment watching the comings and goings of the boats as they maneuver around all the moorings that come from the center.
We have gone by bus into Latauka a few times for some shopping runs and getting the boat provisioned for passage but not loading up too much for arrival in New Zealand where they have pretty strict biosecurity regulations.
It is mighty warm in the marina and as summer starts approaching in Fiji. You can't jump in to cool off – so long cold showers have to suffice. They have put in a nice barbeque here – so we often go up to cook on the hill overlooking the water and get a good evening breeze. It also doesn't heat the boat up with cooking aboard.
We've run into some old friends here and have met some new folks so that is always nice. The staff at Vuda are especially friendly and because this is our third visit here – it feels like home. Today (Thursday) is cheap fish and chips lunch so we always partake of that. Tuesday is half price pizza night and that is a must as well. This week we lucked out with someone else picking up our pizza tab! Michael helped the boat next to us with some large bolts and washers and smaller parts, so they gratefully picked up our tab.
We're getting the boat ready for the passage with lots of checks on the rigging, oil change (which ended up also requiring the water pump to be changed – glad to discover that here and not offshore) and lots of organizing. We pulled out the cold weather clothes and aired them out for the passage and arrival in cooler New Zealand.
So its just waiting for the days to pass to November 1st and then looking for the first good weather window for the 1200 mile trip to NZ.
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Vuda Point Marina
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At 10/25/2017 11:02 PM (utc) S/V Astarte was located at 17°40.82'S 177°23.17'E
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