September 2021

Date: September 2021

Position: Fiji

Bula!! Which is hello in Fijian.....

Captain Bonzo here with an update from Ari B! For those of you who don’t know me, I am the Captain of Ari B, a multitalented stuffed dog, that speaks 5 languages, has sailed half way round the world and barks orders. I also write the newsletters for Alex and Carla.

When I last wrote to you in April 2021, we were planning to leave French Polynesia at the end of May to sail to NZ via Fiji – our plan was to spend 5 to 6 months in Fiji before heading to NZ in November for our planned refit.

Well, as you can see, we made it to Fiji.....

Back to Tahiti in May. We had cut our time in Fakarava short, as we anticipated that being vaccinated against Covid may become a pre-requisite for travel, visas, and God knows what else, so we hotfooted it to Tahiti, where the government vaccinated my crew for free – would have been happy to pay, but thanks anyway! Apparently I am immune, being stuffed and all that – who said it’s not good to be stuffed??

Since you have to wait 3 weeks to get the second jab, the team took the opportunity to sort out a few other things, provisioned the boat, did all the checks prior to a long passage and prepared for the 3 day check out process, with Covid tests and all. The crew even ordered and paid for their duty free booze, to be delivered to the boat the day you leave.

And then Fiji had a new Covid outbreak........ahhhh bugger.

As I said in our previous newsletter, rules can change in a heartbeat, open borders close, travel restrictions get imposed and so on. So, after some discussion with the crew, we decided to put our departure on hold and monitor the situation – literally at the last minute.....

With time in hand, Alex decided (was told by Carla in no uncertain terms) to get his tennis elbow problem seen to – which he had had since the middle of December last year and sailed almost 2,000 miles with (ouch). So the good doctor agreed on his diagnosis that it was in fact tennis elbow and sent him to get a cortisone injection – which in the French health system was done with ultrasound guidance. That enabled the doctor to show Alex the 6.3mm tear he had in his ligament. Whether or not that is small, medium or large for this kind of injury is entirely uncertain since he answered the corresponding question with a Gallic shrug, which as Alex told me probably means something, or not – who knows.

He then proceeded to stick the injection needle into the inflamed and torn tendon and seemed to be slightly irritated when Alex hit the ceiling and damaged the light. The rest of the treatment wasn’t properly reported to me since Alex had to lie down, the wimp. In a typical British (or is it Austrian, I am not sure he actually knows anymore) understatement he said it was “distinctly unpleasant”.

The order of the day was to rest the elbow, not to induce any pain and let it heal. Alex sends his thanks to Gayle on Wildbird, who was able to help him with appropriate exercises and explanations on what would happen next – questions the good (French) doctor could not, did not want to or couldn’t be arsed to answer, as it would have meant having to speak ENGLISH!! Mon Dieu.......

So Ari B sailed to Moorea and the crew set upon finding new hikes and revisiting old ones, exercising the body, but resting the arm. It took a while, but we are happy to report the arm is at 90 percent, happy days!

During that time the crew were also fortunate enough to be able to be able to attend a Heiva performance in Tahiti. Heiva is an annual festival of song and dance, traditional sports, fire walking and crafts. Normally there is a song and dance competition but this year it was the 140th year and also a celebration of the return of Heiva which was cancelled last year due to covid. So all the acts performed in celebration rather than in competition.

The dance routines, performed by teams from different islands where breathtaking, with Alex getting particularly exited about the legions of beautiful young ladies shaking their bottoms for extended periods of time – his kind of dancing!!

The highlight of the evening was a dance story about the arrival of Captain Cook in Polynesia, choreographed and performed in excellent fashion, and apparently, judging by the response of the audience, also very funny. Shame the crew didn’t understand the Polynesian jokes.

Meantime the situation in Fiji started to stabilise, yachts were able to travel around the island groups again and the team felt that Fiji was a GO again. Then all you need is some decent weather, or at least a decent weather forecast (please note a forecast and actual weather is NOT the same, more on that later). So after another 2 weeks, it finally looked ok to set off on the 1,800 nautical miles to Fiji, passing the Society islands, the Cook islands, Tonga, Samoa and Amercian Samoa – all closed due to Covid. The team was gutted to miss out on so much, so we’ll probably have to come back.

Planning such a passage is not easy. Boat and system readiness, provisioning, route and weather planning etc etc. But in Covid times it becomes a nightmare.

In order to sail to Fiji from Tahiti, you have to hire a local agent in Fiji, submit your application form and receive approval in principle that you are eligible to enter Fiji under the “Blue Lane Program”. You then need to do a Covid PCR test (160 us dollars each) no more than 72 hours before the planned departure, get the results, must be negative, send that to Fiji and then receive a permission to depart. You can’t leave before that approval. So if you have 72 hours, the results take 36 to 48 hours and the Fiji approval takes 24 hours, can you see this could be getting tight??

At the same time you need to arrange your departure from Tahiti, also with a 72 hour timeframe, customs visit, then email the harbourmaster and the covid marine team for departure approval (of course the mailbox is full), receive approval from both the next day (or not – at least not without chasing), book the duty free delivery, buy the fresh produce for the passage and cook meals for the first 3 days. Then wait for the covid test results. Of course they are late, so Alex and Carla take turns to chase and after 6 or 7 phone calls over the course of a day, the results become available 56 hours after the test and with an hour to spare for the Fiji cut off – approval from Fiji to depart comes through within a few hours - phew.

Then you get to load all the booze on the boat, go to immigration at the airport and check out of the country. Quickly fill the boat with 400 litres of tax free diesel, stow your deflated dingy and leave the port BEFORE the 72 hours since the Covid test are up. We had a couple of hours to spare......... If you are late, you probably have to start again......

Even for an experienced skipper dog like me, that was horrible. By the way, the Fiji navy tracked our progress via our AIS system to ensure we didn’t stop anywhere. This way our passage time counted towards the mandatory 14 day quarantine.

Anyway, we set sails towards Fiji on the 6th of August 21 and settled into the routine. Driven by the favourable weather window, 4 other boats had left Tahiti at around the same time, and we were in contact every day via SSB radio with each other as well as with the French Poly SSB net (run by sailors) for twice daily position reports. Plus we all had contact via sat comms, so we didn’t feel alone, even if you don’t see anybody. The winds were light for the first couple of days, making it easier to get used to being at sea again. Our spinnaker was up and down a few times, but we made good time in pleasant but rolly conditions. The low pressure system to the south of us that delayed our departure for 2 weeks sent a whopping 3 meter swell our way, doubly annoying, as it not only makes moving around on the boat difficult, but also means it knocks the wind out of the sail with every wave....

Overall though, the conditions for the first week were good, even if a squall on one of the nights caused an accidental gybe, which broke the preventer fitting, resulting in a lost block, a broken preventer, a broken stanchion base and a damaged toe rail. That’s offshore sailing for you – it can happen – we fixed it all and carried on.

From the outset, the forecast suggested that towards the end of week one we would hit an area of unstable weather for a couple of days, then have 5 days of perfect conditions to make our destination. They were right about the unstable weather, but for the next 5 days, the twice daily updated forecasts (that we pay for ) and the actual weather had absolutely nothing to do with each other. The wind went from north 10 kts to south 30 kts in a matter of 4 hours and died again 12 hours later. And when the weather forecasts are totally wrong every day – what can you do? Sail straight towards your destination and do the best you can with the weather you have. The other boats, within 200-300 miles of us had wildly different conditions and equally wrong forecasts. The weather was a mess. The forecast was a joke. The crew had something to moan about. But I kept my cool and told them to pucker up.....

On a more entertaining angle, Ari B crossed the international dateline on the 17th of August, Alex got all confused about what day it was and asked me to explain.

Well, here we go. When you leave England, sailing from the Greenwich meridian at 0 degrees, heading west, you’ll eventually get to 180 degrees west, where today meets tomorrow at the international dateline. That would mean you have sailed half way around the world and are set to be confused. As you pass over the dateline today becomes tomorrow, tomorrow is the new today, yesterday is long gone and your family in the UK is no longer 11 hours behind you, but 12 ahead.

All in an blink of an eye......capiche? Good. Becomes tricky when you’re trying to figure out when to call mum.

What you’ve just done is known as a Frankn’furter, you’ve lost a day and did the time warp thing. It becomes more complicated if you are chasing a fish and put a couple of strategic tacks in, going west, then east and then...Back to the future! Also known as a “Marty”.

So there, that should be all clear now, although Alex is still confused and living in the past. I think he’s just pissed he missed a sundowner.

If anybody needs more explanation or guidance on life, the universe and everything, don’t come to me. Sources for this jewel of wisdom are “The Rocky Horror Picture show”, “Back to the future” and “The hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy”. So there.

All I know is that I now have skippered half way around the world - AGAIN, and on arrival in Fiji I will have a tot of rum, stuffed dog or not!!

Finally, on day 12 of the passage the weather came good, southerly winds around 20 – 25 kts meant if we maintained over 7 kts average, we could arrive in Fiji Saturday afternoon, avoiding another night at sea, so the crew pushed on, Ari lifted her skirts and after clocking 170 miles in 24 hours, we arrived in Savusavu, Fiji on the afternoon of Saturday, 21 August. We ended up sailing 1,975 miles, a mere 125 miles short of an Atlantic crossing, or the equivalent of 33 channel crossings.

The navy welcomed us, directed Ari B to the designated quarantine anchorage, took our lines and tied us up. The crew rests- after a beer or two – and I had my tot of rum – made my internals all soggy. Don’t think I’m made for drinking....

The next day was Sunday, nothing happened, the crew set to clean up the boat, do repairs and get excited about being in a new country. Monday saw the start of the activities that would finally allow us to clear into Fiji – a welcome pack arrived, with a sim card – hello internet! The nurses arrived with the navy for a health check and another Covid PCR test ( by the way, how would the crew contract Covid while being at sea on our own? – and if they did, they would either be healed or dead on arrival). There goes another 360 bucks for the Covid cash cow.

By the way, if you haven’t had a PCR test, Alex tells me it is quite unpleasant.

So, after another day in quarantine, we are told to come to the marina for check in and then go to town to pay the bills in the hospital and the bio security office, and we’re in!!

Ari B would like to highlight the efforts the Fijian government has made in this Covid crisis to protect their population and their income. At this point, Fiji is the ONLY Pacific island nation that has established a Blue Lane Program for international yachts to visit their country. The costs for the program (as far as we can tell) are covered by the yachts that are arriving and we have observed a number of resorts that have geared towards cruising yachts, providing some income from dinners, tours and diving while the rooms are empty. Most resorts are closed, but the cruising community is able to support a few – and it feels good and the people are grateful. At the same time, the Covid related reporting in Fiji is excellent, possibly world class, and helps everybody to reduce the risks. We have a lot of respect for Fiji and it’s people, and to date, it is being repaid.

We spent 5 days in Savusavu, exploring, shopping, and eating out. Yes! Great Indian food, burgers, fish and chips etc, all for very little money. After over 2 years in French Polynesia with it’s crazy prizes the crew felt great going for a beer without asking the bank manager first. After refuelling the boat and restocking food stores, we set sail back east to catch up with friends at Paradise resort Tavenui and for some diving for Carla.

Within a short boat ride is one of the top 5 dive sites in the world, the white wall on Rainbow reef. The wall is actually plain brown I am told, until the tide changes and the soft coral that lives in the brown wall fills itself with water and emerges to feed in the current, turning the wall into a sea of white. I didn’t see it myself since I can’t dive, but have a look on the internet, it’s spectacular! The entry is via a tunnel filled with amazing soft corals that starts at 14m and ends at 24m. Carla had a blast.

A few days later a rare weather window became available to sail 80 miles east to the northern Lao group. On our arrival in Fiji, we sailed past the group, but were not allowed to stop due to covid restrictions – in normal times you can check into the country on one of the islands. So, despite the desire to rest a little longer, we upped anchor and did an overnight sail to Vanua Balavu and the bay of islands. Spectacular is an understatement – the area is a maze of small bays, littered with small islands sticking out from the turquoise sea like mushrooms. I last saw similar formations in Indonesia, but it was all new for the crew, who explored the area by dingy and canoe. Since there was a bunch of other boats there as well, the social side of life was pretty busy too!

We then relocated to a small bay on the other side of the island – Little Bay – where we met the caretaker of the bay from the village situated a couple of miles to the south.

Fijian tradition has a visitor arriving in the area of a village meet their chief to present their gift of kava (root of the peppertree, used to make a mildly intoxicating drink) and perform the ritual of Sevusevu, which welcomes the visitor into the community and makes their wellbeing the village’s responsibility. Due to Covid, the crew was welcomed by the caretaker Tui, he accepted our gifts and checked the paperwork.

These people don’t have much. Tui told us that if a family makes 50 Fijian (approx 25 us dollars) they can live a week on it. But again, covid is making life tough. Money from the mainland for the sale of copra (dried coconut used for the extraction of coconut oil and for the production of animal feed) has dried up and while they are not starving, people are struggling. The crew donated solar lights, a football, some rope to tie the cows up, reading glasses and purchased coconuts and fruits to aid with a little cash. Unfortunately we couldn’t visit the village – due to covid (grrrrrr)

After a few more days in the area and a nice Sunday afternoon with a bbq and some boules games with friends we set sail to Matagi via Wailagilala (reef situated half way to break the trip into two day sails – but poorly protected, rolly and uncomfortable). Matagi is a horseshoe shaped island with reasonable protection and the crew was happy they could get a good nights sleep and they where able to catch a good few squid, the first since Tobago almost 5 years ago. Carla was in heaven and standing on the bow fishing at 05.30 am.......

Next stop was Yanuca in the Budd reef area north of Matagi. Another boat told us that the village was open and welcoming cruisers, so a group of 4 boats headed north the next day. The forecast was anticipating wind from the SE for a few days and the charts showed a bay on the north side of the island that should give good protection. The day after arriving, we had an appointment with the chief of the village for Sevusevu, the welcoming ceremony. They were in need of a great many things. Fuel, a mechanic to fix their outboard, first aid kits, reading glasses, kava and more kava, charging cable for the lone ipad in the village, movies from our hard drives and so on. Some of the sailors in the group felt they were asking too much, too demanding, but the crew felt that the Fijians are accustomed to ask if they need something and Alex simply started trading, asking for lobsters and fruit in return for fuel and a snorkelling trip in return forkcava was offered by the caretaker. For Ari B it was a fair trade and when asking if it was a good deal the locals confirmed they were very happy with the deal. Unfortunately, the stronger wind meant that significant chop worked it’s way around the headland into the bay and after two sleepless nights the crew decided to return in better weather and sailed 20 miles south to Somosomo for some shopping and a visit to the natural waterslides close to the village.

The crew and our friends on Perigee took a taxi to the river and then walked up the path towards the voices and exited shouts of a bunch of local kids, who were having a blast in the slides and pool. Carla came prepared and after bribing the kids with lollies, they were very happy to show us where to enter the slides and how to do it. Alex went first - a pretty wild ride due to a couple of bends in the rocky slide, a few bumps and a plunge in the pool at the end, which ensured a good flush of his upper nose. Carla gingerly enquired if it was ok and Alex encouraged her to do it, stating it was fine. Judging by his facial expression that was discovered on the video our friends took, that was a blatant lie. The local kids looked at Carla and said: ‘Wait Auntie, we will go down first and wait for you at the bottom’ – before sliding down on their feet! The little s***s. Off she went. She did it! Once.........and not again. Ever.

In the meantime, the crew had applied for their NZ visas, a two step process, which saw us receiving the visas via email on the 23rd September – and Ari B and crew now has all the required paperwork to enter New Zealand!

The plan is to wait until November, to take advantage of springtime in NZ, which makes sailing conditions more favourable in the south, but is still before the onset of the cyclone season in Fiji. The plan is to keep Ari B in NZ for 18 months to go through our extensive maintenance and upgrade list, during which time the crew would like to do some travelling too – on land, in Europe and the far east, but in these times – who knows what will be possible.

So, the next time you hear from us, we’ll be down under.

As a reminder, to track where we are and read blogs whilst we are at sea visit the Track Us page on our website or follow this link:

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/AriB

So, from the far side of the world our best wishes for all of you, stay safe and healthy, until next time from a new country, language and culture - again!!

Bula vinaka

Ari B out

Little Bay, Vanua Balavu, Fiji