To Fiji

Songline rises and falls gently on the huge, confident yet gentle swells as we approach the lights of Fiji at 3am after 5 days at sea. There’s almost no wind and we are motoring, with the sails up to steady the motion and to catch the small gusts that blow over the back of these marching giants of water. Generated thousands of miles away in the south by some sub-Antarctic storm, probably, they have carried that immense energy all the way to the tropics to explode onto the reef, each side of the pass we are now approaching.

It’s been a challenging passage. The first two days we were pounding into a strong headwind, and then Rose and I came down with a nasty tummy bug. At the best of times unpleasant, but with nowhere stable to lie down – everything always moving!- our insides just didn’t stop. And no time to rest. One night I spent curled in a ball on the cockpit floor, no energy to pull ropes and just enough to poke my head up from time to time to watch for ships.

The the wind dropped- that was on Tuesday I think… So we’ve been motoring for days now.

## continued ##

We’ve recovered from the bug and energies are improving.

The strong, tropical smell of land comes over the warm breeze (which still isn’t enough to sail). Smoke from bonfires, soil and vegetation. Being at sea for days tunes the senses. Ears are always listening for creaks, pings, plops, bangs or squeaks that give early warning of trouble ahead. The air is ultra clear, there are no smells (other than dirty bodies and engine fumes) – so when land comes you can really smell it from miles away.

A little while later, we motor through the reef pass (still in the dark) and then, finally, just as the sun is rising over the land, the breeze fills in enough to turn the engine off. Yay! I wake Rose up with a cup of tea so she can enjoy the arrival as we silently slip along in the flat waters of the lagoon, heading for the check-in marina at Vuda point.

We arrive a short while behind Santana (as usual) and tie to them while we wait for officials to arrive. Check in (part 1) complete, we motor into the customs dock for the final stages; immigration and biosecurity, where they take away some fresh foods and our honey… Boo.

And then, fully checked in to Fiji, we are welcomed in the traditional way with a garland of frangipani flowers and a happy clappy song!

Next few days we’ll in the marina washing, catching up with emails, news, work etc.