A change of crew and a final surf

 Paul and I spent the day tracking down faults with the hydraulic furling system and a couple of other missions. Well, I did anyway, Paul kept up gamely for a couple of hours then retired to his cabin to sleep off the previous evening’s excesses. With the various faults locked down we treated ourselves to a little hair of the dog and some dinner until Mike and Rob arrived from the airport.

The boys took off in the morning to find some provisions while I waited for Mustak, the fridge engineer. Rob found some chilli for sale. In typical fashion he decided it would be best if he tried one first. The vendor’s look says it all.

After the boys were back we headed out to see what was on offer at Cloudbreak. In a contrast to our previous visit, a strong sou’ easter was blowing, cross shore to the waves. The kite surfers were out and it looked pretty bleak, so we headed out to the now-familiar Musket Cove marina to introduce the newcomers to the siren-like charms of the barefoot bar.

The next day we had a gentleman’s start and headed out for another look. Despite the still windy conditions, Rob and I got a few good ones while Paul and Mike had a snorkel and watched the action from the end of the break. 

It was good to finally give Cloudbreak a proper nudge and finish the day back at Musket with a few beers that, for once, felt well-earned.

After many days perusing the long range forecasts we decided that Tuesday was the day to  go: most of the NZ-bound cruisers seemed to be opting for Wednesday, but we thought we’d jump the queue at immigration and try to avoid the nasty looking southerly that looked like it might be developing off the North Island a week later.  So we headed out to Cloudbreak for a last hurrah before heading in to Denarau to complete our formalities the next day. Cloudbreak was looking good and was consequently more crowded, but we got a few cranking barrels squared away before the clock beckoned and we headed back to port.

Immigration was booked for 11.30 AM. Lei was fast, friendly and helpful, and even wished me a bon voyage later by whatsapp. Why can’t the world be like Fiji? Ny 12.15 we were casting off and headed for the fuel dock. Our momentum was briefly interrupted by a large catamaran filling with 2000l of cheap Fiji Diesel before their NZ trip; a year’s supply apparently.  However, about 90 minutes later we had our turn and we were ready to commence our voyage south.

The thought of the challenging southern ocean ahead was sobering, as was having to rug up for the cold (Shoes! Jumpers!). The singlet tops and bare feet had a use-by date that was fast approaching.

However, we had a good crew and a well-found vessel; we were steeled for whatever the ocean could throw at us.