The East...

Greetings from FIJI!

We are officially in the Eastern Hemisphere!

Hey all,

We crossed the dateline at midnight on September 23 bringing us right into the 25! JP had wanted to cross on the 27 and go straight into the 29th in order to skip his birthday. He turns 27 today on the 28th of September. Arriving in Fiji was quite a wet experience, as people say it can rain almost 356 days a year (we can certainly attest to both the the frequency and severity of showers).

Our last passage was what the guide book would call boisterous sailing conditions. We had about twice as much wind as we really care for a steady 25 to 30 knots with gusts and squalls higher. We were fine, but our genoa did not fair as well. It developed a tear due to some poor sail handling on my part, so we sailed the final 180 miles under storm sail which was a better amount of canvas.

What made the passage truly unique was upon leaving Tonga waters we were met by a strong sulfur odor from the south. Tonga like many of the islands in Polynesia and Melanesia have a volcanic past and sometimes this extends into the present. South of where we were sailing there are some active volcanic vents and small islands. There is little information on them aside from our charts saying it began again in 1995 and the guide book saying it's status is undetermined, and "one should be aware when approaching it." We decided to give it a wide birth as we have a fiberglass boat which does not do well with hot water. The further south west we went we were met by another effect of the volcanic activity as we sailed through streams of pumice. It comes in various sizes ranging from very small pebbles to larger pieces the size of a baseball. It was interesting for every time we had a wave crash on deck we would hear the pumice making its way onto the boat and into the cockpit. I guess one could say the boat had an in passage exfoliation treatment. Some boats reporting it taking off their anti-fouling. We can see some effects on our body paint. I am glad we do not have a new paint job, for that would be quite upsetting to have it ruined by pumice. Even with cleaning upon our arrival we are still finding little pices throughout the boat.

Oh, if your wondering about Tonga. We stopped briefly and waited out some bad weather and continued on. The islands did not look terribly inviting when we arrived, though the waters are well protected. I guess one might call Tonga a foil to the Chesapeake Bay. It has extremely well protected waters and many boats going from anchorage to anchorage (as they are all very close). Here the water is very clean, clear, and deep. The guide book tells one to anchor in 20 meters! One would be hard pressed to run aground as can often be the case in the Chesapeake with it's mud, silt, and shallow water.

We are presently anchored in Suva. I guess one might call this little India, as there are so many Indians. Though there are far fewer due to the politics over the past 20 years. Many have moved to other countries, though one could hardly tell as they seem to be the majority of the population in Suva. We are thoroughly enjoying all the wonderful food, colors, and sounds.

We have spent our first two days tasting our way through the city, but tomorrow we move onto boat projects!

Cheers,
Sara & JP

NIUE

we are in niue. the smallest nation in the world (east of tonga, north of new zealand, and south of samoa. it's amazing to visit this tiny island in the middle of the pacific. the name literally means i discovered a coconut. the island is primarily limestone surrounded by a tight reef which serves to filter the water, and because there are no rivers the water quality is amazing. we are moored in 120 feet of water and can easily see the bottom!

there are 1,500 inhabitants who are interested to know how long we will stay. the many caves and chasms have kept us busy as we toured the island by motorbike. there is very little traffic so we felt quite safe going around.

our plans of the moment are tonga, fiji, and staying in new Caledonia for cyclone season. the weather prevails so we shall see. so many more countries in the next few months, but i am looking forward to getting settled somewhere for cyclone season and getting to know an area well.

cheers,
sara