Calypso's Journal: Waiting Around in Suva

A Fijian Drua or Vak Tepu (sacred canoe)
passing us in the anchorage

There’s not much happening on the cruising front these day but….. well, we’re getting a lot of other issues sorted while we wait. We’ve been waiting for spares (nothing unusual there) and drowning in the incessant rains that seem to be greater part of life in Suva.

Yup, we’re still in Suva. We came for a couple of weeks to buy batteries and fix the windlass but things just got carried away. So, instead of being out there enjoying the wonderful islands of Fiji, we’ve been busy doing the usual – fixing things!

However, all is not doom and gloom as we’ve actually accomplished quite a few tasks that really did need attention and Suva’s not a bad place to do so. It may be wet (make that very wet) but, at least, it’s a warm wet.

The new battery compartment is complete and we now have power but that’s no thanks to the sun or wind – there just ain’t none. Another boat has lent us a portable generator while we await the spares and subsequent repair of ours. In the meantime, Paul, who has always had the zigs with our chain locker (as have I, as I’m always the one stuck in the forepeak trying to stop the chain from piling up on itself) has used this opportunity to enlarge the locker by stealing space from the front sail compartment. This entailed a lot of cutting, grinding, sanding, fibre-glassing and dust but we now have a locker that is three times the size and will, hopefully, alleviate the need to flake the chain each and every time we raise the anchor.

(Photo: surfacing for some fresh air from the mess and dust in the forepeak)

Next on the list was a new table for our braai (BBQ) that got knocked off in a rather clumsy manoeuvre leaving the working jetty in Opua a while back. Then he revamped the crockery cupboard as it was a nightmare to keep clean and now he’s busy with sanding and varnishing external woodwork prior to tackling the mammoth job of internal woodwork – a desperately needed task.

During all this, we met up again with Helmut and Kerstin of Lop To, the couple who lent us their camper van in New Zealand. Kerstin and I had a few wanders through the sights and sounds of the city and found some wonderful fabric, just the thing I’d been wanting for recovering our saloon seats and at a price that was unbelievably cheaper than that in New Zealand. A great find as it is really really inexpensive to have upholstery work done here. So now Calypso is awaiting a new look; I’ve always hated the black leather; practical but depressingly gloomy. Now, all I need to do is to make up some bright and cheerful throw cushions and voilà!

The same chap is also making up a shade cover for our spray dodger which we simply couldn’t afford in NZ and I’m hoping he can use some of our old canvas to make up a deck spinnaker bag. It’s worth staying on to have all this done so we’re happily making the most of it.

On a culinary note, for over a year now, Paul has been busily occupied (amongst all the other things) making his own home brew wine. He got the idea from our friends, Kim & Jim aboard Auspice last year and has continually had about 25 litres of rice wine on the brew since then. He’s now spread his skills to making pineapple wine which is actually quite nice. While we were in Kadavu, he tried a rice and coconut variety – definitely not to be recommended but the rice and the pineapple versions are quite palatable and he’s introduced the concept to our friend Peter of Troutbridge who’s also happily brewing away now. All this has saved us a fortune as wine and spirits are exorbitant in Fiji. Sadly, I haven’t quite acquired the same appreciation so I sneak off and purchase the odd bottle of the normal stuff for myself.

It’s mango season so, thanks to a fabulous fresh produce market here, we have also replenished our supply of mango chutney. Thanks, too, our exotic spice supplies are restocked, the best I’ve seen since leaving South Africa. There are a few things that are unobtainable here but the fruit, vegetables and spices more than make up for that.

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