Fahiti ho!

Brian's out of cigarettes; I'm out of beer.  We need to get to town.  It's raining.  Been raining all day, FFS.  Brian says he doesn't care if he gets wet.  Well, I do.  I told him if it cleared up in an hour I'd drive - my dinghy is much faster than his.  Have to adjust the carb yet again, though.  The idle is now set too low (below John Deere speed).  One of these days I'll get it right. Made Canned Mackerel Pasta last night.  Had a can of mackerel left over from last trip and the rest of the ingredients, more or less.  It was actually quite tasty.  Used way too much pasta, tho.  Followed the recipe, too.  Now I have meals for three days. Brian's fridge is still leaking freon so he's got my little 12V fridge on his boat.  My fridge is running like a champ. Next big task is the oil change on the engine.  Never having had a diesel, I'm perusing the Owner's Manual that Joe thoughtfully left on board.  Wi...

Met the new chef yesterday.  I was walking by and they were testing pizza recipes from the new oven.  Apparently they have given up on the wood-fired oven (good thing).  The two types I tried were damn tasty, if I say so myself.  They laughed when I mentioned the burnt crusts that I had back in October. Jeff the chef told me the marketing plan for Nawi.  They are going to eschew (see what I did there?) most Fijian food for more upscale fare aimed at the boating crowd.  The Mexican restaurant is up and operational and the Italian restaurant is due to open this coming Monday.  I told him about making chicken tortellini for Mitch and Marisa and he asked "Did you make the tortellini yourself?"  I laughed and confessed to using frozen.  He said, "Otherwise I'd put you in the kitchen."  Thanks, but I have enough on my hands giving out eyeglasses.

 Word's gotten out.  I had four guys come by already today and it's just noon.  Seems that Bill the boat captain is telling everyone to come to P2 11 to get reading glasses.  I'm not even taking the carry-on back down below now, just leaving it in the cockpit.  One positive of this is I'm getting to know all the help on Nawi.  This is better than having a dog.  Probably not quite the allure of free beer, but still...

 So I'm taking a shower at Nawi.  The shower block has inside access and all the showers are open to the outside, with privacy walls and nice little gardens, etc.  Very cool.  Emphasis on 'open to the outside.'  These are big showers. Several of the showers are for couples - or at least they have two separate shower heads.  You can easily hear the water running in the next shower.  Some people haven't learned that. So like I said, I'm taking a shower and hear the couple next door.  The wife says "Honey, can I ask you a dumb question?"  "Sure, dear."  "If I bend over can you see if I need any shaving around my ass?" No, I didn't lose it like a seventh grader.  However, it took all the self-control I don't have to bite off my "Looks fine to me!"contribution to this little drama.  I know some of you will be disappointed.  Frankly, so am I.  I was still weighing the pros and cons as I left.  Next time I'm going to bu...

 Last trip out I had about fifty pair of used eyeglasses to hand out to the folks out on the islands who don't have any kind of access to vision care.  I had checked with my optometrist who confirmed that I couldn't do any harm to the recipients.  He even donated a couple dozen readers. I solicited used eyeglasses from friends and family this trip.  And sent communications around to the various Lions clubs.  The Keweenaw Lions responded big time; I think I got a hundred and fifty pair from them.  Got them all packed up in a carry-on to take to Fiji.  While waiting for the plane at HoCo, I got into a conversation with a lady who was very interested in collecting for next time.  Her son was sitting next to her and allowed as his wife had just died and he had about ten pair of her glasses that he wanted to donate, so I gave him my card so he could contact me in June.  And Adam R. even gave me the pair off his head!  Thanks to all! And the g...

Ok, on a scale from U.P. winters to Hell on Earth, the first two days in Savusavu clocked in just under Bill's sauna.  There was no wind and no cloud cover.  And of course the boat had no Bimini, haven been taken down for storage.  So first item of business was to get the Bimini up. Ok, that went smoothly.  Dodger, too.  Still, the sun beat down on the top of the boat, making the cabin a sweatbox.  So I started digging.  And - at the bottom of the lazarette - was an old gray tarp.  Perfect for a sun shade.  Only problem was, I have lazy jacks for the main and the tarp has to go over the boom.  (Lazy jacks are a harness-like construction that is supposed to keep the main sail on the boom when it is lowered.  Nice concept; spotty functionality.). Ok - lazy jacks get lowered and secured aside.  Tarp goes on the boom and it's a perfect fit as a sunshade.  Very effective at lowering cabin temperature, even if it looks like the ...