[password] radioactiv?[position] 17 13.157S 178 58.005W?[weather] blue skies, less than 5 knots (approx) westerly.
[speed] anchored
[heading] anchored?[status]Warning, long update ahead, grab a cuppa and enjoy. Oh how the world is a different place with a full tummy and a good night?s sleep! Yesterday Sasha and Mike woke refreshed after a very peaceful night?s rest. There is no need for duvets or sheets, it?s so hot and humid the air is enough of a blanket. On the morning of Friday 23rd June 2017, they enjoyed a hot cuppa in the saloon and with renewed spirit familiarised themselves with Lau charts, ?Fun and Frustrations in Fiji? by David Mitchell, and the Fiji sections in ?South Pacific Anchorages? by Warwick Clay, and ?The Pacific Crossing Guide? by Michael Pocock and Ros Hogbin.
As promised in the last short YIT update (posted to ensure family knew we were safe and sound) here is a rundown of the passage from Tonga to Lomaloma, Daliconi Village.
Moonfish left Neiafu harbour, in Tonga?s Vava?u group mid-morning on the 20th of June in a leisurely state. There had been much radio chatter among the ICA fleet about the lack of desire to arrive at our destination in the dark, due to the unfamiliar route through Vanua Balavu?s infamous reef system. As mentioned previously, MOONFISH is not a sailing yacht that likes to go slowly, in fact her
inability to do so has never really been an issue for us, until this passage. So, Sasha and Mike sat at Neiafu and enjoyed a relaxed morning, watching, as the rest of the rally fleet left, and then leisurely untied themselves from the mooring ball and headed out the harbour, to Faihava passage, where they did their 180 into the wind (close to Tungasika island) to put the mainsail up, with two reefs in. With backs to the land, they said their goodbyes to Tonga, and dreamed about the stunning turquoise blue lagoons of the Southern Lau in Fiji.
A short while later as they sailed out into the big blue in togs, one of the reels let out the tell tail 'whizzzzzzz' sound and the small amount of headsail was quickly furled away to slow down the boat and better manage its position in relation to where the fish and (importantly) the
fishing line went (no one wants a prop with fishing line wrapped around it in the middle of the ocean). Mike jumped on the reel and Sasha was on helm, maneuvering the back of the
boat based on Mike?s instructions, so Mike could best reel in, whatever had taken the lure. Turned out to be yet another Skipjack, just as unappealing as the first one we caught. We know you can bleed them, and they can be great eating, but with a freezer full of good NZ meat, and with our taste buds ruined by mahimahi and yellowfin tuna, we threw it back.
At this point we had a couple of yachts in sight, and we didn't even spare a thought to the other 28 yachts out further ahead. However, as evening succumbed to night we had reached the rest of the fleet, that is where the ?fun? began. Sasha took a photo of the chart plotter with the AIS lit up like a Christmas tree, it was one of those moments that wouldn't be believed unless there was ocular proof. To be in the middle of the ocean, the middle of nowhere and be surrounded by boats so much so, that it's like your sailing in a harbour (a really rough one) is a very weird feeling. There were yachts everywhere, and not just one or two, but twenty odd to try and avoid, in the pitch black, with no moon until the Cheshire cat's grin appeared in the early hours of the morning. At one point, we had a yacht showing up on the AIS plotter as very close to us, but with our night vision
well and truly adjusted we couldn't see anything close by. At that point, Mike took out the flood light
and pointed it in the direction of the mysteriously close yacht. This was to be one of the most frightening moments so far aboard MOONFISH, as both Mike and Sasha laid eyes on a boat very close to the stern, with NO lights on. Sasha got on the radio, (which had been very well used over the past several hours by a lot of the fleet checking on the courses of boats around them as their routes converged) and called the yacht on 8VHF, but there was no reply, again she called but nothing. The with angst she tried 16VHF saying the name of the boat and then repeating "You have no lights! You have no lights! Finally, a sleepy voice answered and all of a sudden, they were
completely flooded with light, not just the tri colour on the top of the mast, but a bright light that
flooded the entire front deck of the boat. Mike turned on the motors, increasing our speed and the space between us and the yacht, and we watched as the lights of the yacht joined the glow of the other yachts at a comfortable distance.
On the second day Sasha made a fresh pineapple and lime baked cheesecake, made with yoghurt
cream cheese, a ginger nut base and a pineapple and lime drizzle. It became dinner and fresh
out of the oven, it didn't really taste like the flavours melded well. Lunch was the main meal of that
day, delicious fried plantain chips, Japanese cucumber salad (thanks to yet another recipe from
the Boat Galley cookbook) ? which is proving to be a very worthy galley comrade) and Mexican mince and beans.
During the night while Sasha was on shift, the wind up our butt, was shifting. As Mike went for a
well-earned (and needed) sleep, he said to Sasha 'just keep an eye on the windex, we don't want
to crash gybe'. Famous last words! About half way through Sasha's shift, as she lay in the saloon
watching a movie. Caveat: she was being responsible, she had her alarm set for every ten minutes to do a visual check, and had the iPad set up with a mirror image of the chart plotter, so she could keep track of speed, heading and the boats on AIS. The one thing she couldn't keep track of in the saloon was the windex. And guess what? The wind shifted. A rookie mistake, that Sasha will never make again. MOONFISH's big mainsail (albeit with one reef in it) back winded. The preventer worked as it should have (stopping any major crash gybe from happening), however it was a big eye opener for Sasha, as the force of the sail back winded, made it impossible to steer. Sasha was forced to turn off the auto pilot and try to correct things manually, in in the hope that she could correct the yachts course and in doing so correct the sail. Alas, the sheer force meant there was no way she could correct the situation through steering. In a panic, Sasha screamed for Mike to wake up as she was holding the steering wheel as far as it would turn and it was futile. She was too frightened to let it go of the wheel to go wake Mike up in a more pleasant manner, just in case it sent the boat hurling in some other unwanted direction. Bear in mind all of this would be ok, and far less stressful if it wasn't for the large number of yachts surrounding us, at this point we had completed a right angle turn and were heading directly towards a yacht. Mike woke up, hopped up into the cockpit and slowly and smoothly eased the preventer, and then slowly pulled the traveler so the boom eased its way across to the other side, then he sorted the wheel and got the boat back on track, and turned auto back on and went back to bed. Sasha's panic slowly subsided, and tiredness took its place.
Mike took over helm around midnight as this coincided with us reaching our first waypoint, which
meant we were getting close to Fiji's reefs, and navigating the boat would become more
complicated with set routes required to be followed to ensure we stayed off the reefs ? our primary objective, apart from hitting other yachts.
After one early morning requirement for Sasha to get up to steer 180, (to take the wind out of the mainsail), so Mike could put another reef in, Mike woke Sasha around 7am to help look for coral bommies as we motored into the final reef system, before Daliconi village. After MOONFISH had cleared the last major reef pass, Sasha climbed down from sitting on the stack pack (one of the highest vantage points on MOONFISH) and was walking back to the cockpit where Mike was, when they both noticed a yacht motoring quickly to their port side. Way out of the line of all the other yachts. The cautious fleet was following one by one in a line navigating through the reef passes. The yacht was heading straight towards the reef, Mike had just called them on 16VHF to warn them when all of a sudden it was too late, the yacht hit the reef, it?s bow well out of the water, as it tried in vain to motor itself off the bommie. Mike slowed down and turned around to offer assistance, one of the men from the yacht jumped in the water. Sasha got on VHF8 and called to all the yachts behind, some of which had started to follow the stricken yacht. ?Do not follow X yacht! Do not follow X yacht!? Shortly after the yachts reformed the single file line, and slowly made it through the pass, while the man in the water made it to MOONFISH's transom, to discuss options, and ask what the tide was doing and discuss whether we could get a line to their yacht to tow it off. At that point, a local fishing long boat turned up, along with a large monohull with a much larger engine than
MOONFISH, and offered a tow. So, Sasha and Mike moved on, as there was a bit of rubber necking going on, but not before Mike offered assistance again via 16VHF to the yacht and said we would go anchor up and sort out a plan with other yachts that could help. Just after anchoring, the yacht was towed to freedom, much to the relief of everyone. This was one of the most sobering moments we have had so far aboard MOONFISH, to make it all that way and then come unstuck in the last 30mins of the passage is heart wrenching, and Sasha couldn?t help but think about how horrid it would be for MOONFISH to be in that situation, our home? stranded, and in such an unfamiliar place. Thank goodness, the yacht in question was very sturdy, and only needed a little patch up job on the keel.
With the drama over, we surveyed our new neighbourhood, Daliconi Village, and tried to calm down a little as the adrenalin was in full force. Mahia with Mal-ilbu and Pauline (the first boat to make it to the final waypoint) were anchored off to our starboard, and low and behold in front of them was Sharpe Focus with Pip and John on the stern, welcoming us with a friendly wave, (We first met Pip and Sharpy at Swashbucklers in Auckland, New Zealand, on the evening that Mike had put his house up for auction, we were sitting in the bar, tending to a much needed calming beer, as the house was sitting with the sole bidder but had not reached the reserve, and they had 24hours to make a decision as to what they were going to do, suffice to say we were anxious as the house sale was required to fund getting MOONFISH to Cat 1 status). Anyway, Sasha was sitting on the stack pack (it holds the mainsail when not in use), to get a better view of any potential coral bommies that may cause issues if we swung on anchor. Her long-distance eyesight isn't the best, so it took her a while to figure out that it was none other than Sharp Focus. It was good to see them and while we
waited to start the clearance process, Pip and John rode over in their tender to catch up, they were
in good spirits and happy to be adventuring around the beautiful Lau.
A short while later the Biosecurity and quarantine officials came on board, the quarantine lady was
a local from Daliconi village, but the Biosecurity man was from Suva, which must be cooler in
climate than Daliconi, as he suffered badly from the same affliction as Mike, and could not stop his
face from sweating. Poor man, Sasha gave him several handy towels to manage the moisture.
Next was the Yacht Help agent Eli who came aboard selling us a Fiji SIM card that we can?t seem to get working here due to a lack of coverage, then three customs and immigration women who completed our clearance and approved our Fiji Cruising Permit, enabling us to cruise all around Fiji. It was nice for once not to shell out several hundred dollars to clear a country, as it had all been taken care of via the Island Cruising Association fee we had paid to be on the rally.
Once we were officially accepted into Fiji we headed over to Mahia, and enjoyed a cold beer, our reward for one of the most challenging passages (according to Sasha). We were all so tired that one beer was enough to feel the affects, and as Mike opened another, Sasha thought it prudent to get an early dinner sorted so there was some substantial food in everyone?s tummies before bedtime, (which turned out to be 6pm). Sasha headed back to MOONFISH around 3pm and started preparing yet another fuss free, awesome, cruising recipe from the Boat Galley book, plainly called Chicken and Rice Casserole, Sasha thinks it should be called Creamy baked Italian Chicken & Almost Risotto. Sasha knows she is going on and on about this Boat Galley Cookbook, but it really is such a great reference on a boat. The recipes often require American brands, but what is so good is the substitution chapter, that tells you how to make virtually any of the American shelf stable products if you don?t have them. This recipe called for something called ?Good Seasons Italian dressing mix? and a 10 ounces (yes there is a measurement conversions chapter too!) of cream of mushroom soup, two things not aboard MOONFISH. So, Sasha made up the substitute ?almost? Good Seasons Italian dressing mix with all the base spices and herbs she had provisioned, and then made up a substitute version of a cream of mushroom soup with milk powder, oxo chicken cubes, the dressing mix, and a can of mushrooms in butter plus a few other ingredients. Then she wacked it in the oven for 45mins to bake, and headed back to Mahia for another beer. Malibu, Pauline, Pip and Sharpy came to dinner that night, and with a few cans of Ratatouille we had a very tasty after passage meal that everyone enjoyed. Sasha was rather pleased with herself, especially after the baked cheesecake didn?t turn out as flash as she had hoped. After our early dinner, Sasha sent a very tired looking Pauline and Malibu home so they could get the rest they needed, and Pip and Sharpy left too so that Mike and Sasha could settle in for the night. Before bed, Mike and Sasha had a cuppa and tried the cheesecake again, this time with a little splash of maple syrup in the pineapple and lime drizzle. WOW! What a difference that made! Perhaps it was the tired state their taste buds were in, or perhaps after the overnight chilling of the gingernut base and yoghurt cream cheese filling but the cheesecake was far more delicious than the fresh out of the oven ?warm? version, and very easy to eat indeed. It was then that Sasha decided it would be good enough to share, and promptly made a mental note to bring a large slice over to Mahia in the morning so they could try it.
More to come, about our adventures visiting Daliconi village, and tips and tricks on how to use up left over Italian flavoured rice for dinner.
PS ? hello to our Australian contingent, Auntie Patty and Uncle Craig, we hear from Mappy you are reading our updates, and think we are very adventurous, after this passage Sasha thinks she?s probably just a little crazy doing this ha!

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