Domini

G’day Boatblog® fans,

And Merry Christmas from The Land Down Under.

Though it does seem strange to have a Christmas tree in 30ºC

Yes – we finally made it to Oz. We arrived just as the sun was setting, 

…so we had to anchor out and wait for morning to clear customs and immigration.

There was a time when all you had to do to enter Australia was steal a sheep, and in more recent times hand over a tenner. But nowadays it’s a little trickier. Before you can officially enter, you have to go through Biosecurity. It’s all very friendly and efficient, but the boat has to be fully inspected inside and out – they even have sniffer dogs – not so much looking for illegal drugs but checking for invasive species of insects or plants. They’re worried about you bringing in a cockroach. This, in the land of the Funnel Web and the Death Adder.

We landed in Bundaberg because we had joined the Down Under Rally which is based there – not as some have suggested because that’s where they make all the rum.  The Down Under Rally is great and among other things, they put on lectures about sailing the east coast of Oz,

And they throw parties – lots of parties – film nights, jam sessions and barbies. (That’s barbecues for those of you who don’t speak Australian) This one featured a one man band – not just a bass drum, elbow tambourine and a mouth organ here. This was didgeridoos, Ry Cooder guitar and a load of ethnic percussion. Brilliant.

But soon it was time to move on, as we needed to be south of Brisbane by December to be out of the cyclone zone.

So we headed south past Fraser Island. Which is a pretty scary place. It has crocodiles, great white sharks, dingos, brown snakes, and spiders. Not to mention deadly stinging jelly fish. 

We were told to be, “…alert, not alarmed,” though if a crocodile isn’t a reason to be alarmed it makes you wonder what is. 

So we stayed alert. We were told to carry sticks, and stand back-to-back if you were attacked by a pack of dingos.

No worries.

We did see one dingo but he kept his distance, probably because he could see we were armed and dangerous.

We also saw a  brown snake – the second most poisonous snake in the world – which alas we don’t have a picture of as it is hard to take photos and run at the same time.

But not all of the animals in Australia are deadly.

We went to The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. For thirty dollars you could actually hold one.

Thirty bucks! They must think we’re a few stubbies short of a six pack.

But the roos were cute, especially the little joeys.

We went for a walkabout in the rainforest.

What lives in here?

Probably something lethal, so we didn’t go in to find out.

Brisbane seemed strangely familiar.

Is it just me or does that look like a mini Southbank? They’ve even called it Southbank.

We – well, Lyn – decorated the good ship Domini for Christmas,

…before it was time to get her taken out of the water,

…and put on the hardstand, somewhere between Superyacht Marina and Multihull Central.

She’ll be right.

And now it was time for us to fly across the Outback and home for Christmas.

It makes you realise how massive Australia really is.

Catch you later cobbers.

Ju & Lyn

Oh, before we go – here’s a picture of a cool looking tree, for no other reason than…er.. it’s a cool looking tree.

Salut Bateaublog® fans,

As you may have guessed, we are back in the French South Pacific, this time at Nouvelle Caledonie, or as you probably know it, New Caledonia. It looked pretty idyllic when we arrived, even though there were big waves and 4 knots of current against us when we went through the pass.

Fiji and Vanuatu were both fantastic in their different ways, but we have to say it is great to be able to have a Carrefour and some fabulous French restaurants.

Here at the Boatblog® we don’t normally post pictures of our lunch as to be honest we think it’s a bit naff, but it has been so long since we had a fillet steak we decided to make an exception. Bon appetit!

Unfortunately the day we arrived was a Bank Holiday Monday. Actually, that’s not strictly true. We arrived on a Friday. The Bank Holiday was actually on the Tuesday – November 1st. So of course that meant that the Monday had to be made into a Bridging Holiday so that no one went back to work for just one day. And because there was a holiday on the Tuesday, that meant you had to stop work at 11am on the Friday otherwise it wouldn’t have been much different from a normal weekend. So having arrived in New Caledonia at first light on Friday, we had a frantic dash round to Immigration, then Customs, then Bio-security before they all shut – and we’d have had to stayed on the boat until they all opened up again on the Wednesday. Glad to say we made it all just in time.  

C’est la vie.

Noumea, which is the capital city, is very like Pape’ete in Tahiti, except with a lot more money,

…which comes from the nickel mine that they have on the island – apparently 40% of the world’s nickel comes from here. You see a lot of Porsches and the like, which it is fair to say was not true in Fiji or Vanuatu – or even French Polynesia.

But here there is enough money to be able to observe the trickle down effect in action.

You can’t come to New Caledonia without going to the world famous…

…Iles des Pins. Which doesn’t mean the Islands of Pins, but the Islands of Pines. And you can see why.

Pines everywhere you look.

We went on the tourist bus on a trip around the island.

A bit clapped out, but we went to all the best places.

We picked coconuts, 

…which were super fresh.

Saw the war memorial…

And generally had a very nice time.

Of course, we can’t come to a Pacific Paradise without doing a bit of diving, 

…where you could even catch your own lunch.

We shall spare you the photos of the wall of sharks and the grouper and the eels because here at the Boatblog® we never want to repeat ourselves and you’ve seen all that already in the episodes from Polynesia. 

So that just leaves us time for the Arty Farty Competition and this time there is just one entry from Lyn.

We can’t actually remember what it is so it doesn’t have a title – it’s either the ceiling or the floor – but as the only entry we declare Lyn the winner.

A number of our fans have asked us about how the blog is put together. Obviously there is a huge team behind such a prestigious project, and it takes a considerable amount of hours and expertise to come up with such an international product. Nevertheless, in the style of Blue Planet and others, we are prepared to give you a quick peak just some of the work that goes on behind the scenes. 

That’s all for now as we need to get ready to set sail for Australia, and the water is so clear here that seems like a good time to go and give the the hull a scrape. 

They won’t let you into the land down under with barnacles on your bottom (ooh missus!)

So it’s au revoir for now, and g’day next time we speak.

Ju & Lyn

(What – no sunset? Ed)

Oh, go on then.

Hello again Boatbloggers®

The next leg of our circumnavigation takes us to the island of Tanna in Vanuatu, famous for its active volcano – Mount Yasur. The glow from it was apparently what attracted Captain Cook to land here in 1774, and now all those years later it has worked it’s magic once again on the crew of Domini. 

But first we had to bid a fond farewell to Fiji. It has been a wonderful adventure and we wished we could have stayed longer. The staff at the marina came to wish us bon voyage with a traditional Fijian song, and presented us with local flowers.

We were sorry to leave.

Unfortunately our last few weeks in Fiji were tinged with sadness as Ju’s mum died and we had to return to England for the funeral. But at least she is now back together with Pa, and the Two Ronnies are reunited.

So it’s goodnight from him, and it’s goodnight from her. Night Ma, we are going to miss you.

Our first stop was Port Resolution, named after Captain Cook’s ship.

We thought Port Domini sounded better, but since he got here first, he got to choose. He also called the islands the New Hebrides, but on Independence was over ruled and it became the Republic of Vanuatu. So maybe it’s not too late.

We were greeted by Stanley from the local village who arranged all the immigration and customs formalities for us at the Yacht Club.

Stanley then took us on a guided tour of his village, where they still live in the traditional wooden houses with reed roofs.

They may look flimsy, but even in a cyclone they last longer than a British Prime Minister. Or a lettuce.

There is an active construction programme,

…and the canoes are still made from tree trunks using nothing more than an axe.

As luck would have it, the next day was our anniversary. 27 years and never a cross word. So we went to the local restaurant,

…and had a romantic dinner for eight, with our new found friends from Askari, Acushnet and 2K.

But we hadn’t come here for the gourmet cooking, good though it was. We had come to see the volcano. 

All up the side of the mountain the steam comes out through the ground, making for a natural sauna. 

And the Tannans (if that’s the right word) use the hot clay for face and body paint.

Not sure it looks quite so good on Ju.

But we wanted to get even closer, so Stanley arranged for a pick up truck to er…pick us up,

…and off we went to the rim of the Fire Mountain.

It was quite a climb to the top, 

But worth it.

It was quite scary when the volcano exploded, but it was all very sulphur-y so if you got nervous and let one rip, no one really noticed.

They told you not to lean on the barriers.

Just in case. 

History doesn’t tell us what happened to the people who leaned on these.

It was all pretty spectacular.

The next day we went to the market in the main town of Lenakel. There is no proper road, so it was back into the 4 wheel drive and out across the ash plains.

It’s quite a bumpy ride,

…so you need to keep getting out for a break.

The market had all the fresh fruit and veg you could want.

And there was even an Academy of Music.

They are very conscious of the effects of climate change in the South Pacific. This was on the wall of the restaurant.

Which roughly translates as “Protect all marine life. It belongs to you.” Not a bad sentiment.

Tanna is an amazing island and it is a shame we couldn’t spend longer here, or be able to visit the other islands in Vanuatu. We’re now waiting for a weather window to sail to New Caledonia.

Tankiu Tumas for reading. (That’s “Thank you too much,” in Bislama.)

There’s just enough time for a few entries for the Arty Farty prize.

Well, to be honest they’re not really entries for the Arty Farty competition – to be honest we can’t even remember who took them – they’re just more gratuitous photos of the volcano.

And why not? It’s pretty special.

So it’s Lukim Yu from all of us here in Tanna.

Lukim Yu

Ju & Lyn

Bula Bula Boatblog® Fans,

The most exciting thing about this blog is not that we went diving with bullsharks – though that is pretty exciting, more of that later – but that we had a visitor from back home.

Our very old friend Sally came to stay for a few weeks.

Among other things, Sally is a keen diver, which gave Ju a great excuse to do lots and lots of diving.

She is also a keen underwater photographer with a very fancy camera. You will be pleased to know that we have edited her photos down from four thousand and seventy two, to just three hundred and six.

We even did a freediving course, which is amazing. Ju went from being able to hold his breath from just 40 seconds, to almost two minutes, and got down to 16m. Which comes in very handy when you are snorkelling with mantas, who can hold their breath for a lot longer than that.

But the highlight has to be the dive with the bullsharks.

Sorry about the camera shake. Actually, it’s not camera shake. It’s cameraman shake. Those sharks are BIG.

You swim down to about 20 meters and then a kamikaze diver starts feeding the sharks. Not by hand of course, but on a large pole. He wears metal gloves, but these amazing creatures have mouths bigger than your head so that’s not going to help much. I asked him how long he had been doing this, and he said he started on Saturday which was a bit worrying.

They use these little poles to keep the sharks from eating the customers, while you sit behind a protective safety wall that they’ve built, 

….though you can’t help thinking, “What if they come from behind?”

At least you don’t have to pay until after the dive, so if you do get eaten you haven’t lost anything.

Sadly, lots of them had been injured by fishing hooks, which you could see dangling out of their mouths with the wire still attached.

They are very big, very aggressive and they come very close. You could easily reach out and touch them if you didn’t mind losing an arm.

They are absolutely magnificent.

But as well as being a diver, Sally also likes fishing. We have to confess that the good ship Domini’s fish catching record has not been great; so far we’ve only managed to catch one size 12 wellie. But Sally is an expert. She was taught by her brother Paul who is a fly fishing champion. At least, he’s got all the right gear and talks a good game, even if he doesn’t catch much. So were looking forward to a fantastic fish supper.

And here we are, enjoying a fantastic hog roast.

The fishing could have gone better.

This is the one that got away.

One evening we were invited to an Indo-Fijian religious festival by our new friends Ravi and Anjani. There was a fantastic band, 

…though they didn’t do much in the way of blues so Ju couldn’t really join in.

And Sally tried the Kava.

Very nice. Though she thinks she’ll stick with the Sauvignon Blanc. And lots of it.

Just time for our arty farty competition. First entry is from Sally called “Giant Clam.”

Pretty amazing. Next up is Ju with his “Cool Cave.”

And finally, Sally’s “Jaws.”

Or should that be “Gums?”

And the winner is….

“Jaws.” Well done Sally.

You can come again.

Bula Vinaka, and Moce for now.

Ju & Lyn

Bula Bula Boatbloggers®

Lyn left Fiji for England on July 4th – Independence Day! Though whether it was Ju or Lyn who were getting independent is a moot point. Fortunately, there were lots of friends that we have met along the way who were staying in the marina, so though Ju was a long way from home, he was not alone.

Here he is with Julie from Lola, and Petra, Richard & Laura from Celtic Star. I’m not sure Ju would have got away with that shirt if Lyn had been here.

Then Andrew & Joe turned up from Accomplice, so to celebrate we went to the best curry house in town.

(What is it with these shirts? – Ed)

One day a group of us decided to go to Natadola beach, so we rented a car, tapped it into Google maps and off we went. Unfortunately Google Maps doesn’t take you to Natadola Beach. It takes you to a tiny out of the way village so far off the beaten track that you could never find it again. And the little village not wanting to miss a trick has started to make a nice little business from all the lost tourists who end up there by mistake. (No doubt Google are on some sort of commission. Or will be as soon as they read this.)

So for a few dollars, Jimbo from the village,

…will take you to all the places that Google doesn’t reach.

There was horse riding,

…with a massage to follow for those of us who weren’t used to being on a horse. Then the caves, where they used to hide from the enemy during the Fijian Wars.

Nice view.

But we all made it through.

We went fishing.

And a slap up meal with freshly caught lobsters in the village to finish.

If Google had been any better we’d have missed all that.

Another exciting day out was at the rugby International. Fiji vs Australia. Rugby is a really big deal in Fiji, and it starts of with the Fijian version of the Haka which is called the Cibi,

… a war ritual designed to terrify the enemy into an early surrender. A great start to the game that must have put fear into the hearts of the Australians. It was a shame Fiji lost after all that.

At this time of year, the Sugar Trains all come out, transporting the sugar cane from one place to another.

“Be careful with all that sugar cane,” grumbled Thomas, “Looks like it’s going to fall off.”

“Oh, no,” said the Fat Controller. “That will never do.”

Another fun day out was at the dunes, which are massive.

…and knackering to climb. One step forward and half a slide back.

Swimming isn’t recommended.

Another example of health and safety gone reasonable.

And grazing in the forest is forbidden.

Though no one seems to have told the cows.

That’s it for now Boatblog® Fans. Vinaka for reading, and it won’t be long before Lyn’s back.

And (sneak preview) a very special guest. 

So things are going to get pretty wild.

Moce for now.

Ju

Bula Bula Boatbloggers ®

We had a couple of weeks to get to Vuda which is where are going to moor the boat (thats park it for you landlubbers) while Lyn goes back to England to see baby Magnus and Orson not to mention Rory, Joe and Alice. So we thought we would call in at some of the islands on the way back from the Lau Islands.

This was where they filmed Castaway. 

We looked out for Wilson, but no matter how much we shouted his name, “Wilson! WILSON!!” he was gone.

We couldn’t stop at some of the islands because they are filming the TV series of Survivor here, and given that the contestants are supposed to be marooned on an deserted island with nothing to eat apart from what they catch with their bare hands, the producers thought it might not be too good if there were people supping cocktails on a yacht in the background.

But the ones we could stop at were well worth it.

The snorkelling is fabulous,

…though you have to watch out for sea snakes,

…which are ten times more poisonous than a cobra. Though apparently they never bite people. But that didn’t stop Ju from climbing over Lyn to get back on the boat.

The beaches are deserted.

Eventually we arrived at Musket Cove where we were offered Lifetime Membership of the Yacht Club, which is only available to the most elite of sailors – the ones who sailed here from a foreign port. Which is basically everyone here.

Our steering was starting to give us problems, but once again Troels and Karsten on Atreju came to the rescue and got it all working again. 

We are going to miss Atreju when they head off ahead of us to Vanuatu and beyond. And not just because they keep on mending our boat! They are great people to spend time with. And they have an uncanny ability to find the local speakeasy on islands where alcohol is forbidden.

They are very thirsty on Atreju…

We just stuck to the Thali’s.

Not bad for four quid!

Lyn wanted to look good before she went back, and there was just time to go to the local beauty centre for a cleansing mud bath, and a dip in the hot springs.

There were four pools to dip in to clean the mud off which got progressively hotter as you went round, starting at bath temperature and then going up to boiled lobster, all followed by a nice massage.

But by the time you read this, Lyn will be back in England.

So its Moce from Ju and it’s bye bye from Lyn.

But before we go, did you know you can get pink bananas?

Amazing!

Bula Bula Boatblog ® Fans,

In Fiji, even the plants are welcoming.

Our last instalment left you just as we had arrived at The Bay of Islands in Vanua Balavu which is the main island in the Lau Group. It is all very remote and stunningly beautiful, and we were the only boat there. 

Well almost – our friends on Atreju were in the bay round the corner which was nice – but apart from that we had The Bay of Islands to ourselves.

We stayed a few days there and then went round to the other side of the island, eventually ending up in a little village called Susui. 

Fortunately for us, the day the we arrived there was an important festival going on. The roving church minister was coming to the island and they were all looking forward to hearing The Word of God. As part of the preparations for his arrival, they had arranged an enormous feast, and Domini and Atreju were lucky enough to be invited. They asked us to dress for dinner, so using some of Lyn’s sarongs we improvised a traditional sulu, which is the Fijian skirt that the men wear for special occasions.

The feast was mostly fish caught that day or freshly harvested taro and coconut,

…all cooked in an underground earth oven.

It was absolutely delicious,

… though we were a little squeamish about eating the turtle.

The next day Jacob who is one of the village elders, said he would take us out on an oyster hunt.

The oysters grow on the mangroves and you have to dive under the roots and then whack them off with a hammer.

To the untrained eye, they are almost impossible to see.

But with a bit of perseverance,

…and a lot of help from Jacob,

…it wasn’t long before we had a bucketful of oysters.

Add some lime juice and bongo chilli and you have a really delicious slap up meal. 

Even for an oyster-phobe like Ju.

Thank you Jacob!

But now we have to race back to the main Fijian Island of Viti Levu, so that Lyn can get back home. 

Because the most exciting news of this blog is that Alice & Ben have had another baby.

Bula Bula Magnus!

Ju & Lyn

What – no sunsets? – Ed

Oh, go on then.

Bula Bula Boatbloggers®

Welcome to Paradise! The water is crystal clear, the weather is glorious, and the people must be the friendliest in the world. Everywhere you go people smile and shout out “Bula Bula,” which means “Hello Hello,” which is not something that happens often in Brentford.

And after French Polynesia, everything seems so cheap! To be honest after French Polynesia even Knightsbridge seems cheap, but here you can get a fantastic curry with drinks for less than a fiver. Which is great for the bank balance but less good for the waistline.

One of the main things to do here is go snorkelling amongst the coral. It’s soft coral in Fiji, so it’s a bit rubbery – not that we touched it – rather than the hard stone-like texture of the coral in French Polynesia. And the colours are amazing.

No filters – honest.

There are fewer fish than French Polynesia – or maybe we just can’t see them. This is a scorpion fish.

If you can’t see it, scroll down to the end for a couple of pointers.

We had a day out on Fiji’s third biggest island Taveuni, with the crew of Atreju.

That’s (L to R) Ju, Andreus, Karston & Marcus.

The International Dateline runs right through the middle of the island.

So that’s Tuesday on the left, and Monday on the right. Which is all a bit confusing when you’re trying to ring someone back home. And if you follow the line all the way round for about 12,000 miles you end up in Greenwich.

Fiji is very into its rugby, and it is amazing that such a small country has produced such world class teams, and they are very proud of that. In fact to celebrate their achievements in rugby sevens, they’ve produced some seven dollar notes.

Which is great, though it would have been more useful if they’d produced some three dollar notes as well.

And now, a couple of items from our occasional series called Why Women Live Longer Than Men.

All in all, it’s a bit nicer than Brentford Fountain Leisure Centre, though the water is colder than it looks.

After all that, I think we deserve a bit of a rest.

And this edition’s arty farty prize has two entries. Lyn’s “Waterfall,”

And Ju’s “Three Little Fishes.”

And the winner is Ju. Well done Ju – you win seven dollars.

And just to give you a sneak prevue of the next edition of TheBoatBlog.com® we have just arrived in The Bay Of Islands in Vanua Balavu, which is part of the Lau Group. We’re the only boat here and it is like something out of Peter Pan.

Which just leaves us time to say Moce! (Pronounced something like More d’they) Which is Fijian for bye bye.

Ju & Lyn

Oh – and in case you couldn’t find it – this is the scorpion fish.

*hello from Savusavu – our port of entry in Fiji

I don’t know why they say everything twice in the South Pacific, but it’s catching. So Bula Bula from the Boatblog Boatblog ® ®

We had our permissions to go to Fiji, our exit documents from French Polynesia, the tanks were filled, the boat was stocked, and we were ready to go. Except the weather wasn’t right.

Eventually after a week of mooching about, checking the weather forecast every thirty minutes hoping that something would change even though it only updates every 12 hours, and having more farewell parties than Elton John, we slipped the mooring ball and were off.

At first we headed slightly North to find the winds and then it was Westward Ho! Unfortunately not All Points West, as the Cook Islands and Tonga were still closed because of Covid, so it was going to be a non-stop passage to Fiji of about 1,700 miles. Roughly two weeks at sea, and our first long passage for just over two years. So we weren’t even sure if we could remember how to do it.

And what a passage it was. We did it all. Close hauled, reaching, broad reaching, goose winging and even a bit of motor sailing. The reefs were in and out, the screecher got an airing, we gybed, we tacked. It was like doing a yachtmaster exam. Sometimes we were virtually becalmed, and others we had over 30 knots of wind and were sailing at more than 12 knots.

Which is not going to win us the Americas Cup, but it’s fast enough to make your bones rattle. Domini was in her element with the difficult weather as this is exactly what she has been built for. (The crew on the other hand have been built for sipping cocktails on a balmy sea as the wind pushes them gently west. But they coped too.)

Sailing by moonlight is very nice.

Simple everyday things can become difficult when you are constantly rockin’ and rollin’ on a boat. Jenga for example is out. Even cooking can be dangerous and Lyn scalded herself once when the boat suddenly tipped – not too badly we’re glad to say. And shaving can leave you looking like you’ve had a date with Sweeney Todd. At one point after a particularly unexpected lurch Ju managed to squirt himself in the eye with his aftershave – not something he recommends – even though his eyeball did smell lovely afterwards. (We are pleased to say that both of the ship’s company have made a full recovery.)

I was given a drone by a very generous friend (you know who you are) but we haven’t dared to use it yet. The problem is that it this feature that means it always lands in the same place as it took off, which is a bit tricky when you’re on a boat that keeps on moving. So this is the best drone photo we can manage right now.

Watch out for some more fabulous drone footage in future editions of the boatblog.com ®

You can’t bring food from abroad into Fiji, so we had to make sure that we ate everything before we arrived. Ju was put in charge of eating the cheese and salami while Lyn specialised in biscuits. I think it’s fair to say they both did a fine job. Lyn was particularly conscientious and we actually ran out of biscuits three days before we arrived.

Like Phileas Fogg we forgot about the International Dateline – which for the landlubbers amongst you is not the local version of Tinder. It’s where East meets West and you can skip a day just by crossing a line. This is the actual moment of crossing…

and is exactly halfway round the world from Greenwich.

We had thought we would arrive on Thursday which we did. French Polynesian time. But unfortunately on the other side of the dateline it was already Friday. Mr Fogg gained a day because he was going round the world the other way, but we lost one. All very confusing, and part of the rich tapestry that is the happy lot of the international yachtsman.

But before we go, a big shout out to the genius that is Chris Tibbs. He did our weather routing for us, and managed to usher us through the ITCZ*, the troughs, the fronts, the highs and the lows and thanks to him we managed to miss the worst of weather. Which even though we are out of the cyclone season can get quite nasty in this part of the world.

Thank you Chris. Great job.

*Inter Tropical Convergence Zone – they used to call it the Doldrums. And as you know being “…in the Doldrums” is not nice. Much better to be “…in the ITCZs,” even if it doesn’t sound quite so sawlty dog.

And this edition’s Arty Farty prize goes to Lyn for her photograph, Rainbow Smudge.

First impressions of Fiji are very nice.

Bye for now Boatbloggers ®

Ju & Lyn

Welcome back Boatbloggers ®

It’s been a long time since our last blog, but that is because there hasn’t been very much to report and here at theboatblog.com ® we are very conscious of not boring our readers. Like most people, our plans were quite badly disrupted by Covid and it has been something of a Groundhog Year. We came back home for Christmas, but apart from that we have been stuck in French Polynesia.

Which to be honest, hasn’t got us a lot of sympathy from our friends.

It’s been a relentless round of drinking,

Bonnet de douche Rodney, bonnet de douche.

Eating,

Er…drinking

Parties…

Happy Birthday Clare. (Note:- If you want to enter the “Guess the Age,” competition, the editors suggest you do it very carefully.)

Lyn was particularly hungry…

Didn’t you do anything else but eat and drink? – Ed

We also did some watersports. Every day Ju and Troels from Atreju entered the Paddle Board vs Va’a challenge. 

A va’a is one of those Polynesian canoes with the outrigger to help you balance. Though it is still quite possible to overturn it, as Ju proved three times in twelve minutes. 

It would be rude to say that Ju won every race, so we won’t do that here to save any embarrassment for Troels.

We went out on quad bikes with Andy and Clare from Tintamarre.

The Riders of the Lost ARC. Though we didn’t look quite so cool once we took off the helmets.

Diving…

Trekking…

But without a doubt, the highlight was that Rory and Emma came out to join us.

Yes..all in all it’s been a pretty tough lockdown.

We celebrated our Wedding Anniversary

More eating and drinking – Ed

And though it’s hard to believe given his youthful good looks, Ju turned 60. Yes. SIXTY! That is not a typo. Old enough for a bus pass. Who’d have thought it.

But it wasn’t all fun and games. We had to prepare the boat for the next leg of the journey. The anti-foul needed doing as the Great Barrier Reef had decided to move onto our hull, and the prop was in desperate need of some TLC

Before…

And after…

When we say we had to clean the prop, of course we mean we had to pay someone else to clean the prop. Good job CNI Boatyard in Raiatea.

Then the engine needed repairing. It was all a bit beyond Ju, but fortunately Carlos, Troels and Karsten all came over to lend a hand.

Thank you chaps. We couldn’t have done it without you.

And now, before we set sail for Fiji there is just time for the Arty Farty competition. We have only one entry from Ju called “Stripey Fish.”

And Stripey Fish is the winner. Well done Ju

All being well on Saturday we set sail for Savusavu in Fiji, about 1,700 Nautical Miles west. If you want to track us – and if you’ve read this far you just might – you can go to…

https://share.garmin.com/Domini

We’ve had a fantastic two years here in French Polynesia, and will be sad to leave. But it is time to move on and we are really looking forward to the next stage of our adventure.

Bye Bye Bora Bora.

Ju & Lyn