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Fiji, Baby! We made it back! What a ride! After a quite windy 2-1/2 day sail from Minerva Reef, we arrived at Vuda Marina in Fiji on Wednesday evening. To say the sail was “sporty” was an understatement. These were the strongest winds we have sailed in so far. We had sustained winds of 22-26 knots with gusts to 32 knots. Thankfully, the run was dead downwind the entire way, so that reduced the “apparent wind” that we experienced. Typically, dead downwind isn’t Meraviglia’s best point of sail, but the winds were strong enough that she flew! We averaged about 175 nautical miles per 24 hours. We also had following seas with waves of 2-3 meters, so we often found ourselves “surfing” down large waves. This temporarily pushed our speeds over 10 knots quite often and we once topped out at 15.2 knots. Meraviglia’s not doing that without a big assist from gravity! The waves also resulted in a lot of roll, so we had to be careful to hold on tight. Happily though, nothing broke, there were no injuries, and we arrived just before sunset, giving us good daylight to enter the harbor. Vuda Marina is where we checked in last year, and it was again a wonderful experience, with the marina staff welcoming us with music and singing.

Roll is very hard to capture as an image. This is my best attempt. Check out the horizon!

We spent the next couple of days cleaning up and resting up. Everything was covered in salt water, of course, so a thorough wash was in order. We also were able to rinse and dry our lines, and make a few minor repairs. The one major thing I was concerned about was our macerator pump. That is the pump that empties our holding tank overboard at sea. When I went to empty the tank before entering the harbor, it quit. That’s bad. Because a full holding tank without any way to empty it? Unpleasant. (Holding tank = black water tank = where the toilet water goes = well, you get the gist) Anyway, I had visions of having to remove the macerator pump from the outflow line and repair or replace it-not pleasant. But happily, I tried to clear a potential blockage first. I blew compressed air through the vent line into the tank and then out the through-hull. It took a fair amount of pressure, but finally, the tank vented through the through-hull and I think we’re back in business. Whew! It’s always something.

We also made a provisioning run to the Nadi Market. It’s always a great experience-so many local vendors selling an amazing array of fruits, vegetables, spices, and seafood. YUM!

Today, we rented a car and went with some friends to Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park. It is Fiji’s oldest national park and the views are stunning. It was cloudy and tried to rain on and off, but still a beautiful spot. We are going to spend another couple of days here in the marina to let a front go past and then we’ll head out to explore more of Fiji!