From Musket to Denarau and Back to Vuda Pt

We certainly have had an interesting adventure in the last few weeks. It began with bringing in the new birthday year for Suzi, with a new Fiji dress and cocktail party hosted by David on Sidewinder, followed by a special dinner at Dick's Restaurant. The following week included playing tennis, surfing and snorkeling, opening the new Island Bar with our friends, along with the wonderful gift of testing out our dive gear with Dels, who guided us out Wilks Pass with a large, friendly turtle, a huge ray, two eels, and lots of very colorful fish and coral. Unfortunately, the effects of a fall I took a week earlier, along with an unidentifiable infection with fever, left me flat so we headed for Prt Denarau where we could find a doctor. We were greeted by the HARD Rock Cafe's rendition of the song "YMCA" and, since they dance to it every 2-3 hours, it will live in our memories forever.:)) We were able  to do lots of shopping for specialty items, visit  a wonderful doctor who diagnosed me with a UTI  (urinary tract infection) and put me on a strong anti-biotic, we enjoyed, again, some special time with friends, and finally escaped last Thursday. Sailing back to Vuda Pt  was a real treat and our dear friends Peter and Diana on Quickstar, Ricki on Guava Jelly,  and the marina locals greeted us with open arms. We were hoping to find our new chain here, but, unfortunately it has not arrived yet. We had a fabulous "thirsty thursday" afternoon/evening with Diana and Peter and they have since left for Musket Cove. We had hoped to get back out there by Saturday, but hopefully our chain will arrive sometime today and we will not have to come back for a while. Meanwhile, we have been enjoying our time with Ricki and some other friends from Seattle, as well as watching the launching of the new viewing/restaurant/bar Cloud9 platform which will be placed out inside the reef at Cloudbreaks, an internationally known surf break here near Tavarua. Wow! It is beautiful and an inspiration to all the Fijians who worked on it. Tony, the son of the Vuda Pt marina owner, had the vision and helped to make it happen. What will it do to the ambience of the surf break? Who knows. Saturday all the bigtime surfers will be out there competing in the huge waves (which are coming up in the next few days). Meanwhile, we hope to go back out and join Quickstar in Musket and perhaps do some real venturing for a few more weeks. It is raining right now, so the weather will direct us from now on, and we do hope our chain arrives today..  Hope the summer is bringing the sun, blue skies, and warm water to all. We love you,  Suzi and David

               David and Dels get all of our gear ready for our test dive out at Namotu and Wilks Pass.

       A wonderful dive included a special turtle, huge ray, two eels, colorful fish and coral, and great fun! The small island of Namotu is in the background with it's small resort catering to surfers.

                                             Del's first time on a sailboat.......very special!

         Opening the Island Bar, which was destroyed by the cyclone, was a festive event shared by all.

         Steve( USA ), John ( Brazil ), and Julian ( New Zealand ) are great, funny, spirited surfer sailors who know how to play hard and party harder.

 Even in Prt Denarau, the sunsets can be stunning. We enjoyed our time here with friends, Ernie, Geoff, Sue and Andrew.

 Marginal pictures still portray the warm energy of our reunion with Canadian friends, Peter and Diana

                                           Sidewinder comes "home" to Vuda Point for a visit.

                                This is the floating platform that will be moored just inside Cloudbreaks.

                Suzi may be the first sexy young girl to belly up to the bar, even if it's only for a morning coffee !!

The wood work on the platform was all done by a local shipbuilder and take it from this old carpenter, it's all   first rate.

During its launch, they used logs wrapped in a protective cloth to roll it out into the arms of the waiting tide.

                                          This shot was taken the afternoon before its  launch.

                             Floated off the sand by the full moon tide, it was pulled out to sea by the research ship
" Ice " and soon will find it's way out to it's new home in the protected area inside the reef off Tavarua.