Sailing and living in Fiji ?

Moored Southace. The only marina this side is at the Royal Suva Yacht club which is a den on iniquity and Royal in name only. It's apt that the Gaol is on the other side of the road!

I spent a bit of time there on the hard, super cheap, whilst I waited for the rain to stop so I could paint. Walking into the building for the first time took me back to my child hoof in the sixties in Tanzania. Not only was the building similar to the old mans club but it smelled exactly the same.

It's a really fun place to be.

I cannot speak of any other marinas other than Denerau where their sole aim is to get you to part with your life savings. It is also nicknamed Little America so no need to say anymore. Luckily the water outside the Marina is really benign, mostly sand and bugger all current. Only a problem in cyclones but then where aren't they. There is another marina at Vundu Point which looks quite well appointed but which I've only seen from the toad. It's about thirty is from Nadi and Denarau and you can also do the customs **** there.

Visas are quite simple. The biggest tip is to ensure that you notify them before you intend to set foot in the country as there is a big fine which they will enforce.

I lost my motor 300 miles out so couldn't sail into the designated area for customs inspection which cost me an arm and a leg. I also broke my aerial so could only receive on VHF and we ended up going ashore which is a big no no.

When you enter you get a three month pass which can be renewed for about FJ$150 for another three months before you have to go through the bull**** of leaving the country. I left the boat and went back to Aus by plane and came back on a one way ticket which had the Aussie chick at check in a bit flustered until she realised I genuinely Did have a boat in Fiji.

You have 18 months before you have to either bugger off or import her. Being as I'm staying I'm importing and get concessions as I'm claiming her as part of the business, %5 of value. It's not that big a hike to either Western Samoa or Tonga though so if you want to stay around you just have to do a quick trip out and back.

It's a great spot for sailing. There's the usual good vibe around the popular spots. Charts are a little suss so it's wise to make sure you have someone on the bow when inside the reefs and do it on a sunny day. The locals have a fairly loose interpretation of property ownership as they do wherever there is poverty. It's a very very good idea to purchase a stock of Kava and wherever you go to anchor ask to see the local headman and do a sevusevu ceremony which entails drinking some of it. They like to know who you are and what not and will welcome you to the village. That way you are less likely to lose anything!

Plus you get pissed on kave!

Oh and as to living here, if you can get used to the concept of island time you will love. Many cant and they hate it for that reason.

There's a lot of very happy ex pats here, some running slow businesses, many retired. It's cheap to live unless you like mod cons and want to import stuff.

Starting on business can be an absolute nightmare. Has been actually but I'm still happy nevertheless.

The best way to go about it is to hire a good consultant. I didn't!

We went on a cruise that stopped off at a few Fijian ports and from memory from wandering around Suva stuff was fairly expensive there

I think that iced vovo bickies (surely these would have to be a good indicator of the cost of living) were around $6 a packet and new vehicles were approx twice the cost of the same vehicle in Australia

we did stop at a servo and bought a bottled drink that was about half the cost of a similar drink here so perhaps it is swings and roundabouts

A nice place to visit with friendly locals though and I reckon Suva must have more buses than anywhere else I have ever seen at the bus station in town

Regards Don

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SandS said..
how many crew on board when you sailed over Japie ? what was the track and how long did the passages take ?

was the wind direction as expected ?

From Coffs to Port Mosell we had three. To Fiji two as one left to take up a job in France.

The wind was all over the shop all th way over although we were not in a hurry. We detoured to go to Lord Howe which was brilliant and then headed straight North to go to Elizabeth Reef. I don't know sure that we can claim being the only ones but not many have kited there. Absolutely massive, very little land showing, no vegetation on a tiny sand spit in the center. And the fishing was astounding.

From PM, once we rounded the southern tip, the wind picked up and we had a 25 knot southerly. I ballsed up and made the run for Fiji too soon as it swung to a SSE and we were headed into the wind. We then had a glass off for three days by which time the motor was useless as the bearings on the water pump had disentegrated so we just sat for three days. We did clean the hull!

Then when it started blowing it picked up to about forty knots SSE and the swell was massive. We had some one on the tiller permanently so there was a lot of getting wet. One wave actually filled the cockpit although I was asleep!

When we eventually got through the reef outside Nadi it was absolutely surreal. The wind was still in the same direction but we had to head NE up the coast and it was dead flat. Ricey woke at one stage and asked what speed we were getting. When I told him five knots he wouldn't believe it. Can understand why after all those potholes.

We had two major problems on the way over, not far out of Elizabeth reef. First the bracket on the yard broke and the sail came crashing down. That meant a trip to the top. Fortunately I have a Top Climber courtesy of the info posted by someone on here. Nevertheless it was a nightmare going up the mast out at sea even though the swell was not excessive. We were pretty much battered and bruised by the time we got it fixed. I drilled a hole through the yard and secured the halyard with rope. I've kept her that way since as I no longer trust metal where I can do with rope.

Anyhow about and hour and a half after we got going again down she comes again. This time the pulley had given up the effort so we had to repeat the whole process. We carried scars for weeks afterwards but fortunately I carry quite a selection of spares. Nevertheless I replaced the lot with some extremeley heavy duty, and extremeley expensive, gear in Port Moselle.

thanks Japie , please keep the info / reports / stories coming as you see fit.

sounds like an interesting lifestyle change you have made !!!