For those who think cruising life is easy or is “the life of Riley”, we’ve got some news …. it’s rarely ever easy! Aside from the daily tasks of water and power maintenance, the scavenger hunts we call grocery shopping, the litany of chores such as cleaning stainless, decks and woodwork, engine maintenance, sail maintenance, anchor monitoring to be sure you or you neighbors aren’t sliding, troubles at sea as well as hiding from the weather….there are the big problems. The ones that we have to fix to be able to live in our home and continue to sail.
Today we were all set to go to shore for some quick provisioning then come back and get ready for dinner with some friends who are here from New Zealand. As we were about to leave Dan noticed water coming out from the area under the seat at the table. That locker houses our Spectra water maker. We had it running and yep…it had sprung a leak! Arghhh!
We shut it down and headed to shore. We needed some provisions because we plan to leave tomorrow and Dan was certain it would be an easy fix. We shared a light lunch, got our supplies and then headed back to Dazzler so he could fix the leak and we could get ready to go to dinner.
There’s a saying in Water World that goes like this. “Every boat project is just one broken bolt away from being a three day event.” It’s a saying as true as “Nothing is free or easy in Water World.” Today it seems the “easy fix” comment was just waiting to bite us in the butt.
Dan replaced the end cap and put the water maker back together. We fired her up and within seconds he noticed another leak…this time in a piece of stainless tubing. Sure enough he found a hole in it. Okay, not a huge problem as we have a spare piece to replace it. Out comes the water maker again and he places it on the table. Understand that this is not a small piece of equipment and it’s rather awkward to handle. There’s the added issue that taking it apart means water … saltwater, goes everywhere. No, not a fun project at all but Dan, ever the patient man, continues to work on it. I call Sean and Donna and explain that we need an extra hour to which they say, “it’s all good”. I start getting ready for dinner while Dan continues to work.
With the tubing replaced he puts the water maker back together and hooks it up again. He has me fire it up while he looks to be sure there are no more leaks. I hear “shit” come from the other side of the counter. “Shut it down. We’ve got another leak.” He says.
“Another one? Really?” I question disappointingly. I know now this is going to be a much bigger deal than expected.
Sounds like we will not be going to dinner after all. I call Donna and Sean and let them know we’ve got a problem and can’t leave. You see, on land you turn on a spigot and water comes out…as long as you pay the bill of course. On a boat we either have to make our own water or we have to bring it in water jugs to the boat, which means we are tied to marinas and places where you can get good water. That can be a problem in third world countries. It’s also a problem when you have a nine day passage to get back to New Zealand coming up so Dan continues working.
I sit in the cockpit playing my tin whistle while enjoying the beautiful views while poor Dan is breaking his back to fix the water maker.
This time he replaces a bad O ring. Of course it requires the full removal of the water maker from the cabinet again. More water…more aggravation. I change clothes back into my boat attire and head to the cockpit. At this point I’m just trying to stay out of the way. The thing about boat projects is that they are messy and usually require a lot of things being strewn about as you dig through lockers to get to parts and tools so I know that keeping out of his way is the best way I can help.
It’s not long before I see Dan putting the unit back in the locker. From my seat at the helm I watch as he starts it up. I’m holding my breath this time and of course have said a little prayer. It runs for about thirty seconds. Dan kneels down in the locker and before I know it he’s turning it off again. It appears that the cylinder must have a small fissure in it.
This easy project has now become a huge problem because that’s a spare part we don’t have on the boat. Why? Well it’s an expensive one and one that isn’t likely to fail. What was that I said about the broken bolt and three days? Yes…this is going to be a much bigger deal. Of course the worst of it all is that we can’t just run up to the store and get one. Nope…it’s likely going to require having one ordered from the US and then shipped which makes an expensive part just that much more expensive. As we sit right now we are making water as the water maker leaks and we have a tub collecting the leakage. Tomorrow we will go to the marine store ashore to find out just how costly this is going to be and how long it will take to get the replacement cylinder. You know what they say about the word BOAT…Break Out Another Thousand.
I’m NOT complaining about our life….not in the slightest way. We absolutely love our life on Dazzler. We see places and do things that most people will never see or do. We are blessed beyond words with what we have here. The point is that it’s not an easy life out here like most people believe. We work our butts off to be able to do this. Whenever new cruisers ask our advice we always tell them that if you don’t absolutely love it and aren’t willing to work like a dog to do it then you shouldn’t even consider it.
Excuse me now as it’s time for us to clean up all the water and put the boat back together so we can move around again. After that I guess we’ll heat up some soup. It’s certainly not the meal we planned. HA HA!
The time finally came for Dan to head back to the states for his daughter’s wedding. This wasn’t the first time I’ve ever been left to run Dazzler alone but it was the longest time. He was going to be gone for 16 days! Running the water maker, managing power and all those good things are easy for me. I wasn’t worried at all about that. My concerns were the “out of the ordinary” things that can crop up without notice. You know, like bad weather, a problem with the head, the water maker springing a leak or stuff like that. Dan told me he had faith that I could handle whatever came up and I just needed to relax.
View from the Musket Cove Marina looking out toward the anchorage.
He offered to put her in the marina here at Musket Cove but honestly I prefer the mooring. It’s a lot less crowded and if I want to lay out on the Royal Swan floating off the back of Dazzler I can. Also, you don’t have all the tourists walking up and down the dock looking into the back of your boat. Of course, with this comes the fact that I have to dinghy back and forth to shore. If the anchorage is choppy or it’s raining I just have to deal with it. There’s also the fact that I rarely ever run the dinghy. In fact, prior to his leaving, the last time I actually ran the dinghy was two years ago when he left me alone on the boat in Mexico for the time.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not rocket science and I know that but it is something I take very seriously. Sparkle is our car and you have to be responsible when running her. And, I still am not comfortable with pulling up to the dock or maneuvering in tight places because I never do it. Honestly, I hate looking like an idiot or a newbie. Before Dan left he did try to get me to take control a few times near the dock but I refused. After all, if I’m going to look like a fool I’d prefer he not be there. And, there was the one time it was kind of rough as we were approaching Dazzler and I hit the gas instead of pulling back on the throttle. We went straight into Dazzler bounced off the side. I’m sure you can imagine how that went over…yes, sort of like a led filled balloon. But, he left and it was sink or swim time. Literally!
A couple days after Dan departed my dear friend, Donna, arrived in from New Zealand. Yes, believe it or not Dan left two women alone on Dazzler for a couple of weeks. Oh boy! He’s certainly a brave one.
The day Donna’s flight arrived I took the afternoon Malolo Cat ferry over to Port Denarau then caught a bus to the airport to meet her. Since her flight didn’t arrive until the late afternoon we had to stay at a hotel because the ferry would stop running before we could get back to the port.
Not wanting Donna to arrive and me not be there I made certain to leave very early and actually arrived at the airport about two hours before her flight. No biggie. I stopped in the bar there and had a couple of beers while watching all the tourists come and go. Here’s something interesting…A beer in the airport was just $6 FJD. That’s about $3 USD! It was actually cheaper than anyplace we have had a beer in this country. Who would have believed that?
Donna has arrived….let the fun begin!
Donna’s flight finally arrived and it was great to see her. Of course she brought me some goodies from the land of plenty too. Vodka (much cheaper in NZ than here), hot wing sauce, onion soup mix to make dip and some girlie things like hair masks and facial masks. Yes, it’s the little things that matter. The one thing I had asked for that didn’t make it through customs was canned chicken. You can’t get it here. She brought eight cans but they confiscated it because it was canned in Asia. This is actually pretty funny when you think of the fact that they have more Chinese crap in this country than you can shake a stick at but canned chicken is not allowed. Yes, I was pretty bummed but having Donna here made up for it.
We stayed at a little hotel on the beach called Traveler’s Beach Resort. It was really kind of a dive. It turns out that the photos online were a bit out dated. Don’t get me wrong, the room and sheets were clean but it’s definitely tired and has obviously seen better days. And it turns out it is more of a backpacker hotel. We were looking for a cheap hotel because we were only going to sleep there one night. Well, we got one!
That evening we sat at the picnic tables on the beach and had a few cocktails and a pizza. The pizza was definitely not tasty but the company was excellent. I’ve missed Donna since we’ve been in Fiji and it sure is fun to have a woman around for a change.
The hotel may have been a bust but we did enjoy a nice evening on the beach there.
The following day we took a taxi over to Port Denarau. After walking around the port for a bit we stopped back at Rhum-ba and had some lunch before the Malolo Cat arrived to take us over to Musket Cove. As usual the friendly staff at Rhum-ba took great care of us. They even let us leave Donna’s bags there while we walked around.
Donna loved the “hand” chair in Jacks of Fiji!
Before we knew it, it was time to get on the ferry. Now the wind had been blowing pretty good for the past two days so I was prepared for a pretty bumpy ride and that’s exactly what we got. I was a bit worried about Donna because I know she has said she can get seasick but she just kept her eyes on the horizon and made it with out issue.
As we rounded the northeast point of the island I started scanning the bay for Dazzler. After all, she was my sole responsibility and while I was gone overnight I had a nightmare that I had left on the gas and she exploded. She’s certainly a beauty to behold. I do love her so.
I also took notice of the sea state. Due to two days of 20-25 knot winds and a pretty serious storm the night before it was pretty chunked up in the anchorage. “Great, just great” I’m thinking. I’ve got to get Donna, a non-yachtie, and her luggage in the dink, to the boat and then onto the boat in some pretty rough conditions. Now for Dan this would have been nothing but remember, I’m new to this dinghy driving thing. Of course I didn’t say a word to Donna about being a bit nervous. I just acted like it was no big deal.
As we turned down the channel into the marina I took note that Sparkle was still at the dinghy dock. At this point I’m batting 1000 … both boats are where I left them and still afloat. My confidence level starts to grow. We arrive at the ferry dock and as usual the staff from the hotel is standing there singing their “Bula” song while a few guys are playing the guitar. I never get tired of watching them perform this little ceremony.
It rained quite a bit while Dan was gone so I spent a lot of time bailing Sparkle. Fortunately we will be getting a new dink in New Zealand. She’s almost 14 and it’s time to let her retire.
We exit the Malolo Cat and start walking toward the dock. When we arrive I see a good deal of water in the dinghy. The storm the night before was pretty intense so now I’ve got a couple of inches of of water in the floor. We have tiny leak into our subfloor from the main floor so I know if there’s that much water in the main floor then the subfloor is probably pretty full. This will make it hard to get up on plane and in the choppy water of the anchorage that could mean we end up getting pretty wet but there’s nothing I can do about it now. When I get back to the boat I’ll have to do some bailing. This will be a problem that haunts me the entire time Dan is gone because I can’t pull the dink up on the side of the boat to drain it like he can. I worried about it the entire time Dan was away.
I get in and situate Donna’s bags over the wheel locker so they don’t get wet. “It’s Showtime” I think to myself as I put the key in and pull the start cord. Success! She fires right up. Now it’s time to get Donna in and get to the boat. The best I can say about her entry into the dink is that she didn’t fall in the water. It wasn’t pretty or graceful but she made it. She’ll get used to it.
We head out of the marina. I can see from the tense look and forced smile that Donna is a bit uneasy about heading out into the choppy anchorage. I’m not super excited about it myself but it’s a part of boat life. I do my best to keep Sparkle from bashing into the chop so we don’t get completely soaked and do a pretty good job of it. Then we pull up behind Dazzler and just as I grabbed the line on the side we got smacked by a wave and both of us get soaked. Of course I’m laughing because it isn’t the first time that’s ever happened but I think Donna was probably wondering exactly what she had gotten herself into.
I tell her to stay put while I get us tied up and get her luggage on board. As I’m exiting the dink I show her exactly what I’m doing, where to grab and how to get on board. Then I get her luggage and tell her one more time what to do. Well, apparently her nerves got the better of her. I turned my back for a second and when I turned back around I saw her flipping herself over the gunnel and onto the deck face first. She just sort of rolled up and over and was laying there wedged between the gunnel and the cabin top. I could not contain my laughter. It sort of reminded me of a fish that had been slung up over the side. In all my years of boating I have never seen a person, even a drunk one, roll onto a boat quite like this. We both laughed and laughed while she tried to pull herself to her feet.
It didn’t take her long to get her sea legs.
Next it was time to get her settled in. She’s been on Dazzler before but this is the first time she’s going to be staying on her so as we do with everyone, I gave her a tour and explained how things worked. You know, like how to flush the head. I also gave the speech on water and power conservation. These are things most land dwellers don’t really think about because on land you turn on a switch or a faucet and there’s an endless supply of electricity and water. That’s not the case here. We have to make water and we are constantly managing power.
Once all the formalities were out of the way it was time to relax and enjoy the rest of her trip. We had a wonderful time together. One day we hiked up the hill and over to the other side of the island. The views from the top are spectacular. Of course Donna thought I was trying to kill her because there was a bit of uphill walking but I told her if I could do it with asthma then she had to be able to do it.
Sometimes girls just have to be girls!
One day it was raining and yucky out so we stayed on board and had a spa day doing facials and hair. That was a fun girlie day that I really enjoyed. Most days we went to shore in the mornings where Donna loved sitting by the resort pool soaking up the sun. I’m not much into swimming in public pools with a bunch of kids but I hung out there a few times and sat at the bar, under the shade, tipping a few beers. I get enough sun just living on a boat. The really great thing about having Donna as a guest is that she doesn’t mind doing some things on her own. We spent a lot of time together but we also enjoyed moments apart.
The ten days she was here seemed to fly by. Before we knew it I was dropping her off on shore and she was taking the ferry back to the mainland. I was sad to see her go but also knew that meant just a few days later Dan would be returning and I did miss him a lot.
For the next few days I worked on blog stuff, editing photos and putting together videos. One day I spent the majority of the day chilling in my hammock and floating on the Royal Swan behind Dazzler. I did enjoy a little alone time as well. All in all it was a great two weeks and when Dan returned he found the boat was still floating and all systems still worked. I guess I did a good job after all.
Dazzler's Watch 