Location: Fiji
Goooood morning! Hello friends, family, and anyone else reading this. This morning, we woke up in Vomo and started our motor back to Port Denarau to start preparing for passage! Whooooo hooo!!! Its crazy how long weve been talking about the passage, and the day is almost upon us.
Anyways, the motor over to Denarau was very calm compared to the last passage. Most of the crew fell asleep, studied for PSCT, or read books. Bow watch was really fun, watching the sunlight glitter and dance on the waves. Josh and I were talking about how strange it was to return to the place where it all began. How lucky am I to have been island hopping in Fiji for two weeks!!!
After docking Vela, it was all hands-on deck for a well-needed, pre-passage B.A. (Boat Appreciation), as well as one big provisioning. Ansley, Drew, Celeste, Brooke, and I left to go provision food for the next three weeks for 29 people. Drew got to ride in the princess seat while Sake, the best taxi driver in Fiji, drove us to supermarkets.
Shopping for 29 people is quite the ordealIve never experienced something like it. 100 kilograms of pasta and rice, 390 eggs, and soooooo many cans of beans, chickpeas, diced tomatoes (sorry Ian), and more. I think we filled about 17 carts of food. After a yummy 4 pm lunch for the provisioning team, we got back to shopping and clearing shelves of food. In total, we spent 6 hours at the market. But I really like supermarkets, so I had a lot of fun.
While we were provisioning, the rest of the crew did an awesome, extreme deep-clean of the boat. We loooooove a nice clean boat. At 7 pm, the entire crew got to go personal shopping at the Port. Lots of peanut butter, chocolate bars, candy, instant coffee, cans and cans of beans and sardines? (Josh), And Tim Tams were bought. We all got dinner at the restaurants in Port. There was this very cute marina cat that Celeste, Ceci, and I played with (I love cats and miss mine dearly).
After returning to the boat, it was time for late-night showers, bed, and a nice big tub of cookies and cream ice cream for Celeste and me. We were extremely deliriousI guess thats what grocery shopping for six hours does to ya (we still arent done yet).
Also, happy passage day eve!!! Fiji, you were everything and more. No amount of gratitude can express how much you have given me; I feel beyond rich in the experiences, the culture, the kindness, and the love you showed Vela and her crew. See ya soon, Palau.
Ok, hi. So, my skipper day has ended, but I thought Id provide an update on the provisions. We went to the markets in Nadi for fresh produce around 7 am (Thursday, June 19th), which was really cool (thank you, Sake, for showing us the ropes!) We returned to the supermarkets for a last-minute provision, and then went to the butcher to get our meat. We got 76 kilograms of chicken. So, yeah, were Vela, and we have the meats! Brooke, Celeste, and I were all laughing and delirious in the car (especially when the meat fell off the car roof). That was the end of provisioning. We were ahead of schedule andddd got some good stuff (like avocados and a pumpkin). In total, I think we spent about ten hours shopping. But at the end of the day, or morning, I guess, Im glad I got to experience what its like to provision for 29 people for the next three weeksit really makes you appreciate only having to shop for yourself.
Much love to Mom, Dad, Mikey, Dixie, Poppy, and Emmett from the middle of the Pacific Ocean!!