And They Say We’ll Have Some Fun When It Stops Raining
The lyrics of a song keep running through The First Mate’s mind.
Hello Muddah: Hello Faddah:
Here I am at Camp Granada.
Camp is very entertaining,
and they say we’ll have some fun when it stops raining.
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Rain it does for 7 straight days. What has happened to Paradise?
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Saturday, April 16th – After arriving in the rain, we wake up to grey skies and light rain. It is not the bright blue sky with puffy white clouds so symbolic of a Pacific Island Paradise.
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No
time to worry about that now. We have to get ourselves tied to the
small dock at the Copra Shed Marina so that the various Customs
Officials can board our boat, check us out and clear us in.
The
first to show up is a young woman from the Ministry of Health. Are we
sick? Could we have anything contagious? No, we are fine. She fills
out her documents, applies her stamps, tells us to show up Monday at her
office to pay the fees and gives us a can of airplane bug spray to use
inside the boat on a day when it is not raining so we can escape the
fumes by going topside.
Next aboard are two Customs Officers who are mostly concerned with the ship’s documents, our passports, guns, drugs and alcohol. Five years ago on clearing in, we were subject to heavy fees on the spirits we had on board. Considering the fact that we planned to cruise for 3 months, we had a fair amount onboard. Rules change constantly in Fiji, often on a whim. We do not now know what to expect. This time their questions are cursory, and none are probing. We pass that hurdle and breathe a sigh of relief. Carbon papered copies are made. We sign. They sign. Done. Show up Monday morning at their office to pay the clearance fees.
The last to arrive is a young man from Bio-Security. No, we have not brought along animals, plants or seeds. We have a nice chat with him about his hopes for a scholarship to attend a graduate program in Auckland. We wish him the best of luck, and upon leaving, he tells us to show up Monday morning at his office to pay the fees.
We are cleared into Fiji and pleasantly surprised with how quickly and efficiently the initial steps of the process went. The only hang up is that Avante cannot go anywhere until she receives her Cruiser’s Permit. Don’t expect that until Wednesday at the earliest we are told. Fortunately, this is not an issue because we have things to do after a passage: clean the boat, do the laundry, restock fuel, food and ice, and, while we’re at it, kick back and explore the area.
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The mooring ball to which we have been assigned is pointed out. We untie, motor over and pick up the lines. It looks secure enough we hope, but we will keep a watchful eye on it.
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Breakfast and then into town to reconnoiter, hit the ATM and set up phone and internet. Saturday is market day for those who live up in the hills outside of town. The place is bustling with activity. It is hard to get a feel for the town with all the people, but in between bobbing heads and dodging bodies, we do note the brightly painted buildings which add some pizzazz to an otherwise dreary day.
Bright green buses are lined up in the terminal and are packed with people waiting for their return trip home. In this heat and humidity, The First Mate knows for sure she would not survive that ride!
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While The Captain waits in line for the ATM, The First Mate is dispatched to find the Vodaphone office. She locates it not far from the open market and takes the opportunity to wander through the vendors. The two Indo-fijian sellers whom she remembers from 5 years ago are still there. They were the only ones who stocked such items as tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, avocados and apples, and to her delight, she sees everything is available.
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The Captain sets up our Vodaphone account. That done and with the rain holding off, neither one of us is quite ready to return to the boat. We remember a hot springs not far out of town. Can we find it? Walking through town, we turn left into a residential area and are again treated to the sight of gaily painted homes. The First Mate loves their use of color!
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We find the hot springs which are located just below the school which also is painted in bright primary colors. A sign leading into the hot springs tells everyone not to litter, to keep the area clean and that “no killing or cleaning of animals” is allowed.
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The water here is much too hot for bathing, but it is just right for cooking. In the morning, people place their root vegetables, whole chickens and puddings in pots or plastic bags which are then set in the steaming goo. At the end of the day, when they return, dinner is ready.
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We meet one of our Customs Officials as we are leaving. He is happy to show off the root vegetables he had placed there this morning on his way to work.
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Sunday, April 17th – We fell asleep to rain last night. We wake to rain this morning. Was it also mentioned that it is hot, humid and sticky? Unable to open the hatches or windows on the boat, the insides heat up uncomfortably. Thankfully, we have an over-abundance of fans which The First Mate insisted we install during the planning of this Pacific Cruising. She knew they would be needed, and now she blesses each and every one of them.
In this very conservative Methodist/HIndu country, nothing is open on Sunday. The First Mate does not think Hindus attach any specific importance to Sunday, but she does know they are just as conservative as the Methodists. The town, which yesterday had been jammed with Saturday shoppers, is all but deserted.
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With no place to go and nothing pressing to do, we remain on the boat playing a sort of “Gotcha Game” with the rain. It is not raining all the time, and mostly it is not raining all that hard. Instead it feels like we are living in the midst of grey wet cloud.
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At least once every half hour to hour, winds pick up heralding an approaching rain shower. The First Mate, who strongly believes in the benefits of air, opens a hatch or window here and there whenever possible, which is not as often or as many windows as The Captain claims. Rain or no rain, the mast, the sail, the rigging and everything on the outside of the boat is so soaked and dripping that opening of windows is often a futile, wet effort. Still, the drill goes as such: “Windows open. Winds pick up. Listen for the incoming rain. Is that rain? Yes! Run to close windows. Has it stopped raining? Is it clear? Okay, open windows. Shoot! Here it comes again. Close the windows!” The Captain refuses to play this game. “Leave the windows closed!” he snarls. “No!” she says. “We need air!” Ignoring The Captain’s frustration, she plays on, increasing his ire at those times when she does not immediately jump to the windows at the first drops of rain. It’s only water after all! Eventually, even she tires of the sport, and with her portable fan aimed right at her, she ceases her efforts. If truth be told, she really wasn’t accomplishing much anyway.
Monday, April 18th – We wake to the patter of rain on the cabin roof and a world engulfed in grey. Fortunately, we have things to do today. Locating the various government offices and paying those fees must be done. All countries charge such fees, but what they charge for and how much is charged varies from country to country. Most also charge extra if one arrives on a weekend which we had done. We are not exactly sure what our fees will be until we show up at the offices, but with credit card and cash in hand, The Captain sets off.
Finding each office is the first challenge.
Customs: 1/4 mile east of Copra Shed Marina on left. Ground Floor office. (3 buildings past Immigration)
Biosecurity: Green Building on left before Westpac bank. Go to door in the back.
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Health Ministry: Blue building at west end of town on right. Go past building and enter through white gate.
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What we learn from a fellow cruiser finding his way through this maze of bureaucracy is that the office is behind the blue building, up a flight of stairs, down the walkway, past the toilets and around the corner. We cannot miss it because the door is clearly labeled.
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Paying
is the next challenge. They do not accept credit cards. Cash is the
medium of exchange, and because the one and only person in the office
whose job it is to collect the money has not been given a cash
allowance, payment must be made in the exact amount owed. For the Health
Ministry: $219.90 (Fijian dollars). For Biosecurity: $172.87. For
Customs/Immigration: $84.60. Customs/Immigration charges no fees for a
weekday arrival. On weekends, they apply a 3-hour charge. The other
two offices roughly charge double for a weekend arrival. Still with the
Fijian dollar worth about $.50 US, our entry fees amount to less than
$250.00. We are not displeased, but we are displeased with the amount
of running around we have to do to pay this amount. First to the office
to find out how much is owed. Next to the ATM for cash which is given
out in large denominations. Then to stand in line in the bank to get
the necessary change, and finally back to the office to pay. As if all
that doesn’t take long enough, we run into added obstacles: the ATM is
closed because it is out of cash and the payee officer is out to lunch
or off somewhere and no one knows when he will return. Two and one half
days later, paying the fees is done.
Wednesday, April 20th – It looks like the rain may be abating by Friday. With that hope in mind, we head to the markets. First to the outdoor market. There is not a lot of variety. There’s the local root vegetables, pumpkins, spinach, a kind of string bean, Chinese eggplant as well as a few things she does not recognize and would not use. In the fruit category, there are a few bananas, oranges, watermelon, pineapple and papayas. She lucks out at her two Indo-Fijian sellers where she quickly adds 2 heads of iceberg lettuces at $7.50 US each, 2 large avocados and a kilo of small red tomatoes. The avocados may be grown locally, but the lettuces and tomatoes are imported from New Zealand by these tourist savvy entrepreneurs.
We
return to the boat to unload this cache and then head out to the 2
grocery stores in town. Here she finds white potatoes which are not
available in the outdoor market, and to her surprise and delight, she
quickly grabs the last of 2 small broccoli, 4 zucchini and 1
cauliflower, all of which are not old and wilted as has often been the
case when she has found these treasures. Non-local items such as these
are imported and often end up sitting on the shelf until someone comes
in who knows what they are and is willing to pay the price. Adding
peppers, red and green, and several lemons to her cart, she feels like
she has found the mother lode! We buy long-life milk, corn flakes,
breakfast crackers, ginger ale and 2 dozen eggs. On the return to the
boat, a loaf of whole wheat bread tops the bundles. Viewing her
purchases with satisfaction, she feels she has the galley set for 21
days of cruising.
Thursday, April 21st – Rain and more rain! This is supposed to end tomorrow? It doesn’t look like it. We are now hoping for a Saturday departure. The Captain goes to The Copra Shed to pick up our Cruising Permit which has arrived from Suva. As he has asked every official, “Do we need anything else”, he does so again. No. Everything is completed. You are cleared to set forth and cruise, but, stymied by the weather, we sit and drip.
The
only thing half way exciting that we do today is go out to dinner. Each
night the option of eating out is up for discussion. Well, it really
is not a discussion. It is a question: ”Is it raining or not?”.
Without fail between 6:00 and 6:30, we get the biggest deluge of the
day. Tonight? Praise be! No rain. Quickly dressed, we head out
knowing we can get to the restaurant dry. Who cares if we get drenched
on the way home?
Friday, April 22nd – Not only has the rain not stopped, from early morning until mid afternoon, it rains harder and more continuously than it had all week. The First Mate thinks that if this were the California coast, it would have slid into the ocean days ago. This is truly getting old, though the weather forecast is teasing us that this evening will see the end of it. Hope does spring eternal!
Again we go out to dinner on shore. Prior to that, we actually enjoy our cocktail hour gin and tonics on deck. The lights of the town look so pretty now that we can see them without the gloom. We enjoy a fine dinner at the Copra Shed restaurant where The First Mate declares that the rain has stopped. She knows! She just knows! Tomorrow we will start having fun!