W/ is on cloud nine; getting ready for our land trip to Vietnam. I’m…. so… so… We decided I don’t love transitions. Actually a cruising friend pointed that characteristic out. An avid reader may remember W/ got us away from the dock in 2008. The beginning of our 1,000 day weekend ! Yep, we were leaving the dock in a yucky, overcast, rainy afternoon and travelled all of 10 nm out to the nearest anchorage. Years before, when we were heading to the Bahamas she started Principia’s engine and yelled “Get Aboard” as lines were being cast off. I leaped on.
Not much has changed in all those years. I don’t like FAST changes. And traveling by a jet to a new country is a fast change. Once I am there I’ll be ok. In all our other trips I have loved the adventure; when I am there. The food, the people, seeing what is just around the corner. I’m all in. But; packing, planning, thinking about this or that. Nope.
Now some will find this ironic. I sail the world. I seek new things, new people, new places, new food. But; I seek it going at the speed of a slow jog. I have time, a lot of time to adjust. And boat life has its own rhythm. Slow, predictable… some might say lazy. I can do that. This trip…. well… I’ll let you know how it goes. We leave in a couple days.
Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long
Tag: Flying
We’re Back!
Yep after spending an enormous amount of time on the dirt we’ve returned to Fiji and our floating home. Except; we’re still on the dirt. The boat spent the last 6 months in a pit surrounded by tires to weather any storms and she did well. Not 100% perfect but pretty damn close.
After a long flight with 3 legs we arrived in Fiji 10:37 minutes after leaving LA and roughly 30 after leaving New Port Richey. From LA to Fiji was night and I don’t care what anyone say’s “flying is NOT fun”! Yes, you will arrive quicker than with other forms of transportation but even in first class those seats are not Barca Loungers and don’t offer any reprieve for the derrier! We arrived sore, tired and ready to have the quiet majesty of the sea surround us. Our taxi guy missed us and we picked up his cousin to gather our bags and drive us the final leg. There we hand delivered an impeller to JeanMarie and spent a bit of time with Jackie and Walter before they headed out to Musket Cove.
While coming though Customs, Immigration and Biosecurity we were told that if we had any food to make sure we declare it, else you could end up paying a fine or end up in jail! The fines would be up to $400 F. At the last minute W/ remembered we had some Boetje’s Mustard she had bought so we changed our dot from NO Food to YES food. And it was a good thing too. After running our bags through the customs machine the guy picked out the bag with the Boetje’s mustard. I showed them the mustard and they said no problem; enjoy Fiji. While telling Walter and Jackie that story we found out Walter had inadvertently put a Banana in his backpack and forgotten to eat it. They ran his bag through the machine and picked it out, opened it up, and because he said he had no food, charged him … you guessed it $400 F, plus they took the banana. I would guess that is the most expensive banana never eaten!
Maria knew we were arriving in the am and came in early to give us the key to the cottage we will inhabit till our boat gets launched. We drug our bags inside, changed and walked out to see how Elysium had done without our constant supervision. Well, she was supervised by the people we hired; Mr Bharros and Kiti the manager of Yuve Marine, and of course Walter too had helped to keep her in fine shape. Mr Bharros had the awnings back on and everything tied down with Magic knots. A magic knot is where lines are wrapped around multiple times and run through themselves multiple times hoping to magically keep in place what they are tied to. Since most of the gear was off the deck the magic knots held. That and the fact the Mr. Bharros checked often to ensure all was fine.
There were some places I would have liked to add chafe protection and maybe it was I who didn’t, but the staysail boom chewed through some paint on the deck about 2 sq cm, and the dinghy engine was in a place I didn’t put it and it chewed through a bit more in the cockpit. Two lines were wrapped around the foredeck light and the third halyard had the antenna messenger wrapped around it necessitating a trip up the mast – twice to free them. The main halyard had some chafing in the middle of the line necessitating a replacement. All in all, better than we could hope for. A Halberg Rassey near us was on stands and had fallen over punching a hole in the hull. Upon breathing a huge sigh of relief we are now in the process of reestablishing Elysium as a boat and not a sunken home.
It is still quite warm in the day here, just finishing the summer season. And having just arrived after a long flight we work for a few hours and then crash for the remainder of the day; attempting to reset our internal clocks. There is 13 hours difference between now and when we left the dirt, our clocks are upside down.
A couple of days later we’re starting to get the boat cleaned up a bit, lines organized and gear stowed. I borrowed a hose from Yuve and we washed the boat removing the leaves and other debris that has found a home where we don’t wish it. W/ is chasing down various colonies of sugar ants, our poisons having done a superber job- where they were. Obviously we didn’t have enough spots we deployed them. All in all, life is good and we’re on our way back to the cruising lifestyle.
Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long
Up, Up, and Away…
It is time. We’ve been here 6 weeks longer then we’ve ever intended. My mom’s place is looking shiny and new. She’s made great progress. Her wrist is much improved, her attitude much better, she’s ready to fly on her own again as well as we are.
We’ve spent 3 day’s packing, seeing some friends that we’d almost missed seeing, and continuing my life long passion to annoy various family members. After all I am “Damn Dave”. 🙂
Packing has been a trip. Delta’s policy has changed from a year and half ago; I understand airline policies change sometimes daily, but for us the change has been more costly. They’ve gone from no charge for 2 bags / ticket to one bag and we have 5 bags plus 2 carry ons plus computers and a purse! The total baggage charge will end up adding $205 more to the cost of the flight. I will say; in their plus column that they were very accommodating for our ticket change. We had called them approx 3 weeks before our flight in Jan and explained the situation and then about 3 weeks ago we called and made new reservations. They did ask several questions but that was ok. We are not trying to scam anyone. The cost for the ticket change ended up being $110.00 / ticket. In my book that was fair.
So it is that the time is upon us. We’ve a last minute errand or two, a last meal with my mom, and weighing our bags for the last minute stowage of items. Then it’s the final packing or carry ons and waiting for our friends Bruce and Pam to haul us to the Airport. From then on we’re in the hands of Delta. In Panama City after clearing through the paperwork we hope to see Roger and arrive at our hotel with everything intact. No problems last time, I don’t expect any this time.
Ciao….
Frisked Like a Criminal
Now just to let you know, I’ve not been arrested. But getting on our flight to the US both W/ and I were frisked. I find that abhorant.
As much as I HATE flying on commercial airlines, as a cruiser it seems that we just simply must fly sometimes. We’ve actually added trips to the US to our budget. Family, friends, and boat needs all demand this particular adventure.
We made our reservations way in advance to ensure a fair ticket price. We arrived at the airport at the suggested time and began the process of checking our bags. I had to pay for one extra bag. Last year we flew farther for less and carried more! Fuel prices are the same, the economy has been flat, but Airline prices have surged. This year we had to pay for an extra bag and the check in person wasn’t the most understandable. Although all three bags equaled less then 150 lbs one bag was 52 lbs and one was 47 lbs she made me repack them so they were all less then 50 lbs. I had weighed them at the hotel but the toiletries we added plus an extra pair of shoes bumped the one over 50 lbs. The weight switched we finally had the checked bags OK’d and we moved to the gate.
There we watched as everyone boarding the plane was frisked. I mean everyone. Little old ladies, kids, and dolls. There were no public cavity searches and I’m thankful that I didn’t witness nor participate in one, however every carry on bag was opened and contents of all pockets were emptied and checked. What surprised me most was when one person pulled out a pack of cigarettes they sat on the counter and were never looked at. Aren’t cigarettes considered a possible for a slow fuse.
Frisked and boarded we were ready for the flight to the US. There we again went though the criminal ordeal. While we had been in a controlled environment the entire time, plane, US Immigration, baggage reclaim , US customs, US Immigration, baggage re recheck, then Frisk again at the gates I don’t understand it. Where would we have been able to acquire weapons or explosives anywhere down the line? But someone’s bucket of money and irrational fears seem to drive the need to treat people like criminals.
We boarded our final flight and were thankful upon arrival in Florida that our family was there to greet us. We made it, back to the land of instant everything. Now to catching up, returning parts, purchasing parts and relearning why we don’t love the life of a dirt dweller.
Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long