Hi everyone,

After a 4 month stay in California taking care of some business and my 86 year old mother’s failing health, I returned to my cruising lifestyle and my boat, INTENTION. I arrived in Savusavu, Fiji at 6:30 a.m. 3/30 yesterday morning and walked to the Copra Shed where my cruising friends Jeff and Christie are docked. They were still asleep so I left my baggage next to their boat and walked into town to discover what damage cyclone Tomas’ 140 mph winds had caused. Most evident was the absence of the green leaves that were stripped from the trees. Given the possibility, there was little real damage to the town besides the clean-up of the blown leaves, branches, and debris. I met and accompanied more cruising friends Sean and Sharon who were on their way to their shirt printing business, Windward Apparel, to visit and catch up on the local news and gossip. After continuing my walk and returning to find Jeff and Christie up and about, they feed me a fabulous breakfast of fresh fruit, a poached egg, and a NZ favorite “Vegemite” on toast. They then gave me and all my stuff a dingy ride out to INTENTION. She is in great shape, given the possibility of damage with cyclone Tomas. Surprisingly the bow lines holding her to the mooring ball were not hardly chafed. After being away for 4 months there is the usual mold, dirt, and grime to clean up in all the lockers and surfaces with a solution of soap, bleach, and vinegar. Also, testing and repairing the inoperative equipment that just seems to stop working while away and reinstalling sails, and just generally putting INTENTION back together. After checking all the wiring I just got the refrigeration working again. This should all keep me busy for the next month and beyond. It’s really never ending.
The days are warm and to cool off, i took a leisurely hour long swim through the anchorage. I’ve missed my swimming, best exercise going.
This morning I have been busy connecting my extra solar panels, moving the inflatable dingy, and kayak on deck, creating some living space below. I’ve noticed signs of the very high winds like the chafing through and breaking of my mainsail lazy-jacks, most of the LPU paint on my hard dingy has been striped away, tears in my mainsail cover even with it having been tightly lashed down. The almost daily wash-down shower started as I was having l lunch of a can of tuna flakes some fruit. While digesting lunch I am typing a few more lines on this email. The small shower turned into a 4 hour torrential down pour filling my heard dingy almost to the point of capsizing with wonderful soft freshwater for laundry. Getting the mold out of the clothes, sheets and towels left on the boat can be a difficult problem with little black dots of mold stain never being removed. The gift of all this water will allow me to get a start on the laundry and I already have a couple of loads soaking . No swimming today as the water was muddy and full of debris. Tomorrow morning I’ll get up early rinse the laundry, take a long walk before shopping and internet, if it is working,
With all I have to do, I am not sure if I will have time for crew right now. I have some major engine work to do and it would not be a fun mess for crew to live in. If you can, please stand by.
Love,
Jim