2013, 04-16 Musket Cove, Malolo Island Fiji

      Today we sit at anchor at Musket Cove celebrating a birthday with friends and the official end to cyclone season. Yea!!!!!!!! Despite Cyclone Evans wrath just before Christmas we are still happy we chose to spend the last seven months her in Fiji rather than following bulk of the yachties in an exodus to New Zealand or Australia. Our home away from home at Vuda Point marina turned out to be a great choice for us and our decision to stay in the water rather than putting Island Bound in a pit and living on the hard played out well. In fact despite Evan and a single tsunami warning the weather we did have turned out to be less severe than we had anticipated despite March's typical heavy rainfall. We learned to pack our umbrellas and played the dance of open the ports/close the ports and learned to sleep with an ear out for the beginning patter of rain. Many of the boats in the water at Vuda never once left their slips but we managed to work our way up and down the coast several times and wind our way through the Mamanuca group of islands and the Yasawa's. One long time Fiji yachtie warned us early on that we shouldn't wander further north than Waya Island but with diligent attention paid to brewing storm fronts and the ongoing work of laying down safe passage tracks on our chart plotter we found we could get out and about with out any danger at all and in a few days we will begin hosting three sets of visitors -Bills sister Dee, son and daughter-in-law Josh and Dianna and my mom and niece Katie will arrive and allow us to show off our Fiji home. With all the trips we managed during the off season we have plenty to show them and hopefully we will be able to share bits of both village life and pristine island hideaways in addition to he towns of Nadi and Lautoka.

        Musket Cove has been our home away from home here in Fiji. At just 10nm west of Vuda it has been a convenient and easy break from the heat of Vuda. There is a safe and easy anchorage, four resorts to visit, laundry machines and until two days ago a well stocked store and Coffee Cove resturant for ow priced meal alternatives to the higher end resort fare. Unfortunately the building that housed the Coffee Cove and Musket Cove store was hit by a rogue bolt of lightning two nights ago. The building burned and with it our best source for groceries short of making our way all the way to Nadi town or Lautoka. The loss of the store and coffee shop will be a big hit to the resort as will the loss of the marina docks and access to the infamous Five Dollar Bar that both sustained damage during Evan. Everyone is morning the loss but it will be felt by tons of yachties as begin pouring in for the new season in the coming weeks.

      Our upcoming visitors have gotten us motivated and we've been painting and cleaning, shinning stainless steel -there really is a bit of a shine under all that rust- and finishing some left over boat projects in anticipation of their arrival. Our plan so far is to make three different loops of the areas waters with the three separate groups and will try to visit several of the outer island villages, the premier anchorages, the best of the best in snorkel and dive sights, the yearly show of the manta rays at Manta Ray Pass and trips to Nadi or Lautoka for provisioning. Then once everyone has made their outbound flights we will head north into new territory with definite plans for Savu Savu, Taveuni, and the Lau groups before deciding between staying in Vuda again next cyclone season or opting for a mooring at Savu Savu for a change of pace. Till then we will keep picking our way through the reefs and anchorages and getting to know more of our Fiji Home. Kat