Bula from Fiji!

We saw the first islands last night: a small atoll and then Taveuni, our turning point, from under the shadow of the clouds. The projected time for this leg of the sail was 5 days, but we had great wind from the start and averaged 10 kts the whole way. So...two and a half days later, we are here, slowly making our way through to Makongai, where we will most likely anchor for the day. We celebrated last night with what has become our traditional night before hitting land, fresh fish.  This time it was an ahi.  Yum.  Or, as Hana Lee would say, "beautiful!" Because we're early, customs may not be set up for us, so we'll have to wait before moving on to Ovalau Island, where we'll spend a couple of days on the beach. Looks like there will be time for swimming and snorkeling as well as having a waka work day. After that, we'll be moving to Suva, actually Laucala, where the University is. The marina is supposed to be pretty nice and secure. I'm thrilled because the bookstore at the University has great books that I can't find at home.

This was the first trip that I have navigated by myself, and it started out under complete cloud cover, which got me pretty nervous. We were lucky, though, in that we got the clues we needed to set course and keep it. All the credit for this trip, however, goes to the crew who were excellent at maintaining a course based on swell and wind direction. Two of the watches I trusted enough to be able to take naps. Our second night out was beautiful and clear, providing excellent sights of the stars. The night ended with the full moon setting directly on our course line. We sailed into the moonset, along the sparkling path of moonlight on the water. Captain Greg was on the 2-6 watch and asked me to play my sailing playlist. The song "Cool Change" came on, with the line, "it's kind of a special feeling out on the sea alone, staring at the full moon like a lover..." and there we were, watching a rainbow-ringed full moon...it was a magical moment. Those of you with a sense of astronomy will know the relative position of the sun to a full moon, and you'll know that if the full moon set on our bow, the rising sun came up directly behind us. That was a second magical moment: to be caught between the two. My third magical moment was getting nearly a full night's sleep after we switched over to GPS navigation to avoid reefs.

We have a guest from Uto Ni Yalo on board, Josh, and actually he sailed on Haunui to Tahiti. Most of the wakas have adopted a Fijian for this leg, and Josh has been a happy addition. On yesterday's morning 6-10 watch, we all had a little dance party. It was really special to see Josh's face as we sighted Fijian land. He has been thrilled to look at the AIS and to see his home and his village. As we sight new islands, he becomes our tour guide and excitedly explains what we're looking at. It's too bad we're not really taking him to his home island, but I think he's excited enough just to be close.

After Suva, we're looking at four and a half days to Port Vila in Vanuatu. For now, however, aloha from sunny Fiji - it's going to be a beautiful day!