13 Jun - Cold & windy (yes, really)

Hello,

It was cold and windy here today, but that didn't stop Max from going for a "short" (only 5-hour) fishing trip this morning. He caught a small Trevally within the first few minutes, and then did lots of "snorkelling with his spear gun" against the currents in the pass. On the heels of an evening of kava with the village, it made for a long morning, but half the anchorage had been there, so he was in good company.

I saw magic happen in the saloon this morning. I asked Victoria to pick up 11 things and Johnathan to pick up 9 things in the saloon. They did this within a few minutes, and then as if they had one mind, the looked at each other and said, "Lego?" "Lego!" and out came the boxes that haven't seen the light of day in a couple of months. We have the beginnings of Lego City forming on the double-wide table (Jesus is patiently squeezing around it when he needs to go to his cabin, and the kids crawl underneath), but it is a bit different now than it was the last time: Benjamin is mobile! At first, he was content to dig in the box of Lego on the bench, but he soon realized that the best stuff was on the big table where the kids were ... this was not a recipe for peace and harmony in our home! Thankfully, just as I though there would be mutiny (or at least a little person sent to walk the plank), my friend Katrien called from Nautilus to see if I would like to take a walk on the beach. I quickly decided that the big kids would be fine alone, and Benjamin, Jesus (and our VHF) and I headed for shore with her.

Jesus took the opportunity of a ride to the beach to snorkel in a little mini-lagoon on the back side of our island; Katrien and I walked as far as we could in both directions, and Benjamin decided that 11:30 was the perfect time to sleep. Everyone was happy :)

Once the Lego playing had run its course, I got a call on the radio wondering if Victoria could use some spare pink insulation foam that we had on the boat (you may remember my project to add extra layers of insulation to our fridge and freezer...). She wanted it for a project. Of course, I said yes, and came home to a model sailboat that used carved pieces of foam for the bulkheads and green painters' tape for the hull. That was 9 square inches of foam put to good use!

The plan for the afternoon was to go ashore and do a little sailing with Trickle. Max, Victoria, Johnathan, Jesus, and even Benjamin went for the expedition so I could concentrate on the school reports. Unfortunately, the weather didn't get the memo that the forecast was for light winds all day ... within a half hour, the gentle breeze had begun gusting to 20 kts, and Trickle was towed to Fluenta for the night. I even put on a jacket to receive the cold dinghy sailors back aboard and to help with Trickle. Hopefully, the winds will decrease to forecast levels tomorrow!

Eating Max's Trevally at dinnertime was pretty much an all-hands evolution. Obviously, Max caught it; Johnathan filleted it (quite expertly - he skinned it more neatly than even some of the grownups we know); I cut it in pieces and soaked it in coconut milk; and Jesus fried it. The only ones who didn't touch it were Victoria and Benjamin, and they were already asleep by the time the dinner was served. Needless to say, it was so yummy that it took discipline to save them some (but we did).

I washed my first load of salt-water diapers tonight. We will see how they turned out when I dry them tomorrow. For the first batch, I used a sinkful of salt water with laundry detergent, then a sinkful of salt water to rinse, then another sinkful of fresh water to rinse out the salt water. The second batch used the fresh rinse water as wash water with laundry soap, then another sinkful of fresh water to rinse. My wringer is working beautifully since my dad overhauled it, and I gave it a shot of 3-in-1 oil tonight because it is not very thankful for the salt baths. If nothing else, our experience with our unhappy watermaker will make us that much more grateful when it is working properly again. We have learned many lessons from Nautilus, who do not have one at all.

It is my dad's birthday this weekend - this is one of those nights when Fiji seems very far from Canada, especially when we don't have wifi or 3G. At least love can travel around the world in an instant! (And emails can go out on our HF radio!!)

Love, hugs, and blessings to all,
Elizabeth
-----
At 6/11/2015 8:26 PM (utc) SV Fluenta was 19°09.04'S 178°32.52'W
-----
At 6/11/2015 8:26 PM (utc) SV Fluenta was 19°09.04'S 178°32.52'W

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com