We departed American Somoa Sunday July 21 and waited for the arrival of the HSV-2-Swift, the US Navy’s 48knot wave piercing catamaran.  The fuel dock guys were talking about when we fueled and sure enough she arrived at 8am Sunday morning.

We watched the weather forecast carefully and were happy the first 24 hours were uneventful.  We encountered 18 hours of wind slightly on the nose which can make for a little more pitch, otherwise the 3 and a half days was one of our easiest 650 mile passages.  No question open ocean brings more varying conditions with less precise forecasts than coastal, so we’re spend extra time preparing Gray Matter.

Two milestones; we crossed 9000 miles since leaving Westpoint Marina December 14, and Gray Matter’s main engine, the trusty Caterpilar 3306 crossed over 10,000 hours.  Just to show the expectation, the engine hour meter actually has digits for 10,000s.

Arriving Savu Savu Fiji was a pleasant surprise.  The single mooring in the marina for a boat Gray Matter’s size was available and the marina boat met us at the harbor entrance to help us get the mooring line secured.  The marina then ferried the Health, Immigration, Customs and Bio Security to Gray Matter.  We secured the mooring line at 1:30pm and were completely checked in by 5pm.

Calm and beautiful Savu Savu anchorage

We went ashore purchased a Vodafone Wifi router and 1GB of data for US$70, and made plans to enjoy dinner at ashore.

We’re finding Fiji beautiful with friendly people and the first place since leaving Mexico where the US$ actually has some buying power.

Fresh veggie and fruits are abundant at the local market.

We also bought some Kava roots (grind powder to make drinks) – a traditional gift to present to village chief.

Fijian buses are a lot more substantial than American Samoa.

We spent a day exploring by scooter, through inland mountain ranges and plantations, and villages. One of our best motorcycle rides. Fijian people would wave to us miles away, with the most genuine smiles. We’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

We have yet to find a place lacking Chinese restaurant.

[google-map-v3 width=”350″ height=”350″ zoom=”7″ maptype=”satellite” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”-16.777589, 179.333287{}cruiseship.png” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]