Waiting at Nadi International airport to go… home? Back to Melbourne? Home is in a state of flux, I guess, like everything at the moment. We’re really comfortable on the boat, but after only two weeks, it’s not quite home yet. Melbourne is still home, I guess, but only for a very short time. Essentially we’re going back to pack everything up; tie up the loose ends. In two weeks we haven’t done as much sailing as we’d have liked, or seen much of Fiji, but we’ve been getting to know Bright Sea as a home. At this stage there’s certainly no regrets; she’s really comfortable and will be a pleasure, I’m sure.
One of the interesting things I noticed was my need to establish new routines… Breakfast, exercises on the built-in gym equipment (aka the bimini frame), a swim/snorkel over the reefs, deck shower and some blogging or writing or catching up on emails. some days there’s housework (I love that there’s so little of it), some days there’s washing to do (although I’m happy to report I’m not regretting ditching the washing machine in favour of more storage space), and there’s always coffee to be drunk and lunch to be made. 
There’s been plenty of conference calls (great wifi in Fiji), some project planning, reading up on boat manuals and exploring MotionX, www.windyty.com, Viber and other apps and websites that cruising connections have recommended. At one point though, I realised that my mind was attempting to replace old busy routines with new busy routines. It was a strange realisation to become aware that I didn’t have to. In fact Fiji time makes it difficult to be busy, although such a transformational lifestyle shift provides plenty of opportunity to be anxious if you want to.
Like yesterday; we were anchored up outside Port Denarau waiting for our mooring to become available this morning. Richard decided to do an oil change which ended up with him going ashore to pick up some oil filters as the spares were the wron
g model for the engine. I elected to stay on board; he was only going to be a little while. He phoned to advise the parts had to come from Vuda, so that stretched into quite a while, then a long while, during which time the Fiji credit on my phone ran out completely. So with Richard two hours overdue, no way of contacting him, the starboard motor in the middle of an oil change, the dinghy gone, I began to realise if anything happened to him and he didn’t come back I needed a plan. Anxiety loomed, but reality really wasn’t that bleak. There were many options:
- Richard was most likely coming back… at some point
- I could call VHF channel 16 to Port Denarau
- I could hail one of the many passing dinghies
- The sand bank wasn’t that far to swim
- I could try and bring in the anchor and take the boat into Port on my own, using only the port engine
A very relieved Kathy greeted a very grumpy Richard who had hung around Port Denarau then taken a bus into Nadi to chase down elusive oil filters that were not to be found. While he re-fitted the old one, I vowed to make sure I was never left alone with no phone credit again. As we enjoyed a sundowner with a rosy pink sky in the background for our last evening in Fiji, all was well. It’s a very different feeling this time; instead of our time on the boat coming to an end, we know it’s only just beginning.