With SV Sierra Wind on the stands in the boat yard and Eitan back in the US, I found myself alone onboard for the first time in 250 days. My flight home wasn’t scheduled for another two weeks so I began to settle into my new home at Vuda Marina. The boat was positioned at the very opening of the boatyard, next to the palm trees that lined the basin and I loved that our cockpit suddenly felt like a treehouse, overlooking the marina.
Luckily, Eitan purchased a portable air conditioning unit to manage the mold and humidity inside the boat during the hot Fiji summer. After almost 8 months with no air conditioning, I had grown used to the heat and humidity. The AC was nice during the middle of the day but I hated having to keep all the windows, hatches, and companionway closed. Despite having fans to move the cool air around, the salon felt like an icebox while the cabin was just barely tolerable in the afternoon sun. Eventually, I grew accustomed to it and alternated back and forth as my internal temperature fluctuated.
It was strange getting used to living in someone else’s space without them. Over the last two years, SV Sierra Wind had become my home too, but it felt extra lonely without Eitan. Luckily, I wasn’t alone for long! One day, I climbed down the ladder to use the restroom and was surprised to find a cat that had made itself at home, laying on the cool salon floor next to the AC unit. He didn’t have the normal, curious cat vibe about him and he made it clear that this was now his space, as cats do. I gave him a few scratches and let him stay for a couple of hours, but I was due to meet a friend for dinner and knew I couldn’t leave him unattended. Eitan would certainly kill me if it smelled like cat pee when he returned back to the boat! I called to my new fur buddy and he got up and followed me to the ladder, letting me throw him over my shoulder to carry him down.
Almost every day thereafter, especially on hot days, the cat started paying me a visit. He had a special collar with a GPS tracker and looked like he was relatively well taken care of. I asked around and found out his name was Eric and he lives full-time on one of the boats in the marina. Eric was notorious for going on other people’s boats and had even ended up on other islands, accidentally stowing away unnoticed. Occasionally he would show up while I was out with friends and I’d find him laying up on the solar panels as angry birds would pester him. I certainly welcomed the company and his visits became the highlight of my day.
I tried to stay busy by going for walks around the property and found a nice shaded cabana for yoga in the afternoon, activities I normally don’t have space for. The marina restaurant and café were the hubs of the social scene and often filled with cruisers. The restaurant also offered live music on Fridays and Sundays, not to mention Margarita Monday, Wine Wednesday, and Thirsty Thursday.
During my first week, I spent time hanging out with our friends Scott on SV Tengah and Robert on SV Silver Harmony, who we met in Nuku Hiva. I also ran into our friends on SV Pania, whom we met in Wallis and realized we had actually shared a crew member! Our Dutch crew, Marlene, had crewed with SV Pania before she joined us for those two weeks in Mexico over a year ago. The three boats were waiting on a weather window to head to New Zealand and eventually got one, leaving me alone once again. Then our other friends on SV Sauce-Sea and SV Wastrel arrived to haul out and store their boats in the cyclone pits. It was nice having friends around for dinner and drinks, especially with Eitan gone.
Eventually, it came down to my last couple of days and I found myself busy, scrambling to complete the list of things that needed to be done before my departure. It had been a hot couple of days which meant rain was on the way and it was always hard to predict if it would just rain a little or all day. I removed all the canvas while it was still dry and topped up the batteries with the generator in between storms. I ate all the perishables, dried out the fridge and freezer, and closed the through hulls, stuffing them to make sure any bees or wasps couldn’t take up residence. I noticed some sticks and straw made it into the stack pack, so I took some extra clothes pins to close any openings to the main sail. I didn’t want to imagine what the smell of rotten eggs would be as we raised the main for the first time after our return.
With my things packed up, Eric the cat climbed up the ladder one last time to say goodbye as I passed my bag down to Wes and Susan before locking up. I borrowed a marina wheelbarrow to cart my bags over to the restaurant to celebrate one last happy hour with SV Sauce-Sea and SV Wastrel before my flight at 9 pm. Around 6 pm I said my goodbyes and went to grab my bag near the restaurant entrance. Unfortunately, my bag had disappeared!
I asked the restaurant staff if they had seen my bag, which they did, but no one seemed to know where it had gone. One of the waiters realized that it may have been mixed up with some other bags of people transferring to a nearby island. I thought this a bit strange since my bag was separated from the others and in a wheelbarrow after all! A few frantic phone calls later, they confirmed my bag had accidentally ended up being transferred to another island! They assured me not to worry as the boat would be returning at 11 pm. But my international flight leaves at 9 pm! The restaurant/marina staff continued to coordinate with the resort to have my bag delivered back ASAP and I returned back to the table with my friends, who ordered me another glass of wine. Worst case, if I wasn’t able to get my bag in time, my friends could get it the next day and put it onboard, I just wouldn’t have any change of clothes in the near future.
Luckily, the transfer boat came roaring in and the marina staff threw me and my bag in a taxi and instructed the driver to get me to the airport as fast as possible. I was just thankful everything worked out and I arrived with enough time to check the bag. My direct flight to Los Angeles was almost completely empty and I had an entire row to myself. It’s a funny feeling knowing it took 8 months to get to Fiji and only 10 hours to fly back to North America. I guess they say that sailing is the slowest, most expensive way to travel! With that, our year in the South Pacific had finally come to a close and I was on my way home for the holidays. Little did I know how drastically plans can change in a month!
