This and That in Malolo, Fiji

Since our last post, we have celebrated a birthday, lost a few teeth, swam with a sea snake and joined a rally.

Holy Sea Snakes!!! Yep, you read right. Seanna and Daddy were swimming of the back of the boat when a black and white striped sea snake came right up to them and tried to get up on the boat. NICE!!!! We calmly got Seanna up and out of the water and watched as this thing circled the boat trying to find a way up. What is it with us and snakes!!!!!! We had a boa in Panama join the crew when we had Annie and Danny on board in the San Blas. Danny LOVES snakes, LOL.

Our little girl is 5! Crazy to think that she has had 5 birthdays while sailing. Has it been that long? We spent the day doing what Seanna wanted to do. We played at the resort pool, enjoyed quality family time and I baked a 4 layer german butter cream cake with pink frosting. It looked so pretty until the heat of the tropics melted the frosting and my designs. It still tasted great!

Merric now has that classic gap tooth smile. It is so funny to see him smile and learn how to eat. He lost his tooth in the middle of the night so at 1am I found his light on and went in to see what was up; he was! He was so excited about it and couldn't wait till the tooth fairy would come. Yikes!!!! That meant Paul or I had to stay up and wait till he fell asleep. An hour later....HE WAS STILL UP. Finally, a few hours later Paul got up and the fairy came. LOL. Made for a very long night for us.

We have decided to join the ICA rally that leaves Fiji the first week in Aug and heads to Vanuatu. Check out the site to see what we will be up to if you want http://www.islandcruising.co.nz/

We then will head over to New Caledonia with them and stop in the Loyalties and clear in there after our stay in Vanuatu. Our final leg will be New Caledonia back to Opua, New Zealand. That is our plans as of today....but if you know us well, you know how quickly they can change.

We have a full week of planned parties, activities and contest with the rally in Malolo lailai this coming week and will fill you in on the details. They have a bikini contest scheduled....do you think I should try??? LOL.

Hotel Malolo

Seems as though once you check in...you can't check out. We keep coming back to relax at anchor in Musket Cove, Malolo lailai island. It's a great place to catch up on boat chores, play in the pool and recover from a cold. For the past two weeks we all have been battling some kind of fever, sniffles, body aches and everything that goes with being sick. I like to keep repeating how cruddy I feel just so Paul won't forget I am sick and ask me to help him do something, LOL. No future plans to move on yet. We decided to wait a few extra weeks to let the rainy Vanuatu season to calm so we will have a better experience. Not sure if I mentioned on the blog but we have decided to head back to New Zealand this coming cyclone season. For many reasons, we feel it's the right thing to do. We have already booked our old slip in Whangarei and planning our next road trip. We feel the best way to experience NZ is by land. They are SOOOOO well set up for campers, camper vans, and backpackers/trekkers!!! Fiji, on the other hand, has been on of our favorite stops. Happy we didn't skip Fiji because of the things we read in the news. Funny how peoples words and comments can alter your course but when you make your own decisions you are rewarded. We quickly learned that some places that people trashed were some of our favorite spots.

All is well aboard Free Spirit.

8,000 mile reunion

I often relate my life to being in a boxing ring. My opponents are different and fight a bit differently. Most of the time it's mother nature I am fighting against, sometimes its family and friends and, of course, the boat. It seems as though as much as you try to do what you want to do, something will punch you back. Sometimes that punch can be a pretty darn good blow. There are victories and then some of us get a TKO (technical knock out). With that being said, just under two years ago, we met a boat named Red thread who was also traveling by boat with two girls the same ages as our kids. Under rare circumstances, a friendship between the parents matched the bond between the children. We sailed off the forbidden shores of Columbia together, caught many fish and have some stories to tell. Then in September 07 we parted ways as their cruising schedule was different than ours. They transited the canal and told us all the details, sailed to the Galapagos, Easter islands and rode the roaring 40's back over to Chili. We finally made it out to the French Polynesian. Our reunion was to take place in Tahiti in 08'. Our friends took a "TKO" in Chili, in a storm with winds up to 90 knots which broke both their anchors loose and to make a long story short, landed them on the rocks. It's not what everyone thinks it is out here! There is the really good but then it can get really bad just as quick. All we knew is that we were so far away from friends who need us.

On a happy note, I am happy to say, Yesterday we bridge the gap and proved that even though we have lost a fight we can pick back up get ready for the next match. We are stronger this time. We hope to be on a winning streak but if not we are ready to give it all we've got.

As Red Thread circled the boat, shouts, tears, waves, kids jumping and emotions were at a high. Not even minutes later a 2 year gap was closed as though it never existed.