Amelie arrived in the marina on Tuesday morning to an initial unhelpful “welcome”. Debbie put on her ‘bad cop hat’ and managed to persuade a better outcome - enough said.
Swiftly with the help of four of our strapping, handsome, young guys on the OWR the mainsail and yankee were removed, bagged and carted off to the sailmakers for necessary repairs.
The next day, Wally followed the same fate for repair.
Supplies from Oyster arrived in two batches and we embarked on three days of hard work to get Amelie straight. We hired a small, battered car, mainly for Stephen to go hunting for his cigars, having not been able to buy any since Panama except for the kind gestures from other visiting OWR crew. Alas he came back empty handed - Trish and Paul saved the day a few days later.
The D1s arrived in the second batch of supplies and we made contact with Bruce the Rigger who eventually turned up on Saturday morning without his tools! Together with our tool supply and Stephen acting as chief winchman, Amelie has two sparkling D1s in situ and the mast is once again secure.
Every evening was party night, watching the rugby and enjoying our only full meal a day. We worked through lunch every day.
With the sails repaired and hoisted; Wally returned stronger and fit for purpose, we were ready to leave on Sunday morning for the Yasawa islands.
Tradition dictates when visiting the outer islands that you present Kava (Piper methystiam, a root which produces a drink with sedative and anaesthetic properties) to the chief of the village. A ceremony is performed with chanting and clapping whilst the roots are pounded (used to be chewed) mixed with water and filtered through a silk cloth or hibiscus fibres. A small bowl or half shell of a coconut (Bilo) is filled and it is expected to be downed in one. Once the mixing receptacle (Tanoa) is empty and the stories have been told, the ceremony is completed. This is an acceptance into the village.
We purchased umpteen packets of Kava for this purpose plus replenishing our wine supply.
Amelie cast off her lines at 09.15am and is now heading for Navadra, an uninhabitated island in the Western islands. The picture attached shows our first glimpse of the outer islands.