The first of April we were back on Breeze after a little more than thirty hours of flying and waiting at airports. Travelling by air is different than by boat. When being used to travel by boat, and the time it takes to get somewhere and always checking the weather and waiting for the good window before departing it is really another thing flying. You more or less just sit down, watch movies, eat food, try to sleep, and no matter of the weather; you are still travelling, getting closer to your destination. Some hours up in the air is nothing compared to weeks, months, or years by boat. So, the thirty hours of travelling by plane took us twice as long as the three years with Breeze in the Pacific.

Anyway, we landed at seven o´clock in the morning and were greeted with hot and humid air as soon as we stepped out of the plane. It felt wonderful! And we were just as happy as we are when arriving from a passage by boat.

Första april kom vi tillbaka till Breeze efter trettio timmar av väntan på flygplatser och uppe i luften. Att resa med flyg är så annorlunda mot att resa med båt. Seglingen är tid, tiden för avresa som måste anpassas efter väder, tiden det tar att komma fram, avstånden blir så mycket längre med båt, och vad du fyller tiden med under resans gång. I luften sitter du bara still. Du ser på film, äter mat, försöker sova. Och oavsett väder så kommer du fram när din resplan säger att du ska vara framme. Några timmar uppe i luften är ingenting jämfört med veckor, månader eller år till sjöss. Så trettionånting timmar tog oss dubbelt så långt som de tre år vi seglat Breeze i Stilla havet.

Hursomhelt, vi landade klockan sju på morgonen och möttes av het luftfuktighet så fort som vi klev ur planet. Det kändes underbart! Och vi var lika lyckliga som när vi kommer fram efter en passage.

We had our friend, doctor Jan, joining us for a
month. We all wanted to get Breeze ready as soon as possible to go out with
help for them in need after Winston that hit Fiji February this year. We knew there
were people, villages, settlements and islands in need for almost any help. Winston
is the strongest tropical cyclone ever hitting Fiji and the South Pacific Basin
in recorded history. Via the SeaMercy, a benevolent program for disaster and
critical care needs for remote islanders, we would get things and food to bring.
One thing that we wanted to focus on was health care since we had Dr Jan with
us and we actually could even bring a blood pressure monitor. But first, we had
to wait Zena out, the next tropical cyclone hitting Fiji.

Med oss till Fiji flög vår vän JanÅke som är läkare och mycket
lämpligt hade en månad ledig. Vi ville alla få Breeze färdig så fort som
möjligt för att kunna ta oss ut till öar, byar, bosättningar med hjälp till dem
som hårdast drabbades av Winston. Winston är den starkaste cyklon som någonsin
träffat Fiji och den kraftigaste någonsin på södra halvklotet. Via SeaMercy, en
ideell organisation, skulle vi kunna ta med oss saker och mat. Vi ville gärna
fokusera på medicin och hälsa eftersom vi hade JanÅke med oss och kunde t o m
få med en blodtrycksmätare. Men först måste vi vänta ut Zena, en till tropisk
cyklon som siktade på Fiji.

Zena strengthened to a cat 3 cyclone. We had done all the preparations, tied up as much as we could, felt as ready as we possibly could get and just waited. Good thing for us was that Zena didn´t bring much wind to where we were, but rain, lots of rain.
Zena was a storm full of warm water. She sure added some more to the working list, and showed us if we have any leaks. But as long as she visited we stayed indoors and waited. Everyone was busy with more or less important things to do.

When the weather was good to leave with supplies we took a two-day
trip to Navuniivi, a village on the north-eastern corner of Viti Levu. The first nights anchorage gave us a beautiful sunset at Nananu-i-Cake, tomorrow Navuniivi.

När vädret blev bra nog att lämna tog vi en tvådagarstur över till
Navuniivi, en by på nordöstra hörnet av Viti Levu. Det var hit vi ville gå med varor och hjälp till dem som inte har någon väg till sin by. Den första natten ankrade vi i Nananu-i-Cake och fick en underbar solnedgång. Dagen efter: Navuniivi.
We were in Navuniivi last year, and in January this
year, and every time we have been so taken of this village and the people
living here. It is the absolutely prettiest village, well organised, well taken care
of with plans for generations to come. This time it looked like we had gotten
somewhere else. All the trees were gone, even the palms had fallen in three different directions.

Vi har varit I Navuniivi förut, ett par gånger förra året och i januari i år, det är vår absoluta favoritby och varje gång blir vi lika imponerade över dem som bor här. Det här är en by där dagens generation försöker bygga upp både ett bra liv nu och en ekologiskt hållbar plats för kommande generationer. Den här gången när vi kom fram såg det ut som att vi kommit någon annanstans. Alla träd var borta, t o m palmerna hade fallit i tre olika riktningar
When we here in January they worked on the roof of the church, renailed it and painted it. Winston took half of it, everything inside is packed up where there still is roof. This is now, compared to January below.
In the village Navuniivi we brought all the things we had gotten via SeaMercy. We had food, sanitary articles, buckets, school material and reading glasses. The ladies were the ones helping us carrying everything up from the beach.
When we had everyting up by the turaga Joes house all the women and children were called on to come and ask the doctor questions about health and wounds. Trying out reading glasses.
“Yes! Now I can read again! And see what I´m cooking, or sewing.” Happy ladies.
The ladies, all dressed up, in line for checking blood pressure and maybe asking Jan a medical question or two.
Lai checking blood pressure. “Yes, you´re all good.” And she was also really fit, she was the strongest woman helping us carry all the big bags with supplies. Her family now lives in the pre-school house in the village, theirs were taken by Winston.One of the few houses still standing, repaired after Winston. The pre-school in the village is closed after Winston, so the young ones still have time off from school. They greeted us, and would happily have followed us when we walked to the settlement, had it not been for one of their moms telling them “no, too far”.We walked over to Joe and his wife in the settlement Namonamo. When Winston came only Joes father was here. He opened all doors and windows in the house to let the wind run through. Maybe that is why there house is the only one still standing in the settlement, all the other houses and sheds are gone. Joes father also desperately tried to run and hide from the wind, he tried under the house, in the little bathroom strongly built and finally ended up trying to hide from the wind on the leeward side of the big watertank. But the wind kept on changing direction so he spent hours moving moving. Joe said his father, an ex-military with services almost everywhere, never had been so afraid in his life. After Winston they had to walk far in the valley to search for things blown away from their house. Now we wish them the very best so they can start building everything up again. And since they are so good and really hard-working they will hopefully succeed with their plans.
Nothing, but a chair and clothes line, left of this house.One of the empty houses, the dog still belongs here and watches over it.
Look at the size of this huge uprooted tree. Can you see me?

Some days later it was another Tropical
Depression giving us more rain, and wind. The last night in Viti Levu Bay we
had 40 knots of wind, we dragged and had to re-anchor in blackest night with
rain pouring down. The day after we took off, started sailing back to the west side of
Viti Levu. The second day back was all clear and the ocean the very most
pacific, both the sea and the sky was all blue.
The day after we got a truly pacific ocean on the way to Malolo…
… that finished with perfect wind by the sunset.Since we were at Musket we wanted to be a bit more like tourists and we took the dinghy out to Cloud 9, the very most touristic barge with young bon vivants. We got truly wet both getting there and getting back, but only by the sea water.

Snorkelling, yes, sometimes you mustn´t expect too
much but take your time and look close. Even the little things are great. But we did also notice more bleaching on the reefs after the hot summer. Hopefully they can recover when the water temperature gets cooler in the winter.

Snorkling, ibland får du inte förvänta dig för mycket utan
ta tid och titta nära. Även de små sakerna är vackra. Men vi märkte också en hel del blekning på reven. Förhoppningsvis kan de åtminstone till en del återhämta sig när vattentemperaturen snart sjunker under vintern.
When Jan had left us the weather changed, and the next tropical depression went further northeast. We sailed down to Robinson Crusoe Island with Outsider. Another wet ride.

När JanÅke lämnat oss så ändrades vädret, nästa tropiska depression höll sig nordost om Fiji. Vi fick fint väder och seglade ner till Robinson Crusoe Island tillsammans med Outsider. Men vi fick en blöt färd.

Outsider outside the reef on their way to Robinson Crusoe.

Robinson
Crusoe Island is a very good spot to go to for a sailor. It is a good anchorage
with some breeze and long beaches to walk at low tide. There is a small resort
with bar and restaurant, nice crew and atmosphere. We enjoyed both the food and
the dance and fire show.

Robinson Crusoe är ett riktigt bra ställe för seglare. Det
är bra ankring med uppfriskande bris och långa stränder att utforska vid
lågvatten. Det finns en liten resort med bar och restaurang, trevlig personal
och skön atmosfär. Vi fick en bra lördag med både god mat och dansshow.Playing with fire.

Before we went back to the main island we went
to Mana, another lovely anchorage. Had it not been because they are filming a
reality-show, Survivor, and most of the island was completely closed, we would
probably have stayed a little longer… Or not, we had to go in to Denarau to
re-stock food and supplies for our next trip, and start some of the work that
needs to be done thanks to Winston.

Innan vi åkte tillbaka till huvudön tog vi också en tur till
Mana, ännu en vacker ankringsplats och en härlig liten ö. Om det inte hade varit
så att de håller på med inspelning av Survivor, en reality-show typ Robinson,
hade vi nog stannat längre… Eller inte, vi var nog nästan tvungna att gå in
till Denarau för att förbereda de jobb som måste göras tack vare Winston, och
även planera inför nästa tur ut med hjälp till dem som drabbades hårdare.