Bula Again,
Thankfully the tsunami warning was cancelled. Another fantastic experience in Fiji. I must say it was quite stressful for a short while. We were ordered to evacuate all low lying ground, complete with the police driving through the marina yelling at people to leave. A few boats left the marina to head out into open water and I had a hard time deciding weather to leave or not. Visions of the marina draining and then violently filling up again and smashing my boat against the sea wall plagued my imagination. I decided there wasn't time for me to get a safe distance away as by the time I got untied and out of the marina I would have had only 1/2 hour till the expected time of arrival, motoring into a head wind and choppy seas would have barely gotten me anywhere. So really there was a lot of excitement for a short while that turned into nothing but better safe than sorry.
As far as the rest of my time in Fiji goes I had a wonderful visit with cousin Jon his lovely wife Christine and their great kids Rachel and Riley. Absolutely another highlight of my trip. I have been checking out a couple of the islands close to the marina but am weary to venture too far in case there is another hurricane. This is unfortunate as Fiji is an amazing place and there are many islands to visit. If I continue cruising after NZ I will be returning here for sure, it is a beautiful place, both the people and the geography are amazing. Now I am counting down the days until the arrival of my sister, her family and my parents. I am really looking forward to playing with my nieces and getting to know my nephew again, I am guessing he won't remember me as although we hung out quite a bit before I left he was still a baby. I will try and post some more pictures soon and as always if you have the time I thoroughly enjoy reading any news from back home.
Cheers,
Jonathan