Reunions at Denarau
We had a long to-do list for the day and a half we were at Denarau, but at the very top of the list was catching up with cruising friends we hadn’t seen in a while. As we were pulling into the marina one of the first boats we spotted on a mooring was True Blue V and just like when we arrived in Savusavu a couple months before, pulling into the Denarau basin and seening True Blue V there felt a little like coming home.
Another very familiar boat on a mooring there was Field Trip. This was one of the kid boats we spent a lot of time with in New Zealand and we had parted ways with them earlier in Savusavu when they came here to Denarau to leave the boat to fly home for a few weeks. Sarah had been worried that they’d never catch up again with us and the other kid boats, but our timing was perfect, because they arrived back in Fiji while we were there, and we were able to head off out of Denareau together to catch up with some of the others.
There was also the catamaran Koa, who we hadn’t seen since Minerva Reef on they way south from Tonga to New Zealand! As we were heading into Denarau I spotted them on AIS and seriously our timing had us racing for the basin entrance and arriving within minutes of each other.
Field Trip organized a “tower of power” happy hour and we all got together to catch up, swap stories, and also meet a few other people. In case you are wondering, tower of power is a big plastic beer dispenser they bring to your table. The part that holds the beer is donut shaped and there’s ice in the middle to keep the beer cool. Brilliant. Anyway, Lochmarin was there, hadn’t seen them since New Zealand. Outsider was there, well at least ½ of them, and I finally met Ian, someone I’d talked to on SSB many times but never met. I would have to wait until returning to Savusavu to meet Wendy. And then as we were all hanging out and refilling our mugs from the tower of power, Per and Sabina from Breeze walk up and surprise everyone! What a great evening, and we were reminded of how lucky we are to be a part of such a fantastic cruising community.
Gresham Family Exodus 