Today was Mother's Day, though none of us remembered that when we woke this morning. We spent the morning getting the boat cleaned up, getting the cockpit awning mounted (the sun is incredible of course) and launching our dinghy. We then rowed over to the hotel ashore to have lunch and sneak in the pool (our usual MO). The lunch was fabulous and it was when we sat down that I looked at the menu and realized it was Mother's Day (they had a special Mother's Day Brunch menu).

After lunch we swam in the pool a bit, but it clouded over and actually got a bit coolish. We went back to the boat and relaxed a bit. We were invited for cocktails on "Boreal" a French catamaran whom we met in Tauranga (NZ) when we were there. We had a nice time and Jonah played with their kids (Quinten and Bridget ages 10 and 8 respectively). We talked about sailing, the Caribbean (they spent 17 years there) and about fixing refrigerators (theirs) and transmissions (ours). Paul used to run a boat yard in France; he was pessimistic about finding anyone here in Fiji who could repair our trans. We agreed a new unit shipped from the states was the only likely solution.

Tomorrow we will move the boat back to the Yacht Club anchorage (we are now at the far side of the harbor anchored in front of the Tradewinds Hotel) and begin the process of investigating the transmission thing. We need to find out if there are any qualified transmission technicians, we need to determine where to haul the boat (which will be necessary to replace the tranny) and we also need to get a cruising permit on the off chance we do get the boat fixed we can actually go somewhere other then Suva , Lavuka, Savusavu or Lautoka (the only places you can go without a cruising permit are one of the 4 official Ports of Entry). We will keep you informed!