I have recovered slightly from the severe exhaustion and the depressed attitude towards our situation. If it only would stop raining - I just might get happy! We have found a guy to work on the transmission, we have identified the leak (the seal where the shaft enters) and it looks fixable without pulling the boat.

We have not started on doing anything else - too hot and too wet. We went to the movies and saw Spider Man. Jonah was scared and covered his eyes a lot but seemed to enjoy it. Jonah seems to have suddenly noticed that people's skin is dark. I tell him it doesn't matter - its just the color of their skin. It's strange how things sort of pop up in his consciousness.

Today I realized the Yacht Club is across the street from the prison. There is a huge gate with a tiny door in it and thick concrete walls with barb wire. The front of the walls have some cheerful painting on it which is why I didn't notice it was a prison before. The city seems fairly safe and the people are nice in a urban way. The city is fascinating in a sprawling chaotic way. The streets are packed with Fijians, Indians and Chinese. We ate dinner at a local food court - huge plates of Chinese food for a couple of bucks.

We will go to the anchorage at the far end of the city harbor - a bit cleaner and there is a small beach. I am not sure if I will swim although Jonah did when we anchored there when we arrived. We met a French boat and the kids swim everyday although they said they saw sea snakes. Sea snakes are pretty fearful and stay away from people but its hard to be careful when the water is so murky from the rain. The French boat, Boreal, is lovely but we will not see them as they are trying to get all the way to Singapore by September. They will be moving fairly quickly thru Fiji and New Caledonia. They want to get back to France as schooling their 10 year old is starting to become a burdensome affair. Their boat is a catamaran and I envy the spaciousness of the boat.