Two days ago a tropical depression formed north of Venuatu and was predicted to bring gale force winds to Fiji, mostly along the west coast where Apropos is still sitting in her “cyclone pit”.  Yesterday it was upgraded to a category 1 cyclone and named Zena, making it the 26th cyclone of the season.  Early this morning is was predicted to stay cat1 until it passed Fiji, then go to a cat2 as it moves SE.  About 2 hours ago, Zena went to a fast moving cat3 and is expected to pass by us between midnight and 3am.  The eye of a cat3 cyclone has winds between 111 and 129 mph and it’s expected to pass within 50 miles of us, so we could see winds close to 100mph.  I think I’ll go out on deck to see what it feels like!

The bigger concern for Viti Levu is the rainfall.  The ground is already saturated from the last couple days of rainfall–nearly 20″–from the tropical depressions that passed through 2 days ago.  The road from Vuda to the airport in Nadi was flooded and closed today.  Things will only get worse as Cyclone Zena is expected to add another 12 to 18 hours of heavy rainfall tonight and tomorrow.

Update:  Cyclone Zena went further south than predicted and started breaking apart as it passed more than 50 miles off Fiji’s west coast.  All we got at Vuda Point marina were 30 knot winds and zero rain.  Great for sleeping–no mozzies and great ventilation while on the hard.

Tropical cyclone Winston meandered around the south pacific for a couple of weeks before striking Fiji as a category 5 system–meaning sustained winds in excess of 137 knots (157mph).  The eye moved along the north coast of Viti Levu and wiped out villages in Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, and many of the smaller islands. Winston is being noted as the 2nd most powerful cyclone ever to make landfall, with winds in excess of 200 knots.

Video from NOAA showing cyclone passing through Fiji:

https://www.facebook.com/NWSWPC/videos/1029142923819290/

News is slowly getting out describing the severe damage all over Fiji.  Many houses were leveled, lots of trees fallen, and flooding has washed out roads.  Power has still not been restored for many people. Loss of life (21 as of this writing) was minimized by plenty of warning and a good system of emergency shelters on the islands.

Aid is slowly reaching Fiji, but getting it to the people in need will be a big challenge.  Me and 3 crew members from Seattle will be flying to Fiji in 5 weeks and will be bringing as much as possible to help out those in need. Two helicopters are being supplied by the Australian government to help distribute food and supplies to different locations.

The eye passed within 25 miles of Vuda Point marina, where Apropos has been for the past 5 months in a ‘cyclone pit’.  We were told by marina staff that only 2 boats that were on jack stands toppled over, and all the boats in pits are ok and just shifted by a few degrees. So structurally Apropos is fine but I’m still waiting to hear about any damage from flying debris.  I think I’ll buy a new wind anemometer just in case!

Leaving your boat in the South Pacific during Cyclone season (November through April) can be a bit nerve-wracking! As Apropos sits in a cyclone pit at Vuda Point marina on Viti Levu in Fiji, a cyclone is moving towards it. As I write this, Cyclone Ula is approaching the Vava’u group in northern Tonga, a place where we spent 4 weeks and where some of our friends have left their boats.

Some cruisers leave their boat in the water with multiple anchors and lots of chain. There are harbors in Tonga and Fiji that have huge concrete blocks on the bottom to tie to. However, surge and stress on the tackle gear are still major concerns. The next level of protection is to haul the boat out and place it in a cyclone pit.  Vuda Point marina has about 40 of these pits and they sell out every year. We reserved ours in July when there were only 3 remaining.

Regardless of where you leave your boat during the cyclone season, the best thing you can do is to remove as much as possible from above deck. We removed the solar panels, dodger, bimini, sails, BBQ, and everything else that was loose. We also hired a caretaker for Apropos who checks on the boat about once a week and sends me a email report with things like battery voltage and overall condition. Since he works at the marina and is there every day, he opens and closes the ports depending on the weather to keep the interior well ventilated. He is my “eyes” and emailed photos of the hull painting and, in the event of a cyclone, will show me how Apropos fared.

As shown below, Cyclone Ula is predicted to veer more south before reaching longitude 180. The red line is the predicted path and the outer black line indicates the range of tracks due to the uncertainty in modeling. As it looks now, the path would spare the western side of Viti Levu from the eye and strongest winds. This map is updated every 6 hours so I’ll be tracking Cyclone Ula over the next coupe of days.

Update on Jan. 4, 2016–Cyclone Ula continued on its S-SW course as predicted, then decided to change course and head W-NW. Still a Cat3 system, it’s predicted to weaken over the next 2 days to Cat1. Nadi reporting heavy rain today, not sure how much wind.

Update on Jan. 6, 2016–Cyclone Ula continued moving west and is presently a Cat1 system.