Final Week
Karen and Jacintha flew to Sydney while I remained in Fiji for another week to finish prepping the boat.  I had a very busy 7 days doing most of the work myself and finding more tasks that needed done along the way. The remaining tasks to be completed (from the last blog post) mostly got done:

• Change generator oil, STORE BELOW.
• Remove BBQ grill, STORE BELOW.
• Remove dodger and bimini canvas, STORE BELOW.
• Remove jacklines.
• Remove solar panels and STORE BELOW.
• Run trace lines through masts and remove halyards.
• Polish and wax hull.
• Fix bilge pump leak.
• Fix gelcoat dings, bubbles, and scratches (hire out).
• Drain water tanks and hot water tank.
• Remove everything on deck and STORE BELOW.
• Polish stainless steel stanchions, dodger frame, bimini frame, bowsprit, wind vane.

The hull polishing/waxing didn’t get done because of the delay in the gelcoat repairs (see below), so the workers promised to do that after I left. Some of the stainless steel polishing got done and the rest will be done when I return.

Gelcoat Repairs
Ten years worth of docking and maneuvering and hoisting the dinghy into and out of the water, along with the new bubbles caused by the tropical heat, had all taken a toll on the once pristine gelcoat on the hull. I decided to have the repairs taken care while Apropos was in the pit and before I flew out. They first opened up the bubbles and found they were only in the gelcoat, not the fiberglass, so that was good news. These were mostly near the waterline and for some reason the majority were on the port side.  After grinding and filling all the defects with a poly filler, they hand-sanded to get a smooth surface. Next they tinted the gelcoat and sprayed or brushed it on.  After drying for 24 hours, they wet-sanded the gelcoat to blend in the edges. Unfortunately, the new gelcoat turned out to be way too bright which made all the repairs stand out. Apparently the gelcoat was not tinted enough for a good match, and the only way to fix it now is to gelcoat or paint the entire hull! My flight was leaving in less than 24 hours so there was not much I could do about it.  I’ll have to have it re-done either when I return to Fiji or when I get the boat back to Seattle.

At the marina, there were day-laborers for hire at an hourly rate of $6Fiji (only $3US), so I hired Bruce to polish some of the stainless steel. There’s a lot of stainless steel on Apropos–stanchions, bowsprit, turnbuckles, pushpit, wind vane, etc. And to think I almost had it done in Mexico for $200US. He did a great job and got about 1/3 of it polished and it only cost $18US, talk about cheap labor!

Finally, I hired Moses as a caretaker of Apropos while I’m gone for 6-1/2 months. He will stop by once a week and open the hatches to air out the cabin, wash the decks, check the battery condition, and inform me of any problems.

Some Final Thoughts on Fiji
We enjoyed spending over a month in Fiji. The people are so friendly and everyone greets you with a smile and cheery “Bula” (hello). From the remote and poor village of Nasea to the urban area of Lautoka, the Fijians are very welcoming and generous. Some of the best diving and the most beautiful beaches in the South Pacific are in Fiji. The cruising is more challenging here then in other South Pacific islands because of all the reefs and narrow passages, so we were more conservative with our planning and did no overnight passages. We saw and heard about several boats running aground, most escaping with little or no damage, but one that was a total loss.

As I was about to step onto the airplane to leave Fiji, an airport employee saw me carrying my ukulele and asked if she could see it. I listened to her play it while finishing my coffee, thinking about  how lucky I was to spend so much time in Fiji!