The day began with a series of visits from the departments required to give us customs and quarantine clearance. All were very nice people. We filled in a number of forms, got another stamp in our passports and an invoice for health services but no overtime fees. First came Jackson and a medical student for 'practique' or declaring us free from plague on board. The conservation was the rugby sevens in London and that Fiji reached the finals only to be beaten by SAF. Next up was bountiful Mere from Customs and more forms. One section was about the amount of alcohol we had on board. We declared the maximum limit and everyone was happy. The food and fisheries quarantine guy didn't make it out to the boat – we were cleared onshore with the promise to dispose of foreign generated rubbish in a designated bin. All simpler, friendly and straight forward.
Bureaucracy dealt with we were at liberty to enjoy hearty hellos at the marina office with fellow yachties who we hadn't seen for a week or two and to exchange trip trials and tribulations. A group of boats which had left a week ahead of us had had an unpleasant time with either light wind or strong wind and waves on the nose all the way.
Savusavu is a single road lined with shops. The bank dispensed some cash so we picked a likely restaurant for lunch, dodged through a downpour to the market to pick up fruit for breakfast and then wandered back to the boat. Our wander was a few meters and bump into someone we know for a half hour chat, continue for another few meters and have another chat. It took 2 hours to go 200 metres.
When we finally got back on board we set to to start making our first brew of beer.
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