Good Times in Fiji and Very Sad News

Saturday morning we all met on the little island, at The Bar for a chart meeting.  Dave and Judy are Kiwis and fellow cruisers who sailed here from New Zealand many times over the years and one day decided not to leave so they run Musket Cove Resort, and keep it very cruiser-friendly.  They gathered us round for a Fiji Islands cruising tutorial giving us tips on safe passages, where to anchor, when and where to buy the proper size and amount of Kava root to present to village chieftains upon arrival at their bay/inlet/village.  Fascinating stuff indeed. Then we had free time until closing night ceremonies at 6 PM.  Frank and I went to the Coffee Cove and had seafood pizza for lunch then we went back to Destiny to take care of some housekeeping items. At 6 PM we donned what meager Pirate gear we could scrape together and went ashore to The Bar.  There was some ritualistic preparation of Rum punch and a social hour, followed by a chicken curry dinner.  Afterward Phil announced the prizewinners.  "Warm Rain" won Best Story, "Baraka" won Best Protest and Best Dressed Pirates, Destiny won "Most accurate ETA" (misspelled on our plaque "Accutate"), "Mahurangi" won Best Kept Log, "Different Drummer" won Largest Fish Caught, & "Vivacious" won Best Brag.   Sadly, to end the night, Alan from "Charisma" approached us to tell everyone that he had just received the horrific news that "Elusive", a J-44, who was traveling with a group of our cruiser friends (Morning Light, The Dorothy Marie, Scarlett O'Hara, etc.), sank 500 miles north of Auckland.  Owners, Steve and Wendy are excellent seamen, so needless to say we are all shocked and very upset by this news.  They had their son aboard and were fortunately rescued by John and Renee of Scarlett O'Hara.  They are unharmed and are continuing the journey to Fiji aboard S O'H.  No one knows for sure what happened only that they were taking on water.  We await further news. Today is Sunday.  Not much going on.  Frank is working on boat stuff and we are just enjoying doing nothing. www.frankandbarbgladney.com while at sea: kd0cff@winlink.org (note:the sender must include the character sequence "//WL2K" in the subject line of the message.) Skype ID: frank.barb.gladney