Savusavu Sunrise & Sunset

What a beautiful sight it was at 6.00am as we got ready to take Searov up to Savusavu Marina to scrubb & paint her hull. it is days like this that it is good to be alive & witness these wonderful sights.


The sunset  was also one of the best I have seen in a long long time, it just left you with a wonderful feeling inside.

It has been a long time since our last charter, we had a problem with one of the engines on the last charter so have had to do a complete rebuild on one motor.

After ordering parts in from New Zealand, getting them through Customs, at a lot of expense, we  have  now got the motor back in, had sea trials, been surveyed, antifouled the hull & are now ready to start charters again.

John & Steve

Thank you both for the wonderful article.
We enjoyed the day & have some lovely memories.
Hope to see you both & wives back sometime in the future.

John & Steve's Marlin

July 8th 2013

Jan had booked this charter for her husband John & friend Steve about 6 months ago.

Having made arrangements with them earlier, we left our dock at the Copra Shed Marina a little after 6.30, once we got to the Lighthouse at Savusavu harbour entrance, it was decided to troll first along the reef on the way to the seamount.

There wasn't much happening along the reef so decided to start heading towards the seamount.at 7.50am one of the reels started to peel out, then the Marlin started jumping out of the water, this is when all hell broke loose.

It had to take the lighter rod with only 1 gear & less line on, so very soon we had to start the backing up process to try & gain some line back, there was a swell running, so soon all on deck were wet through.

This went on for the next 4 1/2 hours, at times John & Terry helped Steve, all taking turns to try & bring it in a little at a time, not wanting to put too much pressure on the line as it was only 24kg.

When it finally got close to the boat we found out why, it had line wrapped round the tail, probably done during one of the jumps, & was dead, sadly we were unable to tag & release it.

Time now for a short rest, before getting ropes out to secured the fish on the duckboard,
There is going to be some sore arms tonight.

Once back at the Copra Shed Marine, the fish was taken ashore & hung up on a tree, so photos could be taken, then back on the boat to start the process of cutting the fish up.

News soon spread around the town, so people from all over arrived with plastic bags to get a share of the fish, in the end there was a small piece left for us to take home, at least it wasn't wasted & many good meals was had by all.

Fishing

Over the last week or so, once the weather cleared, we had a couple of charters.

On Friday 5th we took out a couple from one of the resorts,  the wind had died down a little so thought we would give it a try

We worked our way to the sea mount, but nothing much was happening, so along the reef we went.

Had a couple of good strikes & ended up with a decent size Barracuda, managed to land this making sure everyone was clear as it was brought in.

Nothing else happened so worked our way back to the sea mount, where we had a hook up with a Marlin, once Henry was in the chair the Marlin started doing some good jumps then tail walked right across the back of the boat, snapped the line & was gone. .

We did a few big circles but nothing else happened, the Marlin was probably half way to Koro with our new lure still hanging out of it's mouth.

On the way home we came across a long current line with lots of seaweed, trolled along this for a while we managed to get a couple of Mahi mahi, lost a nice one at the boat but did manage to bring the next one onboard.

Our next charter was to be a little more challenging!

Oyster World Rally

Thank goodness for a change in the weather this week, as Savusavu is the stopping point for the Oyster World Rally.

There are some impressive yachts moored at the Copra Shed Marina, & they make Searov look like a very small baby.

Last week we did manage to get out fishing, we lost a really big Mahimahi about 5 mtrs from the boat, fortunately the angler managed to play it for about 10 min before it got off.

We did  land 1 out of 4 Mahimahi & 9 yellowfin so the men were happy.

For the conditions, I think it turned out a good day for all in the end.

Lion Fish

It has been a while since my last post. have had a couple of trips to Koro Island, but with Terrry being down with the flu, we haven't been able to go on fishing charters.

We did manage to see a pod of Whales on one of the trips out, so spend at least half a hour taking photo of them.

This morning while down checking the boat, I spotted a Lion fish bathing in the early morning light, it looked so pretty as it moved gracefully in the clear water.

Savusavu anchorage area is slowly filling up with Yachts & by next week there will be a lot more arriving.

Moon over Savusavu

What lovely weather we have been having, finally a couple of weeks without rain, so at last the ground has had time to dry out.

Haven't been out fishing as Terry is away for a well earned break.

Not much to write about as I have been home nursing the flu, hoping I will be over it in a day or so!