On September 6th there was some hot gossip flying around the anchorage at Savusavu in Fiji. Did you hear a police squad boarded a sailboat? Omg yes! They brought in the drug dog! I heard there were children aboard? Oh my heavens! Where was the boat from? Canada! Well that’s a sketchy nation, which boat was it? The boat was called… [glances around nervously, then whispers:] Mandolyn.

We made it to Fiji! We’re not sure exactly what triggered the vice squad upon our arrival, but we have submitted a formal request to the kids to stop dressing like a pair of Columbian drug lords.

The narcotics officers who searched our boat were polite and professional. We have nothing to hide, so although it was a little stressful, the search also had some amusing moments.

We have a whiteboard that we use for our daily school schedules. Our whiteboard eraser (the deschedifier), is just a rolled up old sock. Watching a gloved officer slowly and suspiciously unroll my old sock was… a lot of feelings really. Was shame in the mix? A frugal attitude towards whiteboard erasers is nothing to be ashamed of. Be true to yourself Doug!

There was an interview to go along with the search. One of the questions we were asked was if we we had any friends or family living in Fiji. We said no, and the officer sounded worried. “But you do have friends, right?”. Yes, we assured her, we have friends. “Oh good”, she replied with relief, genuinely concerned for our popularity.

Later we were asked to produce our ships log, which we are legally bound to maintain. Our previous ships logs have been small black books, all business, very professional. Our current log book, however, was purchased at a swap meet in Mexico, and has a lot more personality. Nobody could maintain a straight face as we apologetically handed it over for inspection.

The drug sniffing dog, Ziggy, was an adorable black lab, tail wagging enthusiastically as he searched every part of the boat. I like to picture Ziggy making a major bust. Even a hardened smuggler couldn’t resist a quick ‘whosagoodboy?’

The officers told us that it was quite unusual for them to be on a sailboat, so while they photographed everything, they also took a lot of photos of themselves, on a sailboat.

Once we were cleared we were able to chat a little with the officers. Fiji has a growing drug problem, fueled by imported drugs coming in on ships and planes. Ziggy has his work cut out for him.

The other crazy news in Savusavu is that our old boat, Sonrisa, arrived here the day after us. Sarah and I lived on Sonrisa for five years. We bought her in San Diego, we sailed her to Alaska and around Vancouver Island. The kids came home from the hospital to her as their first home. She carried all our worldly possessions when we moved to Salt Spring.

We always dreamed of sailing Sonrisa across oceans, and somehow she made it here without us. She’s on her way to her new home port in Australia with her new owners Saxon and Holly. We couldn’t be happier with how well they’ve taken care of her.

They hosted us for a lovely dinner and I tried to take some then and now photos.

Next stop… still Fiji!