🇫🇯️ Lautoka and the Lau islands

After good days and a few jobs like stocking up with diesel and bringing the sails for repair we leave Vuda marina for Lautoka. The staff is so welcoming and it is a delight to meet them again. Stella will fly to Ireland for the wedding of her son Ryan and it will be wonderful for her to spend time with the family.

back in Lautoka. Amazon Jeff Bezos 127 meter yacht, designed and build in the Netherlands is here

A stop on the way at Navula reef to clean the hull. But then Stella warns me that there is a problem!

It is indeed safer to sail the other way around Viti Levu and that means going back to Lautoka first.

Near Levuka on the island Ovalau the engine first looses power then stops completely. What is going on? The vacuum gauge on the racor filter that was just cleaned shows -30"Hg, clearly not good but what can it be? All 4 diesel filters have just been replaced with new ones so it is not that. No airbubbles in the system either.

There is only one small filter left and is inside the tank. But to be able to clean it one has to empty the 600L diesel tank first! Well…all ideas are welcome to clear that small filter while sailing. I read on the Amel forum that Eric also had this problem. He unscrewed the fuel line to the tank and used compressed air from a air horn to clear the blockage. I could do something similar using a diving bottle….

First nothing seems to happen but after 2 seconds I hear air bubbling in the diesel tank which means the blockage has been cleared! That makes a big difference, the reading is now a normal -3"Hg and the engine works fine after this “repair” 😀 and after a few more hours trouble free motoring passing Ngau island it is beautifull gentle sailing, without the predicted big waves.