Bye Bye Fiji

We managed to make it down to the main island, Viti Levu, and spend some time on the north and west coasts in many different anchorages. We wanted to go to the Yasawa group which is a bit remote from the hubbub of activity on the west coast of Viti Levu, but the weather reports were calling for 30-35 knots out there, so at the last minute, decided to stay in close to the leeward side of Viti Levu and sit it out. We were also waiting on my new solar panels to show up.

It is quite lovely here too, though not as lush and green as the eastern side of Fiji. The vegetation is more sparse with dry hills. It’s also the dry season, but it’s the place where most tourists go as it’s very sunny this time of year. It’s also very busy, at least for Fiji. We did make it out to another island that many ‘yachties’ go to, Musket Cove, for a couple of days. There are some nice big resorts there and lots of tourists, even the anchorage was full of boats. They’re getting ready for a yearly rally, so many more boats will show up. It was fun too because they have a barbecue area and bar on a small little island connected to the main resort where everyone gets together in the evenings. Met several interesting folks there, some headed in the same direction as us. We could also use the pools, showers, etc, as if we were regular guests, so that was nice.

We didn’t stay there as the snorkelling/diving wasn’t as good as we like. Guess we are spoiled, but there are too many people there and the waters are loaded with algae, etc. My solar panels showed up yesterday on the ferry from the main island, so spent this morning switching them out. I was impressed that Kyocera sent them along quickly, no questions asked, even paid for the shipping. That’s a company I’d support.

So, the normal trade winds have set up about a week ago and still look good for this next week, so we decided to pull the plug and head for Vanuatu while we can. Next weekend it might fall apart again, so we’ll take the best we can get while we can. So, we came into Lautoka to do the check out in the morning and make another grocery run before we put back to sea. If all goes well in the morning with the ‘officials’, we’ll be well beyond the barrier reef before sun down tomorrow night. It’s a new moon, so we’ll have lots of stars to guide our way and 15-18 knots of trade wind sailing on the port quarter to push us along. At least that’s the plan J. It should take about 4 days to get there.

We’re going to try to put into the island of Tanna to the south of the island chain. It’ll be easy to head to the northern islands from there and we won’t miss much that way. Tanna also has a very active volcano, Mt Yasur, that we can go look down into, provided it isn’t too active. But apparently it is very active most of the time and rumbles under your feet, spitting molten lava into the air all the time. So, we’re excited to see/feel that one.

Anyway, my good internet access is about to end and we’ll be back on ‘text-only’ Sailmail. Vanuatu isn’t nearly as sophisticated as Fiji. There’ll be a few internet cafes here and there, but no mobile broadband like here. So, until next time, be well, be happy.

That’s the news from EQ, where the winds are fair, the seas following and the crew content.

J

Here’s one of Alene, Sally and me and ‘Equanimity’ awaiting our return. We’re sitting on the dragons head of Namena. J

Namena

Well, I think I found another place for my spirit to dwell, Namena, or Dragon Island. J
(17⁰ 07’ South, 179⁰ 06’ East)

Looks like a sleeping dragon, eh. But more about that in a minute.

So, let’s see, were did we leave off the story... We still haven’t gotten very far, still within 60 miles of Savusavu were we first started our Fiji adventure. This NE part of Fiji is really hard to leave, the people are lovely, the islands pristine, it’s all laid back, the diving has been incredible. Our diving guide in Viani Bay, Jack, has looked after us well, though he did pass along his cold, first to Sally and then a week later the skipper got it. That of course was just as I was getting over an ear infection. Bugger. I had to start on antibiotics to deal with that. I shouldn’t have kept diving, but it was too hard to pass up, so did two more dives. But that was in the last email I think.

The weather hasn’t been that great the last few weeks, so have had some rest, but still kept going in any case. Some new friends on a boat called Migration out of California had a movie projector and I had “Finding Nemo”, so they organized a “movie night” for the kids in a village on the island of Rambi. We hung a white sheet on the wall, set up a small generator and projector, and wa-la, a movie theatre came to life and about 50 small kids showed up, not to mention many parents, etc. The place was packed and all good fun. Otherwise, life has been fairly simple and enjoyable, hot and muggy, but generally cools down at night. Lots of kayaking and swimming and general exploring. And lots of getting over colds.

But we reckon it’s time to move west, so we came back to Savusavu (again J) to fuel up and re-provision for a day, and then set off SW towards Viti Levu, the main island, and then west to the Yasawa island group. However, we found out that Bruce on Migration had to fly back to the states because his mum was real sick and that left Alene all alone, maybe for a month, so we offered to take her with us on a trip down to Namena island and atoll for a couple of days. She agreed and we left the next day as the weather was really settled and it looked like some great diving in the offer.

Well, that is an understatement, I think it is our best yet. It’s a small island (about a mile across) surrounded by reef which is a marine preserve in the middle western part of the Koro sea. The island has a small lovely resort that looks after it and collects the $25 fees. It’s nesting grounds for the tropical Boobies and frigate birds. The trees are covered with birds, the jungle lush and the beaches white coral sand. Just stunning.

But the best part was the diving. There’s a couple of moorings that were put in to help protect the reefs and make it easy for visiting boats. We left Savusavu at 7:30 and got there at 11:00, found a mooring just behind the reef, hooked up and everyone was so excited, we got our act together and Sally and Alene did the first dive to check it out while I was captain of the dingy. An hour later, they came up with these huge grins on their faces. Needless to say, we stayed a couple of more days diving the same wall. We worked out the tides and current drift, where to anchor the dingy on the top of the reef and how to get back to the dingy. It was a bit of a production, but well worth it.

So, the reef was a vertical wall, flat on the top in chest high water (great for snorkelling), but fell off absolutely vertical on the outside, which is what we did. It was bottomless as far as we could tell, so was like floating in space. Here was our tour guide. J

It really was vertical and we could just float along. It was full of all kinds of soft and hard corals and the visibility was pretty good. Here’s Sally and Alene gliding along past a big soft fan coral. Good hairdo Sally. J






And of course there was heaps of fish all about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not to mention some of the big guys. Here’s a big Grey shark on patrol along with a tuna.

 

My camera started to fog a bit so didn’t get much more, but it was an incredible place to visit. It’s another world down there and of course my little camera just doesn’t do it justice. Anyway, we finally had to say goodbye, though none of us wanted to leave. It was a very good few days, but we needed to take Alene back to Savusavu so we could get moving before the winds turned south making it hard to head that way. Alene was a joy to have aboard and we wish them well in the month ahead.

So, we are on the move again. We’ve got a few weeks left in Fiji before we start looking for a weather window to Vanuatu. My dear friend and mate Julie will join us on the 18^th, so need to be in Port Vila before then. Both Sally and I (particularly me J) look forward to her arrival.

So, that’s the news from EQ, where the winds are fair, the seas following and the crew content.

J

Ps. My solar panels quit working, but the manufacturer said they’d replace them free of charge, including shipping. They’ve got a 25 year warranty, so we’ll see how that goes. They said they had some problems with them back then, so no arguments. Not sure I’ll get them before Vanuatu though.

Pss. I checked my Sailmail account and saw some notes. Sorry, maybe I wasn’t clear. Since being in Fiji, we have a broadband internet stick that works most of the time, depending on local coverage, at least so far. So I haven’t been doing the Sailmail thing as it’s a bit more challenging. I will use that when we are offshore or can’t get cell coverage, which I suspect will be the case in Vanuatu. Also, Sailmail is mostly used for letting people know what’s happening when on passage. It’s simple slow text only so would like to use it sparingly.

Cheers...