11 July, 2011

We left Denarau Marina on the 5th of July and sailed
to Musket Cove on Malolo Island a distance of about
20 miles. This island is perfectly protected from
swell and there are numerous resorts and a small
marina there. We met up with the Delos crew again
and celebrated July 4th again as it was July 4th
in the US on the 5th in Fiji. Much beer and red wine
and another barbie. We spent three days in Musket
Cove snorkelling and then went on to Mana Island and
then Yava Island in the Yasava group of island. We
anchored in Yalobi Bay and visited with the chief for
Sevusevu and toured the village. There was quite a bit
of swell in the anchorage so we moved on yesterday to
the next island of Naviti. We are anchored a Manta Ray
Point at the southern end of Naviti and we will go
looking for Manta rays today if the wind stays calm.
Photos to follow when we get some internet access,
which is nonexistent here. We will spend a few more
days in the  Yasawas and then back to Musket Cove
and then Denarau.

Deanarau Marina, Viti Levu, Fiji

We have had a pleasant few days in Denarau, though it has been raining quite hard over the past two days. This area can hardly be called Fiji as it appears to be a huge tourist compound and looks more like a shabby Orange County than Fiji.
Julie arrived yesterday and we had our modified July 4th bar-b-que. Nandi was quite an interesting town with a huge Hindu temple and all sorts of stores.
We are off today to Musket cove and then the Yasawa Islands.

Denarau Marina, Viti Levu, Fiji

We arrived at Denarau marina yesterday after an overnight stop in Lautoka. The boat got covered in soot from the sugar cane factories. We took a bus ride into Nadi to do some shopping and I got an overdue $3 haircut at Yusef's Barbering Emporium. He did a pretty good job too!
We have some cleaning to do and the fresh water pump is still not working correctly and I need to find and replace the rubber mounts in the watermaker low pressure pump.
Tomorrow is some kind of American holiday and we will do the Barbie thing once Julie gets here in the morning.

Special Announcement

The Admiral and I would like to let you all know that we are going to be grandma and grandpa in January. Jessica has told us that a potential new crew is due in the new year, gender to be determined in September. This may precipitate a few changes in our cruising plans and we will be in London in January to await the new arrival.

Nanua-I-ra Island, Viti Levu, Fiji

It has been a windy three days since we left Palmlea Farms on Tuesday on a fine clear morning, for Nukabati Resort, 15 miles away but could not get into the tiny bay as the wind again piped up to thirty kts plus. We would not have been able to get ashore on the dinghy so we went on to Tavea Island and anchored up in about 25 kts for the night. The following day we took the inside route to Baulailai Bay and managed to sneak into the bay between two reefs just before the wind piped up to 30 kts again. No going ashore for us, which was a pity as it seeemed like a beautiful place and we would have liked to stay for a day or two. We did get a visit from some of the local fishermen. No lobster, unfortunately.
After completing an almost circumnavigation of Vanua Levu we left this morning throug the Yandua Passage across Bligh Water to Viti Levu. Anothed day of 25 kt wind but it a least we covered the 25 miles very quickly. We entered the reef through the Nanua pass which was confusing as most of the navigational marks were missing.
It's still quite blowy in the lee of Nanua Island but the forecast suggests that will settle tomorrow and maybe we will be able to get off the boat.
We will be in Nadi by July3 to pick up Julie.

Photos

Baby on Kia Island
The church ladies arriving for Sunday afternoon tea
Children on Kia Island
Kids drawing wellwater on Kia Island. Not a common pastime in the US
Dolphins come to play with the boat
33 years of nuptial bliss
Josette and child on Kia Island

Tavea Island, Fiji

We are anchored just north of Tavea Island in The Great Sea Reef off the north coast of Vanua Levu. We have had an eventful few days. We left Palmlea farms last Saturday and went to Kia Island about 15 miles to the north. We mostly motored through narrow passages in the reef in good visibility and light air and anchored up in the southwest corner close to one of the four small villages on the island in the company of Stuart and Sheila on Imagine.
We went ashore with Kava to present for sevusevu and we were well received by the villagers of whom there are 97 and about 300 on the whole island. We did the sevusevu and drank some kava which to my view tastes loke old socks and will never be a substitute for beer.
The locals drank it all with the comment "good grog" but they may say that to everybody. We did a tour of the village and went to church with villagers the following morning and had a visit from the church ladies and some of the kids for tea on the boat on Suday afternoon.
We were going to visit the school on Monday morning but at 0200H the wind piped up to 25 kts from the SE making the anchorage most unpleasant and unsafe soat 0600H we left for Vanua Levu and a high end resort called Nukubati. The 2 hour jaunt to Kia turned into a 8 hour day with strong headwinds and poor visibility navigating the reefs. We got into inside passage without too much trouble but could not get to Nukubati and the wind strengh rose to 40 kts with gusts to 50 kts. Fortunately, there was no significant sea running and we returned to Palmlea where we knew it was safe to anchor.
We spent the night there and took off again this morning as the weather seemed to have cleared. We went westward again to try to get into Nukubati but were again met with winds of 30+ kts and I was not happy with entering the anchorage so we pressed on for another 20 miles and we are currently safelt anchored in 10 meters of sand. There is appently a village on the island but it's still blowing quite hard and i don't think wewill go ashore. Tomorrw we will leave for the westernmost tip of Vanua Levu and then on to Viti Levu.
Photos of Kia to follow.