After an amazing (albeit cold, soggy and windy) anniversary we woke up to more rain, wind and cold on August 2. Ready or not, it was time to move on to Fiji. The rally organizers had arranged a special clearance process for us between August 3 and 8 in the Eastern most island chain of Fiji called the Lau Group. As we mentioned in our last blog entry, it was just a 300 nautical mile sail from Tonga to the Lau Group. That means we could have stayed a bit longer in Tonga and still made it to the Lau Group before August 8 but, after 3 1/2 weeks in Tonga, we were excited to get to Fiji. More importantly though, the winds were forecasted to pick up over the next several days increasing to a steady 20 – 30 knots with gusts up 50 knots. Not the conditions you want to sail in if you can avoid it. By leaving on August 2 we were hoping to get in front of the weather system and miss the worst of the heavy winds.
Our plan worked well — sort of. On a positive note, we definitely outpaced the wind shift — during our passage the winds remained in the 17 – 23 knot range with gusts up to 30. Not horrific by any stretch. On a less positive note, the seas were entirely confused — with big waves coming from every direction — making for one of the lumpiest sails we have had to date. Calling it a “sporty” passage would be somewhat of an understatement. For 46 hours we were tossed about like pebbles in a maraca. The constant banging on the boat from the waves put tremendous pressure on our cabinets causing several of them to fling open with contents (including a computer) flying out. Anything that wasn’t secured and even some things that were secured (e.g., the cabinet contents), ended up on the floor. With huge waves — over 10 feet at times — crashing into Che Figata the rocking was far from gentle, making sleep very difficult if not impossible. Every time you thought you might drift off you were awaken by a strong jolt. These conditions persisted for the entire 2 day passage. We finally arrived at our check in location, Lomaloma on the island of Vanuatu Balavu, at around 9 AM on August 4 which was just in the nick of time. The weather forecast for later that day and the next day called for more rain and sustained winds in the 30s with gusts in the 40s. So, after checking in we hoisted our anchor and set sail for a very narrow and protected bay, Bhavatu Harbour, to ride out the winds. Aside from being a great hurricane hole, it was a beautiful spot with cliffs of rock coming up out of the water. An all around great place to hide for a day or two!
We were very privileged to be able to check in with health, bio security, customs and immigration in the Lau Group. Ordinarily, even yachts arriving from the east have to check in at islands located further west. The rally organizers flew in the Fiji officials to the Lau Group just for yachts in our fleet. The advantage of this for us was that, aside from being closer to Tonga making for a shorter passage, the eastern islands that are part of the Lau Group are some of the most remote and spectacular in Fiji. If we had to check in further west there would not have been adequate time for us to sail east all the way to the Lau Group and then get back to the western island of Viti Levu in time to pick up our new sails and get our engine work done the week of August 21. Based on our easterly check in we developed a wonderful itinerary that had us slowly making our way west, visiting bays with access to great snorkeling and diving as well as remote villages not easily accessible to most visitors.
One of the things we were most looking forward to was experiencing a traditional kava ceremony known as a sevusevu. In remote villages in Fiji it is still customary (in fact required) that before you visit the village you present the gift of kava root to the local chief. During the ceremony the kava, a mild narcotic, is ground and made into a potent drink. The visitors’ “chief” (usually the oldest male in your group) takes a sip of the drink followed by the village chief, then the rest of the men and finally the women. After the ceremony, song and dance celebrates the brining together of two “families.” You are then welcome to visit the village and come and go as you please. The organizers of our rally had arranged a kava ceremony with one of the local villages in the Lau Group, Daliconi, for August 7.
Unfortunately, boat drama struck again putting a big kink in these plans! On this leg of our journey we had an issue with our windlass. As a reminder, the windlass is the mechanism that allows us to lower and raise our anchor electronically. With a 100 pound stainless steel anchor, and with anchorages that are frequently 50 – 65 feet deep (which require you to put out ~ 150 – 170 feet of heavy chain), the electronic windlass is a pretty essential piece of equipment. We mentioned in our last blog entry that we had some trouble with our windlass. Specifically, we had difficulty raising the anchor when we snuck away to Port Maurelle doing our one nice day in Tonga among an otherwise dreary 2 week period of rain. We diagnosed the problem as a battery issue and thought we could continue to limp along with our sluggish windlass by turning on our generator to keep the windlass batteries topped up when we needed to raise or lower the anchor. While we were in Tonga that strategy seemed to work well (appearing to confirm our diagnosis) and we successfully used to windlass in 3 different anchorages after the initial failure. We had no reason to suspect that the windlass would not continue to function if we used our generator to keep the batteries fully charged while the motor was in operation.
Guess we were wrong. Very wrong. As we tried to raise our anchor after checking in with customs and immigration the windlass, once again, just stopped. Fortunately, if we let it rest for about 5 – 10 minutes after a stoppage, it seemed to perk up and we were able to raise the anchor a bit more before it stopped again. It look about 3 different stops and starts to get the anchor onto the bow of our boat. Of course, there was little we could do at this point. As mentioned above, we were expecting some pretty heavy winds over the next few days. It would not have been advisable for us try and do a passage to a marina with a boatyard in the western Fiji islands. So we sailed a short distance to a very sheltered bay (Bhavatu Harbour) to wait out the weather.
Naturally, we were not going to allow a little thing like a malfunctioning windlass ruin our Fiji arrival celebration. After a horrendous passage, we invited the crews from Escapade of London, Sidetrack and Tam Lim — our buddy boats on that beyond bouncy passage to Fiji who also sailed to Bhavatu Harbour after checking in — to join us for cocktails aboard Che Figata. With all the boat owners and crew we had 11 people on our boat in a cockpit that really only comfortably fits 6. Fortunately, we had plenty of room for the “overflow” crowd below deck. While enjoying Jill’s killer G & Ts, we all agreed that this last passage — notwithstanding its short duration — was our worst. Having reached consensus on that important matter, the sleep deprived and relatively subdued crowd departed Che Figata by 7 PM. Once alone on Che Figata we enjoyed one of Jill’s pre-made meals and fell into bed by 9:30 PM.
The weather was as bad as predicted when we woke up the next morning (August 5) so it was clear that we would need to spend another night in our protected anchorage before moving on. This was not unexpected and wasn’t really a bad thing. After a rough passage we had lots of boat chores — mostly cleaning and putting Che Figata back together. There was stuff everywhere and it is amazing how dirty a boat gets in just a few days of a lumpy sail. (Think greasy fingerprints on woodwork from our efforts to grab on to every surface as we navigated around the boat, crumbs from food falling off plates, water marks from salt water spray, stuff strewn about the floor — you get the picture). Plus we had to fix the broken cupboards so they would latch properly keeping the contents secure for our next passage. With our early bedtime the night before we rose with the sun on August 5. That allowed us to finish our chores by about 1 PM and shortly thereafter go to shore with Escapade of London and Tam Lin for a short hike across the narrow island to view the gorgeous Bay of Islands anchorage. It was a very wet, muddy and windy, but a nonetheless lovely, hike. We walked up and over pastures with horses, cows and sheep, through a very small village with just a few homes and a tiny shop called the “Sometime Store” (perhaps because it is sometime open or only has wares to sell sometime or both?) As you reached the other side of the narrow island we were treated to a magnificent view of the Bay of Islands which was just what you imagine in your mind when you think of Fiji. A collection of small islands with lush greenery and surrounded by water that changed to different hues of blue and green based on the depth of the ocean. Even on a grey day these islands and the water around them popped. By 4 PM we were back on Che Figata and Jill had just enough time to throw together the ingredients for her black bean chili so it could cook in our Instant Pot while we went back on shore for an impromptu BYOB affair at the local “yacht club.” That is in quotes because, at this point, the yacht club was not a going concern. It was little more than a small, largely open air, structure with a covered patio. The owner of the property told one of our fleet mates that we were welcome to use it and it was a wonderful place to gather for sundowners, keeping us mostly out of the rain. All in all, even with our morning chores, it was a lovely day and one that allowed us to forget about our malfunctioning windlass. Since there was nothing we could do to address that problem at the moment we adopted the Scarlett O’Hara philosophy and decided to “think about that tomorrow.”
But then tomorrow (August 6) came. Once again, we couldn’t stop time. The weather had definitely improved and there was even a little bit of sunshine peeking out from behind the clouds. Our plan was to see what happened when we tried to raise the windlass. If, by some miracle, it was back to operational with the generator assist, we would follow our itinerary and head over to the Bay of Islands. If the windlass failed to operate then we would have no choice but to head directly to a marina where someone could look at and repair it. We held our breath while enjoying a hearty breakfast of tofu scramble (lots of onions, green peppers and mushrooms along with cumin, fresh garlic, paprika, coriander, turmeric and a dash of cayenne pepper, in this version) enabling us to delay our confrontation with reality — whatever that might be — just a little bit longer. Finally, at 10 AM we couldn’t delay any longer. Our fleet mates in Bhavaru Harbour were all taking off for Bay of islands. If the windlass didn’t work we would need help pulling up our anchor and chain so we had to attempt to raise the anchor while they were still around. Unfortunately, after a couple of desperate grasps, the windlass totally died with about 170 feet of chain out. Ever resourceful, Zack devised a plan to pull up the chain using one of our electric winches but his plan required 3 people. We needed one person on the bow of the boat to manage the line that we attached to the chain to pull it up with the winch, we needed someone to operate the winch and we needed someone at the helm to steer the boat. Chuck, on Sidetrack, once again came to our aid and, within 30 minutes, our anchor was back on our boat.
Of course, we now had to face reality. We weren’t going to Bay of Islands or, at least for the time being, any of the other lovely places we had sketched out in our itinerary. We were so elated when we found the spare mounts for our engine — that meant we could enjoy our time in Fiji and not have to go straight to the western side of the islands where the marinas and boatyards are located — but now it was like the sailing gods were saying “not so fast.” As we have said many times, if you can’t deal with plans being little more than a suggestion then traveling by sailboat is not for you! (Someone said to us recently that “a sailor’s plans are carved in jello.” We love how the imagery of that expression captures the lack of firmness in our itineraries.). The new plan was an overnight sail direct to Nawi Marina in Savusavu to address our windlass issue. We would arrive at Nawi Marina the morning of August 7 and, if we were really lucky (and we always try to lean towards half-full), someone could inspect and repair our windlass sometime on August 7 or the morning of August 8. That would allow us to head back east to Viani Bay where we were looking forward to some diving. We would miss a few stops we were planning between Bhavatu Harbor and Savusavu during our sail westward, as well as the kava ceremony 😢, but it would allow us to make the most of an unfortunate situation and adhere to 70% of our planned itinerary. And this is where we were counting on the “law of 3s.” If bad things really do happen in threes, surely our windlass issue qualified as the third bad thing — the first was the torn (beyond repair) mainsail and the second was the engine mount issue. We had now fully and completely satisfied any requisite string of bad luck and were due for some good fortune. We were certainly keeping our fingers crossed that was the case because if the technicians weren’t available on our timeline, the repair was more complicated than anticipated or the needed parts were not in stock locally our ability to enjoy at least a portion of our planned itinerary was seriously at risk.
It is amazing how a little sunshine, warm people, a great shower and some good news can quickly adjust one’s attitude! The sun was shinning bright when we arrived at Nawi Marina early on August 7 and continued to shine throughout our visit. After nearly a month of rain, that, alone, nourished our souls. Nawi Island Marina itself was sparkling — still under construction, the beautiful facility just opened this season — and no fewer than 4 smiling dockhands met us at our slip to help us with our lines. And that was after one of the marina’s inflatable ribs escorted us to our assigned berth. Once securely tied to the cleats on our slip, Jill checked in with the marina office. Jill had given the office manager, Grace, a heads up on why we were coming in. As soon as Jill arrived in the office to fill out the paper work, Grace contacted the electricians who work on windlass motors to engage them for the job. They agreed to come out no later than noon that same day. Grace also secured help to assist us with a few miscellaneous chores. We figured that as long as we were at a marina we might as well check off some of the items on our boat task list. This included having a diver clean our hull and grease our prop and also removing some of the now very rusty chain links close to our stainless steel anchor and reattaching the chain after the compromised chain links were removed. (This is a standard prophylactic measure.)
With all of these arrangements made, Jill caught the marina’s courtesy water taxi to town to get cash. We were learning that, like Galapagos, cash is king in Fiji. Many businesses only except cash as payments and those who take credit cards often add a 5% surcharge. While Jill was off getting cash (unfortunately this took a while because, unbeknownst to us, it was the day Fiji residents received their pension checks and (a doubly whammy) it was also bill paying day so the line for the 4 ATM machines in town were each more than a block long!) Zack had time to clean our bilge (his favorite job!) and explore the marina facility. During his marina travels, he checked out the showers and discovered that we had arrived in Shower Paradise. These showers eclipsed the amazing showers we encountered at Sandy Lane Yacht Club on Canouan in the Grenadines which set a very high bar. (You can read about the Sandy Lane Yacht Club showers in our blog entitled: Another wonderful 3 week cruise through the Grenadines on our way to St. Lucia — December 22, 2022 through January 11, 2023 (subtitle: life doesn’t get better than this!)). As you might imagine, when you are used to showering on a boat a really nice shower is a big deal and can have a disproportionate impact. Nawi Marina had 4 large, indoor/outdoor spa like rooms (at least 15’X15’), each sparkling clean with its own toilet, vanity, sink and shower. In addition to the oversized vanity for all of your toiletry items, there were lots of shiny hooks and bars for towels and clothing plus a teak bench just for good measure. The rooms had a ceiling but they were opened on 2 sides with privacy created by grass cloth curtains that you could roll up or down. As you showered you could see the beautiful foliage that was planted around the shower building through the thin openings in the curtain weave. On top of that, the hot water was scaldingly hot and the water pressure powerful. After 6 months (if you exclude the 5 glorious days of our Galápagos cruise) of only allowing the water flow from the shower head to be just strong enough to effectively remove soap and shampoo, and turning the shower on and off while soaping up to conserve water, it was such a guilty pleasure to let the robust stream pelt down on our bodies continuously throughout the shower. While we still bemoaned that our windlass failure had taken us away from visiting some beautiful and remote Fiji anchorages, the splendor of the Nawi island Marina facility, as well the friendliness, efficiency and effectiveness of the marina staff, was definitely a nice consolation prize and, if we don’t say do ourselves, we thought we deserved one.
But the best part, and what you all probably care about, is that we got our windlass fixed in record time. As promised, the marina contractors arrived at our boat at noon the day we arrived, disconnected our windlass and took it to their shop. A few hours later they let us know that the problem was worn brushes and bearings and that they had already ordered the parts that would be in mid-day the next day (August 8). Though when we heard the words “ordered parts” we both got an involuntary twitch based on the number of times that parts haven’t shown up when expected (and the delays were usually not inconsequential), these parts arrived by noon the next day as indicated. The electricians were back out on our boat by 2 PM to reinstall our windlass and by 4:30 PM we had a fully functioning windlass motor!!!! In the meantime, we asked Grace if there was anyway we could get about 50 gallons of diesel fuel and she arranged for fuel to be delivered to our boat so we could refuel while the windlass repairs were were underway. By 5 PM we were celebrating with spicy margaritas at the marina bar. So, yes, we definitely missed a few special stops along our journey through Fiji but the impact ended up to be minimal and the endorphins released by the wonderful experiences — all around — during our two days at Nawi Marina had us feeling giddy.
On August 9 off we were to Viani Bay — 50 nautical miles away — where we planned to dive with the good folks at the Dive Academy of Fiji and Viani Bay Resort. With striking colorful coral, Fiji is known as the “soft coral capital of the world.” Unlike hard coral, soft coral needs flowing nutrient rich ocean water to survive and thrive and the confluence of Fiji’s sunken volcanoes and strong tidal currents create the perfect environment. The attraction of Viani Bay was the opportunity to dive Rainbow Reef, consistently listed among the top 5 dive sites in Fiji (described as “an iconic spot to see the famed profusions of soft corals”) with one of Fiji’s premier dive operators. They had a reputation for leading highly customized dives based on each diver’s certification level and interests and only taking 4 divers out at a time to ensure a personalized experience.
We had high expectations for the diving on Rainbow Reef and, unbelievably, they were exceeded. It is really hard to do justice to the magnificence of the dive sites within Rainbow Reef with words. Between the colorful and abundant hard coral, soft coral, reef fish and other underwater creatures you felt like you were swimming through a floral shop filled with hundreds (if not thousands) of lush Biedermeier bouquets exploding with the colors of the rainbow, some neon, some not but all vibrant. (Some websites describe it as akin to an underwater fireworks display and we would agree with that!) In and among the coral we watched palette surgeon fish (aka Dory), clown fish (sometimes swimming around bright white sea anemones — an anemone color we had not seen before), purple scalefin anthias, pennant bannerfish, humphead bannerfish, double saddle butterflyfish, orange-lined triggerfish, lagoon triggerfish, reef triggerfish, titan triggerfish, regal angelfish, moorish idolfish, and Napoleon wrass (among many others we couldn’t identify).
Over the course of 2 days our incredible dive master, Wilson, took us to 4 different dive sites within Rainbow Reef, sometimes with 2 other divers and sometimes just the two of us, including the famous Rainbow Passage and the renown Great White Wall, considered one of the top dives worldwide. Though all of the dives were spectacular the Great White Wall (https://www.diveplanit.com/dive-site/great-white-wall/) was particularly awe inspiring. It was unlike any dive we have ever done. The dive starts with a descent through a long and narrow coral filled tunnel that exits about 90 feet below the surface to a vast open space. On one side (to your left) is a wall and to the other side there is just a deep blue expanse where the wall drops steeply 300 feet. You feel like you are suspended in air. The wall is covered with healthy coral but, as you might imagine from the name of the dive, soft white coral is the dominant feature. Wilson had described it as Fiji “snow” and we don’t think we can come of with a better description. The white is as white as a fresh snow on a sunny day — it almost glistens — and it has the shape of delicate snow covered branches with the fresh delicate “snowflakes” still showing their individual patterns. It is indeed like an underwater winter wonderland. You slowly ascend as you swim along the wall and exit the wall through another series of tunnels that leads you to a beautiful and colorful field of coral that starts at 30 feet and rises to about 15 feet, perfect for the 3 minute safety stop before you head to the surface. The only problem with the diving in Fiji is that it is so spectacular, you don’t want to come up and, if you consume as little air as we both do on dives, you can stay down nearly 60 minutes. Not wanting our second dive to end Jill ignored the fact that she was freezing and could no longer feel her fingers. By the time we got on the boat she was hypothermic with rapid breathing. Fortunately, she warmed up relatively quickly and learned a valuable lesson: just because you have enough air to stay below the surface doesn’t mean that you should. We kept our next 2 dives to 40/45 minutes.
Though the primary reason for our 3 night/2 day stay in Viani Bay was diving the Rainbow Reef, we can’t talk about our experience there without giving a huge shoutout to the Viani Bay Resort, its owners Marina and Jone and the staff for enriching our experience with fabulous fresh food and great company. Their resort is not a swimming pool, spa, lay on the beach kind of place. It was an understated, rustic, unpretentious and secluded boutique property with just 4 or 5 ocean front bungalows, a small covered bar area and a tented dining area where all the guests (resort or dive only) dine together. On our first day of diving we did one morning dive and one afternoon dive. Our interval between dives just happened to coincide with lunch so rather than have Wilson drop us off at our boat after the first dive we came to shore to enjoy a meal. For starters we had rich and creamy pumpkin soup. The main course was leaves of the taro plant chopped and mixed with onion, garlic, spices like cumin and a little flour and formed into fritters which were then pan-fried and covered with a light and slightly sweet coconut sauce. We both agreed that it was one of the most delicious things we had ever eaten. An unexpected delight. And both courses were naturally vegan so no special meal required for Jill. We were still full when it was time to leave for our second dive. On our second day we did 2 dives in the morning and spent the interval between dives at the resort sipping warm tea and enjoying fresh fruit as well as just out of the oven banana cake. Given the quality of the lunch on our first day we decided to join the resort for dinner our second and third nights. The first night we enjoyed an Indian feast with a delicious dal soup and a variety of curries (vegan for Jill) and the second night featured a traditional Fijian lovo feast. Our meals were served still wrapped in elephant ear leaves. We felt like we were opening a present as we untied our bundles to see our dinners inside. Zack was served slow cooked pork with lots of vegetables while Jill’s bundle was filled with a medley of locally grown vegetables cooked in a rich coconut cream sauce. Though every dish was individually plated, all guests sat together at one long, beautifully set, table creating a communal dining experience. We enjoyed chatting with the other resort guests which included 2 couples and a single woman, all from Australia, as well as the crews of SV Manuia and SV Mary Doll, 2 of our fleet mates. After an incredible diving experience, 5 star meals and warm hospitality it was hard to leave but, as always, there was more of Fiji we want to explore so on August 12 we picked up our anchor and headed back west on route to Volivoli Resort on the main island of Fiji.
We were headed to Volivoli Resort because of its proximity to Bligh Waters. That area is known for its pink and purple soft coral as well as underwater pinnacles so we were excited to check it out. Volivoli, situated on the northern tip of Fiji, was a bit far for a one day sail though so we made a couple of interim stops along the way. Our first stop was back to Savusavu (anchoring this time) and our second stop was Bau Bay in Bligh Waters which we reached after a glorious beam reach sail. In Bau Bay, for the first time in a long time, we were all alone in the anchorage. Not a sailboat or village in sight. Savouring our solitude, we sipped one of the lovely Cote du Rhônes we bought in Tahiti while Jill cooked up marinated tofu and vegetable kabobs which she served over brown and black rice. We enjoyed a really quiet evening with Elton John playing softly in the background. (Zack indulges Jill’s rather limited list of favorite musicals artists).
We were up early the next morning (August 14) for our 50 nm sail to Volivoli. After a nice but sporty beam reach sail — we had consistent winds in the 20 to 23 knot range — we arrived at Volivoli Resort mid afternoon on August 14. We were greeted by Brainwave, one of our fleet mates. They twisted our arms and we joined them for cocktails and dinner at the resort. But before dinner we went to shore to chat with the dive center. It turns out they had availability on a 3 tank dive scheduled for August 16. That worked perfectly for us as our plan for the next day (August 15) was to do boat chores. Che Figata was in desperate need of a complete cleaning, laundry had piled up and there were some minor repairs on our to do list. As we approached to dinghy dock to return to Che Figata following our meeting with the dive center we ran into a lovely New Zealand couple, Nik and Jonty, who were lingering nearby. It turns out that they are experienced sailors with a 1 – 3 year plan (exact date TBD based on a number of factors) to buy a sailboat and sail the world. We struck up a conversation when they asked us which boat was ours. When we weren’t doing boat chores or on our 3 tank dive, we spent cocktail hours and dinners with them answering their questions (as well as giving them some unsolicited advice 😀). We remember that “pre-launch” stage well where we knew we wanted to fully commit to seeing the world by sailboat but didn’t quite know what we didn’t know and were anxious to learn. We always enjoy paying it forward with future cruisers and when those future cruisers are dynamic and nice it makes the experience all the more sweet. Another unexpected delight.
Spending time with Nik and Jonty was just the icing on the cake for our visit to Volivoli. The diving in Bligh Waters was as spectacular as advertised. While Zack and Jill didn’t 100% agree which dives were more breathtaking — Rainbow Reef or Bligh Waters (that is like comparing 2 abstract Picassos) — we both agreed that it was some of the best diving we have ever done, even eclipsing Fakarava which was pretty hard to do. Unlike the Dive Academy at Viani Bay which only takes out small boats with groups of 4 divers, the dive operation at Volivoli Resort uses larger boats that carry about 15 divers plus staff. This was a little off putting at first because it left little room to maneuver on the dive boat between people and all the related dive gear but, to their credit, they divided the divers into small groups of 4 for each dive ensuring that we got the most out of our experience. The dive masters know what to look for when diving in a particular area — it’s one of the reasons to dive with an experienced diver operator vs. on your own. If you are in a large group with a single dive master you can miss the highlights. Our dive master, Esa, was excellent. On all three dives he led our small but mighty group of 4 oh so slowly past bommies, pinnacles and walls and through caverns, all teaming with the most colorful hard and soft coral and marine life. Though we thought we had seen it all on Rainbow Reef, we saw new colors of coral we hadn’t seen before including a stunning shade of aquamarine. And then there was the grayish-white hard coral, resembling mini staghorn coral, that turned a bright luminescent white with the most gentle touch of a finger — just as if you had brushed against a touch sensitive light. Throughout our dives we swam past literal mounds, in various heights, of densely packed and diverse coral creating what looked like large fields of psychedelic mushrooms (no, we were not suffering from nitrogen narcosis) — with the occasional long and wispy spiraling tendril of bright green coral in our path — and through thick schools of the usual reef fish suspects. But then, at times, this colorful underwater canvas would give way to large patches of taupe colored sea anemones — densely covering the ocean floor like a shag carpet — swooshing gracefully as we glided over them. Really we could go on and on describing the diverse shapes and colors of these reefs and the creatures that live within them but we trust that with even our feeble attempt of painting a picture you are getting the point. For the divers among you, if we have even done half the justice to diving in Fiji that it deserves you will have already bought your plane tickets!
On August 17, following our successful stay off the shore of Volivoli Resort, we were off to our next destination at the southern end of Yasawa Island where we would find the Sawa-I-Lau Caves. It was another 50+ nm day so hoisted our anchor at 7 AM and arrived at our destination by 3 PM in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the wind was not from the right direction so we motored the entire way on what was a cold and rainy day. And here we should add a note about the weather. You already know that the weather in Tonga was uncharacteristically cold, wet and windy. After arriving in Fiji we had a few days of nice sunny weather — particularly while we were in Nawi Marina and the first few days of our stay in Viani bay but, after that, it was like the Tonga pattern of cold, wet and windy weather was stalking us. That doesn’t mean there weren’t days when the sun tried to peek out — fortunately, the day of our 3 tank dive was one of them — but, for the most part, the weather was damp, the skies overcast and the temperature unseasonably cold. It was particularly rainy our last evening at Volivoli in Bligh Waters with very heavy winds. (This made for a fun dinghy transfer between our boat and the Volivoli Resort that evening made all the more interesting because we had invited Nik and Jonty out for pre dinner cocktails. We hoped the rather wet (we were all drenched!) and bouncy ride in our dinghy didn’t cause them to second guess their cruising plans! That unpleasant weather continued as we motored our way to Yasawa Island and, naturally, the skies really opened up just when it was time to anchored our boat. No way to hide from the elements then. We were thankful that our evening plans called for dinner on the boat: white bean chili with jackfruit and a drizzle of cashew lime & garlic crema served with a nice red. Our warm comfort food meal was the perfect antidote to a cold, blustery and wet day.
But the “Sun will come out tomorrow” 🎶 and so it did! We woke up to blue sky with just a few billowy clouds on August 18. Just what we ordered! With the sun shinning we had the opportunity to appreciate our anchorage which was really quite breathtaking. We were surrounded series of small islands (part of the Yasawa Island chain), each with a shoreline that consisted of one or more white sandy beaches punctuated on both sides by limestone cliffs that hung over the water like a microscope. Very dramatic and we were only sharing this gorgeous spot with just 3 other boats. After taking in the beauty of our surroundings while enjoying a hearty breakfast — Jill served up her tofu scramble once again — we headed to the local village (Tamasua) to pay our anchorage fee: kava of course! The women in the village quickly set up a small market on blankets for us and we happily bought a few pieces of jewelry for our young granddaughters and niece. After paying appropriate homage to the local villagers for allowing us to visit this magical place we were off to the Sawa-I-Lau Caves.
The Sawa-I-Lau Caves are a series of limestone caves filled with water located in the southern tip of the Yasawa Island chain. Like the caves we visited in Tonga, they are only accessible by boat and a portion of the main cave can only be reached by a brief underwater swim. These caves were featured in the movie Blue Lagoon (starring Brooke Shields) making them a popular tourist spot. Despite their notoriety though the lack of easy access means that they are not overrun by visitors. Only yachties like us, or guests of one of a small handful of nearby boutique resorts, are able to visit. (The resorts ferry their guests out by a small boat just slightly larger than our dinghy.) The caves are protected by Fijians from the local villages who immediately greet you as you approach the main cave. After collecting a $55 FJD pp fee (roughly $26 USD), they introduce you to a local guide who will explore the caves with you, helping you reach the chamber with the underwater entrance and sharing some of the mythology around the caves.
Having a watchful eye over cave visitors has ensured that these caves remain pristine. Though there are some early cave inscriptions of unknown meaning, there is none of the graffiti we saw in Swallows Cave, allowing us to experience the caves much like explorers did hundreds of years ago. (Well, you have to ignore the fact that there is now a small metal ladder on the edge of the cave entrance that allows you to slowly enter the large pool of water within rather than taking a leap. We would have preferred the leap though, admittedly, getting out of the deep pool without the ladder would have been very challenging! There is no way to push off the bottom to help get a lift up and over the inhospitable rocky side.) Once you are in the cave waters you swim towards your right to enter the large dome shaped main cave chamber which extends about 45 feet above the water’s surface. With its relatively wide entrance near the mouth of the cave this chamber is dim but not completely dark. Of course, only a flashlight allows you to fully see the contours of the limestone formations which are stunning. The cave is nearly as deep as it is tall with about 40 feet of crystal clear water below enabling you to see the bottom even in the dim lighting. The water clarity makes the cave’s pool look deceptively shallow so Jill had to dive down to the bottom to verify the depth, get a look at the formations underneath and show off her free diving prowess. (Which is actually not that impressive by free diving standards.) The entry to the third chamber is on the far wall of this main chamber. This opening appears to be the tiniest of slits so when you look at it you wonder how you are going to squeeze in. As you dive down below the surface though it widens up slightly and, after a very brief underwater swim, you arrive in the totally dark and small third chamber. The lore behind this tiny entrance is that no pregnant woman can enter, regardless of how far along in her pregnancy she is. If a pregnant woman tries to swim through the entrance, she will get stuck in the narrow underwater passage. Not a pleasant thought. Jill passed through the entrance with great ease confirming that she is definitely not pregnant in case there was any doubt. 😀 Though we arrived at the cave at 11 AM we were the last group the guides let in for the day so we had the cave entirely to ourselves which made the experience very special and, again, allowed us to imagine that we were among those exploring the caves hundreds of years ago.
Following a great morning we raised up our anchor and headed to Nacula Island, part of the Blue Lagoon area in the Yasawa Islands, which was just 7 nm away. There is another nearby anchorage off Nanunya Island (where parts of the movie Blue Lagoon where also filmed) just 2 nm further but we could see on AIS that this anchorage, famous due to the movie, was overrun with boats — somewhere between 20 – 30 were already anchored there as we approached. Though some of those boats were members of our fleet the crowded nature of that anchorage, vs. the one off Nacula island where there was only one other boat when we arrived, confirmed our decision to stop shy of the “true” Blue Lagoon. We had also heard from someone we met through our friends on Rumpus that the snorkeling on the reef off Nacula Island was superb and it was! We were very glad we chose that beautiful spot in front of a white sandy beach and surrounded by the lovely Yasawa Islands.
The secluded nature of this anchorage provided one additional benefit. It meant we could both shower in the buff off the back of our boat. Jill was so excited for her post snorkel au natural shower and was enjoying it immensely until she heard the rumblings of a dinghy engine off in the distance and saw that it was heading right towards us. She watched with great interest to see whether this dinghy was going to go around the stern of our boat (which would have required Jill to take cover by quickly jumping in the water) or past the bow where she would be out of sight. She was relieved when the dinghy veered off towards our bow. That is until the dinghy took a turn towards the starboard side of our boat as it rounded our bow. Turns out that the occupants of this dinghy were the crew from Elsie and Escapade, members of our fleet. They were in the crowded Nanunya Island anchorage and decided to have pre dinner cocktails on one of the small Nacula Island resorts. Jill cowered on our stern steps, peering out surreptitiously, as Zack casually chatted away. After what seemed like an interminable amount of time Zack finally shared that Jill was exposed on the back just to make sure they didn’t venture too far to our stern as they completed their journey to shore.
Following another very nice evening enjoying cocktails, dinner and even a kava ceremony (!) at a small local dive resort (the Blue Lagoon Resort), we headed off early the next morning (August 19) for Navadra Island. Well that was our plan until we realized that will all the twists and turns of our itinerary we somehow got a day ahead of our schedule. (Other possible explanations include the lingering effects of nitrogen narcosis from too much time underwater, the influences of kava or retirementitis which causes you to lose track of the days of the week.) We were almost all the way to Navadra Island (we were literally moments from anchoring) when realized that the next day was August 20, not August 21, so we would arrive at Vuda Marina (where we were scheduled for our engine work, some watermaker troubleshooting and to pick up our new sails) a day early. Not what we wanted to do. Fortunately, during the day we had been corresponding with our fleet mate, Brainwave, about our plans. They had seen us on AIS and asked if we were going to Octopus Resort on Waya Island. That’s where they were headed and they asked us to join them for dinner. We had let them know that though we heard great things about the island and would love to spend time with them, regrettably, we needed to get further towards Vuda Marina. Once we had the epiphany that we somehow gained a day we decided to turn around. It added 90 minutes to our travel time but it was so worth it to add another island experience to our Fiji cruising. As silly as we felt about making this error we were thrilled to have our bonus day!
We were so glad we turned around. We had a great evening with the crew of Brainwave — Nicolas, Matthew and Marlies. The Octopus Resort (which turned out to be under the same ownership with the Blue Lagoon Resort where we enjoyed cocktails and a delicious dinner the night before) could not accommodate us until 7:30 PM. With our fashionably late dinner reservation our evening started with cocktails and nibbles aboard Che Figata at 6 PM. Jill made a fresh batch of her oh so lemony and garlicky white bean hummus (a staple aboard Che Figata) and served that along side a variety of mixed nuts, chips, crackers and veggies. We all washed down our pre dinner snack with Jill’s potent Old Fashion Rum Punch. This is a fan favorite that Jill has perfected after first discovering this amazing cocktail comprised of (lots of) rum, fresh lime, simple syrup, nutmeg and cinnamon on Antigua. In the blink of an eye it was time to get in Bravewave’s dinghy and head to shore.
The fun that started aboard our boat continued at the Octopus Resort. They serve a price fixed 3 course meal (at a very reasonable price) with great food (including delicious vegan options) which we savored as we talked and laughed throughout dinner. By 10:15 PM we were ready to go. Correction: 4 of us were ready to go. Nicolas, the owner of Brainwave, was holding court with resort staff and wanted to buy them all a drink after they were done with their evening shift. We have learned that this is quintessential Nicolas! We have really enjoyed getting to know him better and experience his zest for life while we cruised French Polynesia and Fiji. Nicolas is warm, magnanimous, gregarious and genuinely likes to get to know people of all walks of life and cultures. His curiosity about people is infectious. And after he gets to know them and understands what they need — whether it is two new lovers that need space on a boat to continue their courtship or a local school in Fiji that needs computers, iPads or recreational equipment — he springs into action to fill the void. While many people are moved by what they see and talk about doing something Nicolas follows through decisively and immediately. We don’t think we have ever met someone who embraces life with as much joy, positivity and gratitude as Nicolas. So, as you might imagine, our evening together was more like a 5 hour party. Of course, like any good party, there are some things that can’t be said. As the saying goes, what happens on Waya Island stays on Waya Island. All we will say is that one of our party affectionately dubbed the evening a “dinner and a show” and, after rum nightcaps with the staff, it ended with rather ungraceful jumps into the dinghy — though the nearly perfect jackknife dive was quite impressive — as it floated in the water.
August 20 was Navadra Island take 2! Being only 10 nm from Waya Island we arrived to a beautiful horseshoe shaped bay early afternoon. The stunning island was a combination of a tall rocky coast and very flat and narrow spits of white sand, allowing you to see through to the ocean beyond. There was only one other boat anchored when we arrived and, with Brainwave joining us there later in the day, just 3 of us in this secluded anchorage. Just the way we like it! With no restaurants or resorts on this small uninhabited island we invited the Brainwave crew to dine with us on Che Figata. But the first order of business was snorkeling the abundant reefs close to the islands. As much as we dive or snorkel we always seem to find something new and interesting. This time it was hard coral that looked very much like staghorn coral but in different colors. One was a gorgeous aquamarine with tips of royal blue and one was taupe with tips of baby blue. Just stunning. We enjoyed snorkeling around the coral heads for a full hour before it was time to head back to Che Figata so Jill could prepare dinner. On the menu that night were burritos loaded with a spicy black bean paste and chorizo tofu (adapted from a wonderful Mark Bittman recipe) and topped with a generous portion a cashew lime crema and homemade pico de gallo with lots of fresh lime juice, tomato, garlic, onion, corn and back beans along with the usual assortment of spices. We had found cilantro and tomatoes when we visited a vegetable market near the Volivoli Resort and Jill was determined to prepare a menu featuring our fresh bounty before it was past its prime. Mission accomplished! Jill’s prep intense dinner (lots of chopping and sautéing) was received with rave reviews.
When we woke up the next day, August 21 had sadly arrived. This was the day we needed to head to Vuda Marina. Though we were anxious to get our new sails and have our engine mount issue addressed, with the expected duration of our visit to the marina we were nearing the end of our cruising time in Fiji. Once we arrived at the marina life became as blur as we rode the roller coaster of good news and bad news. We had pre-arranged with Shan from Dockside Marine to come by first thing the next morning to assess our engine situation. Fortunately, Shan decided not to wait until the next morning and, as soon as he heard we were settled in our berth, he stopped by with his certified Yanmar technician, Nadeem, to assess the situation.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take Nadeem long to determine that the repairs required could not be done while we were in the water. In addition to the 2 engine mounts that each had sheared bolts (those are the ones we replaced with temporary mounts to get us from Tonga to Fiji), he discovered that 3 of the bolts on one of the brackets that holds the engine were also sheared. Upon inspection he also noticed that someone had used stainless steel bolts in the brackets — not at all what should be used given that stainless steel is not as strong as high tensile steel. So now we needed to replace all 4 engine mounts, rebolt one of the brackets with appropriate high tensile steel bolts and inspect all of the engine brackets to make sure stainless steel bolts weren’t used in them too — if so, we needed to have those replaced. (We ended up replacing all of the bolts.). Once all of this was complete Nadeem need to realign our engine and we needed to consider having the Nadeem remount our alternator differently because he thought the positioning of the highly customized large alternator on our engine (given its size/weight and amperage) might be creating the vibration that is at least one of the root causes of the engine mount failures. (The erroneous use of stainless steel bolts were definitely another contributing factor.) Hearing all of this made Monday a very unhappy day for the crew of Che Figata.
But there was a bit of good news as we processed the magnitude of our situation. First, given the extent of the repairs and limited ability for anyone to maneuver in our engine room, the technician thought he may have to remove our engine and do repairs in the shop. Fortunately, he was able to do the repairs without removing the engine which would require taking it apart and reassembling it. Second, the staff at Vuda Marina was wonderful during this process and really helped to make a bad situation as painless as possible. They made hauling our boat out of the water a priority. By 11:00 AM the next day (August 22) we were on the hard and our friends at Dockside were able to start their work. That was truly amazing. In addition, with our boat out of the water on jack stands, we had to find a place to stay and the good folks at Vuda Marina kindly moved things around in their reservation system so we could stay in one of their small cottages at the marina. These are nothing fancy but they were clean, somewhat quaint and more than adequate for our purposes.
By Friday, August 25, our critical engine repairs were complete. We splashed back in the water at around 2 PM and did a short shake down cruise with the Yanmar technician, Nadeem. (We like to refer to him as the Yanmar magician!). He proclaimed the repairs and realignment a success and we could definitely tell that the engine vibrated less while under load. With the good news always comes a little bad news though. With the engine alignment now corrected the Nadeem was able to better isolate the prop shaft and he believes that our prop shaft has a slight bend, probably caused by the stress of the misalignment over time. Fortunately, though this is something we need to correct, Nadeem felt that the minor nature of the bend would allow us to wait until we arrived in Australia to address that issue. We also decided to address the alternator positioning issue in Australia. Though that was one of the root causes of the vibration that led to our myriad of issues, there wasn’t sufficient time to address that in Fiji and with everything repaired, and importantly the insertion of high tensile steel bolts, Nadeem thought we were safe adding that to our Australia list.
While the engine repair work ensued, our friends at Yacht Help were managing the delivery process for our new sails. They filled out all the necessary paperwork to clear the sails through customs and got them through the clearance process Monday (August 28) morning. This was several days later than planned — first they were supposed to clear Thursday afternoon or Friday by the latest but then the clearance date slipped to Saturday and when they didn’t clear on Saturday, with everything closed on Sunday, Monday became the day. In the end the clearance delay was irrelevant. We couldn’t put up the new sails until Che Figata was back in the water and in our slip. That didn’t happen until the end of day Friday so we had already made arrangements with a local canvas and sail repair shop, Marshall Sails, to help us take down the old and put up the new sails Monday morning. With the sails not clearing customs until Monday morning we just had to push back Marshall Sails to Monday afternoon and, thankfully, they were able to accommodate the change in plans. (We think Marshall Sails is all too familiar with “Island time” and is very use to moving things around.) By mid-afternoon on Monday our old sails were gone and replaced by Che Figata’s beautiful new white sails (made from a nearly indestructible Dacron composite material) with our large red bee logo on the mainsail.
Between managing projects (in addition to the engine and sails we had a few miscellaneous things taken care of as long as we were at a marina) and provisioning for our sail to Vanuatu (our September 2 departure date was rapidly approaching and the provisioning in Musket Cove — our Fiji departure point — would be limited), we found time to dive with Deep Blue on August 24. There was supposed to be 2 other divers along with us but they cancelled at the last minute so it was just the two of us and our dive master Pau. We had two amazing dives with both different than the other 7 dives we had already experienced in Fiji. Our first dive was called Coral Gardens but should have been called turtle gardens because of its plethora of sea turtles — some gliding through the water around us and other resting on various coral ledges. This dive was also unique for its large, seemingly endless, swaths of table coral. This coral resembles pebbled oblong, oval or round coffee tables, perfect for an underwater tea party! We also got to see more of that coral that looks like staghorn coral except that its main trunk and most of its branches are a taupe like color with just the tips of each branch — the new growth — dotted a vibrant baby blue. One patch of this coral was about 5’ x 5’. Our dive ended with a leopard shark sighting. We had never seen one on a dive before. Leopard sharks are 4 – 5 feet in length. With their slender bodies, leopard like spots and elongated tail fin, they are quite elegant. This fellow was laying on the ocean floor when we spotted him and he slowly lifted himself up and sashayed away with a few glorious swooshes of that mini thresher-like tail as we approached.
Our second dive, called Plantation Pinnacle, entailed swimming around a single, large 4 or 5 story pinnacle. Between its pine tree like shape and all of the ledges and crevices created by the different coral species it resembled a Christmas tree. We started the dive at the top and slowly swam in a spiral around the pinnacle until we reached the bottom where we found a swim through that took us to the other side and we started our spiral ascent. With an abundance places for sea creature to live in one condensed area we saw so many of our favorites including the frog fish (you need to look that one up!), flat worms and nudibranchs. You could do that dive 50 times and always see something new. We did have an interesting experience on this dive. We both followed our dive master, Pau, into the swim through with Jill immediately behind and Zack third. As Jill was exiting the swim through Pau reached for her octopus. This is a backup regular that is build into the system in case another diver runs out of air. Jill thought that maybe Pau was reaching for her octopus because it was dragging in the coral (we had to swim close to the bottom to get through the narrow opening of the swim through) but Pau started to breath through it. As an experienced diver neither of us could imagine that Pau had run out of air but we knew something was up. Pau continued to breathe using Jill’s octopus until we had spiraled about a third of the way up the pinnacle. He then motioned to us to continue the spiral and he ascended to the surface. So we continued on our dive slowly ascending to the top in the same slow spiral fashion we used on the way down. When we were about half way up the pinnacle Pau reappeared and joined us for the remainder of the dive taking the lead. When we got back to the surface he shared that the air pressure gauge on his regulator was malfunctioning, vacillating between different readings. (The air pressure gauge tells you how much air you have left in your tank.) He didn’t know what reading was correct so when we got close enough to the surface he went back to the dive boat to switch out his regulator with one that was working. Other than her certification dive, Jill had never had to share her octopus with anyone. Another new experience and, fortunately, one where no one was in any danger at any time.
We met someone recently who commented how he hates watching sailing YouTube videos because the sailboat owners and crew always seem to be complaining about how hard life on a boat is. He said “if they are so miserable, why don’t they just get off their d$#% boats.” Though he hadn’t read our blog we felt like he was talking to us. We imagine that our transparent (often raw) descriptions of what living life and traveling the world on a sailboat is really like — the good, the bad and the sometimes very ugly (we think changing the joker valve on our heads qualifies here) — sound a bit whiny if not entitled. Maybe this entry even suffers from that a bit. So let us state, for the record, that all in all, we actually feel that despite the issue our engine mounts we came out on the positive side of luck. While no one wants to learn that their engine is hanging on by a thread, given the extensivity of the needed repairs we were incredibly fortunate that the technician didn’t need to remove our engine and was able to execute the repairs in 4 days. And while all of this (as well as our windlass failure) cut into our Fiji cruising time (meaning that we missed some experiences), we still had 2 weeks to cruise these beautiful remote and undeveloped islands stopping to dive in some of the most magnificent dive sites in the world. Yes, we are fortunate and we know it. We feel much better for having gotten that out there!
On Tuesday, August 29 we set sail for Musket Cove, a short 14 nm from Vuda Marina. As noted, this was the final stop on our Fiji tour. We would be departing from there with most of our fleet to Vanuatu on Saturday, September 2. Our time in Musket Cove was filled with group activities — lots of happy hours (with beautiful sunsets) and dinners including a farewell dinner for those boats heading off to other locations (e.g., Berlinetta to South Korea, Choucas 3 to New Zealand) — and final preparations for the 3 day (450 nm) passage to Vanuatu. That means briefings on the next passage, clearing out of Fiji with customs and immigration, laundry and buying a few last provisions to supplement what we had already purchased while in captive in Vuda Marina. Still it was a relaxed time with very little excitement if you exclude the adventures of the rat on board Seaside (alluding capture as we go to print with this blog entry despite the creative and heroic efforts of Seaside’s crew) and the challenge of getting our dinghy off the dinghy dock. This one deserves a bit of an explanation. The Readers’ Digest version is that the dinghy dock (not nearly long enough to accommodate the number of dinghies utilizing it when a big group — like our fleet — is visiting Musket Cove) runs parallel to the shoreline creating a very narrow channel. That narrow channel gets even narrower when the tide is low (you lose about a 1/3 of the usable channel space) and is filled with other dinghies. We had times when the only space available for our dinghy was towards the end of the channel and, after we tied off our dinghy and headed into shore for a while, other dinghies squeezed in using up every space of available water. Getting our dinghy around these other dinghies — all perpendicular to the dock, totally blocking the channel — was like playing dinghy Rubik’s Cube, pushing our dinghy backward and the other dinghies in the right combination of directions to create the smallest sliver of space for our passage. Even with that, Zack had to get in the water and pull the dinghy to move it forward past rocks and shallow spots. We definitely got a good mental workout just figuring out how to extricate our dinghy from the “wall-to-wall” sea of dinghies! Life is always an adventure when living on a boat!
So now it’s the morning of Saturday (September 2) (on the other side of the international date line) and we are just waiting for the “official” 11:00 AM (local time) start to begin our sail to Vanuatu. The weather forecast is for light southeasterly winds for the first day building slowly to about 15 knots over the next few days. We’ve got our gennaker up in anticipation of the light winds and are looking forward to a slow but relatively calm passage to Vanuatu. We will write all about it — along with details on our short stay in Vanuatu — in our next blog entry in a few weeks. Until then, be well!
