Fawn Harbour to Viani Bay 29 June

We woke to a still, sunny day. The weather forecast was not favourable for a few days and so we decided to leave Fawn Harbour and make our way down to Viani Bay before the weather deteriorated. We had to motor all the way because there was no wind but that was preferable to bashing in to a head wind. The trip was about 20 miles, less if we could have jumped over the reefs, but it was pleasant. We had flying fish jumping and flying all around us. There must have been some decent fish under there somewhere but, though we trailed a line all the way, we caught not a thing. However, one must not be too greedy. Because it was high tide when we entered Viani Bay, we could see very little of the reefs and were very pleased to have been given accurate GPS way points by some other yachties. Even so, it is scary entering through the reef. We picked up a mooring down the end of the bay and then had a lovely swim. When the tide dropped we saw that we had gone very close to a shallow patch.

30June. Isabella’s first birthday.

We were invited to go out on the catamaran, 'Key of D', with Truus and Steve and a guide, Jack Fisher, to go snorkeling on the reef. We left and had a pleasant ride on their boat but by the time we had anchored, the wind and waves had picked up and it looked too rough. So we had scones and a cool drink and waited for a while, but then decided to give it a miss for today. It was a shame but there is always another day. So it looks like a lazy day ahead.
We are in a rolley anchorage but the reef keeps the big seas at bay and so all is well.

Savusavu Onward 26 June

The Airport at Savusavu

Mary on the plane

We returned to Fiji after nine days back in NZ. We had six flights over that time. We left Savusavu by taxi and arrived at the local airport for our flight to Nadi. We flew on a 14 seater plane over the many reefs and then over the highlands of Veti Levu, the main island of Fiji. What a glorious flight that was, with magnificent views. Tony spent the time in NZ rushing from meeting to meeting and Mary enjoyed the time with the grandchildren.

The Views of the reefs from the plane

On our return to Fiji, we were very pleased to see Windspirit sitting on her mooring but not so happy when we opened up the boat to find mildew everywhere. The climate is so hot and damp and so it is a continual problem. So out came the elbow grease and bleach.

We had not filled up with water since leaving NZ at the beginning of May except for the rain which we collected when possible. So before leaving Savusavu we needed to fill the tanks and we would normally have bought water from the wharf, but as there was another boat booked to stay on the wharf for three days, that was a problem. So we had to use jerry cans and load them from the dinghy. We have three, twenty litre containers and had to do multiple trips to the tap. That took most of the morning as we collected 450 litres before the tanks were full, a very tiring task. Then we cleared customs and finally left early afternoon for our three mile trip to the entrance of Savusavu harbour in preparation for the trip the next day.

Next morning we woke early and headed off to Fawn Harbour, a distance of about 30 miles. Initially it appeared that we would have a lot of wind right on the nose and so we set a reef in the main sail and unfurled our stay sail. But the wind gradually died away to about 3-4 knots. So then we had to burn our precious and expensive diesel.

We set our fishing rod in a very scientific manner. It goes something like this.

“Okay, which lure shall we use?”

“Hmm! That glittery one looks good.”

“How far shall we trail it?”

“About that! No! Perhaps a bit further out.”

“Okay. That’ll do.”

Well! Lo and behold about twenty minutes later the reel screams. After lots of winding, we brought a beautiful bright yellow and turquoise Mahimahi on board. It was almost too beautiful to keep but my appetite for fish was too strong and it got the chop. We had both raw fish in coconut cream and fried fish for tea. There is plenty left in the freezer for two more big dinners. Yum!

Mahimahi for dinner

We arrived at Fawn Harbour about 2 PM. We threaded our way through the well marked reef and dropped anchor in 8 metres of water. It was like a mill pond. We were the only yacht in the whole bay. Heaven! It wasn’t long before we shed our clothes and swam in the beautiful cool water.

We also had a motor about in the dinghy before tea to check out the harbour. Most of the coral looked pretty dead but we did see three black and white sea snakes curled up in the shallow water.

Relaxing times

Savusavu Bay

The courier pack with the hydraulic parts arrived on Wednesday 4th June and we cleared customs on Friday afternoon so we could get off the mooring and have a change of scene while getting the autopilot pumps back in working order.

Once you have officially entered Fiji, you have to clear out with customs when you leave and then enter at the next port of entry relevant to the area of Fiji that you go to. Since we were here last time, the definition of Savusavu harbour appears to have become more restricted as yachts now have to advise customs when they leave Nakama creek, even if just going to Lesiaceva Point which is still within Savusavu bay. We cleared with customs on Friday afternoon and they gave us permission to leave early Sunday morning as we still had some work to do on the steering. We were getting tidied up down below in preparation for leaving when we saw the Police boat patrolling the river and as they came past, Mary heard them say “this is the boat that is leaving early this morning” so we hurriedly started making visible preparations for departure. About twenty minutes later, we saw them coming back in our direction so we quickly started the motor and slipped the mooring!

Savusavu District School. Note colour of Uniform

We anchored just off the Cousteau Dive resort which is located just before the reef at Reef Point, an area which has really good snorkelling. Once we had the steering all operational, we spent some time enjoying the warm water and snorkelling but then had a lot of rainy weather which was good for getting water into our tanks but not much good for snorkelling. We had initially intended going to Fawn Harbour but the wind forecast was for strong E to SE winds which would have made it an uncomfortable slog. Instead we enjoyed a few quiet days by the Point instead, got befriended by Bait, the dive master at Cousteau’s, who popped over most days to chat.

A small Village near Savusavu

The heavy rain was forecast to continue for some days so we later decided to return to Savusavu. We expected problems with anchor retrieval as snorkeling had revealed that the chain had crossed over an old coral bommie a couple of times which we thought may have happened as we could hear the chain growling on coral whenever we swung around. Our tropical anchor retrieval skills soon came back and we got the anchor up with no real problems.

Windspirit is now on a mooring close to the Copra Shed – Savusavu Yacht Club, where we will leave her while we fly back to New Zealand for a week or so. One of the guys from the Copra Shed will run our motor each day to charge the batteries, needed to run the fridge and freezer. We are flying on a small plane from here to Nadi on Monday 16th and arrive in Auckland later that day. Tony has a number of business meetings and we will also catch up with family in Auckland and Wellington. We fly back to Nadi on evening of 23rd, staying the night there and fly back to Savusavu the next morning.

The Lush Forest in the Highlands of Vanua Levu

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Life at Savusavu

Copra Shed Moorings – Savusavu, Fiji

The moorings in Savusavu are very sheltered and the people at the Copra shed, most helpful and organised. There is a laundry service at a reasonable price, two restaurants and a yacht club and also several shops. Two minutes walk away is the town with many shops and restaurants.

On 27 May, we took the local bus from Savusavu to Labasa, a three hour bumpy and drafty ride in a bus which was probably almost 50 years old and had open sides which was great when it was hot but as the bus travelled over the mountains, became very cold.

Inside the bus – note luggage of weed-eater

Labasa, population about 24,000 is the largest town on Vanua Levu and third largest in Fiji. It is on the north-western side of the mountain range and is about 5 km inland on the Labasa River. The sugar mill was opened in 1894 and has a predominately Indo-Fijian population. It was flooded to a depth of 1.2 m in 2003 Ami but there is no sign of it now. We had an interesting day shopping in the industrial area for steering parts and then wandered through some of the clothing stores and the local market. We bought some Yagona (Kava) which we will need to present as Sevusevu when we wish to visit some of the Fijian villages. About 350g seems to be the going rate for this and in return the villagers must offer full hospitality and take responsibility for the safety of their guests.

Yagona for Sevusevu

We look forward to that experience with a little trepidation. We finally arrived back at the boat at 7.30PM, tired, dusty, hungry and thirsty but pleased to have had the experience.

One morning we heard the sound of much squealing and laughter. When we looked out, this is the sight that we saw. The locals make rafts out of bamboo but this one either had a floatation problem or was overloaded. However, everyone made it to shore, albeit, rather damp.

The temperature at the moment ranges from about 22-30°C and is extremely humid. Sleeping is a real problem but we are adjusting to it. Because the mooring area is up the Nakama creek it would not be sensible to swim due to the pollution caused by no sewerage and general rubbish dumping. So we have not been able to cool off that way. Therefore it was a real treat yesterday to pop the 15HP motor on the dinghy and go for a spin out in to Savusavu Bay and have a swim. The only difficulty with that was the problem of boarding the dinghy from the water. We haven’t done that for a long while and Mary, especially had trouble. Good job no one was near with a camera. It was a whale of a tale but we managed. Next time we will remember to wear fins as they give a good lift.

Our spares have now arrived from NZ which will, hopefully fix the steering, once and for all. Tony has also ordered some more bits and pieces from Labasa. The last order he made was delivered on the local bus. The cost of delivery was $3.00. That is certainly good service. We have also received and installed a new rope clutch for the main halyard which cracked on the way up from NZ.

Tony is now working hard to finish the work so that we can get back to cruising.

The water catcher which Mary and Wendy designed and made in Auckland out of a tarpaulin is working well and we have not needed to attain water from other sources. It is easy to put up at the first sign of rain. However Murphy’s Law prevails though and as soon as the catcher is in place, the rain stops. The forecast for the next couple of days is for 6-8mm over a six hour period and so our tanks should be full if that happens. Hopefully the rain will also cool the temperature a little.

The new look. Tony cooking breakfast