Fawn Harbour to Viani Bay

On the afternoon of Friday, September 23 we arrived at Fawn Harbour. We had good winds from the Costeau Resort that allowed us to sail most of the 30 nautical miles along the coast of Vena Levu. Unfortunately it rained just as we were arriving at the entrance to the harbour and I had to go out on the bow to make sure we didn’t hit a reef. Luckily Ian’s mum had left a really good rain jacket on board Faraway so I popped that on and braved the downpour. The reef was clearly marked with beacons even though the visibility was bad. We anchored in the first finger of the harbour alongside a row of mangroves. Ian wasn’t very impressed with the anchorage but I thought it was wonderful. I told him that it would grow on him when the sun came out! Well it didn’t stop raining all afternoon and I had already defrosted rib eye steaks for the BBQ. Ian didn’t feel like venturing out in the rain so he had a snooze. I read a book up on deck and listened to the rain belting down. All of a sudden the sun came out briefly and it stopped raining. I woke Ian at 6pm and he got the BBQ ready. The rain had virtually disappeared with the sunset. We retired fairly early but at around 11pm our anchor alarm went off meaning that we had moved or drifted. Ian jumped out of bed and within minutes I could hear him yelling and screaming ‘the bugs’, ‘the bugs’ they are all over my face. I wondered whether we were under attack and yelled out to see if everything was okay. He came running back to the bedroom and jumped in the shower saying that there are so many bugs and they are all in my eyes I can’t see. It must have been terrifying for the bugs! Luckily we hadn’t drifted and the bugs were contained. In the morning I took a photo of all the dead bugs on our navigation pod so Ian wasn’t exaggerating after all. The sun eventually came out and yes we confirmed that we had anchored in a mangrove swamp but it sure was beautiful and peaceful. We got the kayaks down and paddled to the reef shore. I walked the reef and looked at all the creatures that were revealed at low tide. There were plenty of bristle stars, sea stars, sea cucumbers, octopus, crabs and eels. All of a sudden some local guys appeared in a fishing boat with nets. They came over to say hello and were really nice. They were from the local village. They asked what we were doing and we said just reef walking and picking up the odd shell. I showed them the handful of scungy dead shells I had collected. Within minutes one of the guys disappeared and returned with a beautiful big tiger Cowrie shell. ‘Now that’s a shell’ he said. Unfortunately I couldn’t keep it as it still had a living creature inside it but I have to admire him for know exactly where to find such a shell on the reef. Ian paddled back to Faraway and got them all some soft drinks while I continued to reef walk. Later Ian modelled his other board shorts on the trunk of a coconut palm on the beach and in amongst the mangroves. At 11am the tide was back in so we returned to Faraway and motored out through the channel. We sailed for 2 hours down to Viani Bay and got good winds and excellent sailing speeds for a change. We were so close to Taveuni now that we could see the houses on shore. We navigated our way through the reef in the Somosomo passage and anchored in Viani Bay late afternoon. Around 5pm we had a visitor from shore rowing over in his dinghy. We asked him who he was and he replied ‘Jack Fisher’. Well this guy is famous in all the cruising books and we had heard about him in Savu Savu. We invited him on board for sundowners and a chat. We learned lot’s of interesting stuff from him about his village and diving in the area. We found out he was ‘the chief’ of the village so we had to present Kava much to his delight. He was a very nice guy and a character with a lot of useful local knowledge. We promised him that we would come back in the next few days and maybe do some diving with him. It was a long but enjoyable day Fiji style. My only complaint is that the sun hasn’t really come out yet but I’m sure it will soon.

Costeau Resort

Thursday, September 22 - we left the Savu Savu anchorage at lunch time and sailed for 20 minutes around to the point and anchored off the very exclusive and expensive Costeau Resort. Luckily we found a sandy spot to anchor in amongst the beautiful coral reef. We got the kayaks down and paddled around a deserted island which had a very unusual poodle like rock formation next to it. We walked along the small white beach and stretched our legs. Just before sunset we paddled over to the resort. We were told that guests pay between US$800 to US$2200 per night so we kayaked in close to see what all the fuss was about. We soon decided that we might not be welcome in our t-shirts and boardies so went back to Faraway to watch the sunset with a cold beer on our own exclusive floating resort. Strangely we were the only yacht anchored out on the reef so we had the place all to ourselves. The plan is to get up early in the morning and sail along the coast 20 miles or so towards Taveuni to the next anchorage. We still haven't decided which anchorage we are heading to as it depends on the wind. Luckily the winds are no where near as strong as they were yesterday.

Savu Savu Revisited

Savu Savu – Wednesday, September 21. Today we left Savu Savu at 9am headed for Taveuni. It was a bad sign when the guy on the dock said ‘are you sure you want to be leaving today it’s very rough outside’. Yes we were sure our forecast only showed 15 knot winds and we thought we would just sail along to a sheltered anchorage further along the coast. We slipped the mooring lines and motored out of the anchorage. The water was quite calm and we had 15 knots of wind. By the time we got down to the point where the Jacques Costeau Resort is the wind had increased to 20 knots and the waves were getting increasingly larger. Yesterday we had washed and scrubbed Faraway clean with fresh water and within minutes all our hard labour was being destroyed by waves breaking over the bow. We continued out past the point into the open bay and now we were encountering larger waves. I told Ian to bring my lifejacket up and I only ever do this when I have concerns. After an hour the sea state wasn’t improving so I said to Ian ‘I think we should turn back to Savu Savu’. At this point Ian must have thought I was really losing my nerve but kindly agreed that it probably was the best option in these conditions. This is the first time on our entire journey that I had ever said I think we should turn around! Anyway as we turned around the winds increased to 25 knots and we were sailing back at 7 knots with a half reefed Genoa and no main sail out! This was a record for us but certainly wasn’t a day for us to be out at sea. There was one yacht anchored off the Costeau Resort and we thought he was pretty brave. We took up our old mooring ball in Savu Savu and Ian went to clear customs again (they are very strict on the rules here). By the time he had gotten back to Faraway the yacht that we had seen anchored out on the reef was now moored next to us. I guess he had realized that the weather wasn’t improving either and came in for shelter. Anyway Savu Savu is a lovely anchorage and we didn’t mind being back in town. I have included some photos of our anchorage and the scenery sailing along the coast with half of our Genoa out. We will try and sail out again tomorrow or the next day weather depending on the weather.

Savu Savu

We finally arrived in Savu Savu on Sunday, September 18. It was a bit of a mistake arriving on the weekend because we had to pay health, quarantine and immigration an additional 3 hours in overtime fees. The journey from Tonga to Fiji was longer than we expected with unreliable winds but luckily for us relatively calm seas. As we arrived into Savu Savu at 8am in the morning I had never felt so tired. When I woke up at 3am to do watch I had to literally pull my eyes open. Anyway it was worth the journey as Savu Savu was a very welcoming anchorage set in a very friendly village. We received excellent services as well from the Copra Shed Yacht club. We basically spent most of Sunday clearing in with the 3 official government agencies. In the evening we went ashore for beer and pizza and a long hot shower. The sunset never happened but a beautiful rainbow appeared amongst the storm clouds in the anchorage. Monday was spent paying the 3 government agencies and I had my first hair cut in 3 months. The haircut was great but the colouring was a bit uneven and I remarked to Ian that I looked like a skunk! Ian snapped a quick photo of me in the hair salon. We planned to have a nice quiet dinner out on Monday but when we went to shore and headed for a shower we were asked to have a beer with a local couple than some yacht friends joined us and we were still at the bar at 8pm. Ian ended up ordering a takeaway meal from the restaurant and we ate it at the bar. At 10pm the bar tender turned the lights off and said she was going home so we left soon after her. Unfortunately Ian and I had come ashore in the kayaks so we had to waddle our way back in the dark to Faraway. We had a short hot shower when we arrived back to the boat. On Tuesday morning we paddled over to shore and Ian attempted to race his kayak with a guy on his traditional raft to shore. How amazing that they can paddle the rafts with sticks and balance produce like coconuts as well. On the way to shore we saw our friend Pascal who sailed with us from Cocos to Galapagos. We went to the café for coffee with him to catch up on all his news. It was a strange coincidence that he had just gotten off a ferry and saw Faraway in the anchorage and came by to say hello. After coffee we went to the markets and bought a load of fresh fruit and vegetables. It was so nice to have such a fresh selection and we went a bit mad with our purchases but everything was very cheap. Ian had a great time bartering with the ladies and he ended buying more chillies than we would ever need in a lifetime. We also bought lots of Kava (pepper root). The purpose of buying the root is to offer it to the Chiefs of the village anchorages that we planned to visit. It is offensive to anchor, fish or walk on an island without offering the Chief some kava first. We finally had all our stores for the next leg of our journey to Tavenui. In the afternoon we motored Faraway onto the water dock and I filled up while Ian cleared customs. We realized for the first time since we had started sailing that we were getting pretty confident with going alongside the dock and departing from it. The procedure used to give me heart failure but finally we seem to have it figured out. Early tomorrow morning we will set sail East for Taveuni stopping at anchorages along the way. My brother Graham from Melbourne plans to meet us there on the 29th to explore some remote anchorages and do some scuba diving. We are looking forward to having him onboard Faraway.

Passage to Fiji

17D25'.955S 178D54'.884W

Saturday, September 17 - We are currently sailling through the Lau Group (see photo of island) of Fiji enroute to Savu Savu to clear in at customs and immigration. We wanted to explore this beautiful and remote part of Fiji but you need special advance permission from the Government just to anchor in the waters of the Lau Group let alone go to shore. It was unfortunate not to be able to stopover because after 4 days of sailing mostly in light winds we both needed a good rest. Our 3 day hop from Tonga was now looking more and more like a 5 day journey due to the light and sometimes total lack of winds. The trip from Tonga started off well in medium winds but by early morning on the third day the winds dropped down to 2 knots. At 5:30am we furled the sails in and started motoring. We motored for 9 hours on a sea of glass then decided to give the engine a rest. As we put the sails out we noticed a light breeze starting. We must be imagining it I thought. The sails flapped but we managed to get 4 knots of speed which was pretty good considering the conditions. The wind picked up gradually during the afternoon and as I sat on the aft deck on our big Arabic cushion reading a book and finally enjoying the cool breeze we got 6 knots of speed. After dinner we were getting 7 knots and had to bring some sail in. Ian and I both remarked that we always seemed to get the strong winds during the night when you were tired and couldn't really see a lot and preferred to sail cautiously. During the day when we were both up and about and keen for a regatta style challenge the winds always seemed to be more subdued or from a variable direction. In the morning the monotony of motoring was broken by a call on the radio from a large container ship repeatedly saying 'Bula, Bula, Bula' which is hello in Fijian language. My sister-in-law Louise had reminded us before she left Tonga that we needed to say this to people on arrival in Fiji. Ironically we had just arrived in Fijian waters and the captain of this ship was welcoming us into their country. We actually saw 4 ships that day-probably the most since the Caribbean so I guess we were getting near to the poulated areas of the world-our remote adventure is drawing to a close. We will have to be very careful with our lookout for other vessels as we head towards Australia. We have a rough plan after clearing in to Savusavu to stock up on food and water and head back east 80 miles to Taveuni Island. We had both visited this island by plane in 2008 after a friends wedding in Nadi and really enjoyed the lush and rugged remoteness of it. We also did some awesome diving on the Rainbow Reef and I hoped that we might have some time to dive there again. The white wall is still one of the most memorable dives I have ever done. We also wanted to revisit the Coconut Grove Cottages where we had stayed for a week and have dinner there with the host who was the nicest lady and a great cook. After Taveuni we will probably sail to Lautoka on the western side of Fiji where we will get a permit to cruise the Yasawa Island chain for a week. After that we will head to New Caledonia.

Vaku'eitu more photos

We really enjoyed the snorkelling and scenery around Vaku’eitu. I have included some photos in an attempt to show what the anchorage was like. The colour of the water was incredible with many different shades of blue. It was very clear for snorkelling with abundant marine life. Gavin might notice that Ian still has those same board shorts on and wonder why we haven’t been able to separate him from them. Apparently they are still his favourites. Ian found a beautiful little private beach and enjoyed exploring the area with no other humans in sight. Ian also got a bit clever with the camera and took a photo of the beautiful scenery through the reflection of my sunglasses. It came out pretty well I thought. He also made a nice scene with his fins and snorkel on the beach. Originally he was trying not to get sand on them but it made an nice photo.

Vaka'eitu Anchorage Tonga

Vaka'eitu Anchorage Tonga

Position: 18D43.290'S 174D06.069'W

Wednesday, September 14 - We have been sitting in this beautiful sheltered anchorage waiting for fair winds for a few days now. I couldn't really think of a better place to be stuck. Inbetween the snorkelling, fossicking and kayaking, Ian and I have been getting a lot of jobs done of the boat. Ian has scrubbed off a layer of barnacles and thick weed from the hull which took a few hours of hard work underwater with scuba tanks. The removal was necessary because the growth actually slows down your sailing and motoring speed. I polished all the chrome work up on deck and tidied up the cabin ready for the next passage. The winds are very light at the moment so yesterday we took the cruising chute out and practiced hoisting it up and down on the halyard in case we need to deploy it on our trip to Fiji. Ian also had to go up the mast to finish off a repair job on the spreaders. He thought it was a good idea for me to get some practice going up the mast so I grabbed my camera, clipped myself into the Bosuns chair and made it all the way to the top. The view of the anchorage from the mast height was incredible. I was happily sitting up the mast mid air when I saw Ian getting into the dinghy. He took off across the bay and I thought he was playing some cruel joke leaving me stuck up the mast. I soon worked out that he was off to take some photos of me but I didn't feel very comfortable swaying in the breeze with no way to get down myself. After 10 minutes he came back and lowered me slowly back down to earth. The coral reefs here are incredible for snorkelling and we have a few to choose from depending on the tide. We have seen schools of squid, needlefish, silver and blue fish shoals, eels, many species of anenome fish and reef fish and Ian even spotted a beautifully patterned crayfish that we left to live another day on the reef. When we snorkelled one of the outer reefs I saw a purple coral head covered in Christmas tree worms. There were so many worms that it actually looked like an underwater Christmas tree and the colors were absolutely beautiful. Ian has discovered 2 Tiger Cowry shells about the size of my hand (my favourite and the only ones we have seen on the entire journey). Unfortunately once back on the dinghy we discovered that they were still inhabited so Ian had to swim back and place them in their original position. At low tide the corals are exposed and the water is as clear and calm as a swimming pool. The blue of the water varies from dark blue in the deeper water to aquamarine in the shallower water and azure blue over the sandy areas. The little islands around the bay are cloaked in bright green vegetation and most have small powder white sandy beaches and limestone rock formations. The bay where we are anchored has a wild citrus grove on the hill and lots of banana and coconut palms planted by a guy who left the island due to illness. We went for a walk up the hill one afternoon and managed to collect some lemons and oranges for our supplies. We haven't seen any whales here although a neighboring yacht said they come into the bay at times and you can hear them singing underwater. I forgot to mention in my previous blog that it is illegal to snorkel with humpback whales in Tonga without a guide and there is good reason. The Skipper told us that the whales are often accompanied by large opportunistic tiger sharks swimming beneath them. A Tongan guy actually got bitten on the buttocks in 2009 by a shark while snorkelling and was lucky to be able to live to tell the story. Anyway the winds are gradually increasing so I think we will be heading off on our 4 to 5 day journey to Fiji in the next few hours.

Whale Watching Take Two!

Saturday, September 10 – today was our second attempt at snorkelling with the humpback whales (Tofua’a). We woke up to calm weather with a hint of rain in the sky but decided it was worth going out for the day anyway. We had a lot of chores to do on land before whale watching as we were planning to leave for an anchorage first thing on Sunday morning to wait for a weather window to sail to Fiji. We had a different Skipper today but the boat was the same as the one we had previously used with the added benefit of an engine overhaul before our trip. We got off to a good start and we spotted a mother and calf near the entrance. Unfortunately another boat was with the pair and it is an unwritten rule that if a boat finds a whale before noon you must leave the area and find your own. No problem the Skipper was confident that we would find some more humpbacks. We motored along the channel and soon spotted a blowhole in the distance. On closer inspection we realized it was a male escort that was moving too fast for us to snorkel with. We left him alone and continued our search. We saw other boats with whales but it was still only mid morning. After 2 hours we hadn’t spotted any other whales and we could see boats motoring around in search of them. Eventually we came across 3 boats watching a mother and calf. We waited for our turn to snorkel, dived in and saw nothing. We jumped in again but the whales dived below us. On the third attempt we waited patiently in the water. All of a sudden the baby whale appeared in front of us. It was breaching and playing on the surface and even slapped it’s tail before making a mini dive which the attached photos show in sequence. I looked down into the blue and saw the mother beneath me. She was calling the baby to come with her. The baby looked at us curiously with its large eye, assessed the situation then decided to swim down to the mother. Luckily I captured this amazing scene on video. It was a wonderful experience to be in the water with these 2 highly intelligent creatures (according to Ian more intelligent than Sheryl who forgot to bring our packed lunch for the 6 hour day). Thrilled with our experience we left the whales to the other boats and went to look for more whales but unfortunately we only came across male escorts in transit. By the time we got back to the anchorage it was raining heavily again. We were very tired but satisfied by our efforts and I had some nicer photos than the previous trip on Thursday.

Whale Watching Trip

Thursday, September 8 – today we hired a small powerboat and a Skipper with a snorkelling licence so that we could have a close encounter of a different kind with the humpback whales (Tofua'a). We had 2 free spots on the boat so we invited Ken from Cosimo to join us for the day. Wendy declined the trip at the last minute and I guess she had some kind of uncanny premonition of the day ahead. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t as enthusiastic as we were and the sea state was very unfavourable for spotting and snorkelling with whales. Anyway we headed out of the bay at 9:30am and after only an hour a whale had been spotted with a calf. This was sounding way too easy. We got our wet suits on and all our snorkelling equipment ready thinking that this was going to be a short day out. As we got closer to the location the boat radioed the Skipper again and recommended that we didn’t head over to the whales because they were in the open sea and it was too rough for our small boat. Unfortunately the outboard engine wasn’t working very efficiently either and we didn’t want to be out at sea with a breakdown. No problem we decided to find our own whales in the calmer water of the passage. Easier said then done though. After 2 hours of bouncing along in the passage next to Hunga Island we still hadn’t spotted any whales. The Skipper said they had snorkelled with many whales yesterday in calm water in the same area but luck wasn’t with us today. Around noon we got another call to say that a mother, calf and male escort where in the bay next to us. We motored over to find 2 other whale watching boats with snorkelers in the water. Tongan law only permits a maximum of 5 snorkelers at one time with the whales. While we were waiting over 2 hours for our turn to snorkel we noticed that the whales weren’t really interacting with the humans and the Skipper said the male kept diving down deep and encouraging the mother and calf to join him rather than stay on the surface. The male also started breaching which was exciting but not a good sign they wanted us to be around them. Oh great we had been patiently waiting in the cold on a bouncy boat and picked non-compliant whales to snorkel with. The Skipper finally took us over to the group and we frantically swam towards the whales but they soon disappeared. There was a lot of surface chop and the visibility was poor. We got back in the boat and he dropped us again but the whales all dived below us. We tried a third time and thought we had a good chance of seeing them underwater as they were next to a coral reef but the cheeky whales dived below us again. Before the whales dived we were lucky enough to see the baby breaching next to us. Luckily the baby whale didn’t land in our direction or we would have been squashed. For a creature of that size it made a huge splash and wake in the water. On the last attempt Ken and I saw the mother and calf under the water as they were diving down to the male. It was a fantastic experience to see them underwater but they looked a lot larger above water than below. The visibility wasn’t too great because of the overcast weather and big swells but I managed to take 2 grainy photos of the mother and calf. Unfortunately Ian didn’t even get to see the whales underwater as his fin got stuck on the back of the boat and the whales were gone before he could get into the water. We motored back to port soaking wet and disappointed after a very uncomfortable 7 hours at sea in a tiny boat. When we got back onboard Faraway it started raining heavily and didn’t stop until the early morning. We managed to fill our 1000 litre water tanks though and this was a happy ending to a tiring day. We found out the next day that some of the local boats had sunk. Our whale watching boat came close to sinking as well (no surprises there). The only thing that saved the boat was the fact that the Skipper came to work early to try and fix the engine for his next snorkelling group. The short encounter with the whales was so rewarding that weather permitting we may try to go out on another trip tomorrow as the opportunity to get so close to these wonderful marine mammals may never happen to us again. I guess some people never learn from their experiences!

Farewell Dinner at Mango Cafe

We made plans to go out for dinner at the Mango Cafe on our last night. We all put on clean clothes for a change and headed over to the cafe in the dinghy. We had a great time and talked about all our adventures during the week. Time really had gone very fast but we seemed to make the most of the Wright family visit and all had some very good memories of our sailing adventure around Vavau. Our visitors had an early morning flight on Monday so we were up early to take them to the dock and out to the airport. It was really sad to wave them farewell as we had so much fun and it was great to be able to share part of our sailing adventure with others. The timing for their visit was also good because as soon as Ian and I returned to the dinghy around 9am it poured down with rain for the morning. We were so exhausted from all the fun in the sun that we slept until noon.