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.