Thursday, August 29, 2013

Fiji: Day 30 - 32 - Heading Back to Savusavu

Tuesday - Thursday, August 27 - 29, 2013

We are running out of food and need to go check on a package that we are having delivered to Savusavu, so it was time to end our North-eastern Fiji adventure and head back.

We were beating into the wind and waves for nearly the whole trip and split it into two day sails. We stopped at Albert's Cove again the first night and dropped anchor in the same spot as before. Oddly, we had followed our exact track that we've taken through the Albert Cove channel three times and somehow scraped our hull on the reefy ground coming out. This shows how poorly charted Fiji really is. We were very lucky not to get stuck.

The second night, we sailed all the way back to Savusavu and dropped anchor in the dark right outside Copra Shed Marina. It is nice to have internet again!

Fiji: Day 29 - Party

Monday, August 26, 2013

We went to Also Island again today for a potluck and kava party. Jan and Gary volunteered around the village. Here is Jan working at the little store they have here.

I was chilling with Kyoki and some local girls (Queenie, etc.) drinking kava and got to try some Fijian style tobacco rolled in suluka leaves.

After having some beers and listening to Ray Stevens for awhile, we joined the locals in their kava circle and rocked out to some Fijian music.

It was another great night, and finally headed back to the boat after our potluck dinner thinking the excitement was over. I guess the vibrations from the dinghy excited all the little bait fish in the water, and then the light I was holding up attracted them to the boat. So we had hordes of tiny fish flying out of the water into the boat. We had to cover our faces and swat them out of the air. Their were dozens of them flying at once.

Fiji: Day 28 - Also Island

Sunday, August 25, 2013

The trip last night was really easy. Seas were flat and there was little wind, so we just motored all night and arrived a few hours before sunrise. We hove-to until the sun came up so we could enter the bay at Also Island. The channel in was not well charted, so we almost ran aground trying to come in (1 foot under the keel).

We spoke with Jim on the radio before coming in and they happen to be having a welcoming breakfast for cruisers which we were invited to. So after quickly dropping anchor and preparing the dinghy, we went ashore and were served waffles and coffee while meeting all the cruisers there (3 boats), Jim, and his wife Kyoki.

We got a small tour of Jim's operation there. He is an American who has leased Also Island and set up a coconut oil manufacturing facility (along with a little store and a backpackers hostel) which has provided many jobs for local Fijians for the last 10 years. 
It is still in the development stage as they are looking for marketing options for their product. He is also looking for someone to take over the island and business (so if you are interested in running a business on your own Fijian island, send me a message!)

They are conspiracy enthusiasts here on Also Island, so we had a nice long chat afterwards about aliens, ghosts, government cover-ups, signs and prophecies, population control, geographical evolution, ghosts, and the supernatural in general. 

Tomorrow, they are bottling some of this virgin, cold-pressed coconut oil so we are going ashore again to sample it. It is supposed to help fight Alzheimer's or something, I dunno, I can't remember.

Fiji: Day 27 - Goodbye Naqelelevu

Saturday, August 24, 2013

We went to shore one final time today to say goodbye to Matius and Uncle Moe and to thank them for all their hospitality. We brought the satellite phone and allowed them to make another phone call to the mainland, which they loved.

After heading back to the boat and eating some bananas, we motored over to a coral area that we passed to do a little last minute snorkelling.

We didn't see anything too crazy, just this school of yellow fish,

and some little blue guys,

and the remains of a giant clam.

We are taking off tonight at around 10:00pm to make a 60 mile night passage to visit Jim (a voice on 'Rag of the Air' on SSB) in northeast Vanua Levu.

Fiji: Day 26 - Coconut Crab

Friday, August 23, 2013

We spent the whole morning motoring around the atoll with a fishing line dragging behind us (Gary and I). We had a few bites and I was finally able to reel up this thing.

We didnt know what it was, whether or not it was good to eat or was at risk of fish poisoning, so we brought it ashore with us to ask Matia. He said it was some sort of bone fish and crappy eating.

We brought some gifts for Matia and Uncle Moe today including a bunch of Yagona for the Sevusevu ceremony so we could be welcomed officially to their island. We drank some more coconuts and hung out as they boiled our coconut crab for us to take back to the boat.
They gave us a bag full of papayas, a gourd, and about 200 bananas (not exaggerating) to go with our coconut crab.

Matia and Uncle Moe are just wonderful people and have welcomed me back to stay on the island anytime. They are in the process of fixing it up and upgrading it and will be putting a guesthouse or two right on the beach for their friends to stay at. They said to come back in the future for my honeymoon and I can stay there free of charge. This island is a true paradise run by a great pair of locals. Naqelelevu will be a stop on my next South Pacific voyage!

Fiji: Day 25 - Going Ashore

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Today we took a dinghy ride to the little island here to meet its inhabitants. 

The beach is beautiful as always.

There are just two guys living on the island, Mattia and his Uncle Moe. Their family originated here, but have all moved to the mainland now. Mattia and Uncle Moe came here a few months ago to live permanently and try to rebuild the island while making a living selling lobster, sea cucumbers, and copra to the mainland. They live in a bunch of little shacks that they have constructed for temporary shelter.


Here is Uncle Moe with a smoke fire set up to repel Mosquitos.

There is no source of fresh water on the island, so they have to collect all the rainwater they can and store it in cisterns.

Mattia and Uncle Moe took us on a hike through the Fijian jungle to see the other side of the island. We had to cut our way through with machetes as they haven't finished making a trail yet.

We got to see a blue Coconut Crab on the way.
This is just baby and they grow much larger. They are supposedly very delicious because they eat coconut, which sweetens their meat. Uncle Moe said he is going to catch us a big one tonight to give us tomorrow along with some papayas and bananas.

We also saw one of the little salt water lakes they have on the island.

It took less than an hour before we saw the eastern side of the island through the trees.

We stopped for a coconut water break.

We hiked down to the water where I found a ton of shells. It was a real shell collectors dream there.

Gary and Uncle Moe resting in the shade.

After the hike back to their village, Mattia and I knocked some more coconuts down from a tree with a huge stick which we opened and drank by the beachside.

We returned to the dinghy to find it high and dry on a sandbar where we anchored it.

When we left it, the dinghy was anchored a few hundred meters off shore, but now we could just walk back to it.

Mattia saw us off with two huge bunches of bananas and some coconuts. We are going to return tomorrow and bring them some kava, a hammer, and a lighter.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Fiji: Day 24 - Naqelelevu Round 2

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Sailing Across the Pacific Ocean 2013 (Part 23) - Qelelevu, Fiji


We motored all night in dead calm weather to Naqe...Naqe..well, not-gonna-work-here-anymore (Office Space joke). It was strange travelling over the same water that was so vicious just 48 hours before. It was calm, quiet and misty, like some sort of horror movie.

We got there long before sunrise again and had to sail back and forth for a few hours waiting for light. 

We ended up getting in fine although we had mostly overcast the whole morning. It is a beautiful little island in a huge bay that we had all to ourselves.
There are just two people living on this island supposedly.

The atoll itself is absolutely huge. It is 4 miles wide and nearly 15 miles long, and the surrounding reef is all submerged, so it looks like you are just in the middle of the ocean in some really calm spot when you are actually surrounded/protected by reefs. The water was absolutely gorgeous and crystal clear. You can see bottom at 50 feet of depth and the boat looks like it is just flying 20 feet over land where we anchored.

The nice thing about arriving first thing in the morning is you now have all day to explore. We immediately threw the dinghy in the water and motored around for a good snorkelling spot. It didn't take long.

Anywhere along the bordering reef is just covered in some of the most beautiful and exotic fish I have seen. I didn't get any great fish pics, but You can see some of the many little coves to explore amongst the reef.

I have a picture here of a 'giant' clam (I always pictured them 5 feet wide with a beautiful mermaid living inside. There was no Ariel awaiting me in this thing)

and a sea snake that I took from the boat. It is blurry on the right side because the GoPro fogs underwater and so you have to stick toilet paper in the waterproof casing to absorb the moisture. In my panic to capture the snake on film, I put the TP in front of half the lense accidentally.

And then there was this creepy lad.

Fiji: Day 23 - Albert Cove

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

We stayed in Albert Cove for a day to rest from last night's agony. It was a nice little anchorage but it rained the whole time so we couldn't do much.

We are looking to make another attempt at Naqelelevu tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Fiji: Day 22 - Double Rainbow

Monday, August 19, 2013

When the sun finally came up, we were all tired as hell and tried entering Elizabeth Cove, just to the west of Albert Cove. We were rendered speechless as the most vibrant full rainbow I have ever seen came into view. 
You can even see a double rainbow forming outside it.

Fiji is known to be extremely dangerous for sailors as there are unmarked reefs everywhere and most charts are off (by up to a few miles sometimes). So you must always be on the alert when travelling whether near land or not. Local knowledge is invaluable here. We tried to enter Elizabeth Cove using only our chart plotter and a paper chart for navigation and almost ran aground on reefs multiple times (according to our depth sounder). We ran away after failing to enter the cove and looked at our depth transducer to find a bit of barnacle build up. This MAY have explained the uncharted shallows.

We contacted 'Jim' (a well known local who speaks on Rag of the Air often) on the SSB to get some local knowledge on the area. He suggested we try Albert Cove instead.

On entering Albert cove, using some waypoints we got from some passing sailor over the VHF, we were able to squeeze through the narrow reef channel and securely drop anchor on our first attempt.

We are just resting today as no one really got any sleep last night.

Fiji: Day 21 - Stuck in a Storm

Sunday, August 18, 2013

We attempted to sail the rest of the way to Naqelelevu Lagoon today. They forecasted 18 knots of wind and 6 foot seas, which are manageable, but not ideal.

The wind and seas slowly picked up all day as we travelled north and passed our turn for our 'aw shit' plan in Albert Cove on Rabi Island to the west (a plan for when the weather gets extreme and you need to find shelter immediately).

We got within 10 miles of Naqelelevu Point and the wind was 25 - 30 knots with swells around 15 feet on the beam and complete overcast. There was no way we were entering an unknown lagoon surrounded by reefs in poor light, so we had to turn around and backtrack 30 miles to Albert Cove to find some shelter with the wind and waves on our stern.

It was far too dark when we arrived at Albert Cove, so we just motored in a triangle all night, taking turns on watch until sunrise.


Fiji: Day 20 - Naselesele Point

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Everything is so hard to pronounce here. The winds were great all day, perfect sailing weather, averaging 13 knots wind speed and the seas were really flat.

When we turned up into the wind, we were able to get all three sails up for the first time on this voyage.
You can see the problem with having in-mast furling here. Yeah, it is extremely convenient and keeps your boom light, but without battens and an improper sail shape when you furl, the resulting sail shape/trim suffers.

After sailing all morning and afternoon, we realized we couldn't make the 100 mile journey all the way to Naqelelevu Lagoon with enough light to avoid the reefs and drop anchor. We decided to stop on the north end of Taveuni at Naselesele Point and drop anchor for the night. 

We dropped anchor at around 5:00pm, made dinner, watched Game of Thrones, and then went to bed.


Friday, August 16, 2013

Fiji: Day 12 - 19

Saturday, August 10 to Friday, August 16, 2013

Gary is finally feeling better (he had been sick for over a week), so we have been planning our Fiji exploration trip and waiting for a weather window for the last week.

Gary and I took off in the dinghy the one day to explore the huge bay that Savusavu lies in and the island in the middle of it.

Here is a sad sight. A sailboat that has just been left to die. I wished the owner would have just given it to me to keep up so I could put it to good use. Now it's not even worth the cost of fixing it up.

It was my birthday on the 13th, so Gary and Jan brought me to Surf 'n Turf for lunch (the 'poshest' restaurant in town). All my friends showed up for the party:
It's like the Nickleback Fan Club in here.

Seriously though, it's a nice little spot right on the water and the same place we had the Curly seminar a few weeks ago.

It looks like we are leaving first thing in the morning tomorrow and heading northeast for 'Naqelelevu Lagoon' (however you pronounce that).