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.
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