Sailing Across the Pacific Ocean 2013 (Part 24) - Fulaga, Fiji
Fulaga (pronounced "Falunga") came into view early in the morning. The seas calmed down a bit, which we were thankful for as the channel into the Fulaga bay is very narrow and can be rough.
We approached the channel with our waypoints and half-assed charts to see huge breakers right where the entrance was supposed to be. We decided to bail and radio in to see if there were any cruisers in the bay who could give us advice. We spoke to another sailing vessel who gave us some better waypoints and tips on getting in. They were leaving at high tide slack water, so we thought we would wait around (2 hours) to watch them leave before heading in.
The route in didn't turn out to be too bad, but it was surrounded by scary rollers that wanted to push you into deadly reefs. It was really beautiful though.
We motored our way into the bay, following the waypoints to try and find our anchoring point.
It didn't take long before we found the perfect little spot in 15 feet of water with a sandy bottom.
The two boats that left when we got here were the only other cruisers in the entire bay. So we have the whole place to ourselves to explore, with all its little hidden beaches. There are just a handful of local Fijians that live on one of the islands. We have to head to shore tomorrow and do Sevusevu (Kava Ceremony) with the chief.
This place is almost too beautiful to be real. It's just too perfect, it feels artificial. It's like some mega-resort or something you'd find at Disney World. There are hundreds of little islands to explore, dozens of hidden private beaches, the whole bay is sandy and shallow enough to snorkel, and there are these little 'cupcake islands' everywhere that give this place a real unique character.
The boats that were leaving when we got here had been in Fulaga for five weeks. They just fell in love with it and couldn't leave. They said after that much time, they still didn't want to leave.
I really look forward to exploring this place over the next little while.
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