Monthly Archives: September 2017

Census in Sawa I Lau

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Sunday 24th Sept 2017

Our presence in a remote bay in the Yasawas has been recorded officially and for eternity. Last Sunday morning as we sat anchored off the Island of Sawa I Lau, with just one other yacht, a mile or so from any other signs of life we were visited by a local boat. It’s occupant greeted us with the normal wide smile and enthusiastic greeting “Bula Bula” but unusually, for the Islanders, spoke with perfect English. He asked not for the anticipated bunch of cava but if he could take down some information about everybody onboard. It turns out that it was census day in Fiji and our presence remote or not needed to be recorded.

Raya anchored off Sawa I Lau

Our final set of guest has left us, it has been a busy summer and nice as it’s been to have everyone onboard it felt good to have Raya back to ourselves. Sasha and Julia’s visit will be remembered for the fantastic snorkelling we have done, this week we finally got to see the magnificent mantas again, we were also treated to sharks, sea snakes, and a huge titan trigger fish. The last couple of swims were done without Rick who had a bit of an earache and the sight of the three of us after a long tiring snorkel, struggling, ungainly and giggling trying to lift ourselves into the dingy, whilst gradually being swept out to sea, went thankfully, unrecorded but will stick in our minds for quite a while.

Excellent snorkelling off Manta Ray Island Resort

We have played Rummy cube, attempted a game of bridge, drank far too much wine and beer, eaten far too much food and talked and talked. We were actually treated with enough wind during their stay for a couple of sails but for our stay in Fiji we have basically been a motor boat. In fact we have motored so far that on our return to Musket Cove we actually ran out of fuel in the main tank and in, luckily, calm open seas we had to top up from our reserve tank.

Team Raya on the sand bank at Musket Cove

Yesterday we came back into Vuda, ready for the girls early flight this morning. We are getting use to the tight squeeze of yachts here but the space we were presented with this time was the tightest of all. In fact after two tries it was fairly obvious we weren’t going to fit in going stern to, so Rick turned us around and managed to wedge us in with bows to the wall. The normal skilled marina boat boy wasn’t around and his replacement had no understanding of what was going on. Without the efforts of Sasha one side and Julia the other, both armed with large blow up fenders we would never have berthed unscathed.

And we are not the only Oyster squeezed in here, after bumping into only a handful of other Oysters throughout the whole Pacific crossing, suddenly we are inundated with Raya look a likes. In Manta Bay another Oyster 56 had anchored right next to us and at Musket Cove there were three other Oysters including Oyster Blew 56/23 the boat built right after Raya who is 56/22 and here in Vuda there are five other yachts, the Oyster World Rally has arrived in Fiji.

We however are on our way out of Fiji, we have a few days to clear up and prepare then weather permitting it’s on to New Caledonia at the end of the week.

Familiar Bays, New Adventures

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Sunday 17th September 2017

The wind continues to howl past the boat for the fourth day running and we are beginning to feel a bit tired of it. This morning hoping for a drop in the winds we came up from Blue Lagoon to Buasali Bay and are anchored off Sawa I Lau. It is incredibly beautiful and although the island and the reef are protecting us from the swell, it is still extremely blowy and the fetch rough enough to make dingy rides rather wet, swimming from the boat unpleasant and use of the kayak tricky.

Sawa I Lau is unusual amongst the Yasawa Islands as instead of being composed of volcanic rock it is a slab of limestone that has been thrust upwards by past geological activity. Being limestone it’s cliffs have been eroded to form an encircling notch, reminiscent of the islands in Tonga and the rocks are scarred with caves, cracks and vertical grooves. We took the dingy for a closer look and marvelled at the fascinating shapes created by a millennia of erosion.

Sawa I Lau

Sawa I Lau is where we came a month or so ago to visit the caves, in fact we have been revisiting, with Sasha and Julia, many of the places we have been to before but we are finding plenty of new and interesting things to do. At Manta Bay for instance, we found a different snorkelling spot just off the beach along from the resort and had one of the best snorkels we’ve had all season. Instead of the normal walls of coral, the area was dotted with bommies, these were in turn surrounded by fish. The reef fish were larger than we often see and in the bright afternoon sun and clear waters their colours shone out. We watched a blue spotted ray emerge from its sandy resting place, a giant moray eel slink from one rocky hole to another and a pair of pennant banner fish dance in unison.

Blue spotted Ray

As always the rolly conditions quickly drove us north to Blue Lagoon, but even here and despite the windy conditions we found plenty of new adventures to entertain us. About a mile and a half across the Lagoon from the anchorage is an mangrove, lined inlet. Undeterred by the conditions we dressed suitably for a wet ride and set off to to take a look. At its head there is a small village, a tiny resort nestled amongst the trees and a little way up the valley a fruit and veg farm. The village vegetable boat had topped up our fresh supplies the day before so we didn’t venture inland but we decided we needed sustenance before we faced the wet upwind ride back to Raya, so we headed for the resort. We were welcomed first by a metre long Octopus that was swimming in the shallows where we landed the dingy, it swam straight under the dingy for cover and spread its legs out into the sand in all directions, cartoon like, to stay still in the current that was washing over it, as we drew the dingy away it elongated itself and headed off into deeper waters.

Octopus on the beach at Waitui Basecamp

After wading from the sand bank across a mini Lagoon to the resort, Waitui Basecamp, we were enthusiastically greeted by the young Australian owner. We spent a pleasant couple of hours drinking beer, enjoying the rather different view and eating a slightly dubious baked rice and vegetable lunch.

The next day, accompanied by the crew from Crazy Daisy, we took the path to Lo’s Tea House on the windward side of Nanuya Island. As the track reached the summit the full strength of the easterly wind hit us. At about 25 maybe 30kts it felt quite strong and we all remarked how it was impossible to imagine the 185kt winds that have just hit the Caribbean.

Windward side of Nanuya

After the hot walk, down by the beach the breeze was very welcome, Lo’s donuts were as sugary as always and we enjoyed the cleansing effect of the lemon tea, before settiing off on the return journey. Instead of continuing on the track across the top of the island we turned left and followed an alternative path that dropped down towards a valley. The upper track passes through mainly grasses and areas of sugar cane, the valley path had many more trees, gullies were crossed by makeshift bridges, it had a much more jungly feel. After about half an hour and just as we were beginning to feel like intrepid explorers the illusion was broken as we emerged out from the tress into the tended grassy area of palms and huts at the beach used by the Blue Lagoon cruise ship. A ten minute stroll up the beach led us back to the dingy.

Intrepid explorers

Hoping to sail south tomorrow, fingers crossed for the Mantas and less wind.

Where Next ?

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Monday 11th September 2017

As we start to plan the details of our next move from Fiji to New Caledonia and onwards to Australia, lurking at the back of our minds is the question of where we should go next year. From the beginning, this trip, had been about getting to and sailing in the Pacific, as we near our first continental landfall since leaving the Americas we have to face up to the fact that the Pacific crossing is almost complete.

The journey so far.

If we could conjure ourselves back to Panama we would happily do it all again. The reality, however, is that we have no magic wand and an eastward sail, more or less back the way we have come, would mean long periods against the prevailing winds, not something we particularly want to do. Another alternative is to sail up past Japan to Alaska and down the west coast of Canada and the States, for us wimpy warm weather sailors that all sounds a bit cold. We could of course just stay this side of the Pacific sailing the circuit from New Zealand or Australia to Tonga, Fiji, New Caledonia and Vanuatu. This is a tempting option, but the cyclone season is seven months long, which means we end up spending a lot of time and money just kicking our heals waiting to get back to the Islands. We are therefore facing up to the fact that we have to start to plan our departure from the Pacific and into the Indian Ocean. With access to the Suez Canal still a no-go area, the route home is via South Africa and the Caribbean.

Basic route back to Europe

This route is rather heavy on long ocean passages but provides plenty more exciting places to visit and possible diversions but making the decision to leave the Pacific is a hard one.

Rick contemplating the future.

Back in real time we are having a final trip through the Yasawas with our last set of guests, Sasha and Julia. Their first day started well with the wind behind us and strong enough for us to actually sail from Vuda to Musket Cove. Unfortunately, that evening, those same winds bought thunder, lightening and heavy rain. With all the hatches closed it was too hot to stay below so we all perched under the sprayhood counting the seconds between the flashes of lightening and claps of thunder, noting that the masts from the couple of super yachts close by would make much higher and better lightening conductors than Raya’s. In the lulls we took it in turns to check the aft pole light for signs of the Manta and made plans for the following couple of weeks.

Today has dawned hazy and serene, I still marvel at how one place can be transformed over a few short hours, last nights stormy sky and sea is today’s calm idyll. It’s an early start as we have a six hour trip north, no sailing today I think.

Sasha and Julia enjoying the calm sea.

Hair and High Winds

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Tuesday 5th Aug 2017

My news feed is full of tales from the Caribbean sailing community preparing, the best they can, to sit out Hurricane Irma. We have a soft spot for the BVI, as while chartering there, many years ago, the first small seeds were sown for our current adventure. Irma, at cat 5, is the strongest type of hurricane and due to hit these beautiful Islands later today. It is difficult to imagine how terrible it must be for the people there, as well as the cruisers abandoning their yachts for safer ground.

The weather in Fiji has been much more benign, I’m glad to say, but not wall to wall sunshine, last week it was mostly cloudy and wet. As we motored in light winds out of a downpour we had on a much smaller scale our own weather phenominum, as we looked behind us we were alarmed to see a water spout forming down from the clouds. Fortunately we were sailing away from it not towards it, we watched as it gradually faded as the cloud reached the land.

Water spout just a mile behind us

Out in the Yasawa Islands it has been the normal cat and mouse game hiding from the wind and swell. With both of us fighting a cold we could have done with a bit of a lull. We have to thank Ashley for being an extremely undemanding guest, as we coughed and spluttered our way through the week. In between showers and doses of paracetamol we have done some very good snorkelling. No mantas at Manta Bay but again a great drift snorkel through the pass, then in Blue Lagoon we enjoyed the fantastic coral on the north reef and had fun once more at the beach reef. We took bread to feed the Sargent majors and some parrot fish came to join the party, painfully they didn’t seem to be able to distinguish between the bread and my extremities! Having got a few shots of Ashley in the feeding frenzy I decided it would be safer to turn my attention to the reef. It is nice and shallow here and easy to take good close ups of the fish.

Back onboard Raya we put Ashley to work, one of her many skills is as a hairdresser, this was not a opportunity to be missed. Now there are some moments in life when you expect to be able to get five minutes peace. Sitting with a hair colour on your head is one of them, in a hair salon you’d sit with a cup of tea and a gossipy magazine, at home you’d expect to relax or chat, on a boat however you end up on the bows resetting the anchor. We had arrived in Blue Lagoon a few hours earlier and anchored comfortably to the side and behind a 120ft superyacht. Just as I relaxed for the required half hour the colour takes to hide my grey bits, a strong southerly appeared from no where and the superyacht suddenly became perilously close. She had been sitting over her 100m of anchor chain in the light breeze and the higher winds had stretched it out moving her right on top of us. Moving a superyacht is quite an effort, Rick offered to move instead and so up on deck I came, looking totally ridiculous, hair dye splattering in the 20kt wind, at least it wasn’t raining

Trim for Rick

As one of our yachting friends says, champagne problems, especially when compared to the disaster about to strike the Caribbean. We are now back in Vuda Marina feeling safe and ready for a few days rest.

Ash in control