Taveuni Island

After clearing into Fiji there were still further processes to go through before we can head out and start exploring.  Firstly you need a Cruising Permit that lists all the areas you can go, when in doubt get one that covers everywhere.   The Waitui Marina organised this for us and thankfully the process with the issuing authority has been streamlined so that we had it back the next day.  Previously it could take a week.  Once you have your Cruising Permit you need to go back to Customs and get a Coastal Clearance form which is linked to your Cruising Permit and gives you authority to depart your port of entry into Fiji. 

We arrived into Fiji on the Monday and had our Cruising Permit Tuesday morning and straight across the road to Customs and we had our Coastal Clearance issued.  The authorities in Fiji are very supportive of cruising yachts and the system works well as long as you do all that is required.  Unfortunately there are a few cruisers that try to work outside of the system and often get caught without the necessary approvals which reflects badly on the whole cruising community.  We saw a NZ Navy boat with NZ and Fijian officials going around anchorages checking on boat's paperwork as part of a joint exercise.  Best to have all the approvals in order.

Once we had our Coastal Clearance it was back to the markets to stock up ready to head off the next day.  Steve & Kate off Blue Summit were ready to go but unfortunately Rob & Nicola off Distant Sun were still waiting on engine parts so were delayed.  After we all had dinner ashore at one of the many curry places in Savusavu, Blue Summit and Lettin'Go were away the next morning at 3am heading up to Taveuni.

It was a day of light winds which was what we were looking for as we were headed in a direction that the trade winds normal blow from so we motor sailed in calm conditions.  As always, when the conditions allow, we had fishing lines out trolling.  We were using a new lure bought the previous day from a local identity Curlie who hand makes a range of lures, and it didn't disappoint.  A beautiful 1m Mahi Mahi.

Taveuni is a stunning island with a rugged mountain range down the middle, lush vegetation due to its high rainfall and reef fringed coast. Taveuni is also a dive destination with some of the world"s top rated dive sites located there.   Paradise Dive Resort is at the southern end of the island and has mooring buoys for visiting yachts. Steve & Kate are avid divers and had been there before, in fact they helped the resort with some rebuilding after Cyclone Winston. 

Paradise Resort with it's dramatic backdrop

A morning shower on the way the following day

Scuba divers cannot fly within 24 hours of their last dive.  The resort had a group of American divers staying who were at the end of their tour and had a land based day before they flew out.  Paradise had organised a bus trip for them to explore the island including the local waterfalls and a water slide and there was room for the 4 of us to join the tour.

The trip included a stop at Somasoma, the main town on the island.  Another mixture of cultures.

No prizes for guessing the early settlers

Sounds promising!

The reality.  It is all relative 

A multi-function store

Somasoma is also the location of the bus depot where our front wheel was changed out.  No one said what the problem was but given the narrow winding roads on the island we were glad to see a new wheel.

The waterfalls are in the Bouma National Park.  There are 3 waterfalls.  An easy walk into the first one and more challenging to the next 2.  Plus great vistas from the track between the falls. 

First waterfall

Track leaving the first waterfall for the next falls

Spectacular views up to the mountains

Outlook back to the Visitor Centre and the coast

 Although the group were active divers many found track difficult and whilst we 4 have done many kilometers on mountain tracks it was also challenging for us.  The staff from the Paradise Resort who were also acting as guides did a fabulous job in helping people through the difficult sections.

A challenging section of the track

A rewarding swim after the climb

Another challenging section

Ginger plants at the visitor centre

The Fijian people are very friendly and will always give you wave are you pass by, especially the kids.

The local school bus we passed

Kids of all ages ready to say welcome and hi

Next stop was the waterslide.  A natural slide in a creek through a rock ravine.  Yes sharp turns and hard edges.  Interestingly only about 25% of the group felt inclined to give it a go.  Cran, Kate & Steve represented the sailors and Ann took up photo duties.

Cran doing a handoff of his shirt to the guide

Kate and Steve's feet hit the lower pool a few grazes later

 Our final stop the 180 deg meridian, no longer the international date line here in Fiji.

Savusavu, Entry into Fiji

We had a comfortable passage across from Tonga, albeit with strong winds, leaving 1:30pm Friday 6 July and arriving in Savusavu  mid morning Monday.  To avoid arriving on the weekend and paying overtime rates for officials to clear us in we had a leisurely down wind sail just using our head sail.  The bonus was that we had wind all the way so no motoring. A pleasant change from recent passages.

In preparation for coming into port we were taking down sails and getting in fishing lines when a dive boat came roaring up behind us.  There to welcome us into Fiji were Steve & Kate off Blue Summit returning from an early morning dive.

We had heard a lot of different stories about the experiences of yachts checking into Savusavu, some good and some difficult, so we weren't sure what to expect.  Our checking in experience was very professional.  We called up Waitui Marina who sent out Bill in a dinghy to help us try up to a mooring buoy, then they called the officials to advise we had arrived.  Bill brought the 4 officials to our boat, Customs, Immigration, Bio Security and Health.  They were all very friendly, efficient, and helpful.  The whole process was completed in about 40 minutes, the slowest thing was us filling out all the paperwork.

Once clearance was completed it was into our dinghy and off to town to get some fresh produce and local SIM cards.  But first we had to negotiate the Waitui Marina dock, not what we are used to in Oz or NZ.   The floating part is in 2 sections on drums of different sizes so when you get out of your dinghy it feel like walking on a water bed.  Strange as first but you get use to it.  The marina is conveniently located and the staff are friendly and helpful, what more could you want.  But by the end of the day we were restocked and online.

Blue Summit was anchored just out of Savusavu off the Cousteau dive resort and would come into town the next day but Distant Sun was also in Savusavu so it was sundowners with Rob & Nicola. It was great to catch up again.  The next day Blue Summit arrived and all 6 of us hit one of the cheap curry places for dinner.

As well as having fresh produce the markets also are a central place for kava trade.  Kava is root that is ground into a powder and made into a drink used in ceremonies and for social occasions.  Kava in Latin means intoxicating pepper. Speaking from experience it tastes peppery and is intoxicating.  It is a tradition for visitors to a village to take a gift of kava and for yachties it is expected that we will visit any village we anchor off and present a gift of kava.  To cater for this bundles of kava in the appropriate sizes are available for us to purchase from the market.

Bulk kava

Yachty gift packs, wrapped in newspaper and ribbon

Savusavu is called the "Hidden Paradise" and it has a charm all of its own.  No wonder boats arrive and end up staying.  The town has a mix of Fijian, Indian and Chinese cultures.

Inter island ferry

The town also has thermal hot springs and in the morning you can see the steam coming out of the ground along the fore shore.

Food for thought

A brief stay in Vava'u

Last year we spent quite a bit of time in Vava'u so this year was just a brief visit to mainly organise duty free fuel and clear out of Tonga.

The day after we arrived was Cran's birthday so it was dinner ashore that night but not before Ann shared a special bottle of champagne.

Pre dinner birthday drinks

What more could a man want, pizza and red wine

We had several days before we planned to clear out of Tonga for Fiji and the weather was building to strong winds.  We knew the perfect anchorage to sit out the front.  Our criteria for a perfect anchorage is one that is protected from the weather, calm flat seas, good for swimming & snorkeling and the all important internet access.  Aiesa Beach met all the criteria plus we had the chance to catch up with a couple of the rally boats from last year, Varekai and Seaforth and new boats we met, Citation and Blithe Spirit.

A perfect anchorage

The winds dropped a couple of days before we wanted to depart Tonga so it was a quick trip back into Neiafu for more socialising, provisioning of fresh fruit & vegs for the passage and organise duty free fuel.

Sunset drinks on Lettin'Go

Glenda & Mike (Manuhaea) and Amanda (Varekai)

Cat & Brodie (Citation)

The Customs wharf in Neiafu is built to take ships and is not a yacht friendly berth in all but the calmest of conditions.  Unfortunately when we came alongside it wasn't calm and it was a constant battle keeping our fenders from popping out as Lettin'Go bounced up an down against the wharf in the side swell.  Thankfully Brodie and Trevis from Citation came down to the wharf to help us tie up.  We were lucky another yacht left from the other side of the wharf and we could move around to the more protected side to take on fuel.

Customs wharf

Ann adjusting fenders

Just 400 litres thanks

Once fueled up it was time to leave Neiafu and Tonga for Fiji.  The forecast was good for a 3 night down wind passage.

Exploring more of the Ha'apai

Just after Patrick & Linda left we had a weather window to head to the southern Ha’apai group of islands.  These islands were mostly uninhabited, but several did have huts for the men from nearby islands to stay in when they came to fish around these islands.

Even though the Island Cruising NZ Rally boats had arrived in the Ha’apai we found these southern islands on the eastern reefs to ourselves.  It great just to hang out anchored off our own bit of tropical paradise.  We’d go ashore each day around low tide and do a lap of the island beachcombing.  Everyday you would find something different brought in on the tide overnight.   A daily swim off the beach was in order before return to Lettin’Go. 

This would have been one very big crayfish

Just about every beach had its hermit crab community

They appeared very social, gathering in groups

While beachcombing we become very aware of a growing problem throughout the Pacific, the management of waste.  Unfortunately the traditional method of disposing in the sea was OK when they just had organic waste but this doesn't work with the waste from today including plastics.  The amount of plastic we find on the beaches is alarming and a new issue we found this year is disposable nappies washed up on the beaches kilometers from the nearest village.

We found a number of fridges and iceboxes on beaches.  Not something you'd want to hit in your boat.

The reef system around these islands were not as extensive as the ones further north and as such the swell would wrap around the island and produce surf on both sides of the island.  These made getting ashore in the dinghy a challenge.  We couldn’t land the dinghy and pull it up the beach as it would get swamped by a wave and then would be too heavy to move once full of water.  We have developed a system using a stern anchor on a rope and bungee cord.  Timing between wave, we would drop the stern anchor and motor onto the beach stretching the bungee cord, jump out with our gear and the bow anchor, then the stern anchor bungee cord would pull the dinghy out beyond the wave break.  When we timed the waves and getting out of the dinghy just right it worked a treat, when we didn’t get it right we got very wet…!

The other thing that the swell wrapping around the island did was to produce “blind rollers”.  These are waves that form over the reef on the protected side of the island when the swell comes in over the shoals from deep water.  Lettin’Go was anchored between 2 of these reefs on the protected side of the island and while we were in relatively calm water we had waves breaking just 10m off the back of the boat.

See the surf on both sides of the island

Makes snorkeling on the edge of the reef difficult

No fish were caught while Patrick & Linda were with us even though Linda fancied herself as a fish whisperer.  We did have 3 strikes and lost the lures but nothing was brought onto the boat.  Maybe Linda was just talking to the big fish…?

Once Patrick & Linda left our luck with fishing changed.  We landed the largest fish we have ever brought on board, a 1.4m wahoo.  It was a big fish with a lot of flesh.  Too much for us travelling on our own with no other boats to share it with so we took half of the fish to a village near where we anchored.  Fresh fish for dinner, fish in the freezer and smoked wahoo.  Life was good.

Another hard day at the office

Wouldn't want them much bigger

And they got to keep the bucket

A well balanced snack, fresh smoked fish, olives, crackers, beer and bubbles 

The King of Tonga was coming to Ha'apai as part of his birthday celebration and Pangai was a hive of activity getting the town spruced up prior to his arrival.  Buildings were being painted, gardens and lawns tidied up, one road sealed and welcome banners everywhere.  It was quite a transformation in the 2-3 weeks since we arrived.

Freshly painted Miraculous Cross

Government buildings

Trees dressed for the Kings procession

Tongan Navy in town for the Royal visit

The Rally boats were in Pangai when we got back and we were able to catch up with Mike and Glenda off Manuhaeu for a couple of days before all too soon it was time to leave the Ha'apai and head north to Neiafu in Vava'u, but not before one more sunset drink ashore.  Mike and Glenda were on the rally with us last year and enjoyed so much they joined the rally again this year.