Namani at Sea

After 6 weeks of zig-zagging up and down the eastern portion of Fiji we left our anchorage in Vanua Mbalava yesterday (Monday, 22JUL) morning to sail the 130+nm to the east side of Viti Levu, the "other" big island in Fiji. After a bumpy but swift overnight sail to windward we dropped our hook off the little island of Naingani, just off the eastern coast of Viti Levu. With a bit of tacking we ended up having just over 150nm on the log, including a few hours of motorsailing at the end, when we got tired of the tacking game.

One of the negative side effects of cruising multiple seasons in the tropical Pacific is that one becomes quite spoiled. A new landfall that would normally be spectacular runs the danger of becoming something quite close to routine.

We left our anchorage at Taveuni at 1500 local time on Thursday afternoon (28JUN) right after the rain from a passing front/trough had cleared and are now (29JUN, 2345 local) about 35nm from the pass into the lagoon of Fulaga Island in the southern Lau Group. Last night had us motoring in light and variable winds but today we got lucky and could sail for most of the day on a comfortable beam reach. The wind died again just before sunset and we are now under engine again, slowly moving over what looks like a giant duck pond.

We left Viani Bay on Tuesday and moved to the NW end of Taveuni, the "Garden of Fiji". Together with Virginia and Jose from Caps Tres we hired a taxi yesterday and Harry, the driver, gave us a very nice tour of the island. We hiked up to and swam under some waterfalls in tropical rainforest (which did live up to its reputation) and later had great fun zipping down a natural waterslide which Nicky couldn't get enough of. If you ever find yourself on Taveuni and are interested in a full day tour of the island: Harry's phone number is +679-8461 465.

After a week in Savusavu with reprovisioning and some minor boat repairs, we left our mooring there last Monday and relocated a full 4 nm to anchor off the "Cousteau Ressort" (run by one of the famous diver's off-springs), close to the entrance to Savusavu Bay.

Before we left New Zealand we finally managed to get Nana's latest book, Lesson Plans To Go: Hands-on Learning for Active and Home Schooling Families, onto "the shelf" at Amazon.com in paperback and kindle versions. The book contains ten units with fun educational activities for children ages 4-12 that families can use at home or on the road.

We heard that Russia has a train track running from Moscow to somewhere in Siberia that runs straight over flat country for thousands of kilometers. At one point however, the track makes a curvy detour without any apparent natural obstacle and continues its straight course only after having completed a little "bulge".

We arrived in Savusavu on Fiji's northern island of Vanua Levu yesterday (Monday, 10JUN) morning after yet another very nice sailing night. A very friendly welcome in a beautiful setting. We'll write more in a few days...

While we have still about 120nm to go as of this Sunday morning we are now meandering our way through the southern islands of Fiji. First sight of land this morning was Moala, a little island now about 15nm to starboard. We can also see the top of Viti Levu ahead to port. Plans have changed once again and we will go to Savusavu as originally planned (rather than Levuka - see one of the recent posts). Despite SAVUSAVU being busy, boats who already arrived have reported on the radio that "space will be found".