Paradise Island Hopping

It is hard to find words to truly describe Fiji, as each anchorage we visit is its own amazing paradise. In addition, the people here are outgoing and friendly, shouting “Bula” from across the street or field, and we can find all the provisions we need in the towns we have visited. Since our arrival in late June we have visited 4 islands ranging from the second largest in all of Fiji to a remote island in the Northern Lau Group. We left off telling you about our warm welcome and celebrating our 2 years of cruising in Savusavu, Vanua Levu, all while waiting for our cruising permit. To pass the time, a friend suggested we go diving with a local shop. How could we say no? Our first dives in Fiji were to the Waivunia Marine Park. It is a newly established marine park, and the warden was our dive guide. He spends his non-diving time doing outreach in the local villages and with fishermen to inform people of the park boundaries and reasons behind protecting the area instead of fishing. The coral here is so much more healthy and abundant than most places we’ve seen across the South Pacific. We spotted multiple sea turtles, a school of longfin spadefish, anemonefish, a white tip reef shark, and a banded sea snake! What a great welcome to the underwater paradise in Fiji. To pass more time while waiting, we visited a chocolate farm where they use sustainable agroforestry techniques to grow cacao. We learned about their process from tree planting to harvesting to fermenting and drying beans to chocolate-making. Of course there were samples too, and we came home with a tasty supply of chocolate bars. A few days later, with our cruising permit in hand, we finally had all the official government documentation required to sail throughout Fiji. We provisioned in the large open air market and multiple grocery stores in Savusavu and sailed off for Namena Island.

Namena Marine Reserve is the largest no-take reserve in Fiji. It is home to countless reef fish, pelagics that cruise by the outer reef, and over 600 pairs of nesting red-footed boobies on the island. We picked up our marine reserve permits in Savusavu and enjoyed this paradise for nearly a week, diving or snorkeling daily. We took our dinghy to the outer reef twice, once in quite choppy seas that made for an adventurous ride and once in much calmer conditions. Regardless of surface conditions, both outer reef dives we serene once we dropped below the waves. Going at slack tide certainly helps. Our favorite dive in Namena (and possibly Fiji) was to Grand Central. We anchored the dinghy and dropped down, diving over the top of the reef to get to the outside wall. The wall dropped straight down hundreds a feet, beyond the human eye’s ability to see. The wall was covered in life – corals abounded, reef fish were swirling everywhere, and we spotted a blue dragon nudibranch. Out in the deep blue we saw black tip and white tip sharks cruise by, plus multiple dogtooth tuna. Then, quite literally out of the blue, a massive billfish swam up towards us passing overhead as it neared the wall! In the distance we could see at least 4 others! We’re not sure if it was a sailfish or a swordfish. These pelagics are rare on dives, and it was the first time for both of us to see a billfish while diving. It was incredible, just incredible. All dives must come to an end, and we were treated to a massive free swimming giant moray while conducting our safety stop. In the evenings we enjoyed swapping dive stories with friends over sundowners as the boobies squawked away in the tree tops.

Leaving Namena, we had a lucky shift of the wind. Typically the trades blow from the east making it quite hard to sail east to the outlying Lau Group islands. We happened to be ready to sail on just as the winds shifted more southerly and westerly, meaning we could head straight off to the Lau Group. We sailed overnight to arrive in daylight, passing back into the Western Hemisphere, and entered the pass in the barrier reef of Vanua Balavu Island mid-morning. Though small, it is the largest island in the northern Lau Group and home to the gorgeous Bay of Islands. Our first stop upon arrival was to the village of Daliconi to meet the chief and request permission to stay and anchor. All land (including coastal sub-aquatic land) is owned by someone in Fiji and as a sailor you have to request permission to anchor. The traditional way of seeking permission is to meet with the chief and provide sevusevu. Sevusevu is a gift, and the traditional gift is kava root. We bought multiple bundles of kava root in Savusavu for just this purpose. We launched the dinghy and made our way towards the village with one kid onshore yelling to the adults that we were coming. We were met by a few men from the village who then took us to the chief’s representative. We took off our shoes and entered the home, sitting down on the floor with the men on woven mats. We had some introductory conversation about ourselves and where we had sailed from, then we presented them with the kava root. They accepted it through a song in Fijian with some call and response and clapping. Switching back to English, they told us we were part of their village now and welcome to anchor in their land. We made our way back to the boat, raised anchor, and motored 5 miles around a point to enter the Bay of Islands. As we anchored there, all we could say was wow. The Bay of Islands has massive volcanic rock cliffs, small rocky islands that have been carved away by the sea creating mushroom rocks, and multiple caves. The land is rugged and the water is milky blue. We found yet another paradise. We spent the next few days in this well protected anchorage exploring the many nooks and crannies by dinghy. Kris went kayaking, we snorkeled, including inside a cave, and we visited the one sandy beach where Mark used his excellent coconut harvesting skills to quench our thirst with fresh coconut water. Snorkeling inside a cave we saw group of orbicular cardinalfish, a new one for us. Just beyond our anchorage was a colony of flying foxes, which are some of the largest bats in the world. We last saw them in Tonga. Every evening we would watch hundreds of them disperse from the trees, flying over our boat off in all directions in search of fruit for their midnight feasting.

As it always does, the wind changed again and we had a good window to sail back west into the Eastern Hemisphere (the “right” direction for our circumnavigation). This time we had our sights set on Paradise Bay on Taveuni Island. We were pushing it with lighter winds forecast to head downwind for 80 nautical and be able to do it all during daylight. We woke before dawn and raised anchor at first light. The sun was rising as we wove our way through the coral reef maze to depart the Bay of Islands. We had a comfortable sail, so much so that we cooked eggs for breakfast while underway. We were able to squeeze just enough power from our sails (plus a few hours of motorsailing through some dead zones) to make the turn around the reef at the southern end of Taveuni with light still in the sky. We hailed Paradise on the VHF asking if any mooring balls were available. There is a resort at Paradise Bay, and they said they would get one ready for us. We picked up the ball just as the sun was sinking below the mountains on the neighboring island. This resort has a reputation among cruisers for its warm welcome. First, they provide these mooring balls to use free of charge. Second, they paddle out in a kayak every morning to deliver complimentary freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Talk about Paradise! They have a nice hot shower we can use, as well as a chilly swimming pool. There is a bakery, restaurant, and bar on site, and it’s a short walk to a high-quality butcher shop. They also offer dive trips to the famous Rainbow Reef and other dive spots. We spent two days diving with them, including two dives at Rainbow Reef. Rainbow reminded us of Namena with the abundant coral and millions of fish. We enjoyed swim-throughs and walls, spotting white tip reef sharks, a school of barracuda, porcupinefish, lionfish, anemonefish, garden eels, a massive banded sea snake on the hunt, and even caught a glimpse of a golden mantis shrimp. There was decent current on some of the dives we did with the shop, and it was fun to have a drift dive when we did not have to worry about swimming back to the dinghy or tow it with us. We also took ourselves diving, right off the big boat at the “house” reef. The coral was in rough shape but the fish were fantastic and there was very minimal current. It’s amazing how fast a dive can go by when you’re constantly seeing wonderful creatures. Even during our surface swim back to the boat, when you think its over, we passed above a group of cuttlefish showing off their colors. We spent on day on land to re-provision, for the first time since leaving Savusavu. We waited on the side of the dirt road outside the resort for the bus, dodging light rain by hiding under palm fronds. The bus came just a few minutes after the scheduled time. We found seats and bounced along up and down the winding dirt road as it climbed up hilly ledges and then back down to sea level. An hour later, we found ourselves in town. One of our top priority stops in town was at the sorbet shop for a scoop of local flavor. I only wish we could have brought some home, but it would have been soup after the return bus ride. We found a good variety of fresh fruits and vegetables so we are restocked now with bok choi, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, spring onions, cilantro, papaya, passionfruit, hot peppers, and more. When it came time to return, we chatted with a few people at the bus stop to make sure we were getting on the right bus. Everyone was so friendly and helpful, telling us which bus to take, and making room for us to sit down on the bench while we waited. Fully provisioned and back in Paradise, we are once again looking to sail on. We need to make our way further west in Fiji to stay on track with our general sailing plan to make it to Indonesia before cyclone season kicks up again.

Next Stops: Yasawa Island Group and Viti Levu