Monthly Archives: November 2016

October 28 – 31

16 44.918 S – 178 29.199 E

Link to Google Maps

Posting by Barb :

It was a smooth slow sail to Balulailai. This would be our jumping point to Vita Levu and onward to Vuda Marina. When we arrived at the reef pass for Balulailai it looked a little risky. It was low tide and the passage looked very narrow with large rocks jutting out. But we had no trouble getting through and no trouble anchoring although there wasn’t much room. We could see 2 people on shore but they quickly left and we didn’t see anybody for the remainder of our stay.

We did the usual snorkel, dinghy rides and kayak trips. Our dinghy propeller is not working 100% again. Denny hit another rock in Naviqiri transporting locals back to shore.  Balulailai was a peaceful quiet anchorage. It is freehold land and from what little we could find out about this place it is a 9,999 acre estate owned by foreign owners. So this meant no villages and no power boats. But we were surrounded by goats, cattle and horses. They  disappeared during the heat of the day and didn’t re-appear until the next day.

The plan was to leave by 6 in the morning, pending weather and head to Vita Levu, a 10 hour sail. Every night at midnight the wind would pick up and it would rain heavily. Twice we postponed our departure. The third time we just decided that we would leave although the rain was heavy at times.

This was our last anchorage on Vanua Levu and the end of our cruising in Fiji. We did everything that we set out to do when we decided to do the north of Vanua Levu. We hiked, snorkeled reefs, kayaked, fished and caught fish, visited villages, explored remote places, explored busy cities and tried to learn more about the Fiji Culture. It was amazing that once we left Rabi Island we did not see any other sailboats. It’s this isolation that maybe made the people on this part of Fiji so welcoming and genuinely friendly. We loved every minute of our time here in Fiji.

October 22 – 28

16 39.266 S – 178 35.329 E

Link to Google Maps

Posting by Barb & Dennis:

We pulled anchor and headed to Naviqiri on a fairly windy day so we had a great sail to our next anchorage. As we had arrived late Saturday evening we spent the Sunday hanging out in the boat and occasionally we could hear the 4 part harmony from the numerous church services through out the day. On Monday we headed into the village and completed our Sevu Sevu ritual. This was a more animated process with it ending in a chorus of chanting and claps. The kava was quickly pounded and shared with anyone that sat around the bowl. Denny had a quick tour of one of their sources of income; selling of their pine trees to outside saw mill. They were paid $10 per tree and basically did nothing as the trees were cut and hauled out by the sawmill operation.

Our hosts Freddie and Sera and their grandson!

I had tea and hung out with some ladies for a little while. We were invited to share lunch with some of the locals and it was as a Thank You to me and other ladies  for helping to roll the Voi Voi leaves in preparation for the drying process. The lunch was a bok choy, fish, tomato, noodle and spicy chilis soup. It was so good!! There was lots of activity as they were preparing the site for their once a year Naviqiri Day. We returned to the boat with a usual supply of papaya and lots of mangos as it was growing in abundance. We were invited to the special day which would take place on Thursday. They wanted lots of photos taken.

The next day we were hanging around the boat and Barb yelled that we had company coming.   We watched as we saw three people paddling in our direction.  as soon as it was obvious that they coming to our boat, I jumped in the dingy and drove out to them and asked if they wished to come and visit.  It was three girls paddling using a board and stick to paddle out.  So I towed them back and they came on board and had some Coke and cooks.  They look at everything and are really intrigued by it all.  I think they are more interested in us then we are in them.  It is so fun to share.

We were a little late for the special day thanks to a surprise visit by some young boys from another nearby village. The boys wanted to hear all about USA as it was their dream to someday go there. When we arrived in Naviqiri we were greeted by Sera and Freddie our hosts and given very fragrant Leis to wear for the day. Everybody was dressed in their finest and their temporary sun shelter was decorated with Voi Voi leaves and flowers. We were rewarded with a tapestry of vibrant colors as the Fijians believe in bright, sunny colors. Lunch was the traditional fish with cassava but it also included a very nice spicy tomato salsa and spinach cooked in coconut milk. Everybody, except one particular lady wanted their pictures taken. Denny was often surrounded by kids asking for more pictures. We promised we would send them the pictures of the day. We took about 400 pictures and it took Denny hours to sort and flag the pictures to print and mail. We donated some money to their fund raiser which was flush toilets for the few homes that didn’t already have it. We ate, drank cava and danced for most of the afternoon. And that was the end of our Fiji village experience for 2016. And now just a mere sample of the hundreds of photos we took:

The only lady who didn’t like getting her picture taken

The effect of Kava

Fundraising Committee

Preparing the meal

Hot chocolate break with Sera and family at her home

Barb Learning local dancing

October 18 – 22

16 31.569 S – 178 52.474 E

Link to Google Maps

Posting by Barb:

We had a beautiful wing on wing sail and anchored in 10 ft of water in heavy mud bottom. The anchorage was not well protected but at least it would be great holding. Even at 10ft of water we were still quite far from the villages and from the Dreketi river. We were nearby 2 villages and each village had about 10 power boats. So for such a small area this meant a sea highway of continued boat traffic and some with large coolers in the middle of their boat. We had the usual ‘bulah’ and drop in’s with invitations to come visit their village.

Our first excursion was a dinghy ride up the Dreketi river. It was very different from our last river trips. Very jungle like and we felt more like we were in the Amazon. Dreketi is the deepest river in Fiji ( no worries about hitting a rock with our newly fixed dinghy prop). We meet a few ladies up river washing clothes in some pretty murky water but other than that there was very little traffic. On the way back it started to rain quite heavily. It rained heavy enough to set afloat new growth seeds.  We were soon quite drenched. We made a stop into Dreketi to refuel and bought a few fresh tomatoes, bread and a few potatoes.

Our next stop was a visit to Nabekavu village. We brought our Kava and met the head of the village. He accepted our kava but then asked us to show our cruising permit. That has never happened before. We agreed that we would return with the permit. There really wasn’t any Sevu Sevu performed at this village, our Kava just disappeared. On our way back to the boat we were stopped by the Methodist pastor and he asked us to ‘hang out’ with him. And from there local men started appearing all dressed in their finest and we were told that there was a fundraiser to pay their portion of the Methodist district church van. The fundraiser was a Fijian lunch packet which included a whole fried fish and a couple pieces of cassava. While the lunch was being prepared in a gargantuan pot we sat around and drank Cava. Three hours later we left with our lunch packets, papaya and pineapples and we promised to return in the evening for the Youth Church service. It started to rain later in the afternoon and our trek back up the hill to the village turned out to be a muddy challenge as our footwear collected layer upon layer of clay as we made our way to the church. The service started late and it was practically empty. We thought we were in the wrong church until the Methodist pastor made the closing statements (he must have been delayed by the ongoing kava drinking as he showed up late and backup pastor did the sermon). We think that the kava drinking may have affected church attendance. Despite that the 4 part harmony was still beautiful despite the limited attendance and we were made very welcome. Denny even had to get up and say a few words!!

Our fundraiser lunch packet along with some fruit gifts

Our last stop at this anchorage was Navidamu village. From the beach we were taken to where a house under construction. Considering the minimal tools they had at their disposal I thought they were doing a great job.  The Lay Pastor gave us a very organized tour of the village. Pictures of some our stops:

what would OSHA say!!

First stop – Methodist church. In need of a few repairs but brand new, great sound system

Stop 2: Visit to a house to show us how the Voi Voi leaves are prepared for weaving

Stop 3 :Breadfruit lunch preparation

Stop 4: The makings of straw brooms.

Stop 5; Preparing the Voi Voi for the drying process

Stop 6: Weaving at it’s finest

Stop 7: Hello to a lady who was 114 years old.

Final stop: Lunch of cooked mango with our tour guide and family

October 14 – 17

16 19.218 S 178 58.692 E

Link to Google Maps

Posting by Barb:

View of Kia Island from our anchorage

We left Nukubati early in the morning and the first thing we did was put out our fishing line. And Voila we got a bite but unfortunately Denny lost it. He was sulking most of the way to the reef. It was a hunt for a good anchorage at the reef. It either had too many reef bommies or it had a steep ridge where we needed to drop the anchor.

Dinghy ride to our snorkel adventure

We finally anchored quite a distance, 1 1/2 miles, from our intended snorkeling spot.  But our outboard prop was fixed so it was a doable dinghy ride. Our first attempt at the snorkel was a bust. A variety of fish but nothing spectacular.

Watching Denny take reef pics

Our second attempt at snorkeling was a success. It was a little easier as we just had to go where the resort wedding party were snorkeling and we mingled with the 50 other people there. It is probably one of the best snorkeling that we have done in Fiji. We returned the next day when there was nobody there to do some more exploring of the wonders of this reef with it’s vibrant colours and a huge selection of reef fish.

We had our usual visit from a local boat. They were fishing at the reef pass and dropped by to say Bulah on their return to their village, Yaro, on Kia. Denny invited them on board and we made our apologies for our quick exit out of Kia. They invited us to return to Kia and stay for a month. They would be very busy on Monday with installing flush toilets with the help of Australian Aid. It was hard to say no to such an enthusiastic invitation but we were running out of time and needed to continue along the coast. Yaro’s main source of income was fish and their diet was mainly fish and Cassava. But they did understand the importance of fish conservation and did not practice night time fishing.

Denny caught the fish but I get the picture

We made our return to Nukubati anchorage and this time when we dropped our fishing line and Voila again, another bite. This time Denny brought it on deck and we first thought it was a Tuna. We later learned that we had caught a Giant Trevally or GT. It almost ran out all of our line and I had to turn the boat towards the fish so Denny could reel it in. Denny worked hard to get that BIG one on board. He definitely wasn’t going to loose another one. This fish had the same texture as a Mahi Mahi, white meat, but it was a little fishier tasting. So now in our freezer we have remnants of a Dorado, Wahoo, lobster and now a Giant Trevally.