Fiji 2016 – Anchorage # 9 – Kia Island

October 8 – 10

16 13.966 S 179 05.974 E

Link to Google Maps

Posting by Barb:

This was our Murphy’s Law anchorage. We attempted to go to Kia mid day with a plan to anchor on the reef mid-way. The chart showed some areas where it may be possible to anchor. When we did arrive there were just to many coral heads for anchor chain to wrap around even if we did float the chain. So we had to make a quick decision to continue to Kia and arrive in the dark or go back to Malau and head to Kia Island early in the morning. We opted for the safer choice and headed back to Malau. When we finally made it to Kia we decided to anchor on the east side of the island where there was no village.  As it was late Saturday evening we didn’t want to be in front of the village on a Sunday.  At least on the other side we could play in the water without being disrespectful of their day of worship.  After 7 tries to set the anchor it finally grabbed something!!

If you look very closely you may see Denny on the top of the knob!!

If you look very closely you may see Denny on the top of the knob!!

On Sunday Denny climbed the nearest knob to get a good anchorage picture. He came back with a few, very itchy spider bites (no poisonous spiders in Fiji). The wind was starting to pick up but I decided to do a kayak trip to a nearby small rock island where Blue Footed Boobies seemed to be hanging out. I hoped to find an interesting nesting ground. Half way between the island and the boat I managed to roll the Kayak. The swim back to the kayak was a long one and of course it would be the only time I chose not to take the VHF radio. I made it back safely without any shark bites and got right back in the kayak to try again (Denny was oblivious of my peril still nursing spider bites). I managed to circle the island which did house a lot of birds but by the time I got close the only evidence of any life was the stench of years of well-aged seabird poop.

Denny's picture from the hill of our anchorage

Denny’s picture from the hill of our anchorage

The wind continued to grow and by Monday morning instead of heading to the village to do Sevu Sevu we decided we had to leave our not so protected, not so great anchor holding spot and head to our next destination.

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