Saturday 17 October 2015

FIJI!

Fiji

We just love Fiji and all it has to offer. From the friendly locals to the beaches and clear waters, it is a place you can spend forever cruising. There is something for everyone here and a good balance of diversity. You can have the isolated areas such as the outer Lau Group where the traditional ways are still in place, the Yasawas where there are many resorts and Bars etc. Or if you desire, there is the Denerau Marina area which is very westernised with shopping areas and even a ‘Hard Rock CafĂ©’
We have spent a great deal of our time around the Mamamanucas and the Yasawas.

                       Friends Rob and Stu from NZ joined us for a week.

Musket Cove has an annual Regatta which we got involved in. I happened to walk into the marina office there at the appropriate time and got accosted by Sophie there into running the Childrens games and the best dressed dingy event which was hard work but really enjoyable. We had a blast that Regatta week with a great atmosphere and reduced food and bar prices. There was a great band on every night and we danced away till the small hours every night. The body is still trying to catch up! 
Below are photos of the various crazy activities. 

                                    
                                     


                      


                


           


                      

We entered in the various events and did really well in the ‘Round Malolo Classic’ race taking out line honours for Monohulls on Falshator. The prize for this blew us away being a great Trophy, bottles of wine(4), groceries, a cell phone and sim card with $50 credit, 2 nights Marina berthage at Denerau, a $50 gift card from a Chandlery and $150 worth of diesel for the boat!
We shared the wine with Allan and Steve off an Ozzie catamaran called ‘Cool Change’ who came on board for the day and gave the cell phone to one of the locals in the shop there who had helped us out with our Clothes washing


                       On our way to taking Line Honours for Monohulls


                                     Victorious Crew!

Due to El Nino, this has been a windy old season according to everyone up here and you do have to pay attention to the weather whilst planning your next move. The further you go up the Yasawas the more out of the lee of the main Island group you get and there is very little shelter from the strong South easterlies up there.
Another thing to watch out for is the lack of soundings and accurate chart work around these areas. Going cruising up to the Yasawas, I found two apps that I used(Pro charts and Google maps) as they have great Satellite imagery and you can see all the reefs and Bombies(coral heads) using these. Although they are pretty accurate, we always kept an eye out as well and Shelly was quite often up the Bow looking out when we were going into areas where we hadn’t been before. There have been 5 boats that have hit reefs in this area so far this season so it is problem you have to watch out for.

We spent some time anchored off the Nanuya Island resort which is close by to Blue Lagoon. The anchorage here is well sheltered and has good holding once you have your anchor in.
The resort has a great little bar with reasonable prices on Food and drinks and to top it off it has two big screen TVs where we watched the World Cup Rugby games and the NRL final.


                   Shelly outside the Bar


                                   Just stunning


                      Good times with Debbie & Steve off 'Simmer Down'


                The Trek over the Island to Lo's Tea House



             The one and only 'Lo', world famous on Nanuya Island

                  

We had a good bunch of Yachties around us here and there was always something going on, whether that be on shore or on someone’s boat. The management and staff at the resort are all friendly and the owner Ivan would bake us fresh bread every day. We could have stayed forever!


               Getting involved in the highly competitive games on Fiji Day


                  How to arrive in style- Fiji Style


                        The Caves at the bottom of Yasawa Island

We are now back at Denerau Marina taking up on the two nights free Berthage that we won and then we plan to go back out to Musket Cove to anchor for a few more days, (get our free diesel also) and then we are booked into Vuda Marina on the 25th October.
There we will get the boat ready and plan for our leg down to New Zealand in early November weather pending.
Cyclone season is fast approaching and the Met service is predicting a busy season of them this year so the first decent weather window we get, we will take.
Just waiting till after the World Cup Final on the 31st October-that’s if NZ makes it!! J





Tuesday 11 August 2015

Fiji bound


Vavau, Tonga to Fiji


                                 The local Immigration Company Vehicle

Our time in Vavau was spent trying to keep warm as the temperature had dropped and crazy as it may seem, after coming from Panama, Tahiti and the like, Vavau was cold to us at 15 degrees.
The cruising there is great with many sheltered Anchorages around the various Islands and plenty of depth close in, but the cost of Food etc was not cheap. We found the township in Vavau to be pretty rundown and its obvious there is not a lot of money around.
Sourcing provisions is a challenge here as the supermarkets don’t have a lot of stock and you have to pay close attention to the use by dates on a lot of stuff.
Unfortunately we were too early in the season to see any Whales that come in close to the inner waters to breed. It’s a tourist attraction that many people come to see and there are a lot of charter groups based here for that reason.


                           Inside one of the many caves
                          hanging out with 'Cathy and Sandy'


                           Beautiful Anchorages everywhere

After loading up the Chart plotter with 90 uncharted reefs, we charted our course through various waypoints setting a course to avoid them for our leg to Fiji.


                          Fish for Dinner enroute to Fiji !

We had a good sail over from Tonga, sea conditions were a vast improvement from the Niue to Tonga leg and we had 10-15 knots South easterlies all the way.
We got inside the reef system at the bottom west side  of Vitu Levu just before dark where we anchored for the night before going into Vuda Point the next morning.

We had the Health official come on board and spray the boat for Insects and then proceeded into the Marina there and tied up to the day Jetty for Immigration, where we were greeted by some friendly locals singing their welcome song. It was a great welcome and made us feel at home straight away.


                                 Immigration Dock at Vuda Point

Whilst we have been here in Fiji, so far we have had visits from our youngest daughter Tori and our oldest Fallan, who joined us along with her husband and our 3 year old Grandson. It was fantastic to catch up with them after not seeing them for 18 months.



                                Happy Hour with Tori at the Island Bar in Musket Cove


                                 Fooling around in boats


                        Cloud 9 for lunch


                                Just stunning


                                  Sunset at 'Dicks Place'


                                  Tori leaves today...  :(


                                   Zanders arrive  :)


                                 My Mini-Me!!


                                         Refusing to grow up-haha


                                         Loves his Coconuts


Having Kaiden on board  has meant to having lack of sleep for shelly and I. He wakes at 4 in the morning and is in our Bed for cuddles and then he wants breakfast staright away. He’s a machine, hes either running around at 100 mph or eating and for a three year old, boy can he put it away!
But we wouldn't want it any other way :)




                                    Boys 'just hanging out'


                                  Day tripping at Castaway Island Resort







We’ve booked a buoy out at Musket Cove and are enjoying the time in the sun here and the use of the facilities at both Musket Cove and Plantation Resorts.
We have done some local cruising with the family up to the Yasawas and back and around the Manamanucas  where you have to navigate visually as there are reefs everywhere and the charting is not good around Fiji, buts it been great so far.

We went out to Cloud 9 Pizza Restaraunt for the day and Kaiden blew everybody away out there by jumping off the Top Floor Hand rail into the sea. He just loves the water, not bad for three years old! 

Not sure what the plan is next, but one thing for sure is we are hanging out here for a bit and spending some time enjoying the friendly Fijian lifestyle, although all the Fiji Gold I’m drinking is starting to show around the waistline now! 





Friday 26 June 2015

Tahitian Islands

Tahitian Islands
We spent 12 days in total in Papeete and got a lot of jobs done on the boat. The Helm cable was replaced going from the original 5mm to 8mm. Other jobs being a new part for the Furlex replaced, sand and poly the cockpit table, a new engine compartment fan, re weld a crack in the solar panel support, fit a new anode to the prop, and the best was to fit a Victron Battery Monitor. This included checking out the state of the Batteries which all came up 100%. The monitor tells us what’s exactly happening on board with the batteries now, and we can see what’s going in and out and what the level of capacity is. The original Voltmeter gauge was a guessing game.
                      getting out amongst it

Whilst here in Papeete, we took advantage of the prize we had won from the ‘Puddle Jumpers’ association in Panama. It was for Dinner for two at the Intecontinental here in Papeete. This was a Traditional show and Buffet meal at the resort so was a welcome treat.


                  One of the many resorts

We left the Marina berth and went on a Taina Marina mooring outside the actual marina for the night. I wanted to check the auto helm was correct after it had been put back together along with the helm, so decided to go for a short motor up the estuary. We dropped the Mooring, and as we were moving away from the mooring (not even 10 meters), I was watching the mooring sliding past us when  we came to an abrupt halt. We had hit the ground! What? Where we were on the mooring we were in 4.8 meters of water, now we were in 1.8??
I jumped over the back of the boat to have a look and sure enough there was a little mountain right underneath us. This was right in amongst all the other moorings. We were still quite close to the mooring we just dropped so I swam a line back to it and along with the engine in reverse, winched the boat back off our little mountain. No harm done aside from a little bit of antifoul off the bottom of the Keel but shows the undulation of the bottom inside the Reef outside of the marina, even inside an area of Mooring Buoys, you have to be careful!

Moorea
We left Papeete and motored out to Moorea and anchored for the night up the far end of Baie de Cook, where we gathered that James Cook had anchored the Endeavour all those years ago. It wasn’t till we went around to the next bay which is Baie de Opunaohu that whilst ashore there we noticed monuments commemorating Cooks landing there.  We were a bit confused by this and the locals we spoke to could shed no light on it either, they didn’t even know the monuments were there! So we are still undecided where he actually came to while in Moorea.
                  One of the monuments we 'discovered' in the long grass

While at anchor in Opunaohu, we caught up with Len and Erin along with their son Trenten aboard their 72 ft Irwin Ketch ‘Mystro’. We had met them whilst in the Marina at Papeete and it was great to catch up with them again. We went ashore to two of the resorts there on the island being the Intercontinental and the Hilton having drinks and a meal there to see how the other half live. 
Len, Erin & Trenten alongside 'Mystro'

Cocktails in the afternoon

Just outside the Intercontinental on the Lagoon, you can swim/snorkel with Stingrays and Sharks, all in shallow 1.2 meters of crystal clear water-amazing. The stingrays will come right up to you and let swimmers rub them but we weren’t that game.
We hired a Scooter for the day like we had done at several other places and went around the Island. It’s a great way to see the Island, keeps you cool and the cost is minimal. $50 or the Scooter hire and $1.85 to fill it back up! A great day out.
                At the lookout overlooking Moorea


Raiatea/Tahaa
The sail up from Moreea was pretty uneventful aside from the fact that the Skipper had severe stomach cramps for some reason and spent most of the trip on his hands and knees. Now I know how Shelly felt when we left Gibraltar bound for the Canaries and she had spent 3 days sea sick in this position!
The weather wasn’t the best here in Raiatea and after a couple of quiet days catching up with Len and Erin again we headed off to Tahaa which is almost joined to Raiatea, its that close.
We spent the day snorkeling at the Coral gardens by the Resort off Tahaa where there are an abundant amount of Tropical Fish residing and once again the water is shallow and brilliantly clear.
                     Shipwrecked at the Coral Gardens

Bora Bora
We had a great sail up to Borabora with full prevented Main out one side and Genoa poled out the other. In 20 knots we were humming along at over 8 knots and there were three catamarans in front of us that we had given probably a 3 mile head start, but we mowed them down and sailed right through the middle of them.
Once inside the reef, we picked up a mooring at the Borabora Yacht club and spent the night there after going ashore to explore.
                        Borabora Yacht club

We visited ‘Boody Marys’ the next  day where all the rich and famous frequent, it has a board outside listing all manner of Celebrities that have been there. A great place with happy hour on all the Cocktails, great food and sand in your toes. You have to check your shoes at the door.
                           Bloody Marys at Happy Hour!

             One of the many idealic beaches in Borabora

After picking up a mooring at the Makai yacht Club, we met up with Steve and Debbie on ‘Simmer Down’ We had some good nights with them on the boat having dinner and learning some new Games.
Steve and I went for a dive just outside the entrance to the lagoon, which was great. White tip sharks everywhere and on the bottom we ran into some large Lemon Sharks cruising around, some over 7 foot. They have an aunterage of small parasitic fish with them as they cruise past you close to the bottom coral no more than a few meters away.
We caught up with Len and Erin again and Shelly looked after their son Trenten while they went and had some well deserved time on there own having lunch ashore. Trenten’s only 9 months old, really well behaved and she really enjoyed looking after him, it was a reminder of our Grandson that we are both missing back in NZ.

Aitutaki
We wanted to break up the leg from Borabora to Tonga so called in at Aitutaki on the way. I’d have to say that it isn’t a great stop with no access into the small lagoon there unless your boat drew less than 1.4 meters, no mooring buoys outside the reef to hook up to and the anchoring options are to say the least poor if not dangerous. The water shallows up quickly to a narrow shelf around the small inlet there and it is full of foul. We set our anchor there and I snorkeled to check it out. ‘Falshator’ was sitting in 15 meters of water with 70 meters of chain out but there were rocks the size of houses there all around us, some coming from 15 meters of depth to just below the surface. I had to put my dive gear on and go down and reposition the anchor to a safer place. The cost of entering Aitutaki was not cheap at over $220 and there wasn’t a lot to offer there. Sorry Aitutaki, but from a visiting Yachts point of view, we were glad to see the back of you.

Niue
Niue provides a small amount of shelter from the prevailing South/East to easterly winds with just a small dent in the island on its west side. There are mooring buoys to hook up to for $15 a night and at least you felt safe there leaving the boat, unlike Aitutaki.
There is no harbour as such, but a wharf where there is a crane that you use to lift your tender out of the water and keep it up on the wharf. It’s the first time we had come across this but it seemed to work brilliantly as long as you had a strong lifting bridle rigged up.
                   Crane on the wharf with little 'Falshator' on the dock

The officials were easy going and the locals are all very friendly. We started to see more Kiwis here on holiday and there was a ‘Black Heart’ Fishing contest on at the time we were there with Kiwis flying up here and going out on Charter boats catching Yellow Fin Tuna and the like. They couldn’t best one of the locals though who caught a 76 kilo Tuna on a hand line from his canoe!
                          Caught on a hand line from a canoe??!

Provisioning the boat was made a bit easier, as at both Aitutaki and Niue, the shops had things from NZ like Watties Backed Beans and Spaghetti along with NZ Beer! The small things that you miss-even NZ Marmite!!

                      'small things amuse small minds!'

The weather report was for strong southerlies coming and we were told the moorings weren’t safe in those conditions so it was time to make a move to Vavau, Tonga.

Niue to Tonga
The forecast was for 20-25 knot southerlies for the next few days, but after 6 hours in, the wind was getting stronger along with the seas. This leg has proved to be the hardest we have done to date with over 35 knots and 6 meter seas that were standing vertical and breaking. The seas were hitting us on the beam and crashing over the boat. It is the first time we have had any significant water in the cockpit. One wave hit us while I was hand helming and I was underwater momentarily and it blew my hat clean off! As fast as the water would come into the cockpit though, it would drain out just as quick.
                       Two hours out

It was hard on the auto helm, so during the day I hand helmed and at night we ran with a small amount of genoa out only and the auto helm response turned right down low. This enabled the boat to absorb the wave, go slightly of course and then the slow acting auto pilot would bring her back.
It was only a 36 hr passage but we were both glad to see Vavau loom into sight the next morning. We chose to approach the Islands across the top of them as it has a clear entrance in the Lee of the wind and swell from the North Western side and approaching through the reefs from the south in these conditions would have been pretty hairy.
It was good to get into Vavau and pick up a mooring there, and once through Immigration it was a matter of giving the boat a good clean with fresh water, emptying the Engine Compartment fan ducting of salt water(from the waves coming into the cockpit) and having a beer- needless to say we slept well the first night there. J