June 30 Thursday
Left Yalobi Bay at 0730 after a very rolly night.. motored out turned north and up past the reef , past Octopus Is resort to anchor in Nalawauki Bay at 0920…breakfast ! Went ashore to do sevusevu with the chief..brief ceremony with the one-eyed chief and then taken on a tour by a young man whose name I don’t know. He took us to the kindergarten first where the children were putting on a show for the tourists from the resort…singing songs, most with a religious bent. Noticed signs hanging in the classroom stating god made the rain, god made the animals, god made the snow etc etc..Hannah made the observation that a lot of the children didn’t look that healthy..runny noses, scabby faces etc and one can’t help feeling that if they put the effort and money into heath care rather than into religious indoctrination they would be a lot better off. But simple people have always been the fodder for religion so nothing much changes I suppose. Our guide took us on to the waterfall which was actually running today and showed us the “bath tub” holes where one could have a bath in the fresh running water – they don’t of course –used to, but now with pumps, generators and taps they have no use for it. The resort folk were on their way back to the resort so we thought we would go and have a look..quite a trek..10 minutes they said..well more like 20 and some quite steep parts…on the way encountered the village pig farm with lots of pigs in cages and lots of little ones running around. Eventually go to the resort..beach is nice …bar restaurant looks OK..accommodation pretty ordinary and a lot of young people, so it’s probably fairly “affordable”…goat a free galss of water and sat in the shade for a while to recuperate and then off back to the village. Noticed that everywhere here there are small “rubbish dumps” ie the villagers juist toss all their rubbish into the bush beside the path…in about 10 different places within 100 metres..also old tin cans in the sand at low tide..one has to be careful coming ashore ! When we arrived on the beach a man in a red shirt called us in and invited us to come to his house and have tea and yams..he was Tom and his wife was slaving over a hot fire in the cooking shed while his daughter played with her niece on a sort of large table arrangement which is where we all sat while we had tea and sampled the yam …nice conversation with Tom about the village, his family etc ,We were then invited to view his daughters handicrafts…Hannah ended up buying a necklace and a table cover thing, Gunilla a necklace…we haven’t paid yet as we had no money, so I’ll have to go back tomorrow morning and hand over some cash.. Back to the boat for a swim..its very hot…and now 4pm the woind has turned and its getting rolly on here !! hell just can’t get away from it ! Its Hannah that it upsets the most, but hopefully she’s over the sickness side of things and it won’t bother her too much… A better night but still rolly So…that’s it from Nalauwaki Bay Nth Waya Is.. Friday July 1 Motored out of Nalauwaki Bay heading for Naviti Is. Looked in at Manta Ray Is but no activity there…when the manta rays are feeding in the pass you can swim with them apparently and they are big…up to 20ft wingspan ! So on to Soso Bay where we didn’t get a great reception last year. At least its calm in here…no rolling ! Everybody slept well ! Saturday July 2 Scrambled eggs for breakfast and into the village to do Sevusevu. The village is very tidy, the chief has lost weight and overall its much friendlier than last year…our guide Taro tells us there is a rugby match this afternoon at the school, so we’ll go and have a look at that. The church here, I wrote about last year, has intricate carvings in the ceiling and around the pulpit all done so long ago by previous generations of villagers that the current generation doesn’t know when it was done !....Got the tour of the church and the school and the community hall which has seen better days, but overall the village is very neat and clean..it doesn’t smell and there’s not much rubbish around..they have concrete footpaths and even street lamps; most of the houses have little gardens and all the paths are lined with nice bushes and trees. Back to the village for the rugby match..met a man snorkelling near the beach who told us that the match was at the next village,…about 1 hour walk away…well so much for that..went for a stroll on the beach collecting shells. Back on the boat..just had dinner and suddenly the fishing rod goes clunk and the line runs out…(we had a small piece of steak on a hook over the side and just left it there)…a fish !! Hannah reeled it in and it’s a flat fish about 30cm long and about the same across…hmm..what is it ?...Hannah looked it up Scott Bannerot’s Fishing handbook….its a spadefish or batfish …he says the eating quality is good..so off with its head and out with the viscerae and into a bag in the freezer for tomorrow . What a triumph !. Sunday July 3 Up early and off to the pass near Drawaka Is where the manta rays feed at high tide (17 09.8’S, 177 11.9’E). Anchored in a bay nearby and dinghied over to the pass where there’s already a boat from Manta Ray Is resort with 4 snorkelers looking for manta rays…Gunilla is in the water with her camera (unfortunately the pics didn’t turn out too well, but we saw them swimming around with their huge mouths wide open filtering plankton. The ones we saw were probably about 2 metres wing span..they can be up to about 6 metres !..completely harmless to humans…no teeth, no sting in the tail…beautiful creatures. Still having trouble with the header tank cap…it lets water out into the expansion tank but the water doesn’t come back…so every few days I have to open up the engine compartment, remove the cap, lift up the expansion tank and run the water back into the header tank…I need a new cap !! Having sorted that, we motored off heading for the north of Naviti Is..Somosomo bay..after an interesting motor sail (Hannah at the helm)tacking between reefs, we are anchored in Gunu Bay 17 05.24’S, 177 14.85’E Monday July 4 Raining..raining raining…started to clear about 12 so we set off round the corner to Somosomo..and its raining again !..anchored next to a Swiss flagged Allure44 and then it cleared up. A couple of guys came up in a kayak and gave us some convoluted story about having a fundraising and #1 and #2 and they need our help and they will make tea and…”what time you come”..I don’t understand I said and they just said what time you come 5 o’clock?...OK , I said, we have to go ashore and visit my friends Viny and Jack so after that. Went ashore to do sevusevu with the lady chief..and she’s not there..just like last time ! So, off to Viny’s house and she is surprised but pleased to see me..very pleased to see Hannah and gave here a shell necklace…we have tea…and rice..always something to eat. Vuny and Jim arrive back from school, Jack and his father come in from the plantation and are very pleased to see us. Lots of questions about what has happened in the last year. I explain that we have to go this fundraising thing at 5 o’clock….Viny knows nothing about it and then a young man arrives…right on 5 o’clock to take us to the other end of the village for the fundraising….we’ll be back tomorrow ! We walk though the village and out the back..never been here before…wormy looking dogs everywhere, past a dirty lake of stagnant water running between houses…Viny’s end of the village is definitely the eastern suburbs of somosomo ! Anyway, we are at Seru’s house…and there laid out on the floor is a coloured mat with tea cups and plates of roti (pancakes) and pancake(doughnuts)…all very nice…and of course what they are expecting is that we give them money !...they are fundraising to buy a solar panel so they can have lights in the church at night…I have about $2-85…Seru is not impressed but graceful. The Swiss group arrive and sit down and its all on…we talk about the sailing for a bit…no-one is quite sure what is supposed to happen…Pia, one of the Swiss asks them if they would sing..they do and then there’s great donations of money from the Swiss..and grins all around..I feel a bit mean and promise Seru I’ll be back in the morning. Still can’t help feeling they would be much better off raising money to clean up the cesspit which would benefit the health of the citizens much more than being able to go to church at night…still church is the centre of their community, now that they’ve given up cannibalism ! Back to the boat and spaghetti for dinner…. Tuesday July 5 Back into shore to see Seru and give a bit more cash…he’s very grateful ! Down to see Viny and she and Jack’s father have gathered a pile of papaya, lemons, yams, kasava for us to take….no, you don’t buy it, this is just friends as Viny said last year. Viny has made roti for us and lemon tea…the roti is a bit oily but the lemon tea is delicious. I asked if she got the photos from last year from Chrissy..she did and she mentions some of the funny ones..like the one of me, Vuny and the pig. She and Jack have just bought a small generator..the village generator doesn’t work..and they also have acquired an LCD TV and a DVD player…she has very few DVDs and asked if we had any…sorry no, but I will get you some. Her smallest child Asee sings us a song or two…Viny bribes her by saying, if you want to go to the boat, you have to sing a song. We take our leave and take all the goodies back to the boat. I bring the bags bag and collect Asee and bring her to the boat…she’s only 4 and of course doesn’t speak any of our languages,,and we don’t speak hers, but Gunilla takes pictures and shows her on the computer which she finds fascinating….Hannah gives her a piece of chocolate..she seems unsure but eventually eats it…..I take her back to Viny…and goodbyes to her and Jack’s father…we have decided to go north to the blue lagoon this afternoon, now that its fine. Wind is almost nil, we motor sail up the side of Yaqeta Is to the blue lagoon…anchor…Hannah makes thin chips from some kasava, and they are really good ! Hannah and Gunilla are off snorkelling on the nearby reef while I’m writing this in the cockpit, anchored next to a French cat with a really bizarrely painted sail cover and canopy. Plan is to go ashore to the wee resort later for a drink and dinner..hope they have a table…. 16 56.55’S 177 22.07’E Wednesday July 6 Well..no dinner at the resort last night…fully booked, so we had a drink in the bar, reserved for tonight and went back to the boat and had stirfry garlic prawns, vegetables and rice in 30 minutes ! Went for a walk on the beautiful beach in the morning and added to the shell collection a little. On the way back there were 4 whitey tourists on the beach and Fijian man with a small boat…from another resort. Bula he said…bula we said..where you from, how long you stay…where you going..and so on..very friendly..good luck he says …we walk two steps towards the whiteys and they are looking the other way, down, out to sea..I say hello and we get a muffled hello from one woman and a bula from the other..bula bula, vinaka waka levu I say…but I’m sure if I hadn’t said hello they would have said nothing at all and just ignored us….folk are funny ! Coffee at 11, (2 cappucinos and a long black please) with Hannah’s super- size Toblerone chocolate…. A blue Nordia 55 Bella Blanca flying a NZ flag comes in from outside the reef and anchors in the lagoon. We see them buzz ashore in their inflatable and on the way back we here them talking and the man shouts out DIVA !...turns and comes over and introduces himself ..Roberto, wife Phillippa (in a black bikini with gold chains and a cowboy hat!)..Spanish ..and their 3 boys. We have seen your boat in Auckland he says..we are from Auckland… only just arrived in Fiji..left late…a bit of chat about the weather and the sailing, and they’re off back to Bella Blanca…beautiful boat…you can have one for around 1.5 million euros !! look up Nordia 55 on the internet. Off in the dinghy to go snorkelling..there’s a reef out further, but it doesn’t look like much…back to the beach and float around on the small coral reef inshore…lots of nice little fish and some interesting corals…lots of staghorn here. There’s a launch in here from Tauranga…the skipper paddles over to have a yarn…they did Tauranga to Lautoka in 7 days and burnt 2800 litres of diesel !...he carries 4000 !! He’s been coming here since the early‘90S and just loves it. The Antiguan yacht we saw sailing in Musket Cove pulls in and anchors…there’s now 5 of us here. Hannah is making chips from some of Viny’s kasava..she made some last night as an experiment and they were really good…very thinly sliced kasava, fried in canola oil…delicious. A big (20m) ugly power boat flying the NZ flag pulls in…Regal Flyer…with about 10 to 12 kiwi blokes on board. They haven’t even anchored and they’re all over the boat each one holding a beer can…hmm that looks like trouble. We go ashore to go to the restaurant, they are in the bar along with the couple form the Antiguan yacht, who turn out to be Scottish ! There’s one juvenile 50yr old boasting that they have 14 bottles of rum to get through in 3 days! They all leave the bar about 1900..there’s no dinner for them. We have a lovely dinner…ate too much but it was so nice.. Back on Diva, the party on Regal Flyer is warming up…and up…at about 0200 they’re singing and shouting and carrying on like the typical antipodean male morons we used to see in Bon Accord harbour…. Thursday July 7 0600 and it is all VERY quiet, Hannah wants to go over and blast them with the fog horn and throw lemons at their boat !...they’d probably attack us if we did something like that ! A man paddles up in a canoe; he has lobsters for sale !..We buy a small one for F$30..we’ll cook it later… One of the goons gets on a jet ski sort of thing and comes cruising over towards us…we thought maybe he’s coming to apologise…but no…he just cruises slowly past with a stupid grin on his face…he doesn’t say anything as he comes quite close, so I call out “have a good time last night ?”…no response…”we didn’t, you kept us all a wake with all that noise”…he doesn’t look at me just continue on slowly with his stupid grin..”don’t care about anybody but your self !”…but I’m taking to the wind as he cruises off…. Oxygen thieves as Hannah’s boyfriend Kyle calls them ! OK…off out of the Blue Lagoon, south and we’re sailing in an ESE breeze of about 10-12 knots…unfortunately it dies after 3 hours and we’re back to the iron spinnaker. 1430 and we’re anchored outside octopus Is resort west side of the north tip of Waya Is 17 16.54’S, 177 06.25’E Friday July 8 We dinghy in to go for a walk on the beach….there’s a couple of houses at the north end of the beach…one of them has a “handcraft shop”..the usual shells and stuff..BUT on the beach there is a large yacht keel buried in the sand with 12 x 1 ¼ “ stainless studs sticking out of it !...further on outside the second house is a radar arch with a Furuno scanner on it…there’s a story here, but don’t know what it is. After the walk, we weigh anchor and head out of the bay down the west side of Waya Is towards Nevadra. There’s a few reefs that need to be avoided but with the sun behind us the navigation is easy . 1200 sees us anchored between the reef and the beach at Navadra Is..beautiful beach..one of the landfalls of paradise. We go into walk on the beach and swim…getting the dinghy off the beach is an interesting exercise as the small surf breaking makes it almost impossible to get moving. I get in and row and Hannah and Gunilla push from behind with swim fins on… Back on the boat and a yacht pulls in…they row over and he (name forgotten already) starts telling me that he saw us in Opua…he’s from Kerikeri, been sailing on Ragtime ..had to come and say gidday to another Spencer owner…well I didn’t think his boat was a Spencer, but there you go… BBQ steak and sausages with beans for dinner…. 17 27.51S, 177 02.65 |
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