Fiji (pt 2) & Passage to Vanuatu July 26 2006

Hello All.No doubt you've been waiting on pins and needles for this, our next letter,as we left you in suspense about our harrowing trip further north in theYasawas to Blue Lagoon. And harrowing it was. As we mentioned, the chartsfor the entire chain are iffy at best, and it looked like it would be easiergoing up the east side than west. Of course, about half way up a guy weknow called us on the radio to chat and when he found out our route,complimented our nerves of steel to go that way. To make matters worse, therains came and cloaked everything in a heavy mist, so it was nerve wrackingat best with reefs everywhere and limited visibility. We used 2 differentelectronic charts as well as, for the first time in ages, hand plotted ourcourse. So, discretion is the better part of valor, and we cut over to thewest side just north of Naviti for a longer but supposedly easier trip therest of the way. About half way up the next island just about to thewestern entrance of Blue Lagoon, along comes the Yasawa Flyer, the localferry, dropping people off at the myriad of backpacker places up there. Wewere chatting a bit with him when he urgently requested us to turn hard toport. Seems there was a reef out there not correctly marked on the charts.We just missed it!!Okay, we finally made it!! This is supposed to be the best anchorage in theYasawas and calm in all weather. Not! Not only was it kind of rough, butthere were quite a few boats in a smallish place making it all the moredifficult to find a spot to anchor. Well, it did finally calm down, and weended up staying for 4 or 5 days. The restaurant was excellent at the newresort there, and they were very friendly. We started to walk up to the topof the hills and over to the other side of the island, but it was a lotfarther than it looked and hot, so we opted out. Joe and Rose did do it thenext day and checked out the few places on the other side of the island.The lagoon isn't really a lagoon, but a bay enclosed by several islands.One across the bay is known for its tea and cakes so for FJ$3 each, Rose andI dinghied over and had tea and a piece each of home made chocolate andbanana cake. Best deal ever!! We also took a tour of the local villageacross from the resort on a different island. Georgie, our bartender, was aresident and picked us up in his boat. Then it was necessary for him tobring us to see the chief (actually the chief's son as the head guy was onthe mainland) where we had to go through the ritual sevu sevu where you givethem some kava root and ask permission to visit. After that, we walkedaround, and it is pretty primitive, even though this is a fairly largetourist area with plenty of jobs. A lot of people, Georgie included, livein thatched huts, and they pretty much live off the land. Of course,everybody does have their longboats and outboards to get around instead ofcanoes. This is the part of the Yasawas where Captain Bligh tried to landafter the mutiny on the Bounty and was chased by cannibals in war canoes,barely escaping to finally make landfall in Timor. The waters between themain island and the Yasawas are, therefore, aptly named "Bligh Waters".Blue Lagoon is a popular mini cruise ship destination as well, so those guyswere pulling in and out regularly. One had a complete wedding party andanother some kind of outward bound thing going on. A bit of partying overon their private beach.Our trip back was fairly uneventful. We gave Manta Ray island another tryand actually made it ashore this time. Unfortunately, in the middle of thenight the wind and tides worked against us making it very uncomfortable. Sothe new plan was to go down the west coast of Waya and see if Octopus wascalm enough. Last time, it was really very rough and difficult to land butvery friendly with good food. Octopus was okay, but we skipped dinner as itlooked like rain, but we did go in for breakfast the next day. Off we wentwith the intention of going to Navadra which, I'm sure you'll all rememberfrom our last letter, was the original deserted island destination we had inmind a week before. Alas, the wind gods were once again against us withnortherlies which would make Navadra untenable. No problem. Yolobi, whichlast time we had to leave in southerly winds was on the way. We didn't domuch there, and left early the next day to get back to calm anchorages andcivilization. But we did get out the underwater video camera just to foolaround. It was pretty funny when an entire school of squid mistook it for abrother or something. We are easily amused these days and spent some timejust watching the stupid squid. Oh, and of course that night the windswitched to the south making it rough in Yolobi. To be honest, by thispoint we were all sick of the Yasawas and to a lesser extent, Fiji, andready to hit the road.So--we headed back to Denerau where we could hit the Australian Butcher forpassage provisions. We also found out from the Blue Lagoon folks where toget ground coffee which you cannot find in the regular grocery stores. Atthe harbor, they've now completed a new complex, and it will be quite nicewith an upscale grocery store, several restaurants, and, of course, a pub ortwo. By now it was Friday morning (the 13th and nothing bad happened), andthe plan was to go over to the marina in Vuda Point, fuel up, reprovision inLautoka, spend the weekend, check out and then hide out at Robinson Crusoefor a few days. The idea is to arrive in Vanuatu on a Thursday as, in PortResolution on Tanna, our proposed landfall, the gov't boys take the 2 hourdrive over from the official port of entry on that day only. Otherwise, youhave to pay someone to drive you over there. Well the best laid plans---Over the weekend, we met a couple of nice yachties on two boats that wereleaving for Tanna on Monday after checking out. We partied a bit with themand had a really nice time at the yacht club party on Sunday. What thehell. We'd had enough of Fiji anyway and decided to make it a convoy. Feltbad about missing the chaps at Robinson Crusoe, but new horizons beckoned.We left Lautoka about noon on Monday after checking out. The other guysweren't quite finished yet, but we had no wind again and wanted to be sureto arrive on Thursday. As it turned out, the wind picked up about midnight,and we actually had to slow down a bit to time our arrival with dawnThursday. Had a nice spinnaker run most of Wed. Fishing was excellent theentire way Just outside the pass at Fiji we nailed a nice wahoo, followedby several tuna and a nice big Mahi Wednesday pm. I guess we're going tohave to become healthy fish eaters, but right out of the ocean, it's prettygood. During the passage, we spotted another boat and called them--namedArctic Fox and was part of the convoy. Another of the boats, Diva passed usduring the night when we'd slowed down--sort of competitive German guy on a2 year sabbatical from his consulting job at A.T. Kearney. The last boat,New Dawn, young Alaskan couple, were behind the pack but arrived later thatday. Coincidentally, all three of these guys are on the way to Australia tosell their boats and either go back to work, have babies (New Dawn) orsettle in at home for the lovely teenage years.