Suva to Musket cove to Lautoka

After a few more days at a couple of anchorages, and never seeing another boat, it was time to head back to the main island but over to its dry sunny west side and to Musket cove, a yachty hangout. It was a easy overnight passage here and we motored through an easy pass and then to the anchorage where there was about 30 other yachts.

We joined and became lifetime members of the Musket Cove yacht club for a one dollar. They had all the facilities there, water, laundry groceries and a few nice places to go for a good walk into the hills. There was only one boat here that we knew and that was an Australian boat Delicado. They kindly gave us a bunch of copy charts of Indonesia which should prove handy.

We spent 5 days here and then went over to Lautoka and checked in with officials who told us we should have come here first before going to Musket Cove which was on our cruising permit, luckily we got off with just a warning. They are about as bad as Mexico with there check in and out bureaucracy and lots of paper work. The anchorage by Queens dock and near the customs dock is ok except for the sugar mill and wood chip mill that spew ash and smoke and get ash on our boat deck. So we are getting out of here tomorrow morning and off to Port Resolution on Tanna the Southern island of Vanuatu which is about a 5 day passage.
Info:
Anchored in 60ft at Musket Cove at 17 46.369 S 177 11.126 E. Join Musket Cove yacht club for a $1.00 and can use the dinghy dock there, but half to pay for drinking water, make sure switched to correct tap and not getting washing water. Some provisioning available and other small shops. I though holding was a bit dodgy in places, got windy and we seemed to be dragging so re anchored, several other boats did the same, thin sand is on coral. Would have taken a buoy but none were available.

Suva Fiji

Suva the capital of Fiji, is the first place where I truly feel I am in a foreign city. It is a busy, colorful, exciting place. There was not very many yachts in the anchorage I think because of the bad reputation of the custom officials, though we had no problem. Just lots of paper work and time consuming to check in. We enjoyed exploring the city, the cheap spicy Indian food which Dorothy liked but I was not to keen on. We took taxis many places as it was usually only $2 Canadian or less for a ride.
We got our Australian visa after a long day of paperwork and $200 each!!
I bought a Quad band, unlocked world phone and called mom for a great rate. everyone seems to have a cell phone here and it is a good place to get one.

Info:
Easy entrance, but call port control on 16 to anounce you are entering harbour. The anchorage was good with lots of room when we were there. Anchored in 30ft at 18 07.344S 178 25.391 . Call Royal Suva Yacht Club, RSY they will arrange for customs to come out to your boat. You pay RSY a small fee to become a member and then you can use there dinghy dock and water for a fee. and some laundry ladies there will do your laundry. Later you need to get a cruising permit to cruise Fiji and Customs will tell you where to go to get it and it was free. Q was $30 I beleive.

Suva to Kadavu Island

It is time to leave the excitment of Suva/Fiji and head for the outer Fijian island of Kadavu an overnight sail away. We left at 3:30AM and had a good sail though we were hard on the wind all the way with boat healing and spray flying. We could just make our course sailing the boat as close to the wind as it would go.


We arrived at our chosen anchorage of Nabouwalu Bay late in the afternoon. What a difference from Suva. We are back in the wilderness, a beautiful bay surrounded by reefs and palm trees with a tiny village at its head, no cars, they still live back in time here.
We went ashore the next day and walked around and then looked for village chief to get permission to stay here. A elder said the chief was away but he brought us into his home and talked to us abit and then asked us to come to dinner tonight at 7pm. Next his daughter showed us around village and took us to a waterfall.
Later we went for a long walk up a trail to a small resort a couple of miles up coast. That evening we left a bit early for our dinner appt. as we wanted to get there before pitch dark so we could find our way there. There are no lights in village. On arrival we gave the daughter a printed copy of a picture we took of her which she seemed to really like. This house was the only one with a light on, he had turned his small generator on just for us. They usually used kerosene lanterns For dinner we sat on the floor on mats and food was placed in front of us only and they all watched us eat. I asked if they were going to eat and they said later. Dinner was taro root, dall soup and a noodle dish dish with some fish in it which being allergic to fish, I could not eat. After we ate they sat down and ate there dinner including the six children.
Later heading back to the boat we headed for the only light in the bay, our anchor light, and new there was nothing in between us and the light. It was pitch black with no moon.

Adults in Tonga also wear a mat around their waists and is considered to be more dressy. It's also very common for men to wear wrap skirts. Couldn't convince Brian to give it a try though.

Samoa to Tonga and Niuatoputapu

Left Samoa at 1pm for Niuatoputapu (New Potatoes or NP), a 2 night passage of 205 miles.
It was a rough passage until clear of the island and then turned into a great sail all the way to NP.
The entrance is started by going between to rusty steel pillars that were probably red and green at one time, and lining up a transit on shore. It looks intimidating at first with the surf crashing around but is an easy entrance once lined up and we noticed no current in the pass. Then you just follow the channel markers in. Our chart plotter was bang on also.
We learned you have to wait on the boat for customs, they honk their truck horn when they arrived and I went ashore in our dinghy to pick up the 3 officials. They were very polite and helpful and told us a bit about the island. They ate all our cookies.
The island had a lot of damage from the tsunami last year with lots of rebuilding going one. A local family nearby put on a feast for us cruisers using local food only. A pig from their back yard roasted on a spit, taro root, bread fruit coconut etc. They accepted donations later for the local school that was destroyed. Population of the island is only about a 1000 people, almost no cars so it is pleasant walking around, any cars that go by always ask if you want a ride. Some kids come by yelling 'where my lolly' and we gave them a piece of candy. Great place.

After a few days here it was time to move to head to Vavua Tonga 170 miles away. The course is almost due south and we were a bit worried about head seas, if wind came around to the south. The first 100 miles was a great sail in good E winds, and then the wind stopped seas became lumpy and then the wind came around almost due SSE. and the seas headed us and slowed us right down. We had to motor the last 60 miles. We arrived at Vavua tonga just after dawn and motored into the town of Neiafu and picked up a mooring buoy as it is very deep to anchor.
This was saturday morning and we could not clear in with customs until monday, but since we had done the initial clearance at NP we were ok to walk around until Monday. Neiafu is a small town with lots of interesting places, many nice little cafes and stores. After a few days here we headed to some of the outer anchorages behind the reefs for some R&R. Dorothy got lots of snorkeling in. We saw humpback whales preform for us, jumping and tail slaps. The local whale watching boat allowed its clients to swim with the whales.
After a few days of this we headed back to Neiafu for a couple of days, bought food and it was time to leave for Fiji 440 miles to the west. Note, having a hard time getting this blog done, our internet connection keeps dropping off.
We had one of our best sails ever for the first tow nights with gently winds, full sail up and gently seas, with full moon. Then the wind dropped sometimes to no wind so we motored of and on the rest of the way to Fiji.
Arrived at the harbour entrance just after dawn and called Suva port control for permission to enter and they okayed it and told us to call the Royal Suva Yacht club to arrange for the customs officials to come out the boat. After making us wait all day until 4pm everything went smoothly with 4 officials coming aboard and clearing us in in 20 minutes.
It drizzled rain most of the day so did not mind waiting on the boat. It seems to be cloudy most of the time here, being on the windward side of the large island
Info::
Start of entrance coordinates for NP, outside pass 15 55.247 173 45.590 then 15 55.507 173 45.590 should get you in pass. Niuatoputapu Tonga see write up above for most info. We anchored in 35ft at 15 56.403 S 173 46.140 W. Land dinghy at old stone wharf. Everything is different from guide books because the Tsunami destroyed everything, just ask, it is a small place everybody knows everything.

VAVUA Tonga Landfalls of Paradise is pretty accurate for here. Go to city dock on W side of town for customs, W side safer for your boat as weird bumpers on seaward side. Later take a mooring as very deep to anchor. Can just take one then try to find out who owns it later like we first did, or call Moorings VHF72 see if they have a buoy available cant remember the other company, a dive shop and a cafe own buoys, just ask. Have heard of some of the buoys dragging in a good wind.