arrived at beqa island and its surrounding lagoon by way of sulphur passage on the ne side of the island on saturday 25 may after a very pleasant sail from suva with a 20kts ne wind.
anchored in malumu bay, at the head of which is a small attractive resort and further into the bay the local village, lalati. made a customary visit to the chief and were taken around the village by max, who himself had spent time in auckland playing rugby (educated at the south pacific university in suva). the evening was beautiful until after dark when the wind filled in from the ne and by morning it was time to move, as the prevailing wind blew straight down the bay and with it an uncomfortable chop. had to forgo our invitation to have lunch with the villagers which was a pity.
motored down to vaga bay which is on the sw side of the island, through some incomplete surveyed waters but all good. anchored on the nw shore in 20 metres of water and spent a relaxing afternoon in nice weather. made a visit to the chief of the northern village (rukua) and by chance met another fijian, sai, who had lived in wellington (porirua). met his lovely family including 2 very polite boys who attend the local schools, one of which is a high school where children from villagers further away board by week. had intended spending some time exploring the bay but by the next day the wind had swung around to the nw and we decided it would be more sheltered to return to malumu bay! have been anchored in malumu ever since as a low pressure system moves across fiji with strong s/ se winds of 25-30kts gusting 35-40kts. a high pressure south of fiji is reportedly also responsible for heavy swells in fijian waters. this bay is reasonably sheltered with flat sea but the gusts still required us to take down our bimini etc. no different to cruising in the sounds except the wind and water is very warm!! so plenty of reading and catching rain water for drinking/tanks. the wind seems to be abating today (thursday) as is swinging more around to the east so we will move back to vaga bay probably tomorrow. the joy of cruising with no time limits is there is no hurry and always another day.
however, am looking forward to seeing some sunshine! moce! from distracted