[password]waiknot
[position]19 02.495S 178 09.320E

[status]
Now in Kadavu, the fourth largest of the Fiji Islands. Had a wonderful sail today, averaged 7 knots for the 50 N mile trip. For more about our impressions of the last few days, check out the blog.

[blog]
We loved having our visitors, Pieter and Sarah, come and stay with us for 10 days. They were great company and we had enough time (just) to get to the top of the Yasawas and back again, and see the highlights along the way. Heather, who loves getting creative with cooking, especially appreciated the inspiring meals whipped up by Sarah. More recipes have been jotted down in the "Aradonna Cookbook". After we waved them goodbye, we had every intention of heading back up to the Yasawas again for a more leisurely look. But having done the trip up and down twice now, we decided instead, to explore some new areas of Fiji. Realising that we might be away from "facilities" for a while we headed back into Nadi for some more provisions, did the last of the laundry and topped up the water tanks again before leaving Denarau just before the marina check out time of midday on Friday. As we had left our departure a little later than planned, we decided only to go as far as Momi Bay that afternoon. M
omi Bay is on the western side of Vitu Levu and is the last bay as you head south before you have to get out of the "outer reef" system. Most of Fiji's 333 islands are on a large plateau, in relatively shallow water, surrounded by an outer reef. While the reef is not continuous, it does form a kind of barrier around the outside of the island group. In many places, like at Momi Bay, there are only small gaps in the reef. To venture south of Momi Bay we had to head out of this "outer reef" into deep blue water again. We left Momi Bay at 8.30am on Saturday, sure we would have enough time to head south down the western side of Vitu Levu and around the southern side to a sheltered bay. We were off to a great start as the tide was going out. As we headed between the gap in the reef we got a 1.4 knot push from the tide helping us along. The only problem was, there was no wind. We motored for 4 hours in glassy conditions before the wind came up. Then, our friend the wind decided to play tri
cks on us again and was straight on the nose. We seem to have had this problem for the last few weeks - no matter which way we decide to head, the wind is going in the opposite direction! The waves got up with the wind and beating in to the waves slowed down our progress. Eventually we made it to Somosomo Bay in fading light at almost 5pm. Not ideal, but thankfully we still had enough visibility to get through the reef and into the bay. Being on the southern side of Viti Levu was like being in another world. Here the vegetation is lush and green and thriving. A stark contrast to the crisp, brown, bare hills of the northern side. This morning we decided to leave extra early for the 50 N mile crossing, South, to Kadavu, just in case the going was slow again. At 6am and still half asleep, the search for coffee revealed many soggy packets of provisions in the food locker. It seems we had been a little over enthusiastic about getting the water tanks really full and managed to overflow th
em into the food locker! Out came packets of coffee, meusli bars, nuts, noodles, milk powder and crackers, forming soggy haphazard piles on the table and the seats. The inside of the boat looked like a corner dairy hit by a storm! We managed to mop up, giggle our way through a quick breakfast and then head out of the bay before 7am. At first it looked like there was no wind again, but to our delight, we had only just motored out of the bay when a whisper of a breeze came up - and it was in the right direction! The sails were up in no time and with smiles on our faces we had a wonderful sail in the sunshine. The island of Kadavu is not on the same plateau as the rest of the Fiji group, so once again we were sailing across deep blue water, over 2000 meters deep. This was the first time we had been really "at sea" since arriving in Fiji. The wind behaved itself for once, strengthening to a light but steady breeze, from the right direction - all day! We made 49 N miles in just 7 hours -
a great average of 7 knots. In fact, we were going so well under sail it almost seemed a shame to bring the sails in when it was time to enter the harbour of Namalata Bay. We arrived in plenty of time for a snorkel - with loads of colourful soft coral, hard coral and fish to be seen. Some stunning blue coral caught our eye, standing out from all the rest! Thankfully, Heather was also able to wash her salty, windblown "haystack" and turn it in to something resembling hair again. Life is good!

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