Savu Savu to Coconut Point

26 September 2010

We left Savu Savu at 6.30am this morning (Sunday) for our trip to Coconut Point. It was a calm morning with no wind and  school of dolphins danced beside us as we motored down to the point.

Early morning at Savu Savu

Our friends “Cool Change” and “Haze” left on Friday. “Haze” is enroute to Suva to do the Bull Shark dive. They  have been cruising for 18 months and they have allowed 3 years for their circumnavigation. Haze is owned by a young Danish couple and they take on paying crew to make their adventure affordable.

“Cool Change” with Alan and Steve are from Southport in QLD and they are enroute to Musket Cove via Nananu Passage. “Cool Change” gave us lots of information about the anchorages around Fiji.

Salacia points her nose to the exit of the bay

The wind gradually built and we were doing 10 knots over the ground when we arrived at Nasonisoni Passage through the Namena Barrier Reef. Even though we left early there was 2 knots of tide against us as we negotiated the narrow passage so we were happy that we were not any later. Charts with waypoints purchased from Bosun’s Locker in Savu Savu certainly helped navigation through these tricky waters.

As we negotiated through the pass super yacht “Erica XII” was on our stern and was obviously happy to stay there as they draw 4.7m. The skipper, Mark, called us on the VHF to tell us that they would be passing us to starboard when we were through the pass. We slowed down for them to make the manoeuvre easier for them.

 We had intended to anchor at Coconut Point for the night but exploring the anchorage showed that it was very susceptible to the wind which was now 20+ knots. We also considered the next anchorage but as it was only 11am we decided to press on to Yandua Island which was also “Erica XII’s” destination. It is hard to get used to the fast passage making on Salacia. A 70 or 90 nmile day is normal rather than an exception. The dolphin’s obviously agreed with this decision and were playing beside Salacia for 15 minutes.

We dropped anchor off Muanalase point in Cukuvou Harbour at 3.30pm after a very satisfying sail in winds which built to 30+ knots. There are 2 other yachts in the bay. We had met Heather and Andrew off “Fandango”, a Juneau 39 in Savu Savu. The other vessel was a 40ft catamaran called “Peokia”.

As we negotiated the fringing reef we noticed that once again the chart plotter was not accurate and according to the chart plotter we went straight over the reef at the entrance to the bay.

It is now 5.15pm and Erica XII has just entered the bay. A gutsy call for a yacht of their draft !!! We passed them on the other side of the island this afternoon and thought that they were staying there for the night. They have anchored behind us and have just put out 2 anchors. Wonderful to be sharing another anchorage with this magnificent super yacht.

Erica XII anchoring behind Salacia