Port Denarau and the Yasawa Group

20 October 2010

We needed to order a new alternator from NZ to be fitted At Port Denauru and as it was going to take several days for it to arrive.  We returned to Australia for a week to attend to “real life”. While we were gone we arranged for the pitch  on the max propeller to be reduced.  This is a job that Stephen has wanted to do for several thousand miles and Salacia had to come out of the water for this job. We took advantage of having her up on the hard stand to have her anti fouling redone because it had worn through in places. We also had a sailmaker adjust our dinghy cover to fit the new dinghy and made a great sling and cover for the new outboard motor.  We were delighted with the quality of the jobs that were done, and the low labor costs certainly made it economical. The staff are  very efficient and know their job. They also look after the super yachts so we knew that our girl would be in good hands while we were gone.

We arrived back in Fiji in a torrential downpour,  and the Fijians were delighted because they have been experiencing a drought and have very strict water restrictions. As far as the Marina was concerned, anyone at the Marina wanting water has to fill empty bottles. All hoses have been disconnected.

Getting down to Salacia at Port Denarau was hilarious. By the time we took our gear out to the boat on the marina finger we were “squelshing” in boots full of water. We literally had to empty them out. Even Cyndy’s red leather handbag was full of water and the passports were saturated. Murphy was lurking and the torch that we had left at the locked hatch couldn’t be found. Every towel we could find was put into service to mop up the water that we had bought down below on our nice dry boat. We immediately unpacked the bags of “boat things” that we had bought from Australia to minimise damage.

While in Australia we bought a set of Mariner 500 Headset  Communicators which are waterproof, aviation  style “hands free”, long range – 300ft, and full duplex (2 people can talk at once).  This allows us constant communication between the person on the bow and the helmsman when anchoring or in close quarters and they have  been fantastic in Fijian waters with so many reefs.

Cyndy anchoring Salacia wearing  Mariner 500 Headset Communicator

After reprovisioning we left the marina to explore the north western islands.

A voyage to these outer islands offers the opportunity to taste the true nature and generous hospitality of the Fijian people. When visiting a Fijian village, a small offering of Kava roots to the chief of the village is considered polite. This is usually given and accepted at a ceremony called a sevusevu.

The Fijian group is made up of over 300 islands, of which only a third are inhabited. The two main islands, Vitu Levu and Vanua Levu are volcanic and make up most of the 85% of the landmass, whereas the rest of the islands vary greatly in size and are largely coral limestone.

Our first overnight stop was at Nanuya Balavu Island at the south of the Yasawa Group.

Salacia anchored at Nanuya Balavu Island.

To get there we motored Salacia through the Mocelutu Passage in a northerly direction and  up the western shore of Nanuya Balavu Island. We then came south through Qarucuva Passage through water depths as low as 4.5 metres before we found a wonderful 16 metre hole to anchor for the night.

Chart Plotter position of Salacia marked by a red anchor

 The weather was like a mill pond and perfect for exploring other bays in the area by dinghy and there was abundant fish, coral and manta rays. If you look closely at the picture just taken over the side of the dinghy with a small digital camera you can see black and white striped fish, tiny irridencent blue fish and aqua fish as well as healthy coral. Giant clams and brilliant blue star fish were in abundance

Photo of Coral taken over the side of the dinghy

 There were 2 catamarans and another yacht in the anchorage with us and when a 15 – 20 knot south easterly change came in early the next morning we all departed within 10 minutes of each other.

Saweni Bay and Port Denaru Marina

1 October 2010

We awoke to a clear flat morning, with no wind, where the water is like silver.

Silver morning at Saweni Bay

 Saweni Bay

Taking advantage of the calm conditions Cyndy winched Stephen up the mast to repair the lazy jack/boom cover system. The job was quick and easy in flat water. The block on the starboard side was the original and it had to be replaced with a larger, stronger block.

It's a long way up Salacia's Mast

Stephen hangs on with his toes

After breakfast in the cockpit we motored around to Port Denarau Marina, where we fuelled up and were directed to a berth with still more super yachts. We are definitely the little sister to these gorgeous boats. When you are alongside these yachts you look up to the crew who are the size of ants.

Super yacht Kokomo outside Pt Denarau Marina

The size of the crew gives you an idea of the size of the 198ft  yacht...

Motor vessel Itasica

Itasca

  

It is a fantastic facility here at the Marina. The place is really buzzing with launches taking passengers to the islands coming and going. There are at least 12 restaurants here and we had a great dinner at the Chinese restaurant last night. The ginger lobster was cooked to perfection.

There was a great live band last night which had the crowd really jumping. In the next square there was a “Hard Rock Cafe” and they had the crowd revved as well. The staff was dancing and singing. All in all it was a great atmosphere.

Alan, Steve and Trevor off Cool Change met us for a coffee and a few drinks and then Ursula who we met in the Galapagos joined us. She had just arrived to join her new boat, a catamaran heading for New Zealand.

Ursula is a 45 yo Canadian lass who just sold up everything in Canada and went down to Panama and got a job on a yacht sailing to the Galapagos as crew. She has now crewed on 4 yachts that I know of and is having an absolute ball. I really take my hat off to her because she certainly isn’t watching the world pass her by and she will not die wondering.

The facilities here are first class. A cross between Hope Island Marine park, Sanctuary Cove and Puerto Vallarta with all of the facilities of each. Add a list of the best restaurants that you could ever want and you have Port Denarau.

Maintenance issues....

30 September 2010

We had an easy motor down to south of Latouka today. It was a sparkling day. Winds lightened as we came south and as we anchored it was a westerly of 6 knots. It is still exactly the same wind conditions now (evening) and very hot and muggy

We came across another dark blue super yacht this afternoon at Latouka. We immediately thought it was Erica as it was a sloop but it was a vessel call “Kokomo”. It is amazing how many super yachts there are cruising the globe !!!! It came up on our AIS. This is short for “Automatic Identification System”. Our system identifies any vessel with an AIS and gives us the direction and speed that the boat is travelling. It also gives all particulars of the vessel e.g. name, length, width, draft. This is an amazing tool to have because it lets you know all of the particulars at night and large ships are very hard to identify, especially the speed and direction that they are travelling. If you need to contact the vessel for any reason it is easy to call them on VHF Channel 16 when you know the name of the vessel.

I have mentioned the super yacht “Adele” before on the blog and if anyone is interested in the vessel her picture features in the latest Edson catalogue several times. I am sure the catalogue is available on line.

We have had a couple of maintenance issues. The fuel pump for the generator has blown up for the 2^nd time in 2 weeks. We had a spare and replaced it once in Tonga and now that pump has blown up and we have replaced it again. Fortunately we were able to replace it in Savu Savu so we are carrying another spare.

In the strong winds yesterday we blew the starboard block on the lazy jacks at the mast. This is another ongoing problem as we replaced the port block in Atuona in the Marquises. We obviously need to go up a size in blocks (to take a higher load) and hopefully we can get 2 larger blocks at the Marina.

Stephen has rigged a makeshift system using a spinnaker halyard and I must say that it is working very well and we were very grateful for it when dropping the large and very heavy mainsail yesterday in adverse conditions.

We are also concerned because the motor isn’t charging the batteries. Fortunately, we have a generator but it is something that needs to be fixed ASAP. We have 2 alternators and it is hard to believe that both have failed. At present we are assuming that one of the alternators was not working when we bought the boat and that the other one has failed. Fortunately there is an auto electrician at the marina that we are visiting tomorrow.

Fortunately these are little problems considering all of the complicated systems on Salacia. The previous owner left a wonderful file drawer with instructions and identification of just about everything on the yacht. He also handed a very well maintained vessel over to us with compliments to Jeff Brown and Eric of JK3 Marine Enterprises.

We had a very comfortable night last night in our little unnamed bay. This morning 3 red fishing pangas arrived. One crew were fishing, another was snorkelling and the 3^rd was walking on the reef. It would be interesting to know what each group were hunting for.

We did a load of washing today and in an hour it was dry in the hot sun. The deck was too hot under foot to walk without shoes.

There are a lot of boats in the vicinity that we know. We have been in contact with David and Gai on “Cumulous 1” and the boys on “Cool Change”.

Vanabuli Island

29 September 2010

We left the anchorage early and as we pocked our nose out it was blowing 20 – 25 knots from the east. We put a reef in the main and we were launched on a beam reach. The wind built to 25+ knots and we were trucking along. A school of dolphins played alongside of us with synchronised leaps. It is nice to have our daily visits again.

After change of shifts the wind moderated to 20 – 25 kts or lower and went around to the NE. This was a nice reprieve but as soon as the wind god saw Cyndy on the helm the wind strengthened to 30 – 35+ knots. At these wind speeds it was too much for the self steering with the accompanying waves. What fun she had surfing down the coast to the favoured pass through the reef.

We took the main down before going through the Manava Passage (pass in the reef) at lunch time and the strong winds certainly made things difficult. The pass is relatively wide at 0.7nmiles and the reef on either side was visible at low tide.  Even on the island side of the reef the seas and the wind were ferocious. We  entered our chosen anchorage on Viti Levu  which turned out to be protected from the NE winds so we anchored in 5 metres and have good holding in sand and mud. The bay is unnamed but it is at the base of Vanabuli Island and it is the first bay south of Taba Naloma bay.

A panga with 3 fishermen were doing it tough going north in the high seas so when they saw us enter the bay they turned around and joined us at anchor.  It is still very protected here and the wind strength has increased again after moderating for 1 ½ hours

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

Enroute to Fiji

 Wednesday 15^th September

We have been weather bound but we are leaving Tonga today and will have all of the official stuff to do plus getting duty free fuel. We have a forecast of 15 – 20 knots so it should be a great sail dead downwind with a poled out jib.

We helped Sea Mist tie up yesterday and checked out the dock area.

Went to the Giggling Whale last night for the dancing and live music and it was amazing. The children dance for the King of Tonga and they were marvellous. A fitting end to our Tonga ideal.

The dancers and the band prepare to perform at the "Giggling Whale"

Performing the "Candle Dance"

Listening on VHF there is a cruise ship and a cargo ship in port today and they have closed the main dock and also the fishing dock so who knows if/when we will get cleared today. The Cruise ship staff and the Freighter crew are waving all the yachts away.  Fun on the high seas!

Thursday 16^th  September

We are zooming along in 15 – 25 knots of wind with a poled out headsail. At this rate we will get to Fiji over the weekend instead of on Monday to clear with the authorities.

The dolphins have been to visit and have been “talking“ beside the boat and the night is like daylight with a nice bright moon. Salacia is very quick with her nice clean bottom. It is interesting though to find that when the mooring wrapped around our keel in Niue, when Salacia went dancing around her mooring, it gouged out a rope line on the keel. At first we wondered what the diver was referring to as we definitely haven’t hit anything and he said that the metal was still nice and bright so it was new . It is hard to believe that the rope was that tight.

The generator had a dummy spit before we left and we had blown up the fuel pump. Fortunately we were carrying a spare and we even bought another fuel pump and oil filters at the local mechanics. He carries lots of boat parts because of the Moorings Charter boats.

We did contemplate leaving tomorrow after the shemozzle today. The cruise ship has 1800 passengers all wanting to go ashore at the fishing wharf, the fishing fleet is tied up to the main clearance dock with the freighter still unloading at the main clearance dock. This has created absolute mayhem. Add to this, 15 yachts all wanting to clear out of the country and get duty free fuel.

There are taxi’s, buses, stalls, forklifts, trucks of all sizes, containers in the dock area. Included in this scene are 1800 tourists, Tour operators, customs and immigration officials, importers and interested locals and you have a real carnival atmosphere. The local controller keeps locking the gate to the docks for security reasons because of the freighter cargo but then none of the trucks can access the area. It is definitely an absolute nightmare for the local officials.

We helped Taffy, Shirley and Colin on “The Road” tie up on the windward side of the main jetty (which is the only area available) with huge bolts sticking out. 

We were to be next in line for fuel but as Taffy pointed out, if he had a beautiful boat like ours he wouldn’t risk any damage.

After a little contemplation we went to the Yachting Safaris jetty and checked out whether they had enough fuel for us and that there was enough water depth for Salacia to tie up. It was an easy decision to forgo the duty free fuel and Cyndy threaded the needle of moorings and reversed in to tie up at the jetty.

This turned out to be a great decision because when we left the harbour at 2.30pm “The Road” was still waiting for the Ampol tanker to fuel up.  

The Customs Officer allowed us to anchor off the main jetty instead of tying up to the jetty where there was no room because of the freighter and the fishing boats. He needed to check that the yacht was Salacia and we were who we said we are. He then instructed the other yachts to anchor as we had done.

 “The Road” is a 40ft South African yacht with topsides painted black with a white dotted line painted alone the side, reminiscent to a highway. We first saw them in Wreck Bay in the Galapagos Islands. They have a parrot on board called “Rubbish”. He nags them to “Go on deck” until they take him up. He has quite a vocabulary !!!

They are going straight through to Vanuatu to join a rally to Bundaberg so that they can bring “Rubbish” into OZ. He has been cruising with them for 10 years since they have left Cape town.

The Road" at the main dock in Neiafu

  

Friday 17^th  September

We are still flying and have reached the Leeward Fiji islands already. We are abeam Reid Reef/ Reid Haven and Bacon Islet still running with a poled out jib and carrying it at 135 app. The seas have settled to rolling hills rather than mountains and wind is still 15 – 25 knots. With 2 of us we started with shifts of 2 hours on and 2 off but we have settled into a pattern of letting each other sleep if they are asleep.

We are thinking about rolling in the jib to slow us down. We have had some set against us but we are definitely “on fire” and we are having a great sail J

Saturday 18^th September

We are safely at anchor in the Bay of Islands in eastern Fiji. We came in early this morning when we realised that we would arrive at Savu Savu in the middle of the night.

The Beautiful Bay of Islands

Bay of Islands from Salacia

It was interesting navigating through the reef and fortunately the bright moon made it easy to locate the islands.

When we got to our favoured pass though the reef at the Bay of Islands we couldn’t locate the markers so we continued around to the most used pass. Going in on the chart plotter we realised very quickly that something was not right and we saw the leads in a very different location and the bearing confirmed that this was indeed the entrance. It is remarkable that this very dangerous mistake on the chart plotter charts has gone unnoticed and uncorrected. What they have done is offset the chart by a couple of hundred metres so that their compass bearing  to the leads is correct but it is 200 metres to the left of what it should be. It really does bring home how dangerous it is to rely on the chart plotter alone. Apparently a lot of paper charts are going out of print because nobody is buying them now.

When we think of the Moore Reef fiasco related by Peter on “Asolare” it really does bring home the dangers. His yacht was wrecked in the middle of the night when they hit the reef in north Queensland which had been left off the chart plotter charts.

We will continue to Savu Savu tomorrow afternoon to arrive early on Monday morning.

It is absolutely amazing here. Definitely somewhere to spent weeks. There is a 200ft super yacht called “Adele” in the bay with us . We felt guilty disturbing their solitude when we came in. They definitely have all of the fruit. Kayaks, jet skis, row boats, several rubber runabouts and a gorgeous vanished launch with a dark blue hull.

We did drag again when we first laid the anchor on a coral bottom. It seems strange that we have had no problems for 8000nms and then have had 2 instances where we dragged one after the other .... I guess it is good to be on the ball though and not take the great  (until now) anchor for granted.

Sunday 19^th September

We had a lovely night here.   These islands are definitely worth a longer visit and although it is to windward with the right weather we would like to return. Adele left early this morning and we will leave at 3.30pm so we are in Savu Savu bright and early to clear with the authorities.

Monday 20^th September

We left Bay of Islands in the late afternoon for the passage to Savu Savu. I made a fresh tomato sauce for pasta for dinner so that there would be minimum cooking to do under way.

We had another very fast sail to downwind to Savu Savu and we didn’t pole out the jib so we would be “slower”. Well that didn’t work !!! We were averaging 9+ knots!!!  In the middle of the night we were screaming down on a “stern light” on the same course as us and they called us on the radio to make sure that we had seen them. It was 43ft catamaran “Cool Change” from the Gold Coast. At this stage we had only the main up and we were over sheeted to slow us down. We had just gybed to a new course away from them as they called. After we had passed them and were a mile in front we took down the main and mooched along by motor doing 1000rpm. Cool Change was doing the same because neither of us wanted to arrive in the channel until day break. They followed us for the remainder of the night.

Adele and Erica XII plus a number of other yachts were anchored just inside the channel waiting for clearance. We had been talking to Martin, the skipper of Erica in Tonga before we left and they are on their way to Auckland with only the crew on board. They have canvas covers on all of their bright work for protection when they don’t have guests aboard, but she is still a gorgeous yacht.

We arrived at Copra Shed Marina in Savu Savu at 7.30am and were assigned a mooring. The Copra Shed then contacted the authorities to arrange our clearances and they bought each of them out to Salacia when they arrived. What an easy and civilised way to do it !!! In less than an hour we were cleared.

All that was taken off the boat was the banana’s and of course the rubbish, and we felt that as long as they took something they were happy. The Quarantine guy said that they have to keep the fruit fly out and that they would burn them using diesel.

 Yellow quarantine flag and the Fijian Flag

We were very happy when immigration arrived first and the chap was amazed by our clean and tidy yacht !!! We thought back to Ross’s comment that most/a lot of yachts were like “Ningaloo 2” and that we were the exception rather than the rule.

Copra Shed Marina also have a list of amazing services usually required by yachties. Chandlery, travel agents, restaurant, internet cafe with Wi-Fi, art gallery, full service  laundry, yacht club joined the “normal” showers in the marina building. After being impressed by our efficient clearances this was more icing on the cake. If only all Marinas had these facilities and were this efficient!!!!

We caught up with “Cool Change” after clearance and they made the comment that when they had seen Salacia in daylight this morning they knew why we were having trouble slowing her down. They were also amazed by Stephen’s comment on the radio during the night that “my wife is currently driving”. Wives on board are apparently a curiosity rather than the norm. They are all nice guys though and we caught up with them for a drink at 5’s. They have been to Auckland, Tahiti and the surrounding islands, Bora Bora, Suvarov (Suwarrow), American Samoa,  northern Tonga this trip. We think that varied trip we did via Palmerstone, Niue and all of the island groups in Tonga was much more interesting J

The markets here are very good and they even have sweet corn !!! Again they say that Saturday morning is the best time but the produce today looked very fresh.

I used the remainder of the tomato pasta sauce in an omelette for breakfast this morning and we have had 3 locals polishing “Salacia’s” topsides since 6.30am. We have the stereo going to keep them entertained and they are spending less time with faces to the ports to see what we are doingJ Honestly ... us having breakfast was a scream and obviously very interesting to themJ We have just heard giggling and squeals from our “hard at workers”. They are having much too much fun !!!

We are hiring a car tomorrow to have a look at the island – of course the car hire place is onsite at Copra Shed too !!!