Author: kerrizane

Dear F&F, September 16th – 17th, 2011

Joe arrived on the noon Ferry from Denarau and we immediately upped anchor and headed to Nanuya-Sewa Island. This is a lovely spot (photos not yet posted) and we anchored next to Claudia and Joerg of s/v \”Dreamtime\”.

Joe, Anja and I immediately went for a dive at \”Tavarua Break\” which is also a nice right hand surf spot. The dive was nice and we were invited ashore by some locals who were putting on a \”lovo\” or earth oven feast. We all got together, had some wicked Kava and a great time.

The wind was blowing the next day, so we decided to head to Sawa-I-Lau island and en route stop and do a dive on the open ocean pinnacle, \”The Maze\”. The Maze is a series of underwater swim through\’s and caverns. The soft and hard corals were really in good shape. The most notable thing to us is that there are rarely \”big fish\” and this site was no exception. Fiji, like many of the Pacific Island nations is over fishing to the point of an ecological collapse. At least the humpbacks are coming back!

From The Maze, it was a short motor into the anchorage at Sawa-I-Lau. We again saw Mega Yacht \”TV\” here with lots of guests. The big attraction is the limestone caverns and underwater pools. Anja, Joe and I did part of the hike till it got to the point I thought I was entering Carlsbad Caverns. The knee high MUCK was the remembrance of the day!

After this, Joe and Anja swam in the pools, I chilled out. It was here in 1983 that my first wife Gaye and I traveled through these islands on a \”Blue Lagoon Cruise\”. We had done the swim way back then too.

Anja and Joe went to do \”sevusevu\” at the local village which gave us permission to anchor and dive off the local islands. (Photos not yet posted).

The next day we would head further up the coast in search of protected dive sites; the wind was still howling.

Stay tuned, Scott with Anja and Joe!

Dear F&F, September 13th – 15th, 2011

We motored up to Lautoka after a last marketing and fuel up. This is where Kate and I first anchored upon arrival. The check out with the boss was uneventful. They seem to be trying to smooth the paper work as well.

Instead of just leaving, the Northern Yasawa\’s were tempting and on our way. So we headed back to Manta Ray Bay Island and hoped to meet up with Joe Tui as a private dive guide. Joe is the guy with the blue \”camo\” wet suit petting \”Tiger Girl\” in our photo gallery.

We had a nice smooth uneventful trip and anchored in the pass. This is also the place where the geneker sail was torn to shreds and lost. The next morning I took Anja out to the Manta Ray site and she had about a 45 minute snorkeling experience with two mantas. She was jazzed. As I had done this many times with Cindy, I just did the spotting from the dinghy so she could geta nice experience. There was quite a bit of current in the pass, so someone really had to stay with the dinghy and be able to chase the other person drifting away. It\’s effortless for the Manta\’s of course; sleek and graceful. As they are plankton filter feeders, Anja got to see them with their large hula hoop size mouths open while filter feeding.

The tourist boats arrived and this was our cue to go home as once the overly excited jump in, the Manta\’s don\’t hang around very long or at least go deep.

We were supposed to meet Joe today, but he literally \”missed the boat\” (Ferry from Denarau) and we had to wait another night here to get him the next day.

The next morning, Anja got the same private experience with the Manta\’s again and even got to pet one! What a thrill…believe me. These Manta\’s are small compared to the ones Cindy and I experienced in Mexico, but this is a life experience. If you ever get the chance, don\’t miss it.

Scott and Anja

Dear F&F, September 8th – 12th, 2011

After our arrival from Natodola Harbor, we soon discovered the \”noise\” in the washing machine was getting worse. It finally tripped the circuit breaker and I had our friends at \”Baobab Marine\” investigate. They found a huge aluminum metal piece on the back of the machine that spins the drum had literally dissolved in the salt air over the last 7 years. (See photos, not yet posted). I called the US Manufacturer to order the part, but they no longer carried it! As such, Baobab agreed to try and make a custom one. While they were doing this, we used the opportunity to make one last visit to Musket Cove.

In addition to Anja, we brought Barrie along with us. Barrie is from the UK and he works on one of the super yachts. He and Anja had hit it off and as he had a few days off, came along for the festivities.

We motored to Musket in overcast an rain, dodging the one rocky obstruction about half way to the cove (see photos on gallery, not posted yet).

It was Musket Cove Race Week . Peter and Diana of s/v \”Quickstar\” would be there too with friends visiting from Canada. I also was able to get a care package from Mike Lonnes sent with Geoff Deutschman of s/v \”Flashback\” just as we left the dock. Thank you both!

Barrie, Anja and I dove the next morning at Plantation Pinnacle. It was the best dive site in the area and the dive was fabulous, the weather very cooperative. The next day, crew off a yacht we met offered to take us surfing in their high speed tender. Barrie and I did the surfing and Anja did some snorkeling at \”Wilkes Pass\” and \”Namotu Lefts\”. It was nice, except the current was ripping and 90% of our efforts were staying in place at each break.

The parties began the next day. Barrie and Anja went aboard another catamaran, s/v \”Kia Kai\” which was a true party boat. I enjoyed a little time to myself aboard \”Beach House\”. That night, we watched Rugby World Cup games at the local resort on their big screen with about 150 people in attendance.

As we were feeling short on time and our part was to be ready, we headed back to Denarau Marina early Monday morning where the guys took much of the day re-assembling and testing the unit. It\’s still noisy, but works just fine. A luxury item to be sure, but I\’ve grown spoiled and am quite happy it\’s back in action.

Tomorrow we\’ll fuel up and head to Lautoka to do our final check out in Fiji Stay tuned, Scott with Anja

Dear F&F, August 29th – September 4th……

After the shark dive, we had birthday cake and wine with Peter and Diana for Peter\’s birthday. Then we had a lovely dinner at The Pearl Resort (Don\’t tell….Anja had a date after dinner with the Brazilian Marine Biologist! shhh! LOL).

The next morning, we thanked Charlie for his hospitality and got some dive waypoints from Joe (our dive guide from yesterday) as Peter helped us off the dock. The exit was less dramatic as we planned our departure on the rising tide. The day turned gorgeous and we had a magical sail for 40 miles. The wind was right behind us, we had Beqa Island to our left and Viti Levu to our right. We paralleled the coast the whole way going 9-11 knots with a full main and the genoa \”poled out\” to our starboard side. It was so lovely, I took video. I may even get around to posting it!…ha! (Right after the shark video that is!).

Late that afternoon we pulled in to Natadola Bay where the new Intercontinental Hotel is located. We met up with s/v \”Dreamtime\” (Claudia and Joerg) who I\’d not seen since last season in Tonga. They invited us for a lovely spaghetti dinner and we did some catching up too. Claudia and Joerg are divers and we were swapping stories and locations. We\’d meet them again in Port Denerau Marina.

The next morning, we headed off to Port Denerau which is Fiji\’s premier marina. Very \”first world\”, all facilities and shopping. There\’s even a \”Hard Rock Cafe\” here. The day was lovely, the wind was gone. We pulled into Port Denerau where Peter helped us to get into the dock.

I had to take a one hour each way taxi ride to go to customs in Lautoka (where Kate and I originally arrived) and \”re-check in\” to keep all the rules and paper work in order. Fortunately, the Customs official likes me and made some of the details easier than they might have been. We\’ll still have to take the boat the two hours up the coast to Lautoka to do our \”check out\” when we leave the country, but hey, it\’s their country; they get to have it their way.

A bit of maintenance, shopping and relaxing before we finally check out of Fiji (Officially) and head to Vanuatu, two days to our west. It was great to get the outside washed and the inside housekeeping done.

A few more surprise adventures are planned before we (actually) leave Fiji, but we\’ll see!

KIT, Scott with Anja – Port Denerau Marina, Viti Levu – Fiji