Category: 2011 July Blog

Dear F&F, July 22nd-23rd

We upped anchor early in the morning for the short 1 hour run to Mateui Anchorage at Taveuni Island. We were optimistic about getting a taxi to fuel up by Jerry Can, go to the market and find someone with a fax machine to finally get our \”Lau Permit\” sent to us from the Copra Shed Marina in Savusavu. We finally had gotten the word that the Lau Council had been issued our permit the night before.

We anchored at Matuei Anchorage on Taveuni (Fiji\’s third largest island) and luckily found a taxi waiting at the \”new wharf\”. He and one of his mates did all the above errands for us and we were off to the north end of the island\’s \”Nasalesale\” anchorage by 2:30 p.m. Before we left however, we had our taxi driver take us to a fairly unique spot on the planet \”Aqua-Marine\” AKA: \”Earth\”.

The actual International Dateline rarely runs through land. However, the 180th meridian of longitude where the Eastern and Western Hemispheres meet, exactly one half way round the world from Greenwich, England runs right through Taveuni Island. Except for the far East Coast of Russia and one of it\’s islands as well as Antarctica, there is nowhere else the the \”true\” dateline runs over land.

We of course took photos as the two different places where it is well marked. They will be put in the Photo Gallery as soon as I\’ve decent internet.

Nasalesale was a lovely spot where we took a taxi and then did the hike to the Tavaroa (if memory serves) waterfalls. There are three falls and the lowest one has been used in many movies over the years and might be quite recognizable. I got lazy and introspective and just hung out at the lowest fall. Sandrine and Anja did the entire hike in a fast two and a half hours.

We were lucky enough to catch the perfect arc of a rainbow with s/v Migration at the anchorage. Photo to be posted soon. We\’ll be off to Matangi Island resort tomorrow with s/v \”Migration\” to do some diving and decide if we will go north or directly to the Northern Lau Group\’s, \”Vanua Balavu\” in the Exploring Islands. KIT, Scott with Anja and Sandrine.

Dear F&F, July 23rd – 24th, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere). Despite the \”true dateline\” being in Fiji, politically the entire group is in the Eastern Hemisphere\’s time zone. Both Tonga and Fiji want to be in the same hemisphere as their major supporters, Australia & New Zealand, so they\’ve \”Gerrymandered\” the dateline to suit.

We upped anchor for the one and half hour motor to Matangi Island\’s \”Honeymoon Cove\”. The island is privately owned, has a dive operation and the anchorage we went to with s/v \”Migration\” is used as a remote day trip for the honeymooners to be alone at from the local Matangi Island Resort. We were just part of the scenery as far as they were concerned. It was a beautiful spot and I\’ll post photos when I\’ve internet.

We decided to do a dive right off the point of the bay and Jeff, Carolyn, Bruce, Alene, Anja & I did the dive. It was lovely, a beautiful reef. Some of the damage from the cyclone that came through here two years ago was evident. Overall however, it was a great dive. We said goodbye to s/v \”Migration\” as they left to go back to Taveuni for the night and we stayed at the lovely Honeymoon Cove, having it all to ourselves.

A local dive guide came by and we made arrangements to go to \”Noel\’s Wall\” and the \”Yellow Wall\” the next day. These are two of the signature dive sites of Matangi/Laucala Islands. Laucala was formerly owned by Malcolm Forbes and is now owned by the owner of \”Red Bull\”. It is the most exclusive and expensive resort in the entire nation of Fiji. We heard rooms start around 4,000.00 USD/night. YIKES.

We did the dives the next day and were very impressed. \”Noel\’s Wall\” reminded me of Palau and somewhat of the \”White Wall\” without the density of soft corals, but the reef went on for almost 45 minutes of drift diving. We saw at least 10,000 \”Rainbow Runners\” in various stages of development. Two very nice and close up schools of chevron barracuda as well as all the usual reef suspects, white tip reef sharks and some of the nicest hard corals I\’ve seen since Mopelia & Maupiti in French Polynesia.

We\’ve decided to use the remnant of a strong Northerly wind tomorrow to head toward \”Vanua Balavu\” in the Exploring Islands of the Northern Lau Group. If we come back to the Western part of Fiji through this area again, we will hope to do \”Shark City\” where the name speaks for itself. Lions and Tigers and Bulls \”oh my!\”….:) Stay tuned! KIT, Scott with Anja and Sandrine

Dear F&F, July 26th-27th, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere). Despite actually being back in the Western Hemisphere, we\’re politically in the Eastern Hemisphere. Welcome to Fiji!

We thought we were in for a \”downwindjoyride\” to the Northern Lau for the 50 mile sail. However, we got a one day too late start and the wind went poof. We motored the entire way, yuk!

As we approached Vanua Balavu, it reminded me very much of our approach to the Tuamotus in 2009. Ironically, we had just left s/v \”Migration\” at Matangi Island and the Tuamotu Archipellago is where Cindy and I first met Bruce and Alene on s/v \”Migration\” at that time.

I was very anxious upon arrival here as I was pretty sure the charts wouldn\’t be right on. They weren\’t! The charts were done from surveys of \”yesteryear\”, before the days of GPS accuracy. It is still amazing to me that they were only a quarter of a mile off. We have a device on our electronic chart plotter that let\’s us \”slide\” the charts to the correct position once we are on site. For the most part, it worked pretty well, but the scale of the chart here is slightly off as well, so a WATCHFUL eye is critical as well as daylight only navigation. We came through the outer reef at 1:30 p.m and worked our way through the \”Bay of Islands\”. (Stories to follow!).

We found the German monohull, \”Kira of Celle\” out of Cuxhaven, Germany anchored in the \”Bay\”. They spoke perfect English and despite having a native German speaker aboard in Anja, we did the entire \”hi how are you?\” in \”Beach House\’s\” native tongue. Detleff and Beata had been here two years in a row and had us follow them to the main village of Dalconi, 4 miles further past the Bay of Islands. We\’ll anchor there for the night and \”check in\” with the local village Chief where we will have our first \”sevusevu\” experience. This is giving the ceremonial gift of Kava to the Chief, whereupon we will be accepted for life as locals of the village of Dalconi.

Stay tuned! KIT, Scott with Anja and Sandrine

Dear F&F, July 22nd-23rd

We upped anchor early in the morning for the short 1 hour run to Mateui Anchorage at Taveuni Island. We were optimistic about getting a taxi to fuel up by Jerry Can, go to the market and find someone with a fax machine to finally get our \”Lau Permit\” sent to us from the Copra Shed Marina in Savusavu. We finally had gotten the word that the Lau Council had been issued our permit the night before.

We anchored at Matuei Anchorage on Taveuni (Fiji\’s third largest island) and luckily found a taxi waiting at the \”new wharf\”. He and one of his mates did all the above errands for us and we were off to the north end of the island\’s \”Nasalesale\” anchorage by 2:30 p.m. Before we left however, we had our taxi driver take us to a fairly unique spot on the planet \”Aqua-Marine\” AKA: \”Earth\”.

The actual International Dateline rarely runs through land. However, the 180th meridian of longitude where the Eastern and Western Hemispheres meet, exactly one half way round the world from Greenwich, England runs right through Taveuni Island. Except for the far East Coast of Russia and one of it\’s islands as well as Antarctica, there is nowhere else the the \”true\” dateline runs over land.

We of course took photos as the two different places where it is well marked. They will be put in the Photo Gallery as soon as I\’ve decent internet.

Nasalesale was a lovely spot where we took a taxi and then did the hike to the Tavaroa (if memory serves) waterfalls. There are three falls and the lowest one has been used in many movies over the years and might be quite recognizable. I got lazy and introspective and just hung out at the lowest fall. Sandrine and Anja did the entire hike in a fast two and a half hours.

We were lucky enough to catch the perfect arc of a rainbow with s/v Migration at the anchorage. Photo to be posted soon. We\’ll be off to Matangi Island resort tomorrow with s/v \”Migration\” to do some diving and decide if we will go north or directly to the Northern Lau Group\’s, \”Vanua Balavu\” in the Exploring Islands. KIT, Scott with Anja and Sandrine.

Dear F&F, July 14th-19th

s/v \”Migration\” came into the anchorage and with they and s/v \”Quickstar\” as neighbors, it was a bit like old home week. We spent the next several days either anchoring out or doing \”live\” boat dives with Jack and our friends. One day we did some diving with Glenn, Cindy and Abbie off m/v \”Mystery Ship\”, including Glenn & Cindy\’s first dive at the White Wall. A very exciting spot.

On our last night at Viani Bay, Jack and local friends had a dinner for we cruisers and we got to sign his visitors book. I looked back over the years and saw many boats and friends. Including s/v \”Lazy Bones\”, Gayle and Jeff from Marina del Rey and s/v \”Quiet One\”, Dawn and her former husband out of the UK who I\’d met in Auckland.

The dinner was great fun and we got to know other boats better; a good time had by all. The next morning, Jack came by and wished us well. We think there\’s a pretty fair chance we might be back this way again. Diving at \”The Zoo\”, \”The Cabbage Patch\”, \”The Purple Wall\”, \”The Ledge\” and of course, \”The White Wall\” were pretty impressive, very close and could all be easily done again and again.

We brought the boat over for the one hour trip to Taveuni Island, Fiji\’s third largest island. That will be the subject of our next \”Ship\’s Log\”…. Stay tuned. KIT, Scott with Anja and Sandrine

Lots of photos to post when I get good internet.

Dear F&F, July 12th – 14th

We decided to do a dive with Koro Sun, the local dive operator in Savusavu. The experience of diving with hammer head sharks was new for Anja, but I also never tire of the wonder of looking at these prehistoric animals up close and personal. Peter came along with us and it was his first \”hammer\” encounter as well. Anja said they looked \”cute\”. We saw a few dozen in the blue water right off the Koro Sun resort. They came within 30 feet of us, it was a memorable day.

We continued to \”wait\” for our permit to go to the Lau Group of Eastern Fiji. It just got more comical as the wait went on.

Having decided we could wait for \”Gudot\” forever, we upped anchor and headed the 40 miles East to Viani Bay. Viani Bay is world famous in the diving world, especially for it\’s signature site on the \”Rainbow Reef\” called \”The White Wall\”.

We knew friends Bruce and Alene on s/v \”Migration\” would be arriving soon too, so it all seemed to come together as we left for Viani Bay.

As I changed our itinerary to go to Western Fiji first from New Zealand and then head to Eastern Fiji, the winds of course were against us and yes indeed we motored again, the entire 40 miles.

When we arrived in Viani Bay, Jack Fisher met us and put us on one of his two moorings. Jack is Fijian by way of English descent. He has had six wives and would be happy to have you as his next wife should you be interested. However I am referring to the female population of my readers amongst you!

Jack doesn\’t dive, but makes most of his livelihood by guiding divers to \”his\” sites. There is a local dive shop in the next bay, but at about 25-40.00$ per day US for the whole boat load of divers, it\’s hard to beat this local knowledge with a stick! Jack brought us to our first encounter (there would be six, yes it\’s that good) with the White Wall and wanted us to anchor in a nearby alcove on the outside of the reef. Well, I\’m not sure what Jack expected me to say, but if we had anchored where he wanted us too, I\’m not sure \”Beach House\” would have been beached shortly thereafter. We did \”live boat\” diving with Jack at the helm. He dropped Anja, Peter and me off over the buoy and the fun began!

The White Wall is SPECTACULAR. The surge on top of the reef was pretty exciting (we were just outside the surf line and it was pretty calm!). The dive begins on top of a beautiful reef and from there you go into a \”swim thorough\” from 40 feet down to 70 feet. The swim through is a long wide tunnel with Lion Fish, White Tip reef sharks, black coral, sea fans, purple coral and a plethora of marine life. Once out the lower exit of the swim through, you make a left turn and go down to 95-120 feet and the fun begins. The current starts to push you along a vertical wall that is about 300 feet high. A football size field of densely packed white soft corals is the highlight of this \”drift\” dive. Not lasting too long, it\’s simply spectacular. Everything and anything can be seen on the \”Wall\” and in some cases, large schools of barracuda and other pelagic\’s as well. At the end of the wall, there is a swim through at 65 feet which you can go back up to the top of the reef and do a second lap. Anja and I got familiar enough with the site to be able to do three laps without ever hitting the \”deco\” meter on our dive computers. I did not take any underwater stills as I was being dive guide/instructor as much as \”diver\” at this particular site. I did take some video, but it\’s gee whiz stuff, not gonna make it to the website.

More to follow…. Scott with Anja and Sandrine.

Dear F&F, July 12th – 14th

We decided to do a dive with Koro Sun, the local dive operator in Savusavu. The experience of diving with hammer head sharks was new for Anja, but I also never tire of the wonder of looking at these prehistoric animals up close and personal. Peter came along with us and it was his first \”hammer\” encounter as well. Anja said they looked \”cute\”. We saw a few dozen in the blue water right off the Koro Sun resort. They came within 30 feet of us, it was a memorable day.

We continued to \”wait\” for our permit to go to the Lau Group of Eastern Fiji. It just got more comical as the wait went on.

Having decided we could wait for \”Gudot\” forever, we upped anchor and headed the 40 miles East to Viani Bay. Viani Bay is world famous in the diving world, especially for it\’s signature site on the \”Rainbow Reef\” called \”The White Wall\”.

We knew friends Bruce and Alene on s/v \”Migration\” would be arriving soon too, so it all seemed to come together as we left for Viani Bay.

As I changed our itinerary to go to Western Fiji first from New Zealand and then head to Eastern Fiji, the winds of course were against us and yes indeed we motored again, the entire 40 miles.

When we arrived in Viani Bay, Jack Fisher met us and put us on one of his two moorings. Jack is Fijian by way of English descent. He has had six wives and would be happy to have you as his next wife should you be interested. However I am referring to the female population of my readers amongst you!

Jack doesn\’t dive, but makes most of his livelihood by guiding divers to \”his\” sites. There is a local dive shop in the next bay, but at about 25-40.00$ per day US for the whole boat load of divers, it\’s hard to beat this local knowledge with a stick! Jack brought us to our first encounter (there would be six, yes it\’s that good) with the White Wall and wanted us to anchor in a nearby alcove on the outside of the reef. Well, I\’m not sure what Jack expected me to say, but if we had anchored where he wanted us too, I\’m not sure \”Beach House\” would have been beached shortly thereafter. We did \”live boat\” diving with Jack at the helm. He dropped Anja, Peter and me off over the buoy and the fun began!

The White Wall is SPECTACULAR. The surge on top of the reef was pretty exciting (we were just outside the surf line and it was pretty calm!). The dive begins on top of a beautiful reef and from there you go into a \”swim thorough\” from 40 feet down to 70 feet. The swim through is a long wide tunnel with Lion Fish, White Tip reef sharks, black coral, sea fans, purple coral and a plethora of marine life. Once out the lower exit of the swim through, you make a left turn and go down to 95-120 feet and the fun begins. The current starts to push you along a vertical wall that is about 300 feet high. A football size field of densely packed white soft corals is the highlight of this \”drift\” dive. Not lasting too long, it\’s simply spectacular. Everything and anything can be seen on the \”Wall\” and in some cases, large schools of barracuda and other pelagic\’s as well. At the end of the wall, there is a swim through at 65 feet which you can go back up to the top of the reef and do a second lap. Anja and I got familiar enough with the site to be able to do three laps without ever hitting the \”deco\” meter on our dive computers. I did not take any underwater stills as I was being dive guide/instructor as much as \”diver\” at this particular site. I did take some video, but it\’s gee whiz stuff, not gonna make it to the website.

More to follow…. Scott with Anja and Sandrine.

July 6th – 9th, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F, Friends Diana Young and Peter Bruckman of s/v \”Quickstar\” arrived today. They had with them Anja (An-ya) who is from East Germany. Anja is a PADI Dive Master and sailing instructor. She used to work for Sony\’s Play Station division in Germany and is on a year\’s sabbatical. As Anja wants to go DIVING, she\’ll come aboard for awhile so I\’ve a dive buddy until Sandrine takes the \”I\’m going to learn to dive plunge\”….

Diana, Anja and Sandrine went off on a \”gals junket\” by bus today to tour the island. Both boats should be off on Monday or Tuesday to head toward Taveuni where we hope to meet up with s/v \”Migration\” (Bruce and Alene). Some of Fiji\’s best diving is there at \”The White Wall\” and \”Rainbow Reef\”.

Both couples were at Cindy\’s memorial and Diana and Bruce spoke eloquently. I\’m glad to have them back in my aura.

We\’ll try a dive tomorrow with Koro-Sun Divers. Colin and Janine Skipper\’s operation. They had 100 hammerhead sharks today, a record for them. Anja is all excited, she\’s never seen \”hammies\” before. I may take the camera. Sandrine will snorkel at the surface interval.

I\’ll try and do updates at least weekly on the \”Ship\’s Log\”.

Currently, the video links on the archived original website are not working and will be fixed shortly (right Jeremiah????)…:)

KIT, I will… Scott with now Anja and Sandrine

Two new photo galleries will be posted as soon as I get ashore!…

July 6th – 9th, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F, Friends Diana Young and Peter Bruckman of s/v \”Quickstar\” arrived today. They had with them Anja (An-ya) who is from East Germany. Anja is a PADI Dive Master and sailing instructor. She used to work for Sony\’s Play Station division in Germany and is on a year\’s sabbatical. As Anja wants to go DIVING, she\’ll come aboard for awhile so I\’ve a dive buddy until Sandrine takes the \”I\’m going to learn to dive plunge\”….

Diana, Anja and Sandrine went off on a \”gals junket\” by bus today to tour the island. Both boats should be off on Monday or Tuesday to head toward Taveuni where we hope to meet up with s/v \”Migration\” (Bruce and Alene). Some of Fiji\’s best diving is there at \”The White Wall\” and \”Rainbow Reef\”.

Both couples were at Cindy\’s memorial and Diana and Bruce spoke eloquently. I\’m glad to have them back in my aura.

We\’ll try a dive tomorrow with Koro-Sun Divers. Colin and Janine Skipper\’s operation. They had 100 hammerhead sharks today, a record for them. Anja is all excited, she\’s never seen \”hammies\” before. I may take the camera. Sandrine will snorkel at the surface interval.

I\’ll try and do updates at least weekly on the \”Ship\’s Log\”.

Currently, the video links on the archived original website are not working and will be fixed shortly (right Jeremiah????)…:)

KIT, I will… Scott with now Anja and Sandrine

Two new photo galleries will be posted as soon as I get ashore!…

July 4th, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F, We got up early for the 25 mile journey to Savusavu and the mini gauntlet of Nasonisoni Pass. It\’s 1 1/2 miles long and about 100 yards wide. You cannot see the reef for the most part, but again, the chart was spot on. The Eastern sun was no help either. As we headed East, we went slow to watch for the sides. No problems. The other side of the pass often runs against the current and can have \”standing waves\”. Think of strong current again strong trade winds and oh joy, it can be a mess. We\’ve talked to a few boats that got decks awash as they came out the Eastern side. We hit it perfect, no trades of any strength and no standing waves.

Savusavu looks a lot like a nicer, cleaner, \”Mini Vava\’u, Tonga\”. We checked in with the local customs office and are awaiting our friends on s/v \”Quickstar\” who should be here in a few days from Tonga.

Happy 4th to everyone in the USA

Scott with Sandrine