Category: 2011 New Zealand – Fiji – Vanuatu – New Caledonia to Australia Voyage

Dear F&F, September 21st – 23rd, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere)

We went up to check and see if the nice dive sites off the end of Yasawairara were dive able, but the weather was just too strong. So instead, we set sail for the 12 miles back to Nanuya-Sewa. We had a brilliant ride in fantastic wind and calm seas.

Once we were anchored, Joe and Anja went on a dive to \”The Cabbage Patch\” which has large lettuce leaf shaped hard corals; even green in color.

I went into \”get the boat ready to sail off\” mode. Topped the fuel from our jerry cans, put stuff away, checked the weather, etc.

The next day, we were able to go with a local dive boat and did what would be our final dive in Fiji; \”Tom\’s Thumb\”. A lovely site which we did with a couple from Australia staying at a local resort. Nice lion fish, hard and soft corals, lots of large anemone\’s and I found a tiny Imperial Shrimp living in an anemone. A mantis shrimp was scene by our Aussie friends, but I didn\’t get to see it, darn! These look like a brightly crazy quilted and colored \”mini lobster\”. Be careful though, they can cut your finger off if you try to handle them!

Joe left with hugs and kisses on the Ferry and Anja and I went into super ready mode. Anja made some easy prepared ready to heat meals for the expected 4 day trip to Luganville on Espiritu Santo Island in Vanuatu. We would begin the 600 mile trip in the morning.

Upped anchor at 0800 local time and we\’re off!….. Watch for blogs posted remotely from our trip and of course I update our position while en-route.

KIT, Scott and Anja en-route to Vanuatu! Farewell Fiji, you\’ve been great.

Dear F&F, September 18th – 20th, 2011

We headed up the coast to Yasawa Island\’s Narara Beach. The anchorage was perfect. The water a calm cobalt blue to turquoise in color. We dove \”Paradise Point\” and the reef off Vawa Island. Paradise Point is also a surf spot, but was calm today and offered a great dive in both hard and soft corals.

New friend Gayle Van Leer even emailed me a Google Earth map shot of exactly where we were anchored and the dive spots. Thank you Gayle!

The beach here was gorgeous too and Joe said \”you ain\’t seen nothin\’ yet\”! The next day we traveled the 8 miles up to the most northerly of the main Yasawa group; Yasawairara Island. Yasawa in Fijian means, \”The Islands Over there\”. Yasawairara basically means, \”The end of the islands over there\”.

So we again had a beautiful anchorage and went ashore to do \”sevusevu\”. After which we got a lesson from Joe in all things coconut (photos not yet posted).

We had a lovely walk on \”8 month beach\” and saw a beautiful group of young kids coming from school. (photos soon!)

8 month beach is so called because of the sands. They are so fine (I kept some!), that the locals say if you get it in your hair (not my problem!…ha), it takes 8 months to get it all out. This was indeed the finest sand I\’ve ever felt. Silk comes to mind!

From here, we upped anchor and headed to Champaign Beach….. It was here the beach scenes from the movie \”Contact\” with Jody Foster were filmed. A stunning 1/2 mile of sand, one private home back in the trees and the anchorage all to ourselves. We did the view hike and walked the beach. It was quite melancholic for me as I\’m sure you can understand. This entire area was a \”Cindy experience\”. I needed some alone time, hiked up to the top of the hill and took some photos. (Posting soon!) The sands here were nearly as magical as those at 8 month beach. The experience of the water, the anchorage, the isolation and the beauty were priceless….

Tomorrow, we\’d be off back to Nanuya-Sewa for a last attempt at some dives and farewell to Joe before heading on to Vanuatu.

See Photo Gallery: 09-Western Fiji & Yasawa Group

Scott with Anja and Joe

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 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

Dear F&F, August 29th…Happy Birthday Peter!

I\’ve heard forever about the shark feed dive near Beqa (Benga) Lagoon here in Fiji. This is where they get the \”bigs\”.

We loaded up all our gear on Aquatrek\’s dive boat for the 15 minute ride to the site. It turns out that the dive is actually at the entrance to the bay we were in and no longer out in Beqa Lagoon which would have been another half hour ride. The weather was NOT cooperating. Pretty bumpy. The range of divers was from near beginner to instructor so the dive guides would have their hands full.

An interesting treat. Peter and I watched a \”young lady\” (83 years young!) get some assistance walking down to the dive boat. We thought to ourselves, really? This dive? Anyway, it turns out that Joyce started diving when she was 65. She had 750 dives under her belt and had done this shark dive for YEARS 3 days/week during the prime 2 month season here in Fiji. She was sort of an honored celebrity (see photo gallery).

Joe, our dive guide gave a nice briefing and told us they were \”overdue\” for the tiger sighting. So I didn\’t get my hopes up. I had brought both the still and video cameras and decided to go with the still on the first dive. It turns out, the \”in house\” videographer from Aquatrek\’s camera wasn\’t working so he took my video camera on both dives. I have yet to watch….(soon!).

I went in first to get the camera out of the way of everyone else\’s entry and Joyce went in right behind me. She whacked her head on her tank but thankfully was just fine.

All the divers were set up behind a \”wall\”, but I got to get into a photo pit which they had set up for the crazy photographer\’s amongst us who like to get \”CLOSER\”…..

There were hundreds of fish, all very good sized and well fed from having two meals a day served by Aquatrek and Bega Adventure\’s the other \”Shark Feed\” company that does these trips. Between them, these animals are fed at least 6 days/week.

The 50 gallon drum full of fish parts was hung in mid water by one of our guides and the action began.

At first, a few white tip, gray reef and several very large (10 foot – 3.5 meter) Tawny Nurse sharks showed up. The Tawny\’s are very yellow in color, have very small mouths and look like they\’ve small barbs under their lower jaws like a catfish.

Next came the Silver Tips and the Bulls!

The Silver Tips look like big Gray Reef sharks with silver highlights on all their fin tips. A very cool looking shark. Friend Terry Kennedy in Baja California told us that he thought Silver Tips were a \”sharks…shark\”! They looked it.

Now the Bulls are an entirely different critter. They were BIG. Very girthy as a sign of how well fed they were. \”Big Mama\” was about 10 feet long and about half that wide. Fortunately, none of these animals are interested in \”us\”.

All the sudden, I saw Joe take Joyce by the hand and swim her right into the melee. I thought this was some sort of Fijian ritual sacrifice….LOL. However, Joe was taking Joyce first but in turn, all the rest of the brave into an area where they could \”pet\” some of the sharks. Mostly the Tawny Nurse sharks which you will be glad to know have no teeth.

I got some decent photos (see photo gallery), but lots of \”scatter\” in the water will make many of them a tough \”light room\” project.

Second Dive: So now, Joe and Joyce are convinced that the Tiger will make her appearance on the second dive.

We go to a slightly shallower site and the melee renews. Two minutes later, here she came! About 12-14 feet of pure Tiger Girl! (see photo gallery). She had a pretty good sized gash on her right side which may have been a mating bite? The males literally bite the females (who\’ve evolved a thick skin) when courting. She came right into the divers where yes indeed, I got to \”pet\” the Tiger Shark! Do not try this at home!

She was one of three tigers and the smallest that come to the feed on occasion. Joe told me that 10 years ago, they used to get up to 30 or so Tigers. Now only one and only \”sometimes\”. A wake up to the world that these magnificent predators are being fished out for their fins. Our Asian friends feel that their fertility is improved by such nonsense. When will the world wake up!?

The soon to be posted photo gallery is the story on this dive.

Enjoy!

Scott with Anja, diving with Peter and Diana of s/v \”Quickstar\”.