In the Pit at Vuda Marina

As I’m going home for about 3 months, I need to leave Kincsem somewhere safe. I had originally planned to leave her at Denarau Marina but after experiencing the unresponsiveness and incompetence of the staff there, I changed the plan and made a reservation at the much nicer, friendlier Vuda Marina instead. Also, rather than leaving Kincsem in the water, I decided to haul her out of the water and leave her in one of the hurricane pits in Vuda Marina. More cost effective and safer and I need to have the bottom repainted in preparation for the trip to New Zealand in late October/November in any event.

There are some horror stories about leaving a boat in one of those pits. Some boats have experienced bug (ant) infestation as the boats are closer to the ground than when they are on stands. Others have had stuff stolen off their decks. All these issues can be dealt with. I’ve closed all through hulls into the boat from the inside and also the sinks are closed off. All openings are blocked with rags from the outside. All food is packaged in original airtight plastic bags or cans or in air tight plastic boxes. All loose items on deck are stored below except for the life raft which is locked. All deck lockers are locked. And I’ve hired a local yacht maintenance company to check on Kincsem in regular intervals to make sure no bugs have succeeded in getting into the boat notwithstanding my precautions. Fingers crossed that these preparations are enough!

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After the last of the WARC parties, Nicole, Jeremy and Udo left Kincsem in Musket Cove and Almut, Rainer and Achim joined me for a three week cruise of the Yasawa and Mamanuca islands. These islands offer great scenery and a nice mixture of anchorages: at some of them, there is a resort which is cruiser friendly so you can go ashore for dinner, for example. At others, there are local villages which own the anchorage so we had to go ashore to do sevusevu with the village chief to get permission to anchor.

Welcome committee of 8 black tipped reef sharks at Navadra Island. Apparently some tour operators used to feed the sharks and they now appear whenever they hear a boat propeller. I know these are harmless but we didn’t go swimming off the boat ….

The anchorage between Navadra and Vana Levu Island

Every second counts on our way North ….

The beach at Blue Lagoon. This is where the movie with Brooke Shields was filmed. There is a nice hike to a lookout point.

Reefs everywhere!

Sunday church at Sese, the village off the Blue Lagoon. The singing was amazing but the whole service seemed to be orchestrated for guest of the Nanuya Island Resort who paid F$30 per person for the 5 minute boat ride across the lagoon. Not quite the authentic experience!

These boys watched over our dinghy while we were in church. Traditional Fijian dresses are in evidence for the Sunday show!

This was our dinner table at Nanuya Island Resort where the Blue Lagoon is located. Most adults we encountered in Fiji spoke excellent English.

In the Sawa I Lau cave. There is a part of the cave that can only be accessed by diving through a narrow tunnel. Rainer was brave enough to do that and lived to tell the tale!

In order to get access to the cave, sevusevu was required at Tamusua village.

Sevusevu at Tamusua just completed. The Kava root is wrapped in paper. The chief is the guy with the dark sunglasses – note we were told it is impolite to wear sunglasses in a Fijian village! The guy in the blue wife beater is the village spokesperson. The chief didn’t say a word!

Getting an outboard motor repaired is a challenge in traditional Fijian villages. So although Yamaha Enduro outboards have an almost 100% market share, some end up as decorations! We sometimes were asked whether we could repair a motor ….

Tamusua village and church

Snorkeling on the reef off the Namataya anchorage on the South end of Yasawa Island

Sunrise in Fiji is often spectacular!

Yet another village “chief” with sunglasses on. But walking to his hut we encountered another guy who claimed to be the chief and demanded his kava. One of the women later told us that neither of these was the real chief at Yasawairara village as the real chief recently died. Both kava claimants were vying to be the successor!

Beach at Yasawairara is spectacular. As always, we have Seabiscuit, Kincsem’s dinghy, anchored off the beach so we can access it even if the tide goes up or down while we are ashore. Here, the overhauling line came loose and Achim had to brave the 27C waters to pull the boat back to the beach.

On the walk to the Radio/Met station on Yasawa Island

We stopped at Drawaqa island twice to see the elusive Manta Rays. No such luck. Instead, we saw a superyacht anchored and this little ship, it’s “support vessel” no less than 65 meters long!

Snorkeling in the Yasawas was always interesting!

Our anchorage in Yalobi Bay at low tide. For those looking closely you will see the jib pole out to starboard. Kincsem has a new anti-roll device, an Australian drogue called Seabrake, which works brilliantly. There is often a Southerly swell in the Yasawas which got uncomfortable in Yalobi Bay. After deploying the Seabrake, Kincsem was sitting like a rock (ok, almost like a rock).

Yalobi village chief, hugging his kava collections from several boats which anchored in his bay.

Here we’re meeting the local pastor, on loan from the Presbyterian church to the village for three years. Note the combo of tie, black jacket and bathroom slippers, which may set a new trend in South Pacific fashions!