Once again its time to do provisioning in Lautoka and a good chance to check out the opshops as well for new clothing Also we bring parts of the bimini to Marchall sails for replacement of the worn transparant windows. It will be ready by the second week of October before we sail to New Zealand.
be carefull, this is what happens to you when you go shopping with 3 ladies...
Yasmin sails the boat from Vuda marina to a string of islands called the Yasawa islands, a distance of 29nm. Beautiful gentle sailing past several dream islands with their perfect white beaches.
underway a bird lands on the bow of the boat to rest. After an hour it flies away again, into the unknown
arrived in the Yasawas, at anchor close to the land bridge between Waya and Wayasewa island
It is a windy anchorage so let’s sail on to Drawaqa island because we really want to see the manta rays there
at anchor near Drawaqa island. A beautifull Wharram catamaran has anchored opposite Drawaqua island near the Manta Ray resort
What a coincidence, Yasmin was just reading their book!
The next morning Yasmin swims to shore and meets 2 Australians on holiday in the resort. Their story is unbelievable: they are forbidden to visit Drawaqa island on their own!
we promise them to pick them up by dinghy at their resort for a swim and walk to the top of Drawaqa island
look at those happy faces with Malaka Queen smiling too in the background
Sunset near Drawaqa island
hummus and falafel makes everybody happy
The next day at sunrise Ruawaka, the big Wharram catamaran has sailed away…What a pity as we would like to meet them!
Aaron on Inca says that he met them a few days ago and that their boat name is Ruawaka. A search on the internet brings up some more contact details and the owner reacts immediately: “come, we are just around the corner sheltering from the wind” We agree to meet in Somosomo bay on the next island called Naviti.
after Sevusevu the chief invites us for a foto
It is Sunday so church first and we are asked to join a birthday party
the crew of Ruawaka is there too
what a feast!
a day in the life in the village of Ruawaka
for us a walk through Somosomo then over the hill to the east side and the villages Marou and Malevu
Ruawaka sails to Lautoka to collect 5000kg!! of building materials for the village of Somosomo
while we move a bit more north to a bay called 'one dollar' bay
someone brings us sardines just caught and brought to our boat, thank you Bill!
It is a beautiful anchorage and good snorkeling at the reef in front of the beach
with a million dollar sunset too, all for free
at anchor near Turle island resort on the next island
there is a super yacht moored next to us
We snorkel around the corner to check the coral. Suddenly we find ourselves completely surrounded by thousands of fish, very close. Some take a little nibble of us to find out if we are eatable. Meanwhile the distinguished guests of the resort and their staff members have positioned themselves near the waterline and we join them for a rest sitting halfway in the water with our snorkling gear on. Back at the boat some of the guests and their entertainmant managers are windfoiling near our boat and they look like butterflies. The whole experience of this afternoon feels like we landed on another planet. Its surreal, very strange.
The following day a nice walk over limestone rocks to the view point above the Sawa-I-Lau caves
last group photo before we part as Ruawaka will sail to the Lau islands while we stop in Savusavu to try to repair Umberto's fridge...
the wind is not at all as predicte. Yet we try to sail until the wind completely dies in the shadow of Vanua Levu
after a night of motoring grey skies on arrival near Savusavu. It feels a bit like Scotland
Humberto's catamaran in the distance
Yes we did try fishing but lost the luer, again...
