Vanua Balavu – 4th to 11th of August

What a beautiful place! So different from other parts of Fiji and very remote. The northern part of the island is called the Bay of  Islands and consists of lots of rocky little limestone islands which can be explored with the paddle board and dinghy.  Around every corner there is a new beautiful site to look at with turquoise water and rocks. 

So we spend our days with snorkelling, exploring, swimming in caves, relaxing, going on a hike, picking coconuts and papayas and making yummy cocktails (very healthy - fresh coconut water blended with fresh pineapple and just a little bit of rum…).

What a beautiful lookout! It definitely was worth the hike.

 My husband the hunter and gatherer

And he is successful!!!

John

On the 8^th we started making our way sailing south  down the island to explore the rest. We stopped at Little Bay, another gorgeous little place, with nobody (only one other boat at anchor). But the next morning got a bit exciting… At low tide we decided to go for a walk along the shore, Pete discovering big oysters and getting all excited. As he is busy trying to pry them loose and I am just wandering around, all of a sudden we hear load and angry dog barking behind us. We turn around and there are four dogs racing towards us, barking madly. I was starting to panic, but thought, don’t run, just walk calmly and find some rocks to pick up. But then we heard a whistle and the owner of the dogs came after them. I still didn’t trust them and went straight for the dinghy, and Pete being again a lovely, caring husband making sure I got there before he stopped and talked to the guy. I have to admit I was shaking. The man turned out the Fijian caretaker of the area and we ended up having a lovely chat to him, he came on our boat, we gave him some rice and took him back to his place in our dinghy, as he wanted to give us some papayas and bananas. But there the excitement kept coming. He had some pigs, as most Fijians and of course his four dogs… As he was cutting some bananas for us, the dogs started barking madly again and we heard a pig squealing horribly. A wild young pig had come in his yard and the four dogs started attacking it. How awful that was!! I couldn’t watch, but Pete was brave and helped Tui to get his dogs off the pig to save it. And thank god, they managed! The pig was ok. But I must say, this certainly was enough excitement for one day for me!

The drama starts...

 Tui's place 

The pig is saved, back to getting some bananas...

And off we were to our next stop at the town of Lomaloma.  The biggest settlement on this island. Here people go shopping for whatever the supply ship brings once or twice a month. 

....Like ice-cream! Pete couldn't say NO

After this short stop we went quasi around the corner to Suisui, a little lovely village where we anchored and did our sevusevu (I don’t know if I have explained before. If you come to a new village, you have to go and see the chief and offer him some kava for sevusevu. He then performs a ceremony, where you will be taken in the village. With this you have the right then to look at everything around the island and move freely in the village. All visitors have to do this, also Fijians going to another village.) Friday afternoon was lovely with exploring, playing games with the kids on the beach 

 Playing Boules with Coconuts

and the next morning Jacob, the village spokesman, took us on a tour around the island. So beautiful.

Donation for the church which got destroyed in Cyclon Winston

 But the best for Pete was, they went and got some oysters. Really big ones!!! He was in seventh heaven!

We would have liked to stay longer, but the winds were right to take us down to Fulaga, which is about 100nm south. For a lot of sailors this island is the most favourite place, and we wanted to see for ourselves. We did an overnight easy uneventful sail down south and as a bonus caught a Mahimahi on the way! 

Cruising Season July to November 2018 - Whangarei to Minerva and Savusavu

Maybe I should start a bit before July. Most of May and June we spent at Norsand Boatyard in Whangarei getting Havachat ready for cruising. As we hadn’t spent all summer with Havachat, there was a lot to do…. And it was sooo cold there! Three mornings we had ice on deck! As Pete said, it was like living in an icebox! But we had our little fan heater and after two weeks I relented and we invested in an electric blanket for the bed! Why didn’t I agree to this earlier? 

But we still had fun, going to the markets on Saturday morning, so Pete could get some oysters and I my veggies,

 catching up with friends, visiting the sheep farm with Nicole, Toby and the girls from Invictus.

So it wasn’t all hard work. Also, I decided this year I was going to make sourdough bread. I read up about it and started my culture, made up of rye flour and water – called Ryely.

But Ryely was refusing to grow in NZ, it didn’t like the cold either. I tried to put it in front of the heater, in the sun in the window, I talked to it a lot (Pete started to get jealous…), but nothing helped. I just had to be patient and wait for warmer weather!

Finally on the 16^th of July we left Town Basin Marina.

The bridge is very unique, it's calles Te Matau a Pohe, or the "Fishhook of Pohe" and opens so the boats can get through.

It was a bit sad, as Whangarei had become our second home over the last four years and we decided that we probably wouldn’t come back to NZ in November, but bring Havachat home, so we could spend the summer with Marian and Carl, the kids and all our friends and still enjoy Havachat. We had a little goodbye drink on the boat on the Sunday to say goodbye to our beautiful friends we had made over the years in Whangarei. But finally we were on the go! We couldn’t wait to get going. First stop: Marsden Cove Marina to check out with Customs on the Tuesday.

 Goodbye New Zealand!!!

And then we were on our way to Minerva Reef on Tuesday the 17^th of July. The weather gave me an easy re-introduction of sailing with very calm seas on the first day!

This was nice. But then it decided to get quite rough for a couple of days and I didn’t feel super crash hot. Luckily I have a caring, lovely husband to look after me. But after that we sailed nicely and arrived on Sunday the 22^nd of July late afternoon at Minerva. What a special place! Two big reefs (South and North Minerva) in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, about 300nm south of Fiji. It is really weird to see this in the middle of nowhere.

If you look closely you can see the breaking reef far away.

 I was very excited to finally be there, as Pete always did the passages before with some friends. Monday we spend exploring the reef (you can walk on the reef at low tide), so much to look at and Monday night we went with the couple from the only other boat at Minerva on the reef to get some Lobsters. Which ended up being us two ladies holding the dinghies and chatting and the boys being the hunters and gatherers to pick up the lobsters from the reef. At night the lobsters cross the reef and you can just pick them up. So easy. A few more days at Minerva we spend relaxing, exploring and having a nice BBQ Lobster lunch with our new friends.

And off again on Thursday to our Fiji destination Savusavu. What I was most excited about was seeing as we were getting closer and closer the temperature going higher and higher…  Already at Minerva we had about 24 degrees, but as we got closer I could see the thermometer rising a degree every few hours until it stayed at 28/29 degrees!! Finally!!! And not just Pete and I were happy, but also Ryely! He finally started growing and I could attempt my first try at making sourdough bread. The first try wasn’t too bad, but I have to say, by the second loaf I was getting pretty good at this.

Savusavu – 29^th of July to 3^rd of August.

The first day was taken up as usual with the formalities of customs etc. Our friends from Pacifica, John and Janette were waiting for us already and it was great to see them again. Now the holiday can start! It was nice to go out for dinner; we explored the island with John and Janette and visited the beautiful properties Janette has on the island.

Pete the sheep - named after Pete 

At Fawn Harbour

Then, provisioning again and of we sailed to Paradise resort at the south end of Taveuni to make our way to Vanua Balavu and Fulaga in the Southern Lau Group

Dinner view from Paradise Resort - Havachat in the background