On Sunday, October 6, Pat and I got up early and left the Musket Cove anchorage just after 6:00 a.m. We motored at first, until the wind came up about two thirds of the way. We arrived back in Somosomo Bay at 4:00 p.m. and anchored. RaLa was the only other boat there. Ian and Laura came over to Aldabra for sundowners. It was a gusty, rolly night.
The next day we picked Ian and Laura up in the dinghy and went to shore. We walked through the village to a path leading to the other side of the island. On the other side, we visited the Marou village and saw the school that the older children in the main village walk home from every day. (They are taken there by boat in the morning.) We met villagers and chatted with them. Ian has a great facility for engaging people in good conversations.) After walking back to the main village, we talked with a group of people hanging out on the beach and eventually made our way back to our boats. We had sundowners on RaLa that evening.
With Ian and Laura on the other side of Somosomo Bay
Pat and Laura and me
Walking toward Marau Village
On Tuesday, we picked our anchor up at 8:30 a.m. and started out of Somosomo Bay for Champagne Beach on the farthest north island of the Yasawas. We were traveling up the western side of the Mamanucas and then the Yasawas, outside the reefs. It was really windy and with large wind waves. There might have been more protection closer to shore but I was trying to avoid having to negotiate reefs. We were, of course, hand steering, a half hour at a time. We were on a reach most of the time, with a reefed main and the jib. It was pretty challenging and kind of hard on the boat, but there wasn’t any really good place to stop and anchor, so we kept going. As we got closer to our destination, the wind came around on our nose so we had to take the jib down and motor sail with the reefed main.
Pat at the helm
RaLa had started out behind us and had cut in closer to shore and turned their motor on much earlier. They were now ahead of us as we slogged toward our destination. For the last two miles, we dropped the main and motored toward the anchorage. We arrived at 4:30 p.m. and anchored. RaLa was there, as was PolePole. Nereida came in behind us from the north but I didn’t realize who she was because she was anchored pretty far out. It was so windy that we didn’t leave the boat. Champagne Beach is a beautiful location with an expanse of white sand and vegetation, and no visible human presence.
On Wednesday, we tidied up the boat, folding the main and recovering from our little adventure of the day before. We dropped the dinghy in the water and went over and picked Ian and Laura up from ReLa. We stopped by PolePole to say hello and then went to the beach. After securing the dinghy on the beach, we began hiking in one direction and then changed our minds and started hiking inland and then north to the Yasawa-I-Rawa village, about four kilometers away. It was a nice walk.
Most of the villagers were away, at a funeral in a neighboring village. But a woman named Ma met us and took us to her house and to her husband Lazo, who performed the sevusevu ceremony.
Sitting with Ma and Lazo after sevusevu
Ma then took us to the school, where eight younger children were being educated. The teacher told us that they were very enthusiastic about meeting outsiders. Each one introduced themself and then we introduced ourselves. Then they did some singing and dancing.
Walking across the village to the school
As we began to head back to the edge of the village, Ma had us wait while she went and got each of us a coconut to drink. We gave her money for the rebuilding of their village church, which had been destroyed several years ago by a cyclone. We also bought some baskets and shells from some of the local women. We were told that in this remote village, these sales were their only livelihood. We also left the village with papayas. This village, at the northern tip of the Yasawas, isn’t visited by the ferry. To get to the mainland for supplies and services, they take their own boats south to Nanuya Island, and then catch the ferry to Denarau. It’s expensive so they don’t make this journey often.
The church that was destroyed by a cyclone
Hiking back from the village to Champagne Beach
After we hiked back and returned to our boats, we heard a call on the radio from Jeanne Socrates on Nereida. She had a rat onboard and was looking for help to catch it. I took some peanut butter over for bait but otherwise wasn’t much help. The rat was cornered but the space was too small to do anything to trap it. We chatted a while to catch up since we hadn’t seen each other since New Zealand. She decided to sail down to Nanuya the next day to catch a ferry to Denarau to buy better trapping supplies.
On Thursday, Ian and Laura, Pat and I went to the beach south of the anchorage to explore. We then had tea together to say our farewells for now. I would see them in a few weeks but Pat would not. (We had already said our farewells to Womble, who had sailed back to Viti Levu to prepare to sail to Vanuatu and then on to Australia.)
Exploring near the anchorage
Exploring
Aldabra anchored at Champagne Beach
The wind died during the night, and without it the swell became uncomfortable. Pat and I left the anchorage the next morning at 6:30. There was no wind and we motored in very flat seas with no swell. Dolphins joined us for a few minutes along the way, our first visit in Fiji.
We arrived back at the anchorage in front of the Paradise Cove Resort at 1:30 p.m. It had been a quick trip to the Yasawas but it was worth seeing, even briefly. The only boat in the anchorage was Jetwave Avalon, who we met in the Cook Islands. I’d seen them on AIS several times in recent weeks but had not seen them in person. The hundreds of fruit bats in the trees on shore were very vocal. It was a still night.
The bats at Paradise Cove
On Saturday, October 12, we put the dinghy in the water and later took it north a couple of miles to the pass where the giant mantas hang out. Again, we didn’t see any but the snorkeling was great. We turned around before too long because the dinghy was taking on water through the drain plug. Plus, the dinghy motor was acting up. We got back safely to Aldabra and had sundowners on Rhapsody, who had arrived that afternoon. Their new motor had been successfully installed in Denarau so they were on their way to explore the Yasawas.
No Comments