Bula, Fiji!

08 May Bula, Fiji!

We haven’t posted anything because there wasn’t much to say other than the 12-day passage was a breeze. We covered 2900 miles with one stop for two days at the French Island of Wallis, which was a quiet and isolated island. One evening we took the dinghy to a tiny uninhabited island where we had a beach fire, cooked chicken over the hot coals, and looked at the stars.

The whole passage was so smooth that we never needed to secure the dining room chairs like we usually do.

This was our one big exciting adventure! Our first bluefin tuna ever. We blew up our big 12/0 Pen reel  and ended up having to use the warping winch to get it in. Doesn’t look that big, but it did weigh a bit and we still have some leftover in the freezer.

Night watches were usually spent listening to books on tape or just looking at the stars and listening to the whisper of the main engine. The loudest noise in the wheelhouse is the sound of the water rushing down the side of the hull.

Upon arriving in Fiji, we pulled into Denarau Marina and cleared customs.

Crew on arrival in Fiji after a successful passage

After clearing into Fiji, we took a 10-minute taxi ride into the city of Nadi, where we first shopped at an open air public market for fruit and vegetables, and then went to a meat market and topped up on meat and chicken imported from New Zealand.

Fresh produce market

Kava is widely available

Kava root for gifts to village headmen

Kava gift wrapped for village headman

We are anchored in Musket Cove on the west side of a tiny island cluster called the Malolo Lailai Islands, which is across a narrow, short channel from Malolo Island. These islands are part of a small group called the Mamanuca Islands which are fifteen nautical miles due west of Nadi on the island of Fiji.

Our ensign is causing some interest. When asked, we tell them we’re from the nation of Hawaii. The ensign is very close to the Fiji national flag.

This is the Fiji national flag

Yesterday afternoon, we walked through the little resort at Musket Cove. The place was very quiet with few tourists. About 30 sailboats are anchored around us, and some of them are up here for the third or fourth time from New Zealand.

As we look at the chart–trying to figure out where to go and how much time to spend at each spot–we are a bit overwhelmed!

For those of us used to cruising the Pacific Northwest, it’s easy to think in terms of the Inside Passage—hundreds of miles of beautiful coastline, tucked-away anchorages, and the occasional small town or fuel dock. But cruising in Fiji is a whole different scale. Imagine if every island from Puget Sound to Glacier Bay was its own separate landmass, often with one or more villages, fringed by coral reefs, and spaced out across open ocean. That’s what it feels like out here.

Fiji spans nearly six hundred miles from one side to the other, filled with 333 mostly small to tiny islands, about 110 of which are inhabited. Exquisite, turquoise and emerald bays, their calm waters protected by coral heads and reefs, beckon us.  Each village has its own customs, dialects, and way of welcoming visitors. Unlike the more linear cruising routes back home, Fiji’s layout pulls you in every direction—with every island offering a reason to linger.

Margaret paddle boarding while at anchor in Musket Cove

Most of our navigation is visual. We start when the sun is high enough around 0900 so that we can see the uncharted coral heads and stop around 1500 while the sun is still high enough to safely get anchored.

I’m starting to understand why experienced cruisers keep coming back year after year!

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