We spent almost a week near Verevere village in Toba Basaga Bay. It was a friendly village and Simi took us (along with Karen and Cheryl from SV Interlude) to a nearby waterfall and swimming hole. It was terrific to get a nice swim in cool fresh water. A little natural jacuzzi and massage was had thanks to the pools and waterfalls.
At one point there were three boats in the bay – Interlude, Del Viento and us. Interlude left after one day and we had the pleasure of meeting Del Viento aboard their boat the following evening. Windy, Michael and their two daughters Eleanor and Frances hosted us to sundowners. It was a fun evening getting to know new folks. We learned that Michael is the editor of the boating magazine "Good Old Boat" so that was fun to talk articles and ideas with him. Perhaps we'll be lucky enough to get something published in that magazine! They were nice folks and Frances, the younger daughter made some killer fried plantains. We had a visit from a local boat asking to check our cruising permit – something we heard from customs and immigration. They have asked the local villages to do more checking to make sure all boats in Fiji waters are there legally.
"Del Viento" left the following day, leaving the bay all to us again. We took a nice walk along the road towards the point giving us a beautiful view of the bay and beyond. It was a great walk and on our way back through the village we met a nice family who offered us a piece of property to build a house on! They are generous here. Then going through the village there was a police officer who took a lot of information from us. That was a first for us. It really does seem Fiji is getting very conscious of checking on foreigners on their shores. They all do it in a very friendly, non-threatening way.
We finally left the comfortable bay and made a 20 mile trip to an offshore island, Nananu-i-Ra. It was through lots of reefs with s-curves and hard turns. We had no wind and good sun, so it was a great day to do it. We anchored near some pretty flash vacation homes against a sandy beach. It was a pretty deep anchorage surrounded by some reefs. It was certainly different scenery than the villages; with these large fancier homes with lots of solar, wind generators and landscaped property. Most looked empty except for the Fijian caretakers.
We went ashore near some of the smaller resorts and dock and learned there were not many guests on the island at the time. We took a long walk along the island's sandy beach and went around to the windward side as well. There were a few sunk boats there – sad to see. Winston did a fair amount of damage here as well. Though most of the vacation homes either suffered no damage or were already repaired.
We left on Saturday morning and aimed for a bay about 18 miles away. It was great sail with the heady only. Once we got there, the afternoon northerlies kicked in with a vengeance and the bay was very uncomfortable. It was only 1230 so we decided to up anchor and move on again. On leaving the bay, we went over an unmarked shallow spot (not on charts nor on google earth maps). We went from 50 feet to 4.5 feet ! Frightening! We moved another 17 miles west along Viti Levu's north coast. It was blowing about 15-20 knots so we sailed pretty quickly with a very reefed headsail negotiating carefully through the reefs. We were approached, when going through a very narrow cut in the reefs just past a sharp turn, by the New Zealand Royal Navy's black fast inflatable again. It was loaded with probably eight folks all geared up. Because we were sailing through the reef, we split duties – Michael would only pay attention to the boat and Barbara would deal with the authorities. As they got close, they were taking many pictures of the boat and us. We told them that they had boarded us already in Rukuruku a few weeks back. That it was Jordan and Frasier who came aboard. Frasier happened to also be aboard the inflatable and he gave us a big thumbs up. They told us to have a nice day and they moved on without reboarding us. They are checking everything!
We got to the new little bay that doesn't have a village nearby and anchored behind a nice sandbar near the mangroves in about 20 feet of water. It looks like good muddy holding and we are protected from everything but NNW or due W winds. That's good because last night just after dark the wind really picked up to 20 plus knots for a few hours. We let out a bit more chain and soon after we did that it settled down again and was a very flat night.
We met a fishing boat yesterday that stays in a house on a nearby hill on weekends. The three folks (Lani, Jim and Joshua) asked if we wanted a fish. They had a couple good sized sweet lips in the boat. Again their generosity always amazes us. We thanked them and passed on the offer.
Today, we'll do some dinghy exploring. Perhaps at the end of the bay there is a small stream with some laundry water! It is a breezy day but sunny and a comfortable temperature. We'll probably stay a few days here – though there is no internet. We are about 25 miles west of Latoka.
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At 9/25/2017 3:23 AM (utc) S/V Astarte was located at 17°23.36'S 177°47.65'E
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