North Coast of Viti Levu

After a fun evening watching some local guys play rugby in Rukuruku, we left the following morning for the 30 mile trip to the northern side of the "mainland" which is what the locals call the biggest of the Fijian islands – Viti Levu. This is an area we have never visited and thought it would be a fun new adventure for the last few months in Fiji. Like the northern coast of Vanua Levu that we visited earlier in the season, this is a coast few yachts visit or if they do, they pass through quickly. We had a very nice sail across with headsail only and doing about 5.5 knots on average. Very comfortable – and a small tuna caught along the way that we released. We were even able to sail once we got inside the reefs along the coast.

We settled into a place called Toba Basaga near the village of Verevere. The bay has a narrow entrance with long rocky spits that come out from the land on each side of the entrance. Then there is a large rocky "island" in the center of the bay. We nestled along the eastern side in about 35 feet of water. It looks like a good sandy/muddy bottom.

There are three villages around the bay – two near the shore and one quite a way up a hillside. We were surprised at how much damage there was here from cyclone Winston. There are still several tents and many homes being rebuilt. The sound of chainsaw competes with the roosters! We didn't think that Viti Levu was that hard hit – but it seems this northeast corner of the island certainly had a lot of damage.

We were visited by a fishing boat with Simi, Tom and young Tom and "boy" (that was his name). They came aboard and we learned about the villages and the area. We were invited ashore the next day to the village of Verevere which is a bit hidden from where we are anchored.

On Saturday, we went ashore and met Simi again, who happens to be the "Toronga ni koro" or headman. We did our "sevusevu" with him in his home. We learned lots more and got a nice tour of the village from Ben. There is much rebuilding still going on and still a lot of bare foundations left standing(albeit a little crooked) from the cyclone. This village was very lucky though because their water supply is from a deep spring and the dam remained intact and they were never without fresh water. They have lots of well built concrete sidewalks throughout the village and pretty gardens right in the village. In fact, there was even a horse and an few goats in the village. The horse looked like he was looking through one of the windows in a house. We were told of a waterfall nearby – so we may head there on Monday. We had hoped to do a snorkel today – but the wind has picked up again.

We will work our way along the north coast and slowly make our way around the northwestern corner to get towards Vuda Point where we will clear out of the country. Don't expect to see many boats along here, but you never know.

It is a pretty bay with lots of bird song in the morning. Many people (mostly women) fish from small rafts and boats in the afternoon. This is a nice spot and even with the wind there is little to no roll and good holding.
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At 9/17/2017 2:14 AM (utc) S/V Astarte was located at 17°32.56'S 178°22.75'E

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