At anchor in Mbavatu Harbour, Vanua Balavu, Lau Group, Fiji
Position: 17 11.1S 179.00W
Weather: wind NE 25 knots, and raining heavily for past few hours
Hello from a very wet and windy Fiji. Sorry I completely failed to sign off at the end of our two day passage from Tonga. We arrived here safely 50 hours after leaving Neiafu, and it has all been pretty hectic and windy since then, so I haven't made time until now to sit down with the laptop. It's currently 11.30pm and everyone else is in bed. I am on "water watch" as we are filling the tanks from the current downpour, so I need to keep an eye on them and replace the filler caps when the time comes. I'm also slightly on anchor watch, as the harbour we are in has such high rocky cliffs all around it that the gusts funnelling through are making all the boats do circles on their anchors. Fortunately it's very big and we are all quite well spread out so fingers crossed I won't need to go out to deploy fenders in the monsoon..
Anyways, back to the passage.. Our second night at sea was fast and rolly, and although it was a difficult motion for sleeping, because some of the rolls were rather extreme shake-you-awakers, it was great for us to get used to our downwind sail plan. We had to time our passage so that we arrived at the reefs east of Vanua Balavu in daylight, and with the wind and waves pushing us along at 7-8 knots, we had to reduce sail dramatically to keep our speed down to 6-6.5 knots. With about one third of our jib poled out to port, and a similar amount of genoa on the starboard side, plus our staysail for a bit of anti-roll action, and we managed to time the passage to perfection. We could tell we had got it just about right, as we had 12 other boats from the fleet showing up on our AIS screen as we got closer to Vanua Balavu. There is a reef the whole way around the island, and our task was to find our way to and through the "Tongan passage". There are no channel markers, buoys or leading lights. The only thing that confirms that there is a gap in the reef is a bit of sea without waves breaking over it. GPS is great, of course, but not bullet proof. Several people using raymarine chartplotters reported that their electronic charts were out of position by about half a mile, which just shows why it is important to look where you are going, and not just at your gadgets. Navigating in reefs, coral heads, uncharted waters and without many / any navigational marks is completely new to us. Before we left New Zealand, Angus got us brilliantly set up with several different systems on numerous devices, and we are basically using all of them for the tricky bits, plus our eyes of course. We have an iPad, android tablet, boat PC and phone, and we use a combination of navionics, isailor, ovital satellite images, and open CPN with CM93charts and google map images when zoomed in. For the small amount of reef navigating we have done so far, this has helped us to reconcile what we are seeing in terms of water colour and breaking waves, with what lies beneath.
From the Tongan pass to Lomaloma harbour was fairly straightforward, and we anchored there at 1100, with our "Q" (quarantine) flag and Fijiian courtesy flay flying. The rally has paid for eight customs officials to fly to Vanua Balavu for a week to clear us in here. They were supposed to be on duty from 8am until sunset. By 11.30am they hadn't even appeared, and with nine boats ahead of us in the queue, we knew our chances of clearing in on the day or our arrival were very slim. This was bad news for two reasons. Firstly, because no-one can get off an arriving boat until it has cleared customs, not even for a swim, so having got very excited about arriving in Fiji, it was a long day for the kids. And secondly, because the harbour is fairly small and not very sheltered at all, and there were 25 boats anchored very close together on a lee shore, with a choppy sea, 20-25 knots of wind, and a forecast for worsening weather. This could be counted as a downside of being one of the sheep in the flock of the rally. It was not a restful night at all, and despite setting our anchor alarm, we got up every time a squall whistled through in the night, just to check all was OK..
Luckily only a couple of boats dragged their anchors in the night, neither with major consequences, and the customs officials got themselves revved up the following day. We were first on their list, and at 0900 we were boarded by no fewer than eight officials. I put on a dress, and the children charmed them and poured them cold drinks. We made it really clear that everyone had to move from Lomaloma that day because of the deteriorating weather, so please could they work quickly, and by early afternoon the whole fleet was cleared; fortunately none of us had to stay a second night in that windy anchorage. Most of us motored/sailed 10 miles north west around the coast, to Mbavatu harbour where we are now, which the pilot books name as one of the most outstandingly beautiful anchorages in Fiji. We had several squalls with driving rain and gusts up to 35 knots on our way around here, and the visibility was not great at times - not ideal in these waters, so we could not have been more relieved and delighted to swing south in through the narrow harbour entrance and find ourselves transported to a flat calm, amazingly sheltered and absolutely stunning haven.
As soon as our anchor hit the bottom, Jack was in his swimmers and lifejacket and ready to jump over the back. We are teaching our crew to assess the conditions before leaping off the swimming platform, and they correctly judged them as very safe. No jellyfish, no current, no waves, and almost no wind. No requirement for kayaks, fenders, dinghies or adults hanging off the back of the boat. Without hesitation, they were all in, George declaring it "delicious" and Eloise "like swimming in hand moisturiser", which I think meant she thought it was lovely. Gradually all the other kid boats arrived, and before long there were little adventurers scattered across the water in all directions, paddling kayaks and paddleboards, swimming, smiling, laughing, waving, and setting off on their own very important personal voyages to see their friends again, saying "Bula, welcome to Fiji!". Darkness fell unexpectedly early; we are back on New Zealand time here. It was pitch dark by 5.30pm, so the kids and I were back on the boat making supper in good time. Angus got side-tracked on his paddleboard with the offer of "a quick drink" on another boat, and didn't reappear for quite some time, but that's another story!
Today we finally set foot on beautiful Fiji. We the most amazing walk on the island, through lush green fields and up steep muddy tracks, past sheep with their young lambs, and horses and pigs, and the simple houses where the local farm workers live. There were isolated coconut palms and lime trees, and dense jungle, with the call of birds filling the air, and some kind of "ooo-oooh" noise, which we could have sworn was a monkey swinging through the forest. We were with several families, so it was a standard all-ages walk, with some speedy front-runners charging ahead, a bunch of parents carrying a few children in the middle, and a gaggle of slow-coaches bringing up the rear, being bribed with food to keep going. It was an hour and a half to the top, and we were rewarded with a spectacular view of what is to come; the Bay of Islands, on the west coast Vanua Balavu. The children found their stride with new friends, and one of the lovely things is that age is not a barrier to friendship in the same way as it might be at home. Jack, who is three, walked the whole way down chatting to his six-year-old friend, Tasman, and Eloise arrived back at the dinghy dock having discussed books and arranged several electronic book swaps with two Australian brothers, aged nine and twelve. Let's hope we can manage the tecnhology behind that..
It's definitely time to sign off now. The water tanks are full to the brim and I've closed the caps. The rain is still getting heavier and there is thunder and lightning to add to the mix. The wind is all over the place and all of the boats are pointing in different directions, but we haven't swung anywhere near anyone else yet, so I think it's safe to go to sleep, if that's even possible with the noise of the downpour. We have no Fijian SIM cards as yet, so will be relying on our boat email and lovely Rosie to post blogs for the next few weeks. I don't think we'll manage any facebook or instagram photos for quite some time, as the Lau Group is a very remote area; we are so lucky to be here to explore it.
Lots of love to all,
Laura, Angus, Eloise, George and Jack xxx
Weather: wind NE 25 knots, and raining heavily for past few hours
Hello from a very wet and windy Fiji. Sorry I completely failed to sign off at the end of our two day passage from Tonga. We arrived here safely 50 hours after leaving Neiafu, and it has all been pretty hectic and windy since then, so I haven't made time until now to sit down with the laptop. It's currently 11.30pm and everyone else is in bed. I am on "water watch" as we are filling the tanks from the current downpour, so I need to keep an eye on them and replace the filler caps when the time comes. I'm also slightly on anchor watch, as the harbour we are in has such high rocky cliffs all around it that the gusts funnelling through are making all the boats do circles on their anchors. Fortunately it's very big and we are all quite well spread out so fingers crossed I won't need to go out to deploy fenders in the monsoon..
Anyways, back to the passage.. Our second night at sea was fast and rolly, and although it was a difficult motion for sleeping, because some of the rolls were rather extreme shake-you-awakers, it was great for us to get used to our downwind sail plan. We had to time our passage so that we arrived at the reefs east of Vanua Balavu in daylight, and with the wind and waves pushing us along at 7-8 knots, we had to reduce sail dramatically to keep our speed down to 6-6.5 knots. With about one third of our jib poled out to port, and a similar amount of genoa on the starboard side, plus our staysail for a bit of anti-roll action, and we managed to time the passage to perfection. We could tell we had got it just about right, as we had 12 other boats from the fleet showing up on our AIS screen as we got closer to Vanua Balavu. There is a reef the whole way around the island, and our task was to find our way to and through the "Tongan passage". There are no channel markers, buoys or leading lights. The only thing that confirms that there is a gap in the reef is a bit of sea without waves breaking over it. GPS is great, of course, but not bullet proof. Several people using raymarine chartplotters reported that their electronic charts were out of position by about half a mile, which just shows why it is important to look where you are going, and not just at your gadgets. Navigating in reefs, coral heads, uncharted waters and without many / any navigational marks is completely new to us. Before we left New Zealand, Angus got us brilliantly set up with several different systems on numerous devices, and we are basically using all of them for the tricky bits, plus our eyes of course. We have an iPad, android tablet, boat PC and phone, and we use a combination of navionics, isailor, ovital satellite images, and open CPN with CM93charts and google map images when zoomed in. For the small amount of reef navigating we have done so far, this has helped us to reconcile what we are seeing in terms of water colour and breaking waves, with what lies beneath.
From the Tongan pass to Lomaloma harbour was fairly straightforward, and we anchored there at 1100, with our "Q" (quarantine) flag and Fijiian courtesy flay flying. The rally has paid for eight customs officials to fly to Vanua Balavu for a week to clear us in here. They were supposed to be on duty from 8am until sunset. By 11.30am they hadn't even appeared, and with nine boats ahead of us in the queue, we knew our chances of clearing in on the day or our arrival were very slim. This was bad news for two reasons. Firstly, because no-one can get off an arriving boat until it has cleared customs, not even for a swim, so having got very excited about arriving in Fiji, it was a long day for the kids. And secondly, because the harbour is fairly small and not very sheltered at all, and there were 25 boats anchored very close together on a lee shore, with a choppy sea, 20-25 knots of wind, and a forecast for worsening weather. This could be counted as a downside of being one of the sheep in the flock of the rally. It was not a restful night at all, and despite setting our anchor alarm, we got up every time a squall whistled through in the night, just to check all was OK..
Luckily only a couple of boats dragged their anchors in the night, neither with major consequences, and the customs officials got themselves revved up the following day. We were first on their list, and at 0900 we were boarded by no fewer than eight officials. I put on a dress, and the children charmed them and poured them cold drinks. We made it really clear that everyone had to move from Lomaloma that day because of the deteriorating weather, so please could they work quickly, and by early afternoon the whole fleet was cleared; fortunately none of us had to stay a second night in that windy anchorage. Most of us motored/sailed 10 miles north west around the coast, to Mbavatu harbour where we are now, which the pilot books name as one of the most outstandingly beautiful anchorages in Fiji. We had several squalls with driving rain and gusts up to 35 knots on our way around here, and the visibility was not great at times - not ideal in these waters, so we could not have been more relieved and delighted to swing south in through the narrow harbour entrance and find ourselves transported to a flat calm, amazingly sheltered and absolutely stunning haven.
As soon as our anchor hit the bottom, Jack was in his swimmers and lifejacket and ready to jump over the back. We are teaching our crew to assess the conditions before leaping off the swimming platform, and they correctly judged them as very safe. No jellyfish, no current, no waves, and almost no wind. No requirement for kayaks, fenders, dinghies or adults hanging off the back of the boat. Without hesitation, they were all in, George declaring it "delicious" and Eloise "like swimming in hand moisturiser", which I think meant she thought it was lovely. Gradually all the other kid boats arrived, and before long there were little adventurers scattered across the water in all directions, paddling kayaks and paddleboards, swimming, smiling, laughing, waving, and setting off on their own very important personal voyages to see their friends again, saying "Bula, welcome to Fiji!". Darkness fell unexpectedly early; we are back on New Zealand time here. It was pitch dark by 5.30pm, so the kids and I were back on the boat making supper in good time. Angus got side-tracked on his paddleboard with the offer of "a quick drink" on another boat, and didn't reappear for quite some time, but that's another story!
Today we finally set foot on beautiful Fiji. We the most amazing walk on the island, through lush green fields and up steep muddy tracks, past sheep with their young lambs, and horses and pigs, and the simple houses where the local farm workers live. There were isolated coconut palms and lime trees, and dense jungle, with the call of birds filling the air, and some kind of "ooo-oooh" noise, which we could have sworn was a monkey swinging through the forest. We were with several families, so it was a standard all-ages walk, with some speedy front-runners charging ahead, a bunch of parents carrying a few children in the middle, and a gaggle of slow-coaches bringing up the rear, being bribed with food to keep going. It was an hour and a half to the top, and we were rewarded with a spectacular view of what is to come; the Bay of Islands, on the west coast Vanua Balavu. The children found their stride with new friends, and one of the lovely things is that age is not a barrier to friendship in the same way as it might be at home. Jack, who is three, walked the whole way down chatting to his six-year-old friend, Tasman, and Eloise arrived back at the dinghy dock having discussed books and arranged several electronic book swaps with two Australian brothers, aged nine and twelve. Let's hope we can manage the tecnhology behind that..
It's definitely time to sign off now. The water tanks are full to the brim and I've closed the caps. The rain is still getting heavier and there is thunder and lightning to add to the mix. The wind is all over the place and all of the boats are pointing in different directions, but we haven't swung anywhere near anyone else yet, so I think it's safe to go to sleep, if that's even possible with the noise of the downpour. We have no Fijian SIM cards as yet, so will be relying on our boat email and lovely Rosie to post blogs for the next few weeks. I don't think we'll manage any facebook or instagram photos for quite some time, as the Lau Group is a very remote area; we are so lucky to be here to explore it.
Lots of love to all,
Laura, Angus, Eloise, George and Jack xxx
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