Fiji - Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands

The Yasawa Islands to the North West of Viti Levu really are THE tourist area of Fiji - after the rural tranquility of Vatulele, it was quite a culture shock to head further round the coast and find Port Denerau Marina, complete with superyachts, a shopping centre and dozens of bars and restaurants. From Port Denerau you can take a FD$1 bus or a FD$15 (about £5)  taxi ride to the main produce markets of either Nadi or Lautoka for provisions - we opted for the taxi, who will wait for you while you shop and then drive you back to the port.

While in the area we also spent a couple of nights in Vuda Point Marina - we had some friends stuck there with engine trouble, and it was also the marina that at one stage we had planned to leave the boat.  Like all good plans, things changed, primarily because of Cyclone Winston in 2016 ... although there are ‘Cyclone Pits’ there, our yacht insurance no longer covered us in the event of a named storm.  The cyclone pits were interesting though, literally a ‘grave’ dug in the ground for the rudder and keel and a collection of old tyres round the hole for the yacht to rest on.  Having now seen them, I think we had a lucky escape!  

Fully stocked up, we set off for Musket Cove, our first really ‘touristy’ island destination.  We’d met up with our sailing friends on Jadean and headed out for a dive - it was spectacular!  A pinnacle of coral rising up from the sea bed - being a tourist area, there was a convenient marker buoy there where we could tie up the dinghies - we have now done the same dive 4 times and it never fails to impress.

Musket Cove is a magnet for cruisers - not only for the diving, but also for kite surfing and board surfing, there is even a floating pizza bar on the outer reef, a cruiser friendly bar that serves great Mojito and for kids, a water park.  Despite the obvious attractions, we dragged ourselves away and headed up to the Yasawa Islands.

Tourism is the mainstay of the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands, there is hardly a rock above the high tide level that doesn’t have some sort of a Resort on it - all the ones we have seen are small developments, mostly concealed by the palm trees but had Tom Hanks arrived on Castaway now, he would have been able to stay in a well appointed Bure and escape by Hobie Cat!

Castaway Island Resort - Tom Hanks would certainly find more than his Volleyball Wilson to talk to now!

Heading further north, it was delightful to be able to spend a few days in the uninhabited natural harbour at Navadra, not the place to be in a northerly blow, but fortunately we were able to spend a few days enjoying paddle boarding round the bay, walking on the beaches, snorkelling and even a dive on the reef in the bay.

Navadra and Vanua Levu form the bay, the blue dot is where we were anchored, we now regularly use these satellite images to navigate round the reefs - they are far more accurate than the charts we have!

We snorkelled the lagoon on the left,  and dived the reefs in the centre of the bay - lots of fish and coral.

Our anchorage at Navadra - absolutely beautiful!

Our next destination was Drawaqa, better known as Manta Ray Pass - under certain combinations of wind and tide, plankton are flushed through a pass between two of the islands, and the Manta Rays scoop them up, literally tumbling through the water with their huge mouths open, sweeping the food filled water in with their mandibles.  We were incredibly lucky, we arrived during a period of perfect Manta Ray feeding.

The water is literally thick with plankton, they look like little pink snowflakes in the water.

We stayed in the water for a couple of hours, there were quite a few other snorkellers from the resort there as well, and the Mantas seemed totally oblivious to our presence.  When they head for you, mouths open, you do really have to remind your self you are not their pray!

As well as the natural beauty of the waters here, there is also the wreck of the Salamander, sunk on purpose in 30 metres of water not far from Manta Ray Pass.  The wreck has been recently sunk so there is very little marine life on it as yet, however it is very atmospheric as it gradually emerges from the gloom of the depths.

Heading north through the Yasawas, after a brief stop at Somosomo bay on Naviti when we walked across the island in search of the wreck of a WWII spitfire that had crashed into the lagoon on the other side of the island.  We were unable to find the wreck, but our friends on Jadean managed to enlist the help of a local fisherman who took them there - the wings are gone, but the tail and fusillage are partly buried in the sand in a couple of metres of water.

We then headed on to Nanuya Sewa, famous as the location of the 1970’s film The Blue Lagoon with Brooke Shields.  We anchored in the lagoon, very well sheltered, beautiful white beaches but mostly now private resorts.  We did have an interesting time finding the local fruit and veg farm, tucked away in the mangroves it was only accessible at high tide.

Heading through the mangroves in search of a hidden farm.

It was very well organised with excellent produce - they simply picked a collection of fruit and veg straight from the ground and we bought it there and then.  

Our most northerly stop in the Yasawas was Sawa i Lau on Yasawa Island - an absolute jem.  Another fantastically well protected anchorage, much of the coastline is limestone which has eroded into amazing shapes.

Perfect for paddle boarding, but we also walked up the hill with our friends on Jadean for a great view of the island

Our yachts car visible in the distance on the other side of the bay.

At the top of the hill, with Kim and Jade from Jadean and their friends Ray and Deb.

The view along the top of the island - it became more barren as we got to the top, it’s not rained here for several months.

There are two small villages in the bay, and our walk took us through the local primary school.  There were no students there as it was a Sunday, but despite facilities being pretty basic, it still had a sports field complete with running track that any school in the UK would be proud of!

The Timetable, posted outside the classroom door.

Handwashing Drills!  

And the ‘piece de resistance’ ...  a full sized Rugby pitch!  It is their National Sport, and is even commemorated on a specially designed $7 bill in honour of their Gold Medal in the 2016 Olympics.

We are loving Fiji, and can really understand why people spend years cruising these waters - so far we have only seen a tiny bit of what it has to offer, the people are lovely, the place is beautiful and the weather (apart from hurricanes!) is great.

One final Fiji picture - snorkelling a coral reef.

Fiji - The Coral Coast, Viti Levu to Musket Cove

Nautilus at anchor in Vatulele Lagoon

Fiji is a volcanic archipelago of over 330 islands and hundreds more islets - home to nearly 900,000 people, 90% of the population live on one of the two main islands (Viti Levu and Vanua Levu to the north). The ethnic Fijians were proudly cannibalistic - a deterant to many early visitors - the traditional greeting for a commoner to a Chief was apparently “Eat Me”.  

Fiji became a British Colony in 1874, and it was the British who brought in the Indian workers for their plantations resulting in two distinct cultural groups - the Ethnic Fijians and a minority of Indo-Fijians.  Despite efforts to unite the two groups, there is still conflict at times and only Ethnic Fijians may be referred to simpoyt as Fijians.

Having checked in at Suva on Viti Levu we bought some fresh provisions from the huge market - there were literally hundreds of individual stalls, mainly selling the same locally grown produce plus a few with imported New Zealand apples and oranges.

One of the outside stalls that surround the covered market - there are tarpaulins overhead, but when it rains the preferred means of keeping your head dry is to use a plastic bag.  We bought pomelos (giant sweet grapefruit) and cucumbers from this lady for a couple of Fiji $.

The produce is sorted into piles, each pile for a fixed price - it is a very simple, no haggling approach to shopping.  The locals are incredibly friendly and have all been very happy to have their photo taken.

Eggs, spices, dried produce and Cava are all available in the covered area of the market.

Suva is a town of many contrasts - as well as the traditional produce market and crafts market, there are also large modern shopping malls and huge supermarkets.  We completed our provisioning at the giant Cost-U-Less and headed out to the islands.

Our fist stop was Beqa, just south of Viti Levu where we entered the lagoon and and had a close encounter with a humpback whale ... no photos, but it surfaced literally 10 metres in front of us.  Fortunately we didn’t make contact, but it certainly was close enough to give the helm (and presumably the whale) quite a shock!

We anchored in Vaga bay and headed ashore with Hugh and Annie to present our first Savusavu at the little village.  We wore Sulas (Fijian sarongs), covered our shoulders and removed hats and sunglasses as required by local custom and were taken by the Mayor to meet the Chief.  The Mayor presided over a short ceremony, our gifts of Cava roots were gratefully received and we were given permission to wander around the village, swim in the bay and walk inland.

The Mayor on the left, then Annie from S/Y Vega next to the Chief’s Wife.  Ian is sitting next to the Chief in his house.

The local’s houses are almost always constructed of corrugated iron, there are well tended crops and always lots of laundry drying on the line.  We walked up the hill for a view over the bay - a nice walk but the view was mostly obscured by the lush vegetation.  That afternoon one of the locals took us all out in his boat to dive on the wreck of a large fishing boat in the bay.

The primary school children are educated in a nearby larger village, but the secondary school requires a boat trip.  As usual, the children were immaculately dressed in their school uniforms.

After a couple of days in Beqa we waved goodbye to Hugh and Annie from Vega and headed on to Vatulele island where we met up with yachts Jadean and So What who we cruised with last year.  Again, Savusavu was required - Barry, Greg and Ian set off by dinghy to the village round the other side of the island from our anchorage bearing the customary bundles of Cava Roots.

Although the Navionics charts are fairly accurate in these waters, like many cruisers we also use satellite images - this shows the island and the surrounding reef on Vatulele.  We anchored off the north west coast between the two beaches, you can see the village on the north east coast, and also the run way which is now disused and overgrown following a cyclone that destroyed the resort here some years ago.

The cyclone not only destroyed a coastal walkway and damaged many of the resort villas, it also pushed the resort’s cruise ship, the ‘Reef Escape’ onto the beach - where it remains, gradually rusting away on the sand.  Apparently the resort is under new ownership and will be renovated but the ship will probably stay where it is.

The coastline and surrounding reef are beautiful.

We met a family collecting edible sea weed at low tide.  

Not too sure how much help the kids were, but they were having a good time!  The next day was Sunday so we walked across the island to church - Fijians are deeply religious, we attended the second of the three Sunday services, a Methodist service, conducted in Fijian.  Although we couldn’t understand a word of it, the singing was wonderful and the concept of the Wrath of God came across loud and clear! 

We were then invited to the Minister’s house for lunch, with food provided by various of the village families - we ate sitting on a large woven mat on the floor, visitors and the minister first and once we had finished his wife ate on her own.  We were given chicken noodle soup, yam, smoked fish in coconut and interestingly a dish made from the sea weed we had seen collected the day before - also served in coconut milk but with added chilli and smoked fish.

We learned that the sermon was on the evils of drugs and incest, and the importance of education.

The villagers were all in their Sunday best, and despite attending three church services in one day the 100 or so children were beautifully behaved.

Indo-Fijians and Fijians children clutching their Fijian language bibles played happily together outside the church after the second service before setting off home for a meal and rest before the final service of the day.

We left for Musket Cove the following day, one of the major tourist resorts, but also an area reputed to have excellent diving.

One final image - the airport waiting room, next to the disused and over grown airstrip - no longer used since the closure of the Vatulele Island Resort some years earlier.

Next stop - Musket Cove and Fiji Underwater