Vatia Wharf anchorage - Fiji is a huge sugar cane producer and during this season it is cut and the stubble burnt. You can see signs of charred landscape on the hills and we ended up covered with ash.
A praying mantis landed on the boat - presumably trying to escape from the sugar cane smoke and ash.
Our final stop on Viti Levu was Volivoli, one of the few dive resorts on the barren north coast. We hired a local dive guide, Moe, who came out with us on Nautilus to dive the Nananu Passage - yet another beautiful underwater experience in Fiji!
Looking up through 20 metres of crystal clear water at Nautilus and our dinghy which are tied onto one of the dive buoys in the Nananu Passage. We would never have found this location without Moe’s guidance.
Ian underwater
We could easily have stayed a few more days diving at Volivoli, but we decided instead to head for Yadua Island off the west coast of Vanua Levu. Strong winds were forecast, but our intended anchorage would provide good shelter - there is a small village on the other side of the island, but our bay was uninhabited apart from by a group of fishermen from the mainland. They normally come over to Yadua to fish for 3 days before returning to Viti Levu with their catch but they couldn’t brave the winds in their open fishing boats so were waiting it out in shelters on the beach.
Yadua Island, with a few fishing boats on the beach.
The anchorage in Yadua - Nautilus is just visible in the middle of the bay. It’s hard to believe from this photo that it’s blowing over 30kts behind us!
Épi, one of the fishermen took us up to the highest spot on the island - actually he almost sprinted up, a flash of red in the distance, while we struggled to keep up. After about an hour we reached the lighthouse. It has not worked for a very long time.
Épi standing on top of the light house base while we try to catch our breath - the views from up there were well worth the trek.
The small island in the centre of the photo is Yadua Taba, an uninhabited Nature Reserve that is the home to the Crested Iguana. No one is permitted to land on the island after a visitor was caught stealing Iguanas for the pet market.
The little dot in the middle of the bay on the right of the photo is Nautilus.
On our last morning in Yadua the wind finally died down enough for us to explore the other side of the peninsular - sadly the beach was littered with plastic rubbish. This is an uninhabited part of the island - all the rubbish has been washed in from afar.
Our next destination was to be Kia, a tiny island north of Vanua Levu, nestled in the Great Sea Reef, the third largest coral reef in the world. We took the inner route, working our way between the reefs along the north coast of Vanua Levu. The water here is quite silty presumably from the many rivers in this area so you really have to watch out closely for the reefs.
Our anchorage, off the ‘island’ of Oadrau
We took the dinghy ashore - it took about 15 minutes to walk round the island.
Anchored off Oadrau Island, north coast Vanua Levu.
Kia Island is the northernmost island in the Fiji Archipelago, and although surrounded by the Great Sea Reef, like many reefs it is covered at high water - this would not be the place to find shelter in a storm! There are three small villages on Kia, with a total population of about 200. We anchored off Ligau, a village of 14 houses and also the location of the only primary school which has 52 students, 4 teachers and a headmaster. The teaching staff come for 3 year rotations from Vanua Levu and the older children either stay with relatives or board to attend secondary school in Lambasa on the mainland.
Lambasa Village - the houses all have large rain water tanks but the government has also installed a desalination plant. Unfortunately the operation seems to be down to one individual who is apparently lazy - it is unclear if the plant is still operational but recently a water ship was sent over to tide them over until the rainy season starts in November.
The only occupation on the island is fishing, there is a cooperative that takes the catch to Lambasa to sell, and the villagers either rent or borrow the 5 open ‘panga’ fishing boats that belong to the village. They also grow cassava, plantains and coconuts but although fertile, it is a very hilly and rocky island which makes cultivation difficult.
The villagers were very friendly and hospitable, several came on board to have a look round the yacht, we were given a Nautilus shell, lots of cups of tea and pancakes and several fish. For reasons unknown, there is an old canon at the top of one of the hills - Eli took us up there bright and early one morning to have a look for ourselves.
Eli guided us up to the top, behind him you can see the mainland of Vanua Levu 25 miles away.
It is a very narrow ridge - I’m holding on, not taking a selfie!
It is a very narrow ridge - I’m holding on, not taking a selfie!
Looking down over the village you can see the school, which of course has a rugby pitch. Nautilus is anchored just off the beach.
The islanders are very religious - these canoe shaped drums are used to call them to church on Sundays and Wednesdays.
The final day of our stay on Kia was spent diving on the Great Sea Reef.
We saw several turtles.
Clown fish guarding their anemones
Flower like corals
And lots of sharks - there were one or two circling us throughout the dive.
We now need to get some provisions and it’s time to head on round Vanua Levu - next stop Lambasa town which has a large produce market, banks and WiFi.
