Another day of motoring. At times we had up to 10 knots of wind but mostly it was on our nose. On a couple of occasions we were able to get the headsail out to assist but not by much. Our destination was the old volcanic cone that is Matangi Island. We had mixed luck fishing along the way. Something took the lure on the fishing line and ran away with it. It was exciting for a moment as the line went zinging off but it went limp. Near the tip of Taveuni we caught a smallish mackerel on the pink squiddy. I put the big safety pin through it’s lower jaw so we could spend a moment to identify it. I must have messed that simple operation up as the pin was soon open and fishless. I’m pretty sure it was a mackerel similar to the nasty spanish mackerel prevalent off the coast of South America so maybe it wasn’t a good eater but now we’ll never know.
Along the way we had a little cheer when we crossed from East to West over the 180 degree longitude meridian. We decided we were all a day younger. We also passed (more specifically were passed by) El Regalo who’d been anchored Somosomo, Taveuni. On arrival in the bay we were treated to the sight of a beautiful bay with turquoise waters, colourful corals and surrounded on three sides by steep, tree covered cliffs.
Once anchored Helen and I went out in the dinghy to check depths around the boat and make sure there were no threatening coral heads. There was a little beach with a hut and a couple on it. We dinghied over to see if it was connected to a resort on the other side of the island. We were immediately threatened by the guy who didn’t seem interested in our lack of desire to come ashore but more interested in threatening to call the resort and have us expelled. He pointed out he’d “paid a lot of money the have the place the themselves.” Perhaps he should ask for his money back as all the beaches in Fiji are public up to the high water line. We would have been in our rights to go ashore as it was low tide at the time but despite his rudeness I had no desire to ruin their day.
Back on the boat we all took off snorkeling from the back steps. The water was a little murky but still allowed us to view some fascinating coral and fish.
The afternoon was spent relaxing, reading, sleeping and watching the colours change as the sun set. I did a repair job on our VHF mike as the speaker wire was not forming a good connection. Colin helped me with a small repair to the sail slider which had come out of the baton. Helen cooked a great curry for dinner which was complimented with a few bottles of vino.
I’d lost track of days. We’d planned on two full days anchored off Taveuni to do some land exploration there. I had thought that gave us time for two nights over here but we only have one. So today we’ll head the seven or so miles back to the tip of Taveuni and settle in there.
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