Qilaqila

Feeling a little tired from the previously interrupted nights sleep we upped anchor in semi-darkness and were on our way out of our anchorage by about 6am. Departure had been slowed by mud on the chain which had to be washed off to prevent it getting all into the windlass and chain locker.

We headed south and this time had a 1.5 knot current in our favour. We our own GPS tracks to reference leaving the anchorage and the tracks of another boat that had headed south once before. Using these in conjunction with constant eyes on the surf and the depth gauge got us out into deep water safely where we turned to port and headed for the Lau Group.

At this point the winds were still very light and we were motoring. By the time we cleared the east end of the pair of islands, Qamea (Nggamea) and Lauthala, the wind picked up to about 10-11 knots from the NNE. The seas were fairly flat. On a scale of possible weather conditions this was up there. A couple of extra knots of wind would have been better but this made for an easy day. Not able to sail quite fast enough we gave the boat an extra knot from the batteries, switching over to the generator to top them up from time to time. Because of the module failure charging took longer than normal but it worked out.

Along the way we passed close to the island of Naitamba and the Malima Islet and there surrounding reefs. We kept a distance of at least 1nm as space for maneuvering should we need it. By 3:30 we were making our way into the Qilaqila (Nggilanggila) Passage at the NW end of the island group surrounding Vanua Balavu. The passage was wide and had very visible range markers to guide us so we motor sailed in dropping the sails in the slighter calmer water inside of the reefs.

The light was good but now fading so we decided to take an anchorage sandwiched between the islands of Qiliqila and Vanua Balavu. The anchorage was stunning and we had it to ourselves. The rocks around us are quite different to those of the Fijian islands we’ve seen so far. We’ve heard that there may be Niue-like cave formations somewhere here so we’re quite excited.

After making sure the anchor was safe and tidying the boat we shared a beer then took a short skinny-dip together to cool down. It’s been a long time since we last did this. We cooled down in one way and warmed up in another.

Dinner was barbecued ribs (our last batch from NZ) followed by a movie. We had an early night and both slept very, very well.

It’s sunrise (stunning of course) and we’re contemplating our day. We’ve decided to go exploring in the kayak followed by some snorkeling late morning when the sun is higher. We’ll move the boat around the corner early afternoon with the sun behind us and formally check-in.