We left Treasure Island as soon as we could with about 10 knots of wind behind us. We managed to sail along between 4 and 5 knots for a couple of hours before the wind died on as and we began to motor. Seemed like a typical crossing to the Yasawas.
As we were motoring through calm seas we have four fishing lines out. We were first rewarded with a skipjack tuna. Helen and I would normally throw these back or save it for a village. Brian was interested in tasting it so I fileted it keeping the head in a bag. Later we caught a handsome baracuda. This time Brian got to filet the fish which now became the target for our evening meal.
The last couple of hours of the trip the wind returned. By then we’d already made our minds up to go as far as the Blue Lagoon. We were racing along at 8 knots and could have made it to Sawa-I-Lau in another hour or so but the kids weren’t faring so well and everyone was getting keen for a rest.
We sailed right into the anchorage. The last mile or two were fantastic as we had the wind but no swell.
We tidied the boat and after a quick post passage beer five of us (Helen staying behind) took to the dinghy to visit the village of Matacalevu across from us. Brian had brought some batteries for the chief handheld VHF as we’d determined his old one (last time we were here) were bad. We also had brought the fish heads and most of the filets from the skipjack as gifts. I always feel odd giving fish heads to people as I would not exactly be thrilled if a stranger came up to me and gave me two fish heads in a bag. But the Fijian’s love them so it would be a waste to throw them away.
We had a brief visit to the chiefs hut spending a short while inside. In thanks for the fish and batteries Janine, Ben and Holly were given some shell jewelry. On the way back to the dinghy we were invited into another home of a lady, Seina (I think), who was preparing to receive a pair of visitors from the resort we were anchored off. We were soon sucked into a bit of a savoury feast. Brian managed to polish of quite a lot of food while the rest of us were a little more restrained. After all, Helen was back on the boat preparing the fresh baracuda for our evening meal. Seina had 5 children and 2 nephews in and and about and some were fascinated with us, particularly Holly who is quite pale. Janine and Holly were given garlands of Frangipanis, something which would cost a fortune back home.
The dinghy ride back to Dignity was into wind and a bit of a repeat of the previous evenings soaking. Nevertheless the thrill of the village visit was not dampened, even if we were.
The fish dinner came out very well and was quite delicious. We had a bit of a mishap after when the handle fell off the saucepan when Janine was washing it off the back of the boat. I quickly made up our usual weights/line/float marker and dropped it in the 60 ft of water off the back of the boat. The line wasn’t quite long enough and the float ended up about 10ft underwater. We should be able to find it today though and I’ll have to get the scuba gear out to retrieve the saucepan.
We ended up the evening playing a few games of Fluxx which everyone enjoyed, even if the last game went on forever.
This morning I’ve dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s and signed off on our diesel conversion in New Zealand. This should now be set in stone (famous last words I know) but it’s good to know we’re now well progressed.
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