Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

We had quite light winds so we motored up the west coast of Nathula Island and anchored beneath Sawa-I-Lau. On the way we had two lines out and snagged a nice sized Walu which we bled and kept to be given to the Nabukeru villagers later.

After lunch and a rest we all piled into the dinghy and headed ashore. We had hoped to meet our previous friendly guide, John, but he’s been away on the mainland. He had been expected to return on the boat that day but he’d apparently missed it. Hopefully we’ll see him today. We gave away our fish to the locals who met us on the beach – they were quite pleased – before heading off to visit the school.

We’d brought some supplies for the school. Janine had brought a few things from Australia and we had the school supplies that Anne and John had brought but had been unable to donate as it had been stuck in their delayed luggage. After donating the supplies we were allowed to visit the classrooms. The first was a computer lesson. We were bowled over to see the kids working on about 12 laptops which had been a gift from the Melbourne Rotary. They were all playing hangman and seemed to be enjoying despite the fact that the phrases they were guessing (observed examples being “Cray Research” and “The Milagro Beanfield War”) had to be pretty meaningless to them. I was pleased to see they had other software, one which reinforced times table knowledge by firing random questions – the best way to learn I believe.

After visiting the school we decided to climb the hill behind making it all the way to the top to see the fantastic views from there. After a needed rest we descended back down to the village where we were given some fresh coconuts to drink from and a couple of papaya. We also bought a few bananas from one of the locals who also asked for some cream for a nasty condition on his ankles. After dropping everyone at the boat Brian and I returned with some cream. Our next request was for some ice as someone had hurt their elbow. That we could do so another round trip. We had feared to return to a ward load of ailed villagers with new requests but fortunately that was that.

This morning we’ll visit the caves before the ‘crowds’ arrive. Visitors are brought up from nearby resorts so we want to beat them to it and have the place to ourselves. Fingers crossed for John’s return so we can repeat the climb up to the white rock and perhaps view sunset there.

One last hope for today will be some lobsters. One of the villagers offered to catch some for us last night. If they’ve had any luck they’ll show this morning sometime. My mouth drools.

In the morning we took a walk around Nanuya Island this time going around anti-clockwise. This meant we walked along the beach first, quickly, trying to avoid the passengers soon to disembark from the Blue Lagoon cruise ship. This was all timed for low tide so we could wade through the mangroves between Nanuya and Turtle Island. After a scramble over the rocks we visited the tea shop but found it closed. We returned through the backpackers resort on the east coast and along the path over the top of the hill above the Nanuya Island Resort. There we tried to book a meal for the evening only to find the place fully booked.

Later on in the morning everyone bar me went for a snorkel off the reef near to the beach used by the cruise ship. There the fish appear to be hand fed so are quite abundant and not shy. I had a few things to sort out so I got on with that.

After lunch everyone fell asleep – life aboard is after all quite exhausting. Later I took Brian and his family back to the nearby village to give two photos we’d printed (thanks Colin again for the paper) and a small donation for the church fund. We were again invited into Seine’s home for a short while.

After this we went for another snorkel on the reef off the resort which turned out to be merely ok. In the evening we ate aboard then watched a movie.

Today we’re heading north to Sawa-I-Lau where we’ll visit the caves and take some gifts to the school.

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.

Our friends first full day in Fiji turned out to be fairly interesting although not without it’s comic disasters.

The morning was pretty sane stuff. We took the bus into Nadi where we ate breakfast. We then visited the market picking up some kava, fruit and veg. Next stop was the supermarket. I managed to negotiate two taxis into taking back to Denarau with all our shopping for $10 each. Not bad.

Soon we were off into a windless motor over to Treasure Island. We moored where we’d moored previously and ate lunch before we all went snorkeling. While snorkeling the sea chop began to slowly increase. Not a disaster at all but it took away the possibility of having nice flat seas to bob around in. This gave Holly a few problems with her snorkel but she struggled on.

After the group snorkel Brian and Janine swam ashore while Ben and Holly took the the kayak. The rest of the afternoon was spent resting while the swell built further.

By 4pm we’d had enough of the swell and decided to move around to the moorings on the far side of the island where, although the wind was now up to 20 knots, the sea was a little (but not much) calmer.

Just before 6 we took the dinghy ashore. By now the waves had picked up further. We had to dinghy into the waves to reach the beach which meant we all got pretty soaked, particularly Janine who got most of the deluge. She ended up soaked through and had to buy a new dress for the evening. Ashore we dragged the dinghy high up the beach for protection and opened the drain to let all the water out.

We paid our mooring / landing fees and settle down for a drink by the pool. Although we’d discussed coming to dinner at 7pm with a number of staff we later learned the 7pm slot was fully booked and we had to wait to 7:30pm. We did eventually eat. Three of us order steaks which were supposed to range from rare to medium but all came fairly well done. Tasty but chewy.

We decided to return to Dignity for desert. We got into the choppy water without too much incident but by the time we approached Dignity I realized I hadn’t replaced the drain plug and we were filling with water. Too late to do anything about that. Dinghying down wind was a lot easier than before but turning to land everyone onto Dignity placed us facing the chop again. Helen was first onto Dignity and first off it again as she lost her balance and fell into the water. She flew out of the water fairly quickly and the rest boarded the boat without further incident. We raised the dinghy allowing the copious amount of water to drain out.

Desert was banana flambee using some rum Brian and brought. Everyone was fairly exhausted and we all retired soon after.

Today we plan to sail as far north as we can. Hopefully we’ll reach Sawa-I-Lau but if not we should be able to reach the Blue Lagoon.

Just before 8am we moved the boat onto the dock. It requires a med style tie up where we have to drop the anchor and back in. At the time we had some squirly winds coming through which made controlling the boat in the tight space next to the big mega yacht, Nobel House, a little tricky. Worse still, I’d left the ratchet engaged when testing the manual deployment which meant the anchor didn’t drop. Helen couldn’t figure it out so I had to put the boat back into open water and sort the problem out.

Once secure I made my second trip to the airport. As it turned out, Tom on the boat to the other side of us was also going for the very same reason. We took the buses together and with my foreknowledge of the exact location of the immigration office we were able to make our way directly there. Obtaining the official letters allowing our respective crew to enter the country on a one way ticket turned out to be relatively painless as everyone who had to play a role in producing and signing it were there.

On the way back, via Nadi, we popped into the fruit market to pick up some (who’d have guessed) fruit.

It was midday by the time I returned. By then Helen had cleaned the deck and just about finished. We ate lunch, showered, then rested the afternoon. There were still a few things to do like filling up the spare can of fuel for the dinghy but not a lot.

In the evening Brian, Janine, Ben and Holly arrived. They were a couple of hours late due to complications at Sydney airport. Fortunately they had their luggage with them. We ended up staying up until nearly 1am in the morning chatting.

This morning we get busy. We’re off to Nadi for a look around and final provisioning. Once back on the boat we’ll be off. We have the possibility of half decent sailing over the next couple of days although the outlook is not as good as it appeared yesterday. By Thursday we lose the wind so we need to put some distance in before then.