Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

The main event of the day was swimming with the mantas. We dinghied to the pass just north of us and soon found two large manta rays swimming backwards and forwards in the narrow patch of water between the reefs north and south. They were clearly visible from the surface with their wing tips frequently in the air.

We anchored the dinghy and jumped in the water. As hard as we swum we were going nowhere as the current was pretty strong. Helen found the water too choppy to reenter so she handled the dinghy taking me up current to the mantas where we both drifted past them. The water visibility was pretty poor so Helen had to spot them and give me directions to swim. After repeating this whole process a few times I managed to get close to them on a few occasions and managed to take a few photos.

Unlike the mantas we saw back in Maupiti last year these were black top and bottom making them look like living stealth bombers.

Swimming in the current I soon became tired. We took the dinghy half way back to the boat where we both entered the water and drifted over the reef in what was left of the current. The visibility here was much better than the pass and the reef quite colourful. At one point we spotted a huge, and probably tasty, grouper.

That was our main activity for the day. In the evening we started watching the Game of Thrones series. This was interesting, in a way, as we are both still reading the book. The production was pretty close to the book and in no way spoiled the read. It’s an interesting way to absorb a story.

Today we don’t have a great deal planned. Having seen the mantas we’ll move the boat. Chances are we’ll only go about 4nm to the north to a new anchorage.

The weather, recently, has been terrific and, fingers crossed, it looks like we’ve plenty more of the same ahead of us. Even when we were back in Denaru for the dentist visit we had clear blue skies so it’s definitely a change in the weather. Can’t complain.

We had absolutely no reason to stay any longer in Denaru so as soon as we were both awake we left. The Fiji marine forecast had a strong wind warning with easterly winds of 20-25 knots. That had put some folks off but we were keen to go. One can always reef down in strong winds. That being said, we also anticipated some wind shadow from the mainland.

Having left the harbour we were soon in a fresh breeze and were sailing along on more or less flat seas. Could it get any better than that? It didn’t. The anticipated wind shadow soon appeared and left us with 2-3 knots of wind from the west for the next 2-3 hours. We had no choice but to motor. When the wind finally found us it was strong. We were glad we’d left a reef in the main as the wind was now in the forecast range.

On the way we’d been in contact with Dreamcaper as we had a planned rendezvous with them. Boree had overheard us on the radio and we were soon in contact with them. Unfortunately their plans had them heading south down the group to which we’re heading so we’ve missed our chance to meet up with them.

We approached the area of the Manta Ray Resort from the south making our way through the cut that separates the island of Nanuya Mbalavu from the island to the east. The resort is so named after the manta rays that frequent the pass to our north. Some of our friends have had a great experience here with the mantas while others have waited many days and missed out.

The anchorage was pretty packed when we arrived. There clearly had been some excitement as many people had just returned and on questioning the boat next to us the mantas were in town. Without rushing and endangering ourselves or the boat we anchored Dignity as quickly we could, dropped the dinghy and headed around the corner to see if we could join in. By then the action was over and we no success finding the mantas.

Back at the anchorage the boats were turning and some were leaving. We were now too close for comfort to one of the other boats so we raised the anchor and dropped it where we now had more room.

In the evening Portia and Steve from Dreamcaper joined us for dinner. We first met them back in the Galapagos last year. They’d left their boat in Tahiti and carried on this year ahead of the main 2011 puddle jump fleet. Our meeting up will be fleeting as they too are on their way to Australia via Vanuatu this year and will be leaving Fiji by the end of the month.

We’ll hang around here today and hope to catch the mantas. An hour or two before high tide is supposed to be the best time. As high tide occurs at at 2:33pm today this should work out well. Fingers crossed.

Helen’s tooth has been fixed. The dentist did an excellent job rebuilding the outside of Helen’s tooth which had fallen away. In the medium term, a crown is needed but for now we’re good to go. And go we will.

I really can’t believe it but here we are, back in Port Denaru, after a mere two day escape.

The reason for being here is simple. Helen’s tooth really needs to be fixed. Looking at the weather forecast yesterday morning there was no decent sailing window back to the mainland. There was one, maybe two days of light winds followed by strengthening trades right from the direction we’d want to travel. So it was stay out for an indeterminate number of days or motor back. The choice was obvious.

Where to go was not. I was not keen on returning to Port Denaru. Once out of Nevadra I was able to access the internet via the Vodafone network. There were many more dentists in Nadi than Lautoka. I called a few and they all closed at 1pm not to open until Monday. We considered stopping at Treasure Island for the night before completing the journey on Sunday but in the end opted to push on and make it all the way. Because Nadi had the greater number of dentists we reluctantly returned to Denaru.

I had called ahead to secure a mooring but by the time we arrived they’d given the two spare ones over to folks who arrived before us. We are therefore anchored further away from the center of things. Good in that it’s free, quieter and cooler but bad in that we can barely access the free internet ashore. I’m hoping we can get the work done quickly and get out of here sooner rather than later.