We ended up leaving the rugby tournament early because a strong weather system was forecasted to come through and cause all sorts of problems for us. So, we left after the first set, 16 games in 11-minute increments. Our new destination is a small bay called Yalobi off the southern tip of Waya Island.
We pointed as high as we could to head North towards Waya. We managed to sail the first 10nm. But we just couldn’t make it so we had to turn the engines on for the last 7nm. Straight into the wind and waves. Thank goodness it was only a short distance as it was not comfortable. We got rained on several times in addition to the wind and seas on the nose.
We arrived in Yalobi Bay on Waya Island to a beautiful double rainbow, but it was only out for a short while before the wind and rain came for 18 hours straight.
The good news is that the rain has brought out the lush green hillside and created several cascading waterfalls.
When we arrived, there were 3 other boats in the anchorage. By sunset, another 4 boats arrived to hunker down and wait out the storm.
Sun Comes a Shining
Finally, the sun comes out and we are able to go ashore to do our sevusevu and walk around the village of Yalobi. We meet the chief and several locals who are more than happy to show us around their village with 58 families, a small infirmary, and a school.
There are lots of fabulous homes scattered in between the concrete houses.
We came across a monument which honors the many Fijians that died during the massive Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918. Fiji lost 14% of their population in a matter of months due to the pandemic.
We strolled along the long, beautiful, beach.
And we discovered lots of cascading waterfalls that filled the streams, water tanks and livelihood of the village.
The Yalobi hillsides and village come alive after the rain storm – so green and healthy! There was one rather large 50meter yacht that had a helicopter fly off and into the sunset.
We also found this adorable puppy that I so wanted to stuff in my backpack!
The events from this blog occurred in early September 2022. Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual events. We experience our first Fijian Rugby game in Yanuya – did you read about it on our last blog?