Matt and I really wanted to visit the North East islands of Fiji.  We left Viani Bay and headed to Qamea which boasts of tall mountains (300m) and deep, forrest filled valleys.  It was a short motor sail with the jib only as the wind was coming in at about 28-35 degrees.  Makes it really hard to sail at this wind angle, but it was a beautiful day and we only had about 25nm to go.

We stopped in Namata Bay on Qamea which is owned by the Mitchell Family.  We only got to meet Arthur as the other brothers were busy working.  But we had a lovely walk along the long sandy beach at mid-tide.  During high tide the beach is completely gone and during low tide we could not get to shore because there is a coral reef that runs parrallel to the beach.

We also enjoyed a lovely snorkel around the reef where we saw tons of little fish, some sea stars and some pretty coral.

Naiviivi Bay – Qamea

We took a joy ride in the big boat.  First we started out at Namata Bay and motored into the wind to Laucala Pass which is between the island of Qamea and the very exclusive and private island of Laucala.  Matt thought we could anchor here but the weather was poor so we drove in front of the legendary exclusve Como Laucala Resort.  We never planned to stop but we did want to see what the fuss was all about.

We then flipped a U-turn, unfurled the jib and motor sailed to our next anchorage called Naiviivi Bay which is a 1nm indent on the west side of the Qamea island.  It is pretty trick to get to the anchorage as it is a king tide and we arrived at low tide.  But we made it safely and it is gorgeous.

We started at the orange anchor, went east (to the right) then circled back past the original anchorage to the red triangle.

Super calm, quiet, and peaceful here in Naivaiivi Bay!  We got a little fresh water rinse and enjoyed a fabulous afternoon.

We passed this funny enclave with two beautiful palm trees growing against all odds.

Koro Island

We had a beautiful 64nm downwind sail from Qamea to Koro island.  We set the medium asymetrical spinnaker and let it ride the entire sunny day.

During this little passage we crossed the international date line and went ahead into the future where we went from East to West.  Always pretty cool but it totally screws up our instruments.

We arrived late in the day and left before dawn the next day so the only photo I have for you is one of the super blue moon. 

For the past several days we have been experiencing higher high tides and lower low tides due to the Super Blue Moon.  Unfortunately for us the first few nights were cloudy so we did not see the moon but we certainly experienced the huge tides.  But after 3 nights, I woke at 3am and got a glimpse of this special and very rare occurence.  The next Super Blue Moon will be in 2037!

We left at 0400 and had the rare gift of the super blue moon and the sunrise together.

We had another perfect downwind sail from Koro island to Yadua island.  Instead of putting up the medium asymetrical spinnaker we put the parasail up which propelled us for 72nm in under 12hours!  Pretty good day with an average speed of 6.1kt.

A small pod of dolphins came out to play with Sugar Shack.

Yadua

We arrive in Yadua and as much as I’d like to continue our travel post, I need to create a separate post for this beautiful island.  So stay tuned for more on Yadua.

Kuata Island

We leave early the next moring (0430) to make a 75nm.  It was not the beautiful downwind sail that we had for the past few days, but it was still really pretty.  We tried to fly the working sails but they kept flogging so we tried to put up our medium spinnaker.  She was only up for about 30 minutes when she decided she was done with us and just exploded.  What a complete bummer.  This is what she looked like happy and then she fell to pieces…

But, to cheer us up, a HUGE pod of dolphins came to play with us for over 45 minutes!  They were litterally leaping and jumping through the waves to come cheer us up.

Then they stayed with us playing on our bows. Certainly put a smile back on my face!

We finally arrive to Kuata island.  It was nearly sunset so we dropped the hook and enjoyed a sundowner.

Our last trip was from Kuata to Musket Cove.  A short 35nm trip / 6 hours.  It was super nice breaking up this passage across Fiji.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  We dive the legendary Rainbow Reef in our last blog post, did you see our 8 legged friend?