Vuda Point is a favorite yachtie marina - mostly because they have a lot of services that the yachties like: such as haul out (even for boats of >35 tons), painting, welding, restaurants, internet cafe, taxi service to town and many others. This view is the view as your boat enters (or leaves) through the reef. The sharp nasty coral on either side is a bit intimidating at first glance, especially with a side wind. 

BUT, you can see that once through the reef and tied safely to the wall, everyone cheers up! Here we are in '07 with Stacy (& Bill - not shown).

On the right is Quest with her stern tied to the shore. At spring tides you have to watch to see that you have enough depth for your rudder. Tying bow to the shore you have to watch that your anchor and bowsprit doesn't get hung up on the wooden platform.

Look how different the entrance looks at high tide. Petty benign!

Besides fixing your boat at Vuda Point, the bird life provides lots of amusement and consternation.

The birds on the right are so bold they will fly right into your boat and start eating whatever is available - usually fruit you may have left out. We finally kept our companionway covered with screening whenever we left the boat - or even when we were inside! They are so clever they work as a team: one will stay outside and tell the other one inside when the owners return to the boat. They are called "bull-bull" birds.

These myna birds are seen all across the Pacific. They're an introduced species and make a real pest of themselves.

These parrot finches are my favorite - of course because of their bright colors! They're quite small and like to flit around. Hence, they are not so easy to photograph.

Left is s/v Wetnose coming into Vuda Point marina. Vuda Point is a great place in western Fiji for yachties to gather. It's near the airport, so guests can easily find the boat. AND many repairs can be made to your boat. Just expecting to get our bottom painted this year we were surprised to find that our hull was wet inside and we had to sit and wait for it to dry out before we could paint, splash and move on to exploring the western islands of Fiji.

So here's Quest coming out of the water at Vuda Point. We were grateful that there was a hoist big enough for our boat (weighing in at ~65,000 lbs.).

We did have a very nice place to stay next door. This is how sweet the staff were. They would leave these little flowers and a little note on your bed. They also did laundry for us - a big job, once we got to move back on the boat!

Here's Scott at the fuel dock just before we leave for Vanuatu. You see the cafe and store in the background.

On the right are Peery and Jim (from Wetnose) helping with the water and fuel job.

These sails that Dennis is stowing are VERY heavy. They go in our sail locker right at the bow, where our anchor locker and windless is aft -  about 12 feet aft and low on the hull.