Western Fiji

If there's anything that characterizes western Fiji it's the calm, blue water scattered with many reefs. This necessitates daytime travel and the understanding that even in a medical emergency the local helicopters and high speed boats will NOT travel at night. The western side of Fiji is mostly a tourist area where local customs are not as strictly observed as on the east side. So, what you find there is that tourists are mostly seen as a source of revenue and local customs are a means of income for villages.

Be that as it may, we still had a great time. As usual, you have to check in boat and crew at certain entry ports. In this case, it was Latoka that we entered. When we approached the port we called the port captain and he told us exactly where to anchor before going ashore.

After checking in we went on to Latoka to let off a friend from on of the eastern islands, meet friends from DRYC and get some fuel.

When people ask about charts for the area, I have to explain that charts will give you an approximate position, but that vigilance is the name of the game. Here's our GPS position for Vuda Point.

Seeing the state of the tide and seeing another boat circling outside the harbor should have been a clue! However, we misunderstood "Wetnose" (who draws over 9 feet). We thought they said that they entered at low tide. So, when we came in this is how it looked!

BOY, were we surprised when Pat & Jim (right) told us that we had misread their email and they had not entered at low tide at all!! You can imagine how amazed they were when we came in with next to nothing under our keel! Two messages: all's well that ends well AND read your emails carefully!

Many yachties keep their boats in the ground in Fiji over the cyclone season. What they do is dig big pits, put tires around you boat and lower your boat into the pit supported by the surrounding tires. A couple of the hazards (besides coming back to a dirty bug infested boat) is taking on water and filling up the bilge, destroying your batteries with overcharging or lack of charging, and dinging up the outside of your hull when the grounds people throw stones onto your boat with their weed whackers. I'm sure there are other hazards, but our choice has been to return to New Zealand between cyclone seasons.

We left the next day for Waya and on the way we had some visitors (left).

The trip is pretty uneventful and one can be lulled into a sense of safety when really many areas are strewn with dangerous reefs. Traveling during daylight is essential.

Here's Quest and Wetnose anchored in front of the village of Waya in the Yasawa Islands of Western Fiji. These islands are often frequented by Europeans and as a consequence European visitors often feel like an ATM.

You can see that their homes are quite upscale. This is a consequence of the industry of the village.

You see some of the interesting beadwork that the villagers sell to visitors.

On the right you see one form of house construction using woven bamboo for the walls and the traditional thatch roof. Modern doors and windows are more available to this village than you see in the eastern islands.

The Yasawa Islands are quite beautiful. We enjoyed traveling through them with Stacey & Bill.

Stacey and Bill are now demonstrating our enjoyment of one of the four major food groups - determined (after a great deal of research) to be: caviar, pate, cheese and wine. Unfortunately for breakfast only caviar (with lox and cream cheese) was being served. As Bill so aptly states, "Quest is a Hell ship!" The deprivations are huge ;-)!

We especially enjoyed the snorkeling at Octopus Island Resort. Yachts are welcome to anchor in the bay and come ashore to enjoy food, drinking, diving.