We had a pleasant sail to the Astrolabe Reef area just north of the island of Kandavu. We caught 2 mahi mahi. One was huge and we ate from it for days. We anchored in Naqara Bay on Ono island. We headed into the village immediately after anchoring to do our sevusevu with the chief. We brought the smaller mahi mahi to give it the boarding school, but the chief decided that he would distribute it appropriately. We are pretty sure only his family ate well that night. We did go visit the school and they were definitely in need of things. Axel warmed up to the kids and they started playing a chasing game. He ran, and they chased him as fast as they could. Axel had about 20 kids running after him. He of course loved it and got goofy by pretending to run into the flag pole and falling down. They all started imitating him falling down, then they all just started running back and forth.
The kids chasing/running with Axel
In the morning Gigi and I had some fantastic snorkeled. When the wind shifted NE we decided to move to anchor behind Buliya island just off a gorgeous white sand beach. We made a massive bonfire, Malikalalou joined us, and Gigi made graham crackers so we could make s'mores.
The following day we went to the village to present our sevusevu to the chief. The village was on the other side of the island and was very clean, landscaped and beautiful. We did a quick visit with the chief and were on our way to get out snorkeling again. At a nearby island there was a pod of giant manta rays. Unfortunately we scared them off with the dinghy, but the snorkeling was still beautiful. We came back the next day more cautiously and were able to snorkel for a long time with four rays. They are magnificent creatures with wing spans about 12 feet that look like they are soaring through the water.
Gary with the chief
The massive manta rays
The following day we went to Dravuni island briefly to do our sevusevu, so we could anchor off Namara island. The water around Namara was like gin, you could see the bottom at 80 feet depth. We took the dinghy out to Alcracity Pass for some incredible snorkeling in the clearest water. Huge varieties of soft and hard corals, millions of small fish everywhere, unfortunately for Gary no big fish to spear, but he shot 4 smaller fish.
Snorkeling at Alcracity Pass
Our plan was to head to the west end of Kandavu for some surfing,
but the weather was not going to cooperate. In a few days the winds were
supposed to pick up to 25+ knots with 3 meter seas and stay that way for 5
days. The anchorage at the west end of Kandavu is not great and we figured we
could have 1 relatively calm night before it got really lumpy, and then the
surfing would be blown out, so we decided to head for Yanuca to get 1 good day
surfing at Frigates Pass before the stormy weather. Unfortunately the waves
were actually too big for surfable conditions at that break. Fortunately as we
left the Astrolabe Reef we caught a huge walu and a big tuna.
We spent a few days at Yanuca with Nautilus, Exodus, and Fluenta,
so the kids were excited. Yanuca had a nice beach and good snorkeling, and
great diving, but we didn't manage to scuba. The seas and wind built while we
were there and so it was not enticing to go out diving.
Cheers,
Julie
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