The Great Astrolabe Reef
Sunday, June 24th – We had planned to leave Fulanga yesterday, but with heavy overcast conditions, maneuvering through the minefield of coral heads in the lagoon was not something we were comfortable doing. As special as Fulanga is, though, we need to get moving if we are to arrive in Nadi by July 7th when granddaughter Berlin flies in. We have an inbound track on our chartplotter, but it contains so many twists and turns as we threaded our way through the coral that there is no way to accurately follow it in reverse. When we entered the lagoon, we had no trouble with the passage through the reef which was quite visible or the close turn around the rock at the end of the passage. Instead, we had trouble where our guidebook said that “the lagoon opens up from here,” for in front of us, an unexpected minefield of dark rocks and coral was anything but an “open passageway”. Could we find an easier way through the maze? We take the dinghy and a depth finder out to plumb the waters, and we find that there are fewer obstacles and even slightly deeper water if we stay further east. With the readings from the depth finder and our visual confirmation, The Captain feels more comfortable about navigating across the lagoon and out the passage.
Though still cloudy today, the overcast is thinner, and some faint shadows can be seen which help to improve underwater visibility. At noon, with a little hole in the clouds above us, we decided to go for it. We raise anchor and carefully motor across the lagoon. With relief, we round the rock at the passage and then head out to sea through the reef opening.
Monday, June 25th – The passage for the rest of the day and and on through the night is under overcast skies. By late morning, we can see our destination, Matuku Island, in the distance.
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After entering the reef, we choose to by-pass an inside-the-reef passage that would take us down to the nearest village where Sevusevu would be required. We are ocean-weary and tired. It is easy to rationalize that since we are only going to be here one night, ignore Sevusevu. We do. Continuing straight ahead into a large bay., a peaceful and quiet spot opens before us with only a cluster of what look like fishing huts at one very far end.
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Our autopilot had disconnected as we had rounded Matuku, and The Captain must see what the problem is and fix it before we can take off again. Opening the aft lazarette, he sees what appears to be a pool of oil underneath the actuator. “Oh, terrific!” he exclaims, thinking that he would have to spend the afternoon installing our spare. However, the dark stain proves to be from another source that is inconsequential. The autopilot is tested, and all appears to be OK. Whether it will work or not will only be known for sure once we are underway and put a load on it.
Tuesday, June 27th – Today’s passage is on to the Great Astrolabe Reef, and once again, it is too long to do in a day. Another overnighter is required. The plan had been to leave in the afternoon, sail overnight and enter through the reef passage the following morning about 1000 when the sun is high enough to see. With the uncertainty over the autopilot’s performance, we do not now want to wait until this afternoon to find out that our autopilot is not working properly. Thus, we get underway by 0925. Once outside the passage, we enable the autopilot. At the helm, The First Mate feels the wheel. Does the autopilot have it? Will it hold? It does! We continue on our way, knowing we are going to have to slow down by at least 6 hours so we do not arrive at Herald Passage, the reef opening we are going to use to get inside the Great Astrolabe Reef, before 1000 tomorrow morning.
Wednesday, June 27th – The Great Astrolabe Reef is huge! Forever, it seems, we have circled around the northern end of it to reach Herald Passage on the northwest side. This entrance, wide and deep, is no problem. The lagoon is immense, and unlike many such lagoons, depths as we cross it are over 100 feet. No problems here except for the heavy winds that are churning up the seas.
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It takes us over an hour to sail across the lagoon to where we anchor below Naqara Village on Ono Island. Here, we know, we must go ashore and do Sevusevu. It may have been deep out there in the middle of the lagoon, but for a long way out in front of the village, it is shallow and muddy. We tie the dinghy to a pole out in the water and slowly plod our way ashore.
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Walking through the quiet village, we ask a group of young mothers striping fronds to be dried for weaving where to find the chief for Sevusevu. A few of the children run off to find this person.
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As we wait and talk with the little group, we are again impressed with how dextrous and proficient even the youngest are with sharp knives and machetes. We have seen tiny 4-year olds casually walking along swinging a 2-foot machete. Here a young boy is cutting the palm fronds into strips.
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We leave shortly after a perfunctory Sevusevu ceremony which left us wondering why we had bothered. Not totally comfortable with the dinghy out there in the muddy bay, we return to the shore. A village man accompanies us. He is the school “boat” driver and is heading off to another village to pick up the kids, but first, would it be possible for us to look at his long boat? It has a leak. The Captain does, but he cannot fix it. The hole in the bottom of the boat needs to be dried out, and we do not have the material on our boat to seal it well.
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It is not uncommon when visiting these small, remote island villages to be asked to fix something. Though the villagers have outboard motors, generators, small solar lighting units and other such basic modern conveniences, unfortunately, they most often do not have the equipment or the knowledge to fix them when even the simplest things go wrong. Over the years, we have done such repairs as re-drilled machete handles and once, with only a pair of needle-nose pliers, released an impossible tangle of fishing net from the insides of an outboard motor. So very often, these outboard motors, upon which these villagers depend for travel and fishing, are sitting up on the beach for want of spare parts or simple repairs. We have done what we could to help whenever we can.
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An event that signals excitement and a flurry of action is the arrival of the supply boat. Depending upon where your village is on the delivery route, such arrivals could be every few days, once a week, once a month or as seldom as every 6 months. It takes a lot of planning to live on some of these remote islands! A supply boat shows up in the afternoon, and like chicks around a mother hen, long boats arrive to offload valued supplies.
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Friday, June 29th – Winds for the next few days are supposed to be 30 knots from the east. Needing to find a good anchorage to shelter, we head down to Kavala Bay on Kandavu Island, still staying within The Great Astrolabe Reef. A small island grocery store is supposed to be on shore. Would we be able to buy some eggs? Maybe even a few potatoes and onions? We dinghy over to the nearby dock to find out.
There is no wandering the aisles here looking for what you want or think you want. Here, you better know what you need, for there is little that can be seen across the front counter and into the dim light beyond. Knowing exactly what we want, we walk away with eggs and a few potatoes. The onions, unhappily, are too far gone.
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As usually happens, a small group of children have gathered waiting for our exit from the store. The Captain brings out a bottle of bubbles. How the kids love these bubbles! We give them the bottle explaining to them that a few drops of dish detergent added to water will make new bubble soap. We always hope they understand and that their mothers can spare a few drops of soap if they did.
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Later that afternoon, a big catamaran shows up. Hugh Howie, from s/v Wayfinder, motors over in his dinghy to say hello and to say that he’s sorry to have intruded on our solo anchorage. That surprises us, but he, like us on Avante, is seeking shelter from the winds. The next morning, we see another catamaran in the distance approaching our bay. Is that Chuck and Annie Johnson’s Exit Strategy? It is! We motor over to them as soon as they had anchored. They had been in a bay around the island, but winds had blown them out of there. They were just glad to have made it to this quiet bay on the other side of the mountain.
Sunday, July 1st – We invite everyone over for a Potluck dinner. Hugh hails from the States. His girlfriend, Olga, is a delightful young woman from Russia, but unfortunately, she is ill that night and cannot join us. Still the 5 of us enjoy a fun evening together.
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The next night finds us all on Exit Strategy for drinks. It is there we learn that Hugh is an internet author. He writes apocalyptic novels and has sold the movie rights to a series he has written. He gives us the first book in the series, “Wool”. This genre is not one either of us has followed, but the novel is interesting. Our science-fiction aficionado son, Eric, knows of the book and the author.
Tuesday, July 3rd – Both catamarans are leaving today, headed to another island inside the Great Astrolabe Reef. We need to head on to Nadi across the notoriously windy Kandavu Passage. Winds look much better tomorrow, so we are staying put for today. As our friends slowly motor out the bay, they radio us to say that a group of Manta Rays are feeding and cavorted out in the bay. We jump in the dinghy, but they are long gone by the time we get there. All we enjoy from the outing is a downpour of rain.
Returning to the boat and with the skies clearing a bit, we head out to SUP through some of the channels in the mangroves along the shore. We have a fun time exploring as far inland as we can go. On the way back to Avante, The Captain paddled ahead and returned with the dinghy and camera.
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Of course! Leave it to The Captain: A turn down one photogenic passage finds The First Mate paddling through a forest of mangrove “arms”. “Go ahead. You can do it,” says he, and she does for a while. Until ………
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an underwater root or something snags the fin of her SUP. It stops short, but she does not. Down she splashes. Yuck! It’s muddy, slimy and who knows what else is down there? Gracelessly, she pulls herself back on her board and, now refusing to stand up, she paddles her way out of the weeds.
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Hugh and Olga had told us about a hike they had taken to an inland waterfall here on the island. It’s the highest in all of Fiji! How can we pass that venture up? We can’t. Off we go in the afternoon to find the trail that leads to a settlement of houses where we must hire a guide to take us inland to the waterfall. As forecast, the skies have cleared by the time we walk up from the dock to find the trail.
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There are no signs to lead us to this family group of houses, but we know in which direction it is, and with only one main dirt roadway across the island, it is hard to get lost. The sound of children out playing draws us up to the collection of homes. Knowing what we foreigners are there for, 4 young men offer to be our guides. Leaving the cluster of homes, we veer inland and very soon are following a narrow trail up through the dense island growth.
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The waterfall is really not that high by waterfall standards, but it is in a beautiful setting. We have been to waterfalls in the past where the much-touted waterfall is a mere trickle. The sound of the water here is heard quite a distance away, and the flow of water sparkles in the sunlight as we approach.
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No strangers to this playground, our young guides are soon in the cool, fresh water. Ah, youth! Would The First Mate not like to climb those walls and jump in!
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Like Atlas about to hold up the earth, one of our young men poses for us on a rock out in the middle of pond.
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We could have stayed here longer enjoying the play of light on the water, the refreshing pool and the brilliant green in every direction we looked, but it is nearing the end of the day. It’s a good hike back to the houses and an even longer trek back to the dock and the boat. One final photo of our group, and off we go.
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Tomorrow, we make the passage to Port Denarau. We need a few days there to spruce up the boat, refuel and re-provision before granddaughter Berlin arrives for her 3rd trip to Fiji. We have some new adventures planned for her as well as visits to now favorite haunts. What fun it will be to have a 15-year old join us!