SAILING THE NORTHERN & EASTERN REGIONS
Fiji has 333 islands and distinct regions. We left the Mamanucas and Yasawa Group in the Western Region and over the past two months we have been sailing the Northern and Eastern Regions in Fiji, sailing 707.7 NM. The Western Region is the drier region of Fiji and the Northern area has a completely different climate, a lot wetter and with plenty of rainforest and lots of little microclimates in between. Only about 2% of international tourists get to the Northern and Lau Group and there is so much to experience. We are very lucky to get to experience it sailing.
We sailed over the Bligh Water passage and the bottom coast of Fiji’s second-largest island, Vanua Levu ending up in Savusavu to provision and refuel. Vanua Levu is more open (compared to Viti Levu, which is closed), so we were able to go to our first Fijian Market and explore more in general.
Next, we headed to Viani Bay, which is inside the Rainbow Reef, famous for diving. There we met boats with teenagers aboard (who we are still sailing around with, give or take a few days). Being surrounded by teenagers was a novelty after a few months with minimal teenager contact! We did a lot in Viani Bay, from paddle boarding missions, snorkelling, coral planting (read the blog post here), water sports, walks, and potluck dinners. We also got to experience watching an All Blacks versus Fiji rugby game with the locals!
One of the nights we had a campfire with the local village. I experienced my first Kava drink. Kava is a Fijian root that is made into a powder, generally served in liquid form. The name ‘Kava’ comes from the Pacific word ‘awa’ which means bitter. It is known for its relaxing benefits and is generally had in a Sevusevu ceremony. I defiantly noticed the bitterness as it tasted like murky water which left me with a fizzy tongue. I also noticed the relaxation benefits, as I slept very well that night!
On one of the Sundays in Viani Bay, we were invited and attended the locals village’s church service. The church services have been cut to two families per service because of Covid, despite this, they welcomed us with open arms and we had our service on the Pastor’s front porch in the warm breeze. The locals had never had two white women attend their church and made us feel very humble. We were invited back for lunch and were able to give some first aid kits for the Pastor to give the local communities he serves. The Gospel read was Genesis 2, Versus 17-25 and the message was that God wanted us to know was he is always around and the good he has done. Even though it was mostly in Fijian, we sang along the best we could and enjoyed listening to them sing most of all.
The best day in Fiji, so far, has to be my birthday. The locals took us over in a longboat over to Taveuni, also known as ‘The Garden Isle’. It is a large tall island that has a huge amount of rainforest. Our group hired a van to be able to get around the island. There is a spot in Taveuni where the International Date Line runs through - so essentially you hop from yesterday to today! We were lucky to have great weather to be able to explore the Tavoro Waterfalls, a decent hike up past three waterfalls to one final one where we could jump off the top! After a stop in the local village for a quick provision, we then made it to Taveuni’s natural rock waterslides - these were so much fun! Once we arrived back, we all met back with the locals and had a potluck dinner, more kava, and I was given a huge birthday song with a carved coconut. A wonderful day shared with awesome people.
We have stopped off at Paradise, a yacht-friendly resort on Taveuni a couple of times to provision and also meet up with people before journeying on. As we started heading to the Eastern Region, we spent a night in Matagi Anchorage in Qamea Island (Horse Shoe Bay). The water was very clear, being able to see right down to the anchor 20 metres down and great snorkelling, with some big fish!
The next day we planned to go to the Bay of Islands (in Fiji not New Zealand!) in the Northern Lau Group. It is a decent open water and we ended up delaying a day and unintentionally circumnavigating Qamea Island, to a northwest pretty little anchorage. We are still mindful of meeting locals, but we swam out to a couple of people fishing and they were hugely pleased to see people. In short, we ended up being able to supply the kids with printed schoolwork and in return, they provided us with a box of incredible homegrown vegetables.
We had a smooth 60 NM sail east to the Bay of Islands - a warmer New Zealand twin with its’ green landscape, bright blue water and many little volcanically formed islands in a bay! This was a completely different Fiji again! Very remote, no wifi and no villages in the immediate area. There were many explorations around all of the different inlets that were created from the rock formations along with cave hunting. One of the caves in particular only appeared in low tide and you could paddleboard all the way in it. Another cave had lots of graffiti in it from past cruisers along with many bats. We had a movie night and even made homemade marshmallows, which are better than store brought ones (the recipe) and I also learnt how to fillet a fish.
A decent sail back from the Eastern region, we spent a bit more time in Viani so mum could get her free diving ticket, another stop in at Savusavu and Costeau’s and then we went down to Koro Island for a night. This was different again, cooler and a bit more like NZ. Nobody is allowed on the island here, but we enjoyed having a look around from the yacht and the tender.
We also had a night out at Namena Island, which is home to another famous diving reef in the middle of the ocean. It has been pretty cyclone damaged and is just coming back, though the diving resort is still currently closed.
We had one last stopover in Savusavu and Costeau’s waiting for a weather window to head back over the Bligh Water passage. This was also great catching up with people and schoolwork. We had a tour of the Koko Mana Cocoa Farm and Chocolate Factory, which was really interesting to see and delicious chocolate to eat! Alongside of making their dark chocolate making (which only has cocoa and sugar in it), they also promote sustainable farming in Fiji. Educating others on how to help the environment.
Off West, we retraced our tracks to Bua Bay for the night and then headed to Yadua Island the next morning. Yadua Island is a small island to the west of Vanua Levu (the second biggest island of Fiji), is one of the hidden gems of Fiji and has one of the only two protected islands in Fiji (for iguanas). As you head into Cukuvou Harbour, you enter a small passage that has ‘horns’ of coral reef on either side. Snorkelling theses ‘horns’ was the best snorkelling we have had so far in Fiji. The coral was so healthy and bright and even seeing a turtle on the first snorkel there… it shows what the coral is like without humans around. There were many amphitheatres, caves and inlets to explore, seeing even more brightly coloured fish, turtles and even a white tip shark!
We have just come 63NM from Yadua Island through the Bligh Water passage back to the Yasawa Group and the Blue Lagoon to begin with. We have been in the Northern and Eastern Regions for exactly two months, leaving from the 8 July, returning the 8 September. We will head back down towards Denarau and Musket Cove in the next week and hope to reunite with our family at Cubi. More adventures await…
Total Nautical Miles Sailed: 2952.5 NM
