Viani Bay - 16 45.119S 179 54.102E
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Mon 4 Jun 2012 09:54
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The wind's come round as forecast and we've moved further into
the bay, but not without the anchor and chain having more battles with the
coral. We ended up anchored in 80ft last night. That's not a problem until
you find the chain's stuck on coral. 80ft is then a very long way down to go to
clear it! Luckily most of the other yachts are here as it's some of
the best diving in the world, so like us they all have dive tanks. However,
with my leg I'm not keen to go in the water. Not a problem though as the others
stopped by after their morning dive and one went down to have a look. The chain
was tightly wrapped around one coral bommie and tangled on a
second. Before he went down we had agreed that 1 minute after he
started his decent we would dump chain. This meant he had tight chain to descend
down, so quickly getting to the place were it was caught, and then loose
chain to be able to unwrap it. That worked and when he came back up he gave
directions on how we should motor around to untangle the rest of
it. That all worked and we were free to head for the new anchorage in the
bay. It's a truly lovely spot and well sheltered. Being first to leave
we got a good spot and the other 3 followed and anchored close
by. But we're all in about 70ft of water and it's coral again, so fingers
crossed that we don't have a problem when we come to lift the anchor.
By the end of the day another 5 boats had come in so having been empty
when we arrived at lunchtime there are now 9 yachts here, but there's
plenty of room. We hope to stay here, or elsewhere in the bay, until my leg
heals to allow me to get in the water, so at least another week or
so.
 We're anchored off what is an island at high
tide. At low tide a causeway to the left of the mangroves
uncovers connecting
the island to the mainland. A
Fijian family lives on the Island in a house behind
the trees (not the wooden
building in the picture). They're
happy for people to go to the beach and swim
off it, but most people
just swim off the back of their
boat.
 The causeway just under the
water.
 Above and below, views around the
anchorage.
     That's over the causeway and across the Somosomo
Strait to Taveuni (still under cloud!).
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