Viani Bay - 16 45.119S 179 54.102E

Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Mon 4 Jun 2012 09:54
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!).