Musket Cove - 17 46.174S 177 11.405E
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Fri 3 Aug 2012 08:23
|
We had hoped to stay in Port Denarau a little longer,
but the marina was fully booked and as it was now spring tides, we would be
aground some of the time if on one of the buoys. Not a good prospect
with a frontal system on the way for Friday bringing strong winds and lots of
rain. So on Thursday, while winds were still light, we headed out and
covered the 12 miles or so over to Musket Cove in the offshore
Mamanuca Islands. Musket Cove is an upmarket resort on the island
of Malolo Lailai overlooking an extensive and very picturesque reef
system. It's also the mecca for yachting in Fiji. They have a
big regatta here each September and the annual Fiji to
Vanuatu (450 miles to the west) race starts from here. It is also the home of
the supposedly biggest yacht club in the world. To become a life member of
the Musket Cove Yacht Club you have to have sailed to Fiji from overseas.
Membership costs the skipper just $1 and the crew $5, so pretty reasonable
prices! Once a member you have the use of the resort facilities. There
are plush villas (bures) ashore set along the foreshore and around small
canal system, with a big swimming pool, restaurant, bar, beach bar,
activity centre etc. Between the reefs in front of the resort, and
protected by the reefs, they've laid 26 moorings for yachts. There's also a
marina pontoon that boats can moor, stern to, with the normal marina
facilities, including electricity and water, showers/toilets, a couple of
washing machines and driers, and there's a small grocery store. So it's all
very yacht friendly.
Beyond the mooring field, the reefs still give good
protection and it's a well established anchorage. Boats often spend weeks
here. The buoys are generally all taken, only costing $15 per night (about
£5.50), and we were lucky to find a free one when we arrived (another
boat had just left), but there must have been another 25 boats at
anchor. We're still exploring and finding out what's here,
but not today. The front is going through with low clouds, lots of rain and
winds between 20-25kts, so it's a day on the boat. The forecast is for the
winds to ease, but the front is going to linger over Fiji, so it's likely to
stay overcast with rain on and off for the next few days. The
Australian/New Zealand weather systems this year are continually creating
fronts that are coming up to Fiji and disrupting the tradewinds. We had hoped
it would have settled down by now, but at the moment there doesn't
seem to be an end in sight. So there's a few good days and then the next
front comes along and we get a bad week or
more.
 This is a good view of the Musket Cove
resort on Malolo Lailai , the reefs that surround it and the boats (white dots) at anchor or on moorings when the picture was
taken (back in 2005). The red X is where we're
moored (a link from our GPS enables our GPS position to be superimposed on the
Google Earth picture), so we don't have far to
go to get ashore. The tip of the next island, the bigger island of Malolo, is
at the top of the picture.
|