17.13.162S 178.58.057W
Ayesha II
Tue 29 Aug 2017 23:39
SAFE ARRIVAL IN FIJI
Good morning from Vanua Balavu on the eastern fringes of Fiji, we have just had 6 officials on board and passed all the Clearing In Procedures so it is official we are in!
We arrived early on the 28th (to beat bad weather but particularly very disturbed and big seas) and were not only the only Oyster here but the ONLY boat for the first night, a first for us and a little spooky but actually quite enjoyable, then the next day the "armada" of 10 more Oysters came in. Being the first one here (it is of course always best to be the second one!) we were able to talk them in and confirm waypoints and hazards. Another first for us was coming in to somewhere where the electronic charts were notoriously inaccurate and having someone (Henry) up the mast at the first spreader (some 10m up) to spot coral heads and shallow water up ahead! We also used a new navigation app put together by local sailors here which proved superb (just as well as one of it's waypoints put us on a "drying reef" on the electronic charts!) BUT coming in initially we went super old fashioned and used two white leading markers (literally white areas on land that when they line up you are
on course) and these were very good and of course invented ahead of electronics! Even they though differed in our actual course as opposed to the one they were shown as giving on the electronic charts. It was all very tense but we were given confidence by seeing the super yacht ENO already inside and her dimensions are 90m long x 14m wide x 8m deep!
We are here at Daliconi at least until next Tuesday, with a welcome party and ceremony on the 1st of September followed by a dinghy safari on the 4th then we are not sure but starting research on our next island now. A very old fashioned and religious society out here and most islands you must make a special presentation of a Kava (no not the Spanish champagne) drink to the village elder to be approved and allowed to even walk along the beach. It is also particularly on the largest island here quite a tinder box of civil unrest as nearly 40% of the population are 3rd generation Fiji but descending from Indians originally brought in by the Brits and the indigenous Fiji population took away their right to vote in elections.
Team Ayesha
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