Waya 17:16.585S 177:06.222E
South Pacific Familyadventure 2008
Claes Brodin
Fri 13 Aug 2010 12:46
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We spent three lovely days in Navadra,and the
passage to Waya was calm allthough negotiating all the coral reefs in the Yasawa
group is demanding.Charts from Admiralty,Fiji and electronic charts are all
inconsistent with each other,and the only reasonable cruisingguide for the
area(Nigel Calder from the 90íes),is impossible to find.Nevertheless we anchored
in Nalauwaki Bay on the northern side ,well protected from SE strong tradewinds
forecasted on our gribfiles and Fiji Met. Office SSB-weather.We all went ashore
and were brought for SevuSevu with chief Boutoli.It was a serious process where
I was told twice not to carry hat in the village(strict dresscode),but our Kawa
root was accepted as a gift,and we were allowed to stay in the village.The
whole family took the path over the mountain to Octopus resort,and I went
onboard to arrange some things on Tarita.After one hour the wind had picked up
considerably(around 25-30Kts)but not from SE as predicted,but from NE!!
Nalauwaki Bay was turning in to a dangerous anchorage,and it was only 45mins to
darkness.The dinghyride ashore was a wet ride on surfwaves through the
coralreef.I ran the path over the hill to Octopus resort and found Bertha and
the children.Felix and Samuel ran back with me to Nalauwaki Bay and we managed
to get out with the dinghy to Tarita,raised the anchor and set off to manage the
worst coralreefpassage before darkness.When we passed the northern peninsula of
Waya,the sun had just dissapeared below the horizon,but I had a reasonably good
feeling of where to go since our daylightpassage a couple of hours earlier.We
passed without problems,and when reaching the protected bay in front of the
resort,Bertha was there in the darkness together with one of the locals who
guided us through the reefs before we could anchor(without local knowledge
it´s very difficult to pass through the reefs in darkness).The beer
and the dinner that followed in Octopus resort was "one of these
highlights".
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