Wainunu Bay, Bligh Water
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Thu 15 Jul 2010 08:29
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16:55.680S
178:59.275E
Thursday 15th July
When leaving Savu Savu we headed south west
to make our way through Bligh Water to Musket Cove and Malololailai Island on
the Western shores of Viti Levu (the south island). Bligh Water is a daylight
passage only with many snug anchorages surrounded by reefs. Some of the
soundings taken by Bligh while being chased by Fijian war canoes through these
waters survive on British Admiralty charts to this day! How he made it through
here within out hitting a reef I just don't know, they're everywhere. The main
passage into the reef system was 0.16 mile wide so Amy was at the bow reef
spotting again! We anchored at Wainunu Bay at the end of the pass with
Miss Tippy and Peregrina as we planned on diving in the pass. We arrived around
14:30 which was the wrong time to dive as the current would be too strong and
literally spit us through so another dive site was located, a coral reef
just behind the boats. Paul, Paul, Amy, Brian and Peter tied onto a post and
went down to around 20 metres. Visibility wasn't super but the coral and fish
seemed to get better the further round the reef they went and they had a good
time.
  Amy was at the bow keeping an
eye out for reefs...To the right were some fishermen
  Miss Tippy weren't far behind
as we entered the anchorage
On the way to the anchorage Miss Tippy
caught a huge Mahi Mahi and invited us round to share it with them. Linda was
very relieved as a little incident around half an hour earlier meant that Paul
lost his line and lure! Whilst setting the line up to trail behind the boat the
main suddenly started to wind itself in. Paul rushed into the cockpit to find
linda's foot on the button, he caught it just in time so the panic was over
relatively quickly. BUT in rushing to the cockpit Paul had left the line to run
out and it wasn't tied on at the end so he lost the line and the lure. The
Tippy's saved the day as Paul was complaining that he could have caught a Mahi
Mahi if he hadn't lost his gear. Sheila prepared a huge spread, there were
around 6 different curried dishes, it was a banquet! Later in the evening
the girls surprised Amy with a birthday cake with 24 candles. It was
completely unexpected, in fact she was actually half asleep in the
corner as they came up the stairs, Linda had to give her a prod to get her
awake and alert. Charlie and Brian played the guitar into the early hours and we
all had a fantastic evening!
  Linda holding our dinner before
Sheila got to work on it............Charlie surprising Amy with a
birthday cake
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