Lousy Lautoka - Arrival of the Toad
Quartermoon
Mike Share & Sammy Byron
Sat 4 Sep 2010 23:01
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Well we didn't quite make it to Beqa Island.
Something to do with checkout taking too long. That's after I finally got
up at 2pm after yet another night out with Willem and Mads in downtown Suva. The
evening started nicely with 3 couples having a drink aboard "Go Beyond" then
sushi; But started to go south as soon as the ladies left about 11pm. All I
remember were several clubs and an oath of secrecy!
So we finally left Suva a day late
and the forecast wasn't very pleasant. 25 knot winds and big seas - just
the sort of weather to do an overnight passage! We planned to stop at an
anchorage on the Coral Coast but the winds would have meant a lee shore and the
light was too bad to risk entry through the reef (no markers anywhere here - by
far the worst place to navigate so far). So we battened down the hatches
and I prepared for more evil looks than I thought possible - Oops!
It has to be said the night sail was
probably in the top 3 most unpleasant sailing experiences this trip. Not particularly dangerous but big waves breaking on the
beam and just very wet, windy and rolly. We decided to stay a way offshore to
get to the Nadi passage at first light. On arrival the charts were spot on and
we could easily have entered at night. Still you never know with new places so
caution is the name of the game here. We were both knackered so pulled up in a
little bay and anchored for a few hours of sleep before heading to Nadi to
meet Jez (aka Toad) who was arriving that evening. We had a great sail to
the airport, cruising at 7 knots just under head sail and we were both surprised
by how different this end of the island is from Suva - quite barren hills like
California Central Valley as opposed to lush rain-forest.
  We anchored in 30 knots of breeze in
a supposedly protected bay near the airport and had about 20 minutes to
clear the boat up and empty the spare cabin for Jez. The spare cabin is our
dumping ground for all our crap so it was floor to ceiling in bikes, BBQ
and assorted stuff, looked like Jez would be sleeping on deck for his first
night ;-)
Sammy transformed the boat in record
time and I picked up Jez from the jetty. It is great to see Jez,
even greyer than I remember him - apparently that's kiddo #2 for
you! It was even better watching him unpack 8 jars of Branston Pickle
& 15 packets of Lindt Chocolate ;-)
Next morning we headed to
Latouka to officially check-in for the west side of Fiji. Very little wind so we
motored the whole way. Body dragging was the activity of the trip which was
fun. First impressions were that the place was a shit hole and going ashore
only confirmed this more! Anyhow we managed to have a really nice Chinese meal
and a few beers before returning to the boat for some Ali-G and a few
G&T's.
  This morning we got some
supplies and got the hell out of there! We are now inbound to Waya in the Yasawa
Island Group. It's stunning with some interesting rock
formations resembling Yosemite that I can't wait to get scrambling on. We
have to perform Sevu Sevu with the Chief shortly so that should be interesting
and we may be drinking Cava tonight. At least the numbness will take away my
sore throat!
 3 of our friend's boats are
heading this way in the next day or 2 and Jez has plenty of kite-surfing gear so
should be a fun few days....
End of Essay, bye for
now!
PS: Missing Beqa actually turned out
to be blessing in disguise. Our friends who did go there could not leave the
boat as they had 50 knots of wind all day. That night their dinghy was
flipped, outboard and all.
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