Vanua Balavu, Lau
NORDLYS
David and Annette Ridout
Sun 19 Jun 2005 04:53
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Vanua Balavu, Lau group
Bay of Islands
anchorage
Vaunua Balavu
19th June 2005
Our overnight sail from SavuSavu to here proved
to be something of a frustration as the wind slowly built and we spent most of
the time trying to slow Nordlys down so as to arrive after dawn. In the
end we spent just over an hour hove too. A grey dawn showed us five small
islands within four miles so it was easy to understand why few yachts came here
before the advent of radar and GPS. Currents are to say the least erratic
in strength and direction. In eastern Fiji the GPS position varies from
between a quarter and half a mile out so can be used to make an initial
approach but nothing beyond that. From then on it is the 'mark one
eyeball'.
With the overcast showing little signs of
breaking and some twenty knots of wind from astern we approached the pass with
to say the least some trepidation and I was quite prepared to abandon the
approach and stay at sea if necessary. In the event a few shafts of
sunlight appeared and the two leading marks were very visible. That these
two stone cairns were there was something of a pleasant surprise as few lights
and even fewer marks are in position in Fiji. Hurricanes destroy them and
there is no money for their replacement. At least none is made
available. With Annette high up her perch in the rigging we slowly
approached the pass and made our entry with the engine ticking over and Nordlys
doing three knots under bare poles. The anchorage off the house and
village of our host was on a lee shore and so the three of us went and anchored
some two miles away in a snug little bay surrounded by mangroves on one side and
a tree clad cliff on the other. The strange noise emanating from this
cliff we were to learn were barking pigeons and not a pack of wild
dogs. On Nordlys we celebrated the nights work with an 'anchor dram' of
ice cold Swedish schnapps and a beer. This washed the scrambled eggs down
with style. Sleep followed.
Two days later with communications established
with our host we found ourselves sitting cross-legged before the village elders
going through the sevusevu ceremony. Our gifts of Kava or yangona as
it is locally known roots were well accepted and the feeling we got was one of
genuine delight that we had come to visit them. This is in stark contrast
to the bureaucratic difficulties in getting out here. Politics, bloody
politics. A guided walk round the village and its school showed us a
community with a lot of civic pride and no signs of filth or serious poverty at
all. Returning to the elders we were invited to sit down and enjoy the
bowl of Kava they had made in our absence. Luckily this brew while still
looking like and tasting like muddy water is much milder than its Vanuatu
counterpart so even Mrs R 'enjoyed' the two coconut shells of the liquid
that were pressed upon her. We all escaped without the dreadful feeling of
a hard session at the dentist that was our experience in Vanuatu. After
one big bowl we beat a retreat and left the elders to the second. The
whole exercise appears to have been a diplomatic success. This should help
others as we have learnt that one yacht only a few days ahead of us had to
depart from Lau with the elders for some reason very upset.
Sevusevu done we retreated some five miles to
the area known as The Bay of Islands. Really a large lagoon about a mile
across with hundreds of small islands, all of which are impossible to land on
due to the steep and eroded sides. See pictue. I think that the area
is geologically limestone that has been flooded at some stage. Yesterday I
joined with one of the other couples and we took our dinghies some two miles
outside the main pass and managed to anchor on the weather side of the main reef
as the weather was so calm and the swell so little. We then enjoyed a
magnificent dive on the reef wall and the many underwater inlets we
discovered. The coral as so often was rather disappointing but the fish
were plentiful. They ranged from large multicoloured parrot fish through
many smaller species to the odd white tipped reef shark. These are about
five feet long and inquisitive but not aggressive. Friends in Lymington
who are proud owners of large many horse powered RIBS would laugh at my 9
foot version with its 15 HP Yamaha Enduro (the third world simple reliable
model illegal due to pollution in Europe) but this vessel has now planed many
miles and has proved to be a great addition to our equipment. In the
village I hope to arrange to dive on a seamount that rises from many
km down to within 8 meters of the surface some three miles away from here.
Also the small Adavachi pass which is apparently know for its shoals of
sharks. Time will tell if this is possible. There is one dive set up
with a compressor but it mainly dives for Beche de Mer to sell to the
Chinese.
Lunch today was a BBQ on a small beach a couple
of miles from here. Four couples cooked on a fire of dead coconuts.
We had the last of our Mahi Mahi and finished by supplying everyone with cooked
bananas done in rum and butter. Yum yum. Tomorrow we will return to
the village and Ratu Joe our host. We will try and arrange for an island
tour, there are about six kilometres of track I hardly can say road, in one
of the four vehicles the island has. Also see the man about the
diving. Our host and his returned New Zealand wife want us all to join in
a pig roast so the next few days promise to be interesting. Then we hope
to set sail westwards towards the capital Suva via a few days in the island of
Gau. This small island has no regular communication with the main island
so sounds interesting. How privileged we feel being able to get so off the
beaten track and still have our home comforts!
Happy times to you all,
David and Annette
 Downpour in Savu Savu with mud run off
approaching. Claire's birthday,
just like last year in
Tonga!  One of the smallest
islands!
 The village elders. Our
offerings in the foreground.
 Our home at anchor in the Lau
Group
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