Wednesday 4^th July:  Musket Cove Yacht Club, Fiji  South Pacific Ocean 17 45.53S  177 12.8E  

Today’s Blog by David (Time zone UTC +12.00;  BST+11.00)

Musket Cove Yacht Club is a real gem.  We arrived here yesterday; it is based in an idyllic cove in the island of Malolo Lailai off the west coast of Viti Levu,( the southern most of the two largest Fiji islands).  I became member  No. 5032 of the Yacht Club (the rest of the crew became members 5033-5); the only criterion for membership being that you arrived in Fiji by sail.  Idyllic is an overused word on this blog (I feel it coming on again later in this one) but Musket Cove is truly a place apart – worth a detour. Photos will not do it justice.

We were launched in Port Denaro on Friday and left early on Saturday. We sailed to a bay on the south of Naviti Island where it is alleged that Manta Rays gather.  Well, maybe they do, but not on 30 June 2012.  Instead, we ‘drift snorkelled’ over a reef between two islands in a current of about 2 knots and then repaired aboard Anastasia for a bean-fest.

The following day we sailed on to Blue Lagoon and anchored off Nanuya Lailai Island. This was a lovely sheltered anchorage surrounded by sand and palm trees – idyllic (there I go again) – we decided to stay two nights.  

The traditional Fijian hospitality did not seem to extend far at all in this area. The  exclusive Turtle Island resort is nearby with only 14 cabins - £1,000 per night (helicopter transfers from the airport just £750 per person).  Really rich people go there to get away from it all - they do not welcome yotties!  Further, we had understood that all of the shores of Fiji are public places up to 2 metres above high tide level.  This information was apparently lost on the cruise line that owns some of the land along the shore:   

We had better luck with the welcome at Nanuya Island Resort did, although only when we got beyond  the sullen restaurant staff (who could only see in us more work - from six unexpected (and uninvited) diners) and we got to speak with management!  Indeed, once the ‘service’ eventually got started (it was poor) we did eat well and at a reasonable price.

On the second night the Turtle Island Resort put on a sunset cruise for its guests complete with traditional Fijian music played/sung by the band in the launch alongside.  

It was a lovely sunset in an @!!*?/£  (that word again) anchorage.  Up early on Tuesday and motored the  8 hours (8 knots of true wind from behind) to Musket Cove.

Three days of partying presage our departure on Saturday to Tanna one of the islands in Vanuatu!  We will of course be one less crew by then, since Simone is leaving tomorrow to start her 30 hour journey home.  She has been with us for three months, overseeing operations with her customary cheerfulness.  She has travelled with us from Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas Islands, through Tuamotus, Tahiti and the rest of French Polynesia, to Suwarrow and Nuie then Tonga and, for the last three weeks, in Fiji. She  did enjoy most of it but, surprisingly, I understand that she “could have done without” the 3,600 miles she has covered at sea!

By Friday, I am sorry to say she will be gone ……..    ……. Look out, Hawkley!