Viti Levu-North Coast Passage

The reef watcher!

North Coast Passage Around Viti Levu
Oct 13
Naingani Island, Cagabuli Bay 17”-34”S/ 178”-41’E
We are sailing from Makogai Island in the morning headed across the Viti-I Ra channel to Levuka, on the Island of Ovalu, Island.
We don’t know which way we’ll sail around Viti Levu, the main Island, yet.  It all depends on the winds. So far, traveling in a westerly direction is our plan. Do we head northwest over the top, threading through numerous reefs? It’ll be a constant watch.  Or do we sail south around the bottom of the island to the capital town of Suva? The winds will tell us which way to
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And so, in the morning, the strong SE trade winds make the passage to Levuka an uncomfortable sail, so we alter course to a downwind sail over to Naingani Island. Here we’ll spend the night before heading west around the island. The winds are strong in the “protected bay of Cagabuli as noted in our sailing guides.  The winds wrapped around the island and we hunkered down with an anchor alarm set. By morning, the winds settled, but we left early before they had a chance to pick up.

Calm waters 

Oct 14
Spent five hours picking our way through marked reefs on the North Coast Passage to our first marked anchorage, Viti Levu Bay 25 miles negotiating through GPS waypoints given by Curley's Charlets. The waypoints were mostly right on, as John noticed these are the same waypoints given as the recommended channel that shows on our Navionics electronic chart plotter.  Only a few slight course changes put us comfortably in Viti Levu Bay.  The winds were blowing SE on our stern the whole day, perfect downwind sail, if we had any sails up, but we chose to motor since we're sailing in and out of unfamiliar channels through the reef areas.
I stood reef watch on the bow all day squinting through binoculars, while John hand steered by chart plotter the course through the reefs marked only by tall-unmarked posts. Navigating by “sticks” in the reef was intimidating at first, until you got the hang of it.  The reef points can easily been seen in correct light and a channel develops. It’s not as hard as Curley makes it out to be!
We anchored off the village of Navanivi in murky muddy waters at the head of the RakiRaki river.  Cant’ see the bottom. Who knows what lurks below?! Were choosing not to put the dinghy down and go ashore as we are continuing in the morning. Two other boats arrive to anchor for the night.

Baja-like barren hills of the North Coast of Viti Levu

Oct 15
Volivoli point
Motoring out the long muddy bay into open waters with the wind behind us again. Rounding the reef into Volivoli point where there is a tricky “zigzag” in the reef channels.  Suddenly, we see two dive boats fly out of nowhere, out the reef channel and into open waters. As we get closer to the marked points you can see the careful zigzag pass through the reefs!  John says it’s simple  follow.  I have a hard time seeing the passes with bin.  There is a dive center-resort around the point and anchorage on Nan-I-Ra Island.
 Motoring sailing with genoa helping push Wizard to 6.5 knots, winds behind as we cruise along barren desolate hills on one side and reef on seaward side.  Spotty little villages reminiscent of Baja, Ca with the huge Cakau Moi (reef) on starboard.

Can you see the post marker sticking out of the reefs?

Afternoon has us 25 miles further around the island and we stop at another large shallow muddy bottom bay called Nukuvov Bay.  We are all alone.  We set the anchor in thick mud. The anchor just plows through, never grabbing hold. Finally, we just let out extra chain, put on an alarm and call it good. There is not a breath of air. The bay is like a lake. We will not drag anchor.  This is sugar cane season and the hills are alive with burning fields. It looks like a war-zone with orange-glow fire spots. In the morning there is soot on the boat deck.

Oct 16
 Today we finish the last leg of 20 miles around the north coast passage of Viti Levu to the industrial town of Lautoka. John and I are both excited to go ashore for sight seeing, food, and beer!  After traveling for days, nothing taste better than an icy cold draft beer! We knew this would be a quick trip, with no stops. Fiji has many wonderful islands to visit, but we didn’t plan to spend  too much time in Fiji. It really requires a season to explore. We’re glad we passed through. It’s a unique country.

Oct 17
Lautoka
We arrive late in the afternoon t the busy industrial harbor of Lautoka. We see the large cargo ships unloading at the docks. We see the plum of burnt sugarcane spilling into the sky and hear a machine hum in the distance. This is a busy city! We pull up along side several other yachts anchored off the King’s Wharf and drop in thick mud, again.  Immediately, the soft rain of burnt sugarcane ash covers the decks! What a mess as it also begins a light drizzle of rain.  We see the largest pile of wood chips in the world with men and bulldozers plowing down the mountain.  This is used for export for what?! We quickly get the dinghy down and hitch a taxi ride into a busy little town with everything available you can imagine. This is the “Sugar City” and has plenty of money and services to go around. You can tell buy the crowed streets, people busy shopping. Hotels, restaurants and stores line the streets.  We slip into a hotel for a bite to eat and are welcomed with air conditioning that at first seems cold, but after a spell feels great.  We have a few cold brews, some chicken curry and feel quite civilized. Back to the boat and goodnight!

Anchor basin is next to the cargo docks.

In the morning, the boat is a mess! Ashes all over the decks! We decide to move one mile down to Saweni Bay, a popular yacht anchorage off a sandy beach.  Much more pleasant anchorage.
We want t re provision and get fueled up in a marina before we set sail f0r Australia. We call for a reservation at the nearest large facility, Vuda Point Marina, but they are really busy and have no space. We are on a waiting list! Wow! Didn’t know there were that many yachts in Fiji! We haven’t seen more than a dozen on our travels around! But this is the western side and more popular cruising grounds with the Mamanucas and Yasawa Islands close by.
Rained all day with thunder. Clouds dark and heavy. We hunker down. I busy myself with making cookies, and popcorn and blogging. Lots f Internet time!  The dingy fills with water like a bathtub! I decide to jump in and with shampoo in hand had a delightful bath in rainwater!

The dingy bath!

After the rains clears, we sail to down to Vuda Pt Marina.  The space available is rafted to the cement wall! We will be here for a few days. this is where we clear customs with Fiji. The Sunset Bar  is right next to  our boat  and offers a great scene with  a GREAT Reggae Band on Friday night!

Vuda Pt Marina cement wall tie!