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Closing the loop

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  We motored to the outer reef past Tavarua and Cloudbreak, for a final farewell in the grey and stormy conditions. The forecast was for a rough first night, with wind in front of the beam, followed by a few days of reaching in more settled weather. A change of some sort was forecast coming through just as we approached the North Island. This change could have involved some nasty weather; so we thought it would be good to get into the passage a day earlier than the rest of the southbound Fiji cruisers and beat the queue at NZ immigration: there were at least 20 ready to go.  As we exited the pass, the south east wind started to kick in. Evenstar began to plunge into the short period swells. Just as things started to get a bit woolly, Rob had a strike on the big reel. I slowed the boat in the rough conditions as he and Paul fought to land a good size skipjack on the pitching aft deck. After a tussle they got it on board and cleaned it up. Night was falling, and the conditions were becom
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A change of crew and a final surf

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 Paul and I spent the day tracking down faults with the hydraulic furling system and a couple of other missions. Well, I did anyway, Paul kept up gamely for a couple of hours then retired to his cabin to sleep off the previous evening’s excesses. With the various faults locked down we treated ourselves to a little hair of the dog and some dinner until Mike and Rob arrived from the airport. The boys took off in the morning to find some provisions while I waited for Mustak, the fridge engineer. Rob found some chilli for sale. In typical fashion he decided it would be best if he tried one first. The vendor’s look says it all. After the boys were back we headed out to see what was on offer at Cloudbreak. In a contrast to our previous visit, a strong sou’ easter was blowing, cross shore to the waves. The kite surfers were out and it looked pretty bleak, so we headed out to the now-familiar Musket Cove marina to introduce the newcomers to the siren-like charms of the barefoot bar. The ne
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Mamanuca Musings

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  We took a very rare position on the dock and enjoyed the big smoke of Denarau, which is kind of like Darling Harbour but friendlier and it actually is a harbour. I took a taxi to the airport to collect Cathe, who had been slaving away at home on PhD work. It was finally time to show her something of the cruising life, if only for a week. We headed for Musket Cove and spent a couple of chilled days hanging out at the beach and the barefoot bar. On Sunday morning we took the dinghy through the shallow pass and over to the village of Solevu to attend church, enjoying the hymns and the friendly exchanges with the locals.   Finally it was time to see some more of the Mamanucas. In the afternoon we set sail for Yanuya and anchored off the village, enjoying sundowners while watching gusests from a cruise ship being ferried ashore. In the morning we went in to perform Sevusevu.  It appeared that the proximity to the hub of Denarau meant that Yanuyans had developed a much more mercantil
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Yanuca and on to a surf mecca

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 The next morning dawned grey and rainy, and the forecast suggested more was on the way. We decided there was no utility in staying around the west coast of Kadavu. It seemed that, for the moment at least, the effect of this land mass on the easterly trade winds is to invite the release of the moisture accumulated on the 3000 mile journey over the Pacific from South America. We knew we had a date to collect Cathe on the following Thursday so we had 4 nights to make our way to Denarau with a day in hand. We detoured past the famed Astrolabe Reef and headed north to the Beqa Reef, with the prospect of (at least) taking a look at the Frigates surf break on the way past. After a few hours of good sailing in the stormy easterly conditions, the reef approached on our starboard side. A confluence of a change in course and wind direction saw us suddenly experience a very stormy 20 kts of strong wind from directly on the nose, just as we approached the surf break. Once we furled the sails,
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Matuku, surfing shallow reefs, and some guests

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We had a final feast with our extended host family after church on Sunday; followed by a very chilled overnight passage to Matuku, arriving midday on Monday.  After a decade of obsessively poring over google maps and ambiguous internet posts, I knew Matuku has waves, but of unknown provenance, other than the main wave was pretty full on. I'd had a long hiatus off the boards and my fitness was starting to look questionable. But when it's on it's on.   Brett and Tash from SY Complicite stopped by to say hello and check out the boat, so we decided to go in with them to complete what turned out to be a very chilled Sevusevu and a tour of Lomati village. We then headed back to Evenstar for some shuteye.  At dusk we were roused by a local boat coming over to say hello. On board was an Aussie surfer, offering a tour of the waves the next day. Guy is almost a Matuku local, having visited 3-4 times, staying on land with the local chief. He has a love of remote surf, piercing blue
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Fulaga. Wow.

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Returning from my quick trip home I flew back to Savusavu at 8.30AM Monday morning. After a quick re-provision we were underway by 12, looking to catch the favourable forecast weather window for the trip to Fulaga. Sadly, after a good beginning, the forecast and the reality diverged. We spent a good slice of that night bashing into a decent southerly. After a few hours of purgatory, the wind angle improved slightly to provide a welcome relief. In the end, we made good time and Fulaga hove into view at about midday.  As we approached the channel it was apparent that the charts were not very detailed and the channel was quite narrow. The entry required use of the Mk1 Eyeball; assisted by polaroids. Behind which were some very wide eyes; because Fulaga is quite something else.  The instructions are to hug the rock to port and hook behind it on entry. The unusual beauty of the entry made it hard to concentrate on the passage instructions.  Once we gained entry to the inner lagoon our eyes
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