Mamanuca Musings

 

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 mercantile orientation to visitors than some of the less visited or remote islands. We paid the “landing fee”, bought a few trinkets at their large village store, and then headed off to Monuriki Island, better known as the island from the film “Castaway.” It boasts a small but beautiful beach and a couple of shelters, which we utilized for a civilized lunch. 

It also has a trail to the lesser of the two peaks, which we duly hiked the next morning after some pilates and yoga on the beach.

Next on the tour was the Sacred Islands, otherwise known as Vanua and Navadra Islands. We anchored on the deserted lagoon and took in the spectacular vista as we had sundowners and a solitary dinner.

The next day we went ashore to see if we could find the cave to make a sacred offering as indicated by the guidebooks. Unfortunately, the Islands are the subject of a territorial dispute between various villages. What we had assumed were signs proclaiming a nature reserve were in fact blunt “trespassers will be prosecuted” signs, the unfriendliness of which were quite at odds with our experience of the rest of Fiji.

We took a stroll up the beach nonetheless, only to have our attention drawn to the sound of a local speedboat approaching. Uh oh, we were about to be busted…

We headed over to make our apologies; but they were not needed. A couple of Fijians were dropping a family of holidaymakers for a day trip. They were characteristically friendly and instead of chastising us, encouraged us to make an offering at the nearby cave, which the captain proceeded to do post haste. We followed suit, feeling a little better about disobeying the officious signage.

In the morning it was time to commence our journey back to Denarau. We motored back toward Mana Island, stopping off at Nukuimana Sand Cay for lunch and so Clare could get a few pilates cover shots.  

Unfortunately the South East wind built to the point where the lagoon at Mana looked uncomfortable, so we continued on for a final night at Musket Cove and another, more muted session at the barefoot bar, followed by more drinks back on board, a singalong on the foredeck, some gins, then... Cathe and I went to sleep. However, Paul and Clare made their way to the barefoot bar, drinking and carousing with the superyacht crews until the wee hours.

The next morning it was entertaining to note the embarrassed lack of recognition on Paul’s bleary face as dinghy-loads of young world-travelling sailors went by, whooping and shouting his name in a scene reminiscent of “The Hangover.” However, we didn’t dwell on this - we headed back to Denarau early, and bundled Cathe and Clare into a taxi with some warm farewells and see-you-soons.

The trip was coming to an end, and it was time to get Evenstar out of the cyclone belt for the summer: Mike and Rob were arriving that evening for a quick look at Fiji and the passage to the land of the long white cloud: New Zealand beckons.