Commodore
July 5, 2024

Saturday 6 July – hunkering down in the Swimming Pool crater

We heaved to (making the sails work against each other so that you’re stationary), as we needed to wait for daylight to enter the passage through the reef. During the night Rowan altered course from the other boats so that we could heave to more easily on our own, this meant we went through the reef at the slightly narrower path in the centre of the island rather than at the top where the other boats were coming through. We could see the other two boats on AIS plus another boat called Chez Nous. Finally when there was enough light we went through, and it was like a little armada of boats all heading to the main village called Daliconi. We have to do Sevusevu, providing the chief with a gift of Kava, in return for allowing us to cruise these waters. Johnathan on Chez Nous is from Devon but has lived here in Fiji for 10 years, he works for a charity here, helping locals in these outlying remote islands with medical care. He suggested we all go into the village together, to take up less of the chief’s time. The men have to wear Sulus (wrap around skirt), a kikoy worked well for Rowan, and the women have to cover their shoulders. No short shorts, hats or sunglasses!

Day break and the main Lau island in front of us

The passage through the reef in front of us, thank goodness for very precise waypoints on the charts, to guide us through, not easy to see at all

Inside the reef

It was a few minutes walk to the chief’s house, we all sat on a verandah with grass mats, including what must have been the chief’s wife and kids. Another guy came and said a few Fijian words of welcome, and we handed over the Kava, which was gratefully received. The chief welcomed us and invited us to look around the village. He explained he is the youngest of 4 brothers, but the others have all left, so when his dad died two years ago he took over. Sadly we were all anxious to get going as the big winds start arriving later today. Turns out we had met the couple on One Life in Suwarrow. We remembered them well, we were the only boat to depart Suwarrow the day we left. Leaving One Life and four other boats behind in Suwarrow, they did not think they could outrun the big wind predicted, we went for it and got to Samoa in good time. Turns out they and the other boats had a ghastly week of sitting out 40 knot winds, peaking at 60 knots. A guy off one of the other boats fell and smacked his head, so had to be helped. Another boat had the rope attached to their second anchor snap, making them a danger to all the other boats. It sounded like a horrendous time, so glad we made our dash. Sadly too the caretaker of the island, who lived there only 5 months of the year, died. So the island is no longer manned. A great loss for the sailing community.

We spotted the island runway, which is frequented irregularly

Daliconi village for our Sevusevu, presenting the chief with our gift of Kava

Jaw dropping scenery and water colour

Anchored at the village

We picked up anchor and headed to the north of the island, to an area called Bay of Islands, all 4 boats were heading there as it is a very sheltered area from the wind. The scenery is spectacular, with loads of small limestone carved islands, many looking like mushrooms, and all covered in vegetation. We wiggled our way around using the charts and satellite maps to avoid coral bommies. We finally anchored in an area where one other cat was. Not totally ideal for the wind direction but seemed pretty protected. We got JeldiJeldi down to have a bit of an explore and see if we could get somewhere better. There were about 10 other boats here. We got back to PolePole and Rowan got cold feet, we decided to contact the cat near us to see what they thought. Turns out they are going to move as they were not happy either. That confirmed it for us, we decided to pick up the anchor and go. What a nightmare followed, the newly re-galvanised anchor chain got solidly jammed in the windlass. We still had 6m of chain out, the wind had picked up and was pumping through and I couldn’t get the chain unstuck. Rowan had to come to the anchor locker and try and sort it out by lifting the weight off the chain with the winch at the mast. I had to go and steer into the wind using only the engines, which I am hopeless at. The wind was whipping us around and I was completely useless at keeping the boat in the right direction, totally terrifying as we had coral heads and the other cat near us! I was a basket case! Luckily the cat next to us radioed us to see if we needed help and rushed over. They hadn’t been on board a couple of minutes when Rowan got the chain free, and the kind kiwi girl helped me steer. It was all resolved quickly, and they left promptly to pick up their anchor too. It had been blisteringly hot, and then within minutes the wind arrived, with rainy cloudy squalls.

We went around the other side where the majority of boats were, which is much more protected from the wind direction. We tried anchoring near Jonathan, he kindly guided us to where he thought we may find shallower water, but it was too close to land and another boat. So we decided to go right deep into the maze of islands, into a big round pool, that only shallow boats can get into. It also requires a lot of chain as it is deep in the middle, luckily for us with our new added 30m, we have a total of 100m of chain. It looks like a round volcano crater, and is called the Swimming Pool We were quite surprised nobody was in here as it is so protected from all sides. We gingerly entered passing many boats, you can see everyone wondering why we are still moving about now the wind has picked up! We finally got in and found an area at 15m to anchor and got a good hold. What a relief, it was like a mill pond. We could finally begin to relax a bit. Of course we had endless chores to do, zipping up the sail bag and putting some extra straps on it to make sure it really is secure. Then we had to get the Code Zero sail, Sporty Spice, down. The ropes had got into such a tangle we couldn’t get her down, it took about 20 minutes to untangle the ropes, just to test our patience even further!

Finally I made a cup of tea, I was desperate for it after all that stress. A dinghy appeared and it was Jim and Loretta from Hijacker, they were returning the $50 that they had borrowed from us to make a donation to the village. We invited them on board for a drink. Turns out Jim is an Olympic sailing coach, and trains the NZ sailing team, travelling the world with them. Their son is in the NZ team and their son in law is in the British team. I’m not sure what boats they race but he is obviously a serious sailor! Hijacker is a racing type of boat, it has no cabins just one big living area. Not my idea of fun!

I was absolutely shattered and barely managed to finish supper before heading to bed, but felt reassured we are in a better, safer spot for the impending big winds.