Commodore
August 2, 2024

Saturday 3 August – heading back to the Great Astrolobe reef

After breakfast the 3 of them went to go and snorkel on the reef, sadly the visibility was not that great, it was not a great success. My ear is still not 100%, I’m still taking antibiotics so I wont be getting into the water for some time. I think it is slowly improving.

We decided to head back up north to Ono Island and aim to do some diving on the Great Astrolobe reef. It appears that clouds and rain just sit on the main Kadavu island, so we are hoping for better weather up north. We went out of the reef into the sea and had a very gentle sail for a few hours. Phil managed to get really burnt in the midday sun, sitting on the helm chair enjoying some sun after their chilly winter in NZ. We followed our old track in through the pass and passed the little bay where we had our altercation with the coral head. We found a lovely beach at another village on a different little island. It looked incredibly smart and well kept compared to anywhere else we had been. It had a big sandy beach that we anchored very close to, the wind was blowing off shore, Rowan put out a second anchor to make sure that we did not swing around as the wind is predicted to come the other way tomorrow. Amazingly this does not seem to be a popular sailing area, very few boats about.

Once we were safely anchored we went and did Sevusevu in the village. The village was incredibly tidy and organised, with beach table and benches, loads of solar and plenty of water tanks. Loads of young kids came to greet us, full of chat, they speak such good English. We were directed to the chief who was very sweet, he thanked us for the Kava and performed his little Fijian speech with kids prancing around. The kids followed us back to the beach and walked along the beach with us as we stretched our legs. Picking up endless beautiful shells, loads of little purple cowries. Han would be proud of me I insisted we leave them all behind for the crabs, which the kids thought was very funny. Once we got to the corner of the beach they all said goodbye, they are obviously not allowed beyond that point, very cute and obedient of them. When we returned we found a whole lot of them had buried themselves in the sand and covered themselves with vegetation jumping out as we got close. I made them reenact it for a video, which they thought was a real laugh. Amazingly they only have a kindergarten school here so they go and board in the village we anchored at with the troublesome coral. They board Monday to Friday, and their parents come over regularly to visit, it is only about 2 miles by boat. They all said they liked it, they did look a very happy bunch.

It wasn’t the most comfy night last night, quite rolly with slapping waves, so we were happy to go to bed quite early after delicious home made burgers on the BBQ, cooked by Phil. Wendy seems to be coping really well as she is prone to sea sickness, but seems fine so far. Rowan is doing a good job at converting them to Catamaran sailing ….. Phil bought a monohull 18 months ago, which has yet to go to sea properly!