Tuesday 2 July – Bumpy ride to Taveuni

We set off just before 7am, I was bringing up the anchor in my nightie in the rush to get going! Thank goodness there weren’t many boats about. It turned out to be a very choppy, bouncy first hour or two. We hugged the main land initially to avoid going straight into the wind, we got the main sail and Posh (jib) up, bouncing our way along for the first few hours. Pretty uncomfortable and definitely not conducive to a cooked breakfast! As soon as we got behind the island of Tavenui we headed for Paradise Resort. Sails down and motors on, we got there just after lunch. We raced in and got the last mooring ball, leaving the poor boat after us to anchor in deep water. A very kind Yachtie came and helped us get onto our mooring ball which was extremely welcome.

Predict wind showing our route and the winds against us

Finally settled we relaxed into the rainy weather, grateful that it was at least washing the boat of all the sea salt after our bouncy passage. We headed into the resort for supper and were overwhelmed by the friendliness of the staff. The food was ok, but the buzz and local staff were delightful. No sign of any expat manager or owner. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, made all the more palatable with a delicious bottle of Australian wine. We went to bed happy to be here, we will wait here a few days, on Saturday we should have a good weather window to get to the Lau islands and then we have at least 10 days of big winds where we will just hanker down in protected anchorages. We have been following the devastation of cyclone Beryl in Grenada and Saint Vincent. Our delightful Alison of Paradise Bar on Carriacou island has been flattened, as had poor Romeo’s home on Union Island, he and Juliet were our amazing Lobster BBQ hosts on the Tobago Cays.

On our mooring ball, sitting out the rain

Clouds lift briefly so we can see the mountains behind

Plenty of rainbows about

Fantastic light through the clouds

Gorgeous sunset on the flat waters

Very friendly Laisa who fondly remembered Jacqueline and Iain from the boat Fatjax. They are friends from Norfolk, Jax and I must have been in our bookclub group over 20 years, we were founding members! They were originally on our World Arc group but delayed a year. We have sadly just missed them as they are on the other side of Fiji and depart this Friday.