Wednesday 14 August – heading north to a protected bay in Naviti island

Another night of rolling so time to move on. We are not sure why there is so much swell with so much protection from the islands. Rowan has done his research and found a bay on the next big island north of us. We motored the whole way as we are keeping inside the reef, there are plenty of shallow reef areas to be avoided. It was only about 15 miles and we got to our bay around lunch time. There were only two boats in the bay already, so made it very easy for us. The drop off into deeper water is sudden and most of the boats were anchored out at a depth of over 20m. We got in closer to shore and it was lovely and calm.

Rowan went for a snorkel and said the coral was in really good shape, not a lot of fish, but lots of colourful healthy coral. Sadly the doc said I can’t get into the sea until after Ive seen him on the 24th, but at least my ear is loads better. We keep getting vicious little gusts of wind, we think they are katabatic winds, winds that blow down mountains at speed with gravity. We found one of the covers from the instruments had blown off, Rowan dived in to fetch it and then half an hour later we spotted our paddle board slowly drifting about 100m away. We hadn’t even heard it blow off the deck. Luckily one of the yachties who was out in his dinghy was already on his way to pick it up for us.

We went for a walk along the beach in the late afternoon, a lovely long beach covered in cowrie shells and loads of little crabs all beetling about. There used to be a resort here but it closed in 2015, really sad as it looks charmingly ethnically built, but sadly all abandoned and in a serious state of decay. There are a couple who caretake, we met Miriam, who looked like she doesn’t venture too far from her bench. She was very friendly and asked if we were going to do Sevusevu with her, we said we could bring her some cava tomorrow which she readily accepted. Seeing as we are here for a few days while the Bogi Walu blows itself out, we will bring her some cava tomorrow. Luckily we stocked up in Nadi market. It was a lovely walk without baking in the sun. The beach on one end has an amazing lava blob, separating the two white beaches.

Rowan had an 8pm board call which was being recorded, so I disappeared to bed really early.

Dramatic scenery along the way

Leaving Waya island behind

We passed our friends on Navisana going the other way

We were anchored in Yalobi bay and last night at Wayasewa, then moved 15 miles north to Naviti island today

Here we are in our protected bay in Naviti Island the wind is coming from the South East

Our bay

Rowan had a great snorkel, we both love these little blue fish

Gorgeous beach full of little cowrie shells

PolePole looking comfortable in the calm waters

The far end of the beach

Acacia saplings everywhere

The abandoned old resort cabins, very sad as they were lovely

Beautifully decorated ceilings all left to decay sadly

Just a shell, but still vibrant colours

The other end of the beach with the enormous lava flow into the beautiful white beach

Looking good at sunset!