After another stop in Savusavu for provisioning, and eating out, we finally saw some north-east winds in the forecast. That would help us to sail to the southern Lau islands. There are still plenty areas in Fiji unknown to us, and the southern Lau islands have been on the list to be visited.
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| Purple tracks from Aug-2023 to Dec 2024, red track = Jan 2025 |
We went back to Taveuni, as a better starting point. Our destination was about 160nm from there, which becomes a full 24 hour trip, likely more due to the rather light wind.
Our first destination was the "Yagasa cluster", an area with no population, and an easy, wide pass thru the reefs around those islets. A one night trip often leaves us tired, not being in passage rhythm, and seeing people for Sevusevu would be even less fun than on a good day. Also the pass into Fulaga, our real destination, is super narrow and reasonably difficult to navigate, one wants to avoid times of high tidal current thru there. A rest in Yagasa would give us a chance to time it right.
We started early from Taveuni, then had a good sail during the day, while at night the engine often had to help keeping the speed up. We arrived in Yagasa late morning with good light to see the few obstructions on our way to booby cliff.
With a NE wind, we had selected "booby cliff" as our anchorage, it had a nice sandy bottom in a corner protected from the wind.
It certainly would have been a good anchorage for a night, but the closer we came the more boobies left their nests and started circling us, making noises, and also leaving some shit on the boat.
We had plenty of time left in the day to scout out other places. Anchorage A is a spot cruisers like in typical SE trade-winds.
One has to squeeze between these rocks and one or two boats can anchor in front of the beach. We did check it out but felt claustrophobic between the rocks.
We moved on to "B", which was tight to get into, but had decent protection from the NE wind. Wind chop does get around, splashes against the rock walls, and makes disturbing noises all night.
By dinghy we did find a nicely protected beach for an afternoon cool down.
