October 13, 2015 waiting out the big blow

Oct 12-17, 2015   Big Blow in Yanutha and on to Savusavu

 The weather system that we have been watching is getting bigger and closer.  It now has an official tropical depression number, although it is not a cyclone yet.  We are not moving until it is well and truly gone.  The clock is ticking on Alan’s visa but too bad.  We are not going anywhere.
Rewa, the big boat that passed us on the way over,  is also anchored here but they plan to move on down farther south tomorrow, before the weather gets really bad.   Early in the morning they take off and several hours later they are back.  Apparently when they got out of the shelter of the island it was really nasty.  By the end of the day, one more boat arrives.  So here we are and here we will stay.

The weather is grey and cloudy.  We can hear the wind howling in the rigging occasionally strong wind gusts toss us around but the water is calm, smooth, no swells.   From time to time it rains.  There is nothing on shore except the green of the mangroves.  Across the bay is a small cluster of cottages with a pier and a couple of boats.  It is just quiet here, very quiet.    For 4 days we sit here, reading, playing internet games, cooking, eating, checking the weather reports checking the anchor.  Luckily we have a good, strong internet signal.  The anchor is in tight and we do not move.  It is actually a very odd time.  There is nothing to do and not much we can do so we just take a vacation from all of the stress and crazyness of the past weeks.

Finally it looks like the storm is gone.  There is a glimpse of brightness in the sky and the internet shows the wind easing off.  Rewa is gone early and this time does not come back.  We decide to give it one more day.  No point taking off while it is still gloomy.

Next morning is glorious.  Glad we waited.  Blue sky, bright sun, brisk wind.  Anchor up and off we go.  It is about 40 miles across the notorious Bligh Water to the other main island of Fiji.  Once we are out of the reef it is a straight sail across and we settle back and relax and enjoy sailing again after all this time.  Of course after all that storminess, there is very little wind and I start to worry that we will not get anchored before dark so we decide to alter course just a little to stop at an earlier anchorage.  We have never been here before so we do not know anything about any of them.  On the chart one looks as good as the other.  However, when we get there it and try to anchor it turns out to be horrible.  After 2-3 passes looking for a good spot we give up decide to go on to the next place.  It can’t be worse.  It is now 4:30.  It gets dark about 6:30 and the next anchorage is 7 miles away  We should just make it.   The coast here is beautiful, so green with steep hills rising up from blue water, very different from the other island. 

The anchorage when we come to it, is very different from the earlier one.  That was just along the edge of the island. This is up into a deep bay.  There is what looks like a boarding school on the side of the hill but other than that there is no one around.  Once the anchor is down and the engine stopped it is quiet, absolutely quiet, the quietest I have ever know.  Just quiet. There are a few bird calls but once the sun goes down even those stop.  Quiet.  Tomorrow is another long day so we turn in early and sleep soundly in the quiet.

Next day the course is across the bay and through a very narrow passage through the reef into the next bay.  The day is clear and calm, the sea glassy.  A quick motor across the bay and we are in among the reefs.  We absolutely love our Navionics app on the iPad.  It is absolutely spot on.  We have totally come to rely on it in Fiji with reefs everywhere.  This passage is one of the trickiest we have had.  There are reefs on both sides as we skirt along the edge of the bay.  Sometimes they are visible as lines of surf or bits of rock sticking up.  Sometimes they look green through our orange polarized glasses.  Sometimes we cannot see anything. I take up my position on the bow, just in case and we cruise right along.  Takes about an hour to get through and then we can hoist sails and head across the bay and into Savusavu at last.