Day 87, Year 2: From Drawaqa Island to the Blue Lagoon
Date: Friday, July 20, 2007
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Day; Winds E 15-20
Latitude: S 16 degrees 56.690 minutes
Longitude: E 177 degrees 21.964 minutes
Location: The Blue Lagoon, Yasawa Group, Fiji

Well, we made the decision to move “a lot north” instead of just a little north, and tonight we find ourselves in the Blue Lagoon. After watching 1980 version of “The Blue Lagoon” last night, I decided that I just had to see the Blue Lagoon and the cave at Sawa-I-Lau. We started our day in the Tokatokauna Pass, but once again we did not get to swim with the mantas. It was very windy today and we had to hold on to the dinghy rope and drift snorkel through the pass. Otherwise, we were afraid we
would get washed out to sea. It felt like we were flying through the water, but I enjoyed the sights along the way. Today I found one family of Orange-striped Anemonefish (the ones with the turquoise vertical stripes) and I saw purple and blue bird-nosed wrasse that I haven’t seen before. But no mantas. So after two drifts through, we returned to Windbird and snorkeled the reef in our anchorage. By noon, it was time to move out, so we took off and made the decision to try and make it all the
way to the Blue Lagoon. The winds were with us for the first half of the trip and we were flying, but then we had to turn into the wind and start the motor to bash our way to the islands. The Blue Lagoon is on the west side of Nanuya-Sewa. The Lonely Planet calls this Nanuya Lailai. Just to the immediate south is Nanuya-Levu, home of the exclusive Turtle Island resort. Matacawalevu island is to the west with Sese Village, and Tavewa island is to the northwest. Tomorrow, weather permitting,
we will go further northeast around Nacula island to Sawa-I-Lau. This little island is on the southeast point of Yasawa Island.

Mid-afternoon we got a call on the VHF from Christina. They left Drawaqa about an hour after us and went into Somosomo Bay at the top of Naviti island for tonight. That was our back-up, but we made for the Blue Lagoon. Just after talking with Christina, we got a call from George on Miami. He and Ute left Yadua and crossed the Bligh Waters for Sawa-I-Lau a couple of days ago. They made great time and saw no navigational hazards. None of us had waypoints or good charts of the area, so they were
braver than the rest. George says Sawa-I-Lau is really nice and we hope to see them there tomorrow.

After bashing our way into the winds for a couple of hours, we entered the pass between Matacawalevu and Tavewa around 4:30 PM. We had the sun behind us which is perfect, but we really had to watch and pick our way through the coral heads. The captain was very happy once we got to the anchorage. It is always very nerve-wracking to sight your way through coral. The Blue Lagoon beach is long and beautiful–one of the most beautiful beaches we have seen in the South Pacific. We didn’t go ashore
tonight, but we will go in early tomorrow morning to see what is here. The east winds are blowing a good 20-25 knots, but we are snug in this anchorage. I am just happy to have made it to the Blue Lagoon. How could we come to Fiji and not make it here?

070720 Day 87 Yasawa Group, Fiji–Drawaqa Anchorage to the Blue Lagoon