Day 43, Year 2: From Vaga Bay to Maluma Bay
Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Weather: Who knows?????
Location: Maluma Bay, Beqa Island, Fiji

We finally made the move. We pulled up anchor in Vaga bay just before noon and motored around the west side Beqa Island and across the north to Maluma Bay. All of this was done in the lagooninside the outer reef and with winds against us most of the time. As we left Vaga Bay and headed north along the west coast of Beqa Island, we could see Rukua village. We also could see Stewart Island to our south. This is the home of a resort and we saw boats transiting tourists from the mainland. We also
saw beautiful silver fish, about three feet long, jumping out of the water and begging to be caught. But we have not gotten the fishing gear out yet, so we missed our opportunity. We will work on getting things out and ready tomorrow.

It took us about two and half hours to move around to Maluma Bay and get anchored. The cruising guides for Fiji are almost 15 years old, so we really don’t have good information. The charts are okay, but any navigation marks that are indicated are probably not there. Navigation here is most interesting. Basically, you stand on the foredeck and look for coral heads with fairly good information from the electronic charts. It is a bit harrowing, but we did make it in here. As we entered Maluma
Bay we saw a big ketch at anchor along with a couple of large aluminum fishing boats. As we drew closer, we saw they were anchored off a beach with a very up-scale dock and very fancy housing on shore hidden amongst the trees. We decided that it looked like a resort and since the sailboat was flying no flags, we thought maybe it belonged to whomever had this fancy complex in the bay. We decided to anchor here instead of going further into the bay to village of Labuti. Since we are hoping to leave
early in the AM for Astrolabe Reef, it seemed silly to dig ourselves deeper into the bay. We successfully anchored on the first try and had a late lunch and read for a bit. We thought we would go exploring, but before we got that far, a fishing boat came up to us. There were two young men and an older gentleman. His name was Sele and he wanted to see our cruising permit. We got that for him and he was satisfied. He said he was from the village of Labuti. He asked if we had any 4-stroke, 2-cycle
oil aboard that we could spare. We did, so we gave that to them and he invited us to visit the village tomorrow if weather does not permit our passage to Kadavu. He told us that the fancy complex on shore is owned by an American and no one is there this week. They will return next week with tourists. I am assuming that the big ketch anchored here belongs to the owners. Since it is possible for foreigners to purchase free-hold land here, I am assuming that someone sailed here from the US and
decided to set up residency. It is beautiful and if I had unlimited money to fly back and forth between here and the US to visit family at will, I might do the same. But we don’t have that kind of money, and the distance would probably keep me from doing it even if I did have the money.

The weather just really isn’t cooperating. It is again windy and rainy, so we are only a little hopeful that we will be able to exit the reef in the AM and head for Kadavu. Keep your fingers crossed for us as we are really ready to move on.

070605 Day 42 Beqa Island, Fiji–Vaga Bay to Maluma Bay