Day 52, Year 2: Another Snorkeling Day
Date: Friday, June 15, 2007
Weather: Very Windy, Party Cloudy Day
Location: Korolevu Bay, Kadavu Island, Fiji
It is evening and the wind is blowing here in Korolevu Bay. It should start to subside tomorrow, and if it does, we will be leaving here mid-day on Sunday for our overnight passage to Moala Island in the Lau Group. We are still really enjoying our time here, but it is time to move on. Three weeks from tomorrow, Mark’s brother Steve will arrive in Savusavu on the island of Vanua Levu. We hope to spend two weeks in the Lau Group and then get to Savusavu a few days before Steve arrives. If we stay
here much longer, we’ll have to cut our Lau Group visit short. So weather permitting, we will be out of here on Sunday.
We spent a lazy morning on the boat. I cleaned and Mark got out the cruising information on Vanuatu and New Caledonia. We looked at some of the information together and confirmed our earlier plan to sail from Fiji to Vanuatu in August and from Vanuatu to New Caledonia in September. How long we stay in New Caledonia will depend on when we want to arrive in Australia. We’re not ready to make that decision yet, but it was good to review our plans and learn more about our other ports of call for
this season. We are loving Fiji and will be here longer than we had originally planned, but that’s okay. Cruising is all about flexibility.
Last night we watched the DVD “Finding Nemo” and today while snorkeling I found a new family of anemonefish. I just love watching them dart in and out of the anemone, the bigger fish constantly protecting and actually herding the young ones back into the anemone when they venture outside. While we were snorkeling, Colette and Jean-Pierre saw a really big sea snake. These things are ringed in black and white and are very lethal. The good thing is that it is really hard for one of them to bite
you, but the bad thing about this sea snake was that it was really big. I’m glad I was looking at the anemonefish and didn’t see that sea creature. We discovered a few new fish today and enjoyed many that we have gotten to know over the past few days. We’ve been taking pictures with a disposable underwater camera, but those pictures never turn out very good. I’m hoping Scot Free II can use their new underwater digital camera tomorrow and capture some of the highlights of snorkeling around Waya
Island. Jeanie, the owner of Matava Resort, said that Waya Island and the Lion Pool were featured in a 2004 National Geographic. She didn’t have a copy readily available for us to look at, so I’ll be anxious to see that when we return home for the winter.
Safina invited us all over for Sundowners. Paul’s daughter, Cindy, didn’t make it. She is still recovering from 60 hours of flying and layovers. We found out today that her main piece of luggage didn’t arrive in Fiji with her, but the airline promises that it will be coming along in a day or two. We met a couple at Matava that were here on their honeymoon and their luggage didn’t arrive until day seven of a ten day stay. They were able to borrow clothes from other tourists, but it was their
dive gear that they really missed. They are new to diving and wanted to use only their own equipment that they were familiar with. They did get to dive for two of the days, but what a shame to miss out on all of the other days. I guess this is a warning to Mark’s brother to make sure what is absolutely necessary is in a carry on. Donna and Gerry of Scot Free II didn’t make to Safina until almost dark. They were in the village having kava with the chief. Gerry really likes to get into the village
life and he actually likes kava. The rest of us avoid it like the plague!
