Day 79, Year 2: Arrival in Cukuvou (Thukuvou) Harbor, Yadua (Yandua) Island
Date: Thursday, July 12, 2007
Weather: Totally Overcast, Rainy Morning; Clearing in the Afternoon
Location: Cukuvou Harbor, Yadua Island, West of Vanua Levu

A day that started out as totally overcast and rainy ended up to be sunny and beautiful. We had very reliable waypoints from Nadi Bay to here, so we left this morning even though visibility was minimal. Scot Free II followed us out of the anchorage this morning and we took turns leading the way until noon. At that point, Scot Free II turned into Bua Bay to call it a day, and we continued on to Yadua. We had radio contact with Dave on La Vie in Cukuvou Harbor, and he assured us that if we got
that far and the weather was still horrible, he and George on Miami would come out and sit on the reefs on either side of the entrance to guide us in. Thanks to the weather gods, the skies cleared in the early afternoon and we were able to guide ourselves into this anchorage.

Dave and Kathy on La Vie are here in Cukuvou Harbor. Uta and George of Miami are also here. So it was like a homecoming. We had them all over to Windbird for happy hour and exchanged thoughts on passages from here to the Yasawa Group of islands. George is thinking of going straight across Bligh Waters to the Yasawas, which is a tricky passage that ends late in the day with coral patches all around to be negotiated before getting to a safe anchorage. Dave and Kathy are planning to sail down
to the north coast of Viti Levu and then on around inside the fringing reef. This is a much longer passage to the Yasawas, but by far the safer route. Though we would like to get to the Yasawas in a hurry, we are more inclined to go the way La Vie is going. From what we heard from both La Vie and Miami this evening, we will want to spend at least two full days here. They say the snorkeling is fantastic and the four-hour walk into and back from the village is also well worth it. Tomorrow is Friday
the 13th, so we think we will just stay close to the boat and snorkel. We don’t even want to make the overland passage to the village, but we will do that on Saturday to present our sevusevu.

My hopes of getting on the island of Yadua Tabu to see the crested iguanas that live there have been dashed. Evidently a cruiser from Europe went to the island a couple of years ago and tried to smuggle six of the beautiful crested iguanas on a plane bound for Germany. The iguanas were discovered and the attempt stopped, but the incident caused the government here to stop any and all visits to the island. Evidently there is a way to gain special permission to visit the island through an office
in Suva, but we are here and not there–so seeing the iguanas is probably not going to happen. I’m going to make a SAT phone call to the office, but I doubt seriously that the call will help us gain access. But it doesn’t hurt to try.

We are in a beautiful anchorage with a yellow sand beach and tomorrow night we are planning to have a cruiser dinner on the beach. We will snorkel all day and make a few excursions out in the dinghy to catch fish for dinner. Sounds like a great day, and I, for one, can’t wait to explore the underwater here.

070712 Day 79 Yadua Island, Fiji–Arrival in Yadua