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| The Track across island |
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| Back packer huts |
NOT
QUITE WHAT I IMAGINED
We
were looking forward to spending a week of relaxation and fun in The
Blue Lagoon, Yasawa Islands in western Fiji. The Blue Lagoon is a
lovely calm anchorage with sandy beaches, snorkelling, a small resort
and good walking tracks. When we arrived a visiting small cruise
ship was busy ferrying their guests ashore to The Blue Lagoon Resort
for meals, drinks and a walk on the beach. They also took their
gusts by dinghies to the other side of the island to the well
published attraction, Lo’s Tea House. It was a lovely sunny day
and so we walked the three kilometres across the island on a well
used track taking in the views and enjoying the exercise. Lo’s Tea
House (Fijian Style), despite its rather grand name, is just a shed
but it has a reputation for great doughnuts. I was quite looking
forward to a juicy hot doughnut, but not to be, the day we went, the
menu was lemon sponge or lemon sponge. The cruise ship people
arrived and we chatted to two ladies over (you guessed it) ‘lemon
sponge’ only to discover that one came from Shellharbour, which is
about a fifteen minute drive from Kiama, NSW where we live. So any
romantic notions I had about dining in a quaint ‘Tea House on a
Tropical Island with a magnificent vista’ were shattered when we
found ourselves sitting in a shed, having lemonade and lemon sponge
whilst chatting to a local lady from home.
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| Lo’s Tea House |
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| Inside Lo’s Tea House |
THE
BEST MADE PLANS
We
had been watching the weather for a few days as a trough was forming
which would bring thunder storms, torrential rain and cyclonic winds.
By the following morning it was apparent that the worst of the
weather would pass over The Blue Lagoon in two days time. We decided
to sail fifty miles south to Musket Cove to get away from the thunder
storm. So, our planned one week in The Blue Lagoon became one day.
As we travelled south the weather became very calm and we had to
motor most of the way. We caught a nice Mahi Mahi which is always a
welcomed treat. We had one fine day in Musket Cove before the rain
started. We used the time to shop, do laundry and have a few drinks
at the Sailors Bar with Aussie friends Annie, Liam and family on
‘Gone with the Wind’. The trough came through the following day
bringing torrential rain and 50 knots of wind through the anchorage
but fortunately no lightning, so the plan worked. A few boats
dragged their anchor but no damage was done.
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| Andrew with his Mahi Mahi |
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| Liam and Annie from Gone With the wind |
FIND OF THE DAY
We
had a very social week in Musket Cove having dinners out, fish on the
BBQ at the sailors bar, morning coffees at the resort restaurant,
catching up with friends and celebrating Canada Day with the Canadian
cruisers.
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| Fish BBQ with Andrew, David ‘Anahata’ Scott ‘Muskoka’ |
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| Celebrating Canada Day with cake and sparklers |
The weather was very changeable, overcast with heavy rain to brilliant sunshine. So we just seized every opportunity and did day trips to small sand islands or to the nearby floating pontoon for snorkelling. It was very pleasing to see lots of very healthy coral and many tropical fish. But one day, that’s not all we saw. We anchored the dinghy and snorkelled over to the floating pontoon. Andrew found a brand new pair of swimming goggles on the sea floor. They still had the protective plastic on the lenses. Then when we pulled the dinghy anchor up, attached to the anchor was a new pair of Tusa diving goggles - quite a haul, a profitable day!
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| Beautiful unspoilt coral |
Lots of tropical fish (we hope this works)
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| Andrew with his Go Pro |
PLAIN
SAILING NOW
So
now all the nasty weather has passed, we are heading back north up
the Yasawa chain. We want to visit all the spots we sailed passed on
our dash down to the safety of Musket Cove. We spent the last two
nights with a New Zealand couple Ailsa and Hamish on ‘Halo’ who
are here for a month as they time share their catamaran with another
couple from NZ. They had too much NZ meat in the freezer after the
last change over so they gave us lamb chops and some beef steak. This
is the first red meat we have had since we left Oz. We are looking
forward to lamb chops tonight.
We
are currently twenty five miles north of Musket Cove and we have been
in some rolling anchorages recently but today we have relocated to a
lovely calm bay. The sun is shinning, the washing is out and the
breeze is gentle. The weather is perfect with temperatures in the
high twenties, a warm breeze day and night. We sleep with the hatch
open above us and only a sheet over us. In the daytime it is all
sunshine and blue skies. It doesn’t get any better than this.
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| A beautiful sunset |
We
are planning to spend a bit of time here catching up with boat
chores. Andrew wants to work on the water maker and the engine. I
have some cooking to do. These are the jobs that get pushed aside
for more enjoyable pastimes like snorkelling, walks on the beach and
fun in general.
SO
WHAT’S NEXT
Hopefully
we will slowly head back to The Blue Lagoon, stopping off at Mantaray
Bay on the way. The Mantas feed here on the plankton, but they have
been very scarce lately. So, until next time, all is well on Eye
Candy and we are having a lovely time.
Love
Candy xx
