Cruising in the Mamanucas

While we have been waiting for the tides to come round to low tide over midday so that we can fix the prop shafts we have been out to a few Islands that we didn’t get to see when we were here last year.
We headed off to Mana Island on a Friday and the25 nm trip took us all day. On arriving there the entry to the reef looked rather intimidating but we drifted outside for a bit sorting out sails etc and watched a couple of local boats go through then followed them in. Once in there it was quite obvious which way the markers were leading us. We did have a wee scare though as sun was in front of us, the way you don’t want it when surrounded by reef and next thing we know we have managed to go right over an isolated piece of reef. We could see the coral really clearly, but obviously it was a bit deeper than it looked as we didn’t hit anything. Once again very thankful for a shallow draft!
On the Saturday we had a wander around the island, managed to walk up a hill, and on the way back do a bit of long grass bashing. The kids and I also went for a swim and then snorkel, but this didn’t last long as the little jellyfish were stinging and making it pretty uncomfortable to be in the water. We spent the remainder of that afternoon watching the resort guests parapont off the back of a boat, sail hobiecats, and enjoy the beach.




Dan multitasking at Mana Island.



Reef around Mana Island.






The "Hill" we climbed.

On the Sunday we headed out again, in the view to anchoring at further North at Yanuya Island, which our cruising guide said was an anchorage that they had stayed at. But on arrival there the roll heading into the beach put us right off. We were on lunch time and getting hungry and a little short with each other as we needed some food, so we hove too a little off of the Island, had a cuppa and some muffins and relooked at the chart. The West side looked slightly promising, so we decided to check that out, but again could see no calm spots for anchoring as the SE wind and waves were competing against a SW swell that made the whole area look like a washing machine! Another look at the chart and we again decided to head further North up to Navadra and Venua Levu Islands, where it looked quite sheltered behind a reef there. On the way we saw several groups of birds “fishing” and headed towards them. We even saw the fish jumping but none wanted any of the lines we had out!
After another full days sail and getting on for sunset we arrived at Navadra and headed in around the reef. This was VERY nerve racking as there wasn’t a lot of room between the Island and the reef in the middle of the small bay the islands created and again we ended going right over top. We always had a minimum depth of 5 meters but the magnification of the water made the coral heads appear very close!! Unfortunately this anchorage too was subject to the SW swell, which we found out on our last day was larger than normal due to the big low pressure system slowly moving across NZ at the time. The setting was beautiful though and we had a lovely day despite an uncomfortable night. We caught our first fish of the trip and it tasted great! Then we headed for the only beach we could get to, as all the others had reef right up to them and we didn’t think out little two horse outboard would be able to get us back off. We swam, snorkelled, Mum read, Dad hunted coconuts, we harassed the hermit crabs and collected wood to light fires for our NZ sausages and marshmallows.




The rollers created by the reef we went over.








The View from our rolly anchorage.


On the Tuesday we decided to start heading back to the main land so that we would be back in plenty of time for the Friday midday low tide. Thank goodness we did as it took us three days! One night spent on the North Eastern side of Vomo Island, getting there near on sunset again after another bit of reef dodging and leaving first thing in the morning. It then took another full day to get to Saweni Bay and again up anchored first thing in the morning to head towards Denarau. We stopped at Vuda Point and anchored outside so that we could get our gas bottle refilled and catch up with some friends from last year that were there. By the time we got back to Division II just after 1300 we had more wind than we had had in the last 3 days and managed to go faster than we had in that time with just the genoa! This enabled us to do as we had planned and take Division II up on the mud on the evening high tide ready to start work on the Friday morning.




Portraits on a slow sailing day. Out on the tramps enjoying the sun.







Vomo Island lots of hours after we left it!



Cheif reef spotter in action!



On the chart this is a sandy cay. Didn't know you could build on them!

The work to remove the cutlass bearings was not so easy on the Friday, and poor Dan was using some rather choice words while trying to get the rudder down so he could get the prop shaft out. He mentioned something about changing things by small degrees next time making all the difference and changing angles of shafts so that we wouldn’t have to remove rudders to pull the shafts. All stuff he admits talking about during the build but deciding it wouldn’t make too much difference! After rolling around in the sand and mud and the heat for several hours I think he changed his mind. But the job was done with about half an hour before the sea started creeping back up around the boat again. For the port side lessons were learned and Dan had the job done in around half the time. The biggest thing is that he didn’t realise how much the boat would sink, so on the Saturday he put some plywood under the skegg to stop the boat sinking as much which made getting the rudder out that much easier, and the port side cutlass bearing wasn’t as damaged so that also helped.

While all this was going on the kids were having a great time in the mud. After about an hour I thought they were muddy but as you can see from the photos they did get a lot worse!









Another Great Sunset to end the day. Last night at Denarau.

So today means a day on the dock, new water in the tanks, a recharge of the batteries, and a day to decide where to next. We will keep you posted

Some More Fiji Photos

At the end of the main street in Nadi. We didn't go in but I loved the colours.






Another fantastic sunset, the photos never do them justice. This one in Saweni Bay.





Oliver on the slide at the playground in Nadi.



Rylee swinging like a monkey on the bars in Nadi.



Paige needed help getting out of this pose!



And the boys found a tree to climb. Funny that!



Oliver on the boom last night. Rylee took this one.



Rylee hamming it up for the camera.



Paige sitting on the boom last night for a photo session.

Reflections on Passage - Written Thursday 14/7/11

Just a couple of things wanted to get out there. Our length of journey was about 300nm longer than the direct line, and despite good speed, we took as many days as other boats we know who went to Savusavu at the top of Fiji. How can this be? Well it could be the fact we don’t have an auto pilot keeping us within 5-10 degrees of the set course and we had human ‘error’ of around 30 degrees before correcting our course. This happens too when we are surfing down the waves trying to get good speed, which happened, but by the time you drop off the back of the wave the wind angle is right down to 150 degrees instead of 120. Dan’s also wonders if the log is out by around 10% which would account for some of those extra miles. Dan is thinking about doing some speed tests using the hand held GPS over a set distance with no current to test this, but seeing as we have been so busy tanning/snorkelling/eating/resting since arriving here we haven’t yet done this.

Another thing that I wanted to mention as it has been affecting us since day two of passage is the prop shafts, especially on the starboard engine. When we were hauled out in May Dan fitted cutlass bearing to each shaft as the starboard side had been knocking and he thought this might fix it. Unfortunately while motoring on day two the starboard engine started making funny (awful) noises. The cutlass bearing wasn’t getting the water forced through it as it would on a water cooled engine and melted onto the prop shaft. Luckily the shaft seal hasn’t yet been damaged, but we have been avoiding using that engine and nursing along the port one just in case. So this means needing to fix it and as there isn’t as yet a way to haul out catamarans in Fiji we are planning on drying out in Denarau Marina on the sand tomorrow and probably the next day to remove the bearings. We have had to wait for the right tides to do this hence the delay. Dan is constantly muttering these days about not fixing things that aren’t broken!

New Zealand to Fiji Trip.

Sunset at Sea



Oliver on the helm, chocolate cake in hand, doing 10knots surfing down the waves.



Rylee on the Big Bouncy Castle.



The Biggest Ferris Wheel. Run by a toothless smoking Fijian. The running gear comprised of a very large looking dif and a very long wire cable. Not sure on the OSH standards at this show.



Dan and Paige, a bit blurry as they went so fast!



Our Crew, Phil and Joel enjoying the sights of a Fiji Festival.



Oliver enjoying the smaller bouncy castle.



The big bouncy castle.



Yah. Leaving Day! Tuesday 21st June. Crew arrived. New shore charger installed and charging. Food topped up. Customs clearance and paper work faxed to Fiji, ready to go.
We cast off lines at 1415ish, didn’t actually take too much notice this time! Motored out of Marsden, sails set while familiarising the crew with the workings of Division II and off out towards Whangarei Heads. A little bumpy with wind against tide, a chat about watches and how to manage them on the way to towards the “Chicks”. For the next 8-9 days we had three hours on, nine off around the clock. Captain Dan had 9-12, I had 12-3, Phil 3-6 and Junior Crew Joel (17) 6-9, morning and night! For me that meant split sleep as I also need to work around the kids being awake during the day and letting Dan sleep as much as possible as if any changes/decisions needed making he needed to be around to help with that.
Our log for the first 24 hours wasn’t completed. Not sure why but we were all probably just getting used to things. I do know it wasn’t rough or really uncomfortable at all but still most of us felt a little unwell, and the lethargy again had set in, so not much was done.
On the Wednesday morning it was a little disheartening to realise that we could still see land in the form of a peak on the northern side of the Bay of Islands! We ran the generator and motored for a while in the afternoon as no wind to help us on the way, but knew that Northerlies were coming and forecast to last 12-24 hours, up to 25 knots. Some shipping was seen, and fishing vessels and again our friends the albatross put on a lovely show.
Over night the northerly kicked in and as it started I remember saying I hoped it stayed longer than forecast as at that stage we were making good speed and it was quite comfortable and a welcome change to going nowhere fast. I soon changed my mind about that as Thursday progressed and we were constantly reducing sail to try and make the ride as comfortable as possible. Rylee and Oliver didn’t even get out of bed until nearly midday, and only because nature called. Every time I moved I was sick, and feel that this is the worst I had ever been! Usually I have a few hours respite between bouts of sickness, but it was unrelenting this day. We were in survival mode, but the boat was fine. No food was really eaten, and keeping fluids down was a challenge, and later on when on I watch started worrying about the kids as had not seen them take much water over the day.
By midnight Thursday/Friday as I was coming on to watch Dan had experienced squalls and lightening in the three hours previous and we were down to third reef with genoa still around half. I had the first couple of hours with this sail plan trying to keep a Northerly heading, but Dan climbed out of bed in the small hours as it was obviously uncomfortable down there and I had been having squalls come through with wind speeds in the mid to high 40s and one gust up to 50 knots. After telling Dan this we got rid of the mainsail and headed the boat more downwind under genoa for a more comfortable ride. Doing this just totally changed the feel of the boat and we all, including Div II, all got a well deserved rest.
The one good thing about this wind was that the new wind generators pumped in the power and we only needed to run the generator once again after this later in the trip which was a change from last year when we had to run it for at least a tank of fuel every second day or so to keep up with the running of instruments, lights and radio.
Friday was a recovery day for everyone and we continued without mainsail until midafternoon. A few new activity books for the kids to keep them occupied and some sugary food as a treat.
After that the rest of the trip had winds from the westerly sector with following seas which meant lots of surfing down waves but not quite in the right direction as we weren’t able to go as north as we would have liked. The conditions did make for a fairly comfortable ride from then on and also saw Phil clock our top speed for the trip at 19.9knots.
One night when I was on watch I saw for the first time a moon bow! I got an awful fright as I had no idea what it was and even though I had been regularly looking around the horizon, it just appeared really quickly and thoughts of UFOs went through my head until I worked out what it was! It was a huge arc in the sky of white light with a slightly lighter blackness under the arc than was above it. Dan happened to be up and about so got him to check it out just in case!
On day 7 we finally put in our first gybe and changed heading to 45 degrees as if we had kept on the way we were we would have got to Port Vila in Vanuatu instead.
On the Wednesday morning we had Kendavu off to our starboard side and as the day progressed more and more of Viti Levu came into sight. We had a great run of easing seas and South Easterly winds (finally!) up to 20 knots which saw us pass through Navula Passage in the reef that surrounds the bottom of the island just after sunset.
We anchored in the bay just there for the night as there are some navigational hazards inside the reef on the way to Lautoka that we didn’t want to have to negotiate at night. I solid night’s sleep for everyone and then we upped anchor even before breakfast as last time we came through we had no wind for the trip up the coast. We had a great morning sail seeing us in Lautoka late morning and Dan heading over to clear customs and immigration before they went to lunch.
There were a couple of changes to the formalities from last year. The health clearance has gone up over 400% from $40.00 to $172.50 plus $3.00 for the taxi! (Last time Dan was driven to the ATM!) And the Quarintine Officer also boarded the boat this time, but I don’t think he really knew what he was looking for, just saying that all out food had to stay on our boat, and after prompting told us where we needed to dump our rubbish.
This all took to around 5pm on the Thursday, so we couldn’t leave the boat in all this time. Friday morning and we all headed into town to get our cruising permits and for a change in the crew list at immigration. The plan was then a quick top up from the farmers market then back to the boat, but when we got into town we found there was a Farmers Festival with rides and food stalls, so we had lunch there and the kids went on a couple of bouncy castles and Paige and Dan went on one of the four Ferris Wheels. This meant a late afternoon return to the boat but very happy and contented travellers!