A few days were spent at the Paradise resort on Taveuni island and Paul and Holly took the opportunity to get their PADI open water scuba dive tickets. The resort is close to the rainbow reef and our excursion out to the “cabbage patch” and “Pandora’s box” reefs was very special. While the divers were doing their main deep dives, the rest of us had a guided snorkel tour. The snorkelling was fabulous!
Albert cove on Rabi Island is a little gem. The fringing reef was great for snorkeling and the beach was white sand lined with coconut trees. There isn’t a village in this bay but there were a couple of families living just back from the beach. We visited Derek and his wife Mariana (?) and their visiting grandchildren and they gave their permission for us to use their bay. Dave gave them his old wetsuit, an old snorkel mask and a women’s magazine and they seemed very happy with that. We stayed for a few days.
We arrived in Fiji a few days ago and once clearing customs we sailed north to the Bay of Islands. Fantastic place! Photos don’t do it justice but will post some drone shots (thanks Owen from Dulcinea) once we get better internet.
Our time in Tonga was too brief and quickly over. We departed Vava’u yesterday and expect to arrive in Fiji tomorrow morning.
Wind is good and consistent, but too squarely behind us so it is a little bit rolly, otherwise a great sail!
We left the Ha’apai group this morning after spending several days cruising in some very enjoyable locations. The weather even turned fantastic for a day or so! We celebrated by breaking out the BBQ…. great NZ meat supplied by Churchill’s…. delicious
The 60 nm sail from Ha’apai to Vava’u was in perfect conditions and we had a blast! Dave was very excited, but ultimately disappointed when the huge fish he hooked decided that he’d go in a different direction to where we we sailing. The evening sees us at anchor in a beautiful bay and looking forward to a snorkel on a nearby reef tomorrow morning.