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Author: Debbie McDonald

Lifou Island, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia

Debbie McDonald
  • Bakery
  • Loading the ovens
  • Tribal hut
  • Baker on the left. Cleaning the loaves after baking

We arrived in the early morning after a 4 night passage to a huge bay called Baie du Santal on the western side of Lifou Island. This was to be the clear in spot for the whole rally into New Caledonia. A few rally boats were already there to greet us, it was good to see them again after such a long while. The rally boats continued to arrive throughout the day and night in readiness to clear in to the country.

Clearing in involved running up the quarantine flag, Paul preparing all the paperwork to present to the officials and making sure that we comply with any bio security rules for the country, in this case it was no fresh fruit or vegetables or any Fijian meat or dairy products. Until a boat is cleared in to the country, no one is allowed off the boat. They boarded all the boats the following day and we were all cleared in. Time to take down the Q flag and hoist the French flag.

Because we all had no fresh food left, the rally organisers arranged for a bus to take us all to the local shops on the other side of the island to buy food and SIMs. There were lots of baguettes so of course we had to buy some!

The local village of Doueloulou put on a welcome feast with traditional food and singing. The food consisted mainly of steamed meat and root vegetables with a few salads.

The village also had a bakery with wood fired ovens and they allowed us to watch as they loaded the ovens with the risen loaves and transferred loaves from one oven to the other. If I could speak French, I would have asked so many questions, sadly they didn’t speak much English either. The bread was delicious! It was while we were there and there was a break in the baking that the baker gave us a little tour of his home including a tribal hut that he apparently rents out and a restaurant for his guests. His menu included coconut crabs which Paul was particularly keen to eat so we made a booking to come back the following day for dinner. As we were leaving, the baker showed us another item on the menu that he was keen for us to try….it was a fruit bat! After we got back, Paul jumped on the radio and got 20 takers for dinner from the rally and with some help from French speaker Jen from Close Encounters, went back to the bakery to confirm a buffet for 20 including fruit bat, coconut crabs, fish and chicken.

  • Coconut crab
  • Fruit bat

Due to the political climate here, we were advised by the rally organisers not to visit various areas of NC including the northern most of the Loyalty Islands, Ouvea where there had been some altercations between visiting yachties and the locals including some gunfire. Consequently we planned to ride out the windy conditions in Lifou for a few days and then head over to Grand Terre.

The Yasawa Islands, Fiji

Debbie McDonald

Our next lot of visitors arrived (Jonathan and Jo) and we set off for the Yasawa Islands. These are a group of islands to the northwest of Viti Levu and are reported to be idyllic cruising, especially for those not used to sailing or who have never sailed before.

The weather however did not play fair to our guests and our first nights anchorage at Waya Island was very windy and roly so we pushed on the next morning to get further north and find a more protected spot. We ended up at an area called the Blue Lagoon in which the movie of the same name was filmed. The anchorage was a lot less roly although still quite windy. We were in good company as a couple of other rally boats were also hiding from the weather there. Cindy and Alan from Pleiades invited us over for sundowners and gave us a chance to have a tour of a Seawind catamaran. Great looking boat.

  • From the back of Pleiades
  • Us in the background, from Pleiades

On Saturday it was still too windy to do any kind of water based activities so we walked to Lo’s Tea House on the other side of the island. We drank fresh lemon leaf tea (fresh lemon leaves dunked in hot water) and ate banana cake with runny chocolate icing. After walking back, we had a late lunch at the Nanuya resort. Still windy. 

Lo’s tea house

We decided to brave the winds the next day and head further north. On Sawa-I-Lau there is a cave/cave dive that we hoped to visit but the weather was still not cooperating (the wind here was ferocious) so we anchored for lunch to appreciate the view (Sawa-I-Lau is a really pretty anchorage) before continuing on to anchor off Yasawa Island for the night. On the way through the passage between the islands I saw a manta ray swimming past. Yay!

The bay we selected was much better protected from the swell and wind which allowed us to get out and explore the beaches by tender, paddle board and sit-on-top. Getting ashore was tricky with the tender due to the fringing reefs but we found a spot some way down. Thank goodness we have a tough little tender. Paul met a couple on the beach a bit further along that had been dropped off for a “private beach experience” from a nearby exclusive resort.  Oops!

Back to the Bay of Islands

Debbie McDonald

We enjoyed the Bay of Islands so much that we had to go back after the feast. There was still so much exploring to do there and the weather at Susui was atrocious. There is one particular bommie there that was just like swimming in an aquarium. It wasn’t very big but it was stunning. Here are some more pics including some drone shots courtesy of Dulcinea (another boat in the rally).

Bay of Islands, Fiji – us in the foreground.

Fiji feast – Susui

Debbie McDonald

The village of Susui on Vanua Balavu, Fiji invited the rally for a tour of their hidden lagoon, snorkeling off the beach followed by a traditional sevusevu ceremony and feast. The villagers, including the school children had spent days preparing the feast, decorations and performances. The school children performed songs and dances and the rest of the village participated, even inviting random members of the rally to join in the dancing. The feast was fabulous with two different pork dishes, fish, taro, cassava, potato and many other dishes that I can’t put names to.

  • Children dancing and singing
Amanda’s meal.