Category Archives: Fiji

Musket Cove Regatta: Pirate Day 2023

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We were lucky enough to get on a winning catamaran called “Wow” last year during the 2022 Musket Cove Regatta. This year we arrived the day before the regatta and did not have a chance to secure a position for all three races.

There are over 100 sailboats in the anchorage and on the moorings.  It is packed!  About 80 boats signed up for the regatta this year.  But that does not necessarily mean that all 80 boats are racing.  For example, we signed up Sugar Shack but we don’t plan to race our home.  We signed up so we can participate in the challenges, games, opening and closing night dinners.

This is a great shot (taken by Musket Cove) of the Island Bar and the boats in the marina.

Day 1

Day 1 of the Musket Cove Regatta is the Beachcomber Pirate Date Race.  This is definitely the most fun race as anything goes!  We were lucky enough to secure a spot on a beatiful Fountaine Pajout catamaran called “Salty.”  We know Mel who is crew on it and she invited us on after we bribed her with jello shots and cookies.

Such a different experience from last year.  We were in party mode the minute we stepped onto the boat.  Everyone was carefree and jovial and ready for a good time.  With that said, we were still in a race and managed to get a pretty good position off the start line.

Like last year, we did not have much wind so it was a motor sail (anything goes in this race).  We sailed right past the marker with a bird who was just watching the excitement go by.  Matt tries to inflate his pirate sword and we arrive to Beachcomber island after 2hrs.  I think we were 5th in the catamaran category.

Once we get to shore we are immediately taken as prisoners.  They shout at us to behave or we will end up in the sandy grave yard.

We walk across red hot coals and are forced to take our rum vaccination. Can’t have a pirate day without rum!

Everyone dresses the pirate part.

The crew at the Beachcomber.

Funtabulous Time

This is Viki from Island Cruising, she is the organizer of our South Pacific Rally.

Cruisers like any excuse to dress up and drink.

My favorite pirate.

And then the silliness occurs…

Do I make a good sea monster?

Meet the “salty” crew.

Fijian Dancers

Such beautiful expressions

And the fire dancing

They really stepped up their show compared to last year!

The Salty crew successfully conquered Pirate Day!

Stay tuned for Part II of the Musket Cove Regatta 2023!  Coming soon

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred in early September.  Did you read our very cool post on Yadua and Yadua Taba?

Yadua and Yadua Taba

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Yadua was one of our stops during our multiple day passage across Fiji.  It was such a lovely island that I decided it needed its own post.  Yadua and Yadua Taba are located in the Bligh Waters situated between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.  It can be a treacherous  journey getting through the Bligh waters as they seas can zip between these islands which strong currents.  But in the right conditions, Yadua can be idealic.  The smaller yellow mass is Yadua Taba.

We arrived late in the afternoon, dropped the hook and watched the gorgeous sunset behind the boat.  The next day we spent exploring this amazing spot on land and sea.  We are still experiencing the effects of the Super Blue Moon with excecssive high and low tides.  So, we wait until mid-tide to get to shore.  

High tide covers the beach in water and low tide doesn’t allow us to get the dinghy over the coral reef that lines the beach front.

There are 4 beaches in this bay along with a bazillion palm trees, some hills, and beautiful rock cliffs.

Expedition on Shore

We start out by exploring the beautiful sandy beaches inside this bay.  The sand is soft and the beaches are clean.

But we want to see more so we decide to try to climb the hill to see the beaches on the east side.  Of course we don’t find a trail to go up and over….(lower photo).  We utilize tree roots to climb the rock face, then avoid slipping as we walk the ridge before we make a new trail to the other side.  Seriously there has to be an easier way!

But the beaches on the other side are magnificent!

On the way back we see what looks like a “trail” up the hill.  We decide that it can’t be more difficult than the one we came in on so we take it.  And guess what?  It is an actual trail that leads us directly to the other side.  Jimeny Cricket!

Yadua Taba

Yadua Taba is a much smaller island located on the SW corner of Yadua.  It is forbidden to go ashore on this little island and its surrounding reefs are wildlife sancutuary for one of the rarest and most beautiful lizzarsd called the Crested Iguana.

We took the dinghy over to the island with the hopes of seeing them sunning themselves on a log or the beach but they were very shy and hid well from us.

Yadua Taba is special for another reason in that it contains tropical dry forest vegetation, one of the most (if not the most) endangered vegetation types in the world!

We had to continue on with our journey across Fiji as we need to make tracks to Musket Cove.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occured in early October 2023.  In our last blog post we traverse across Fiji.

Downwind Sail Across Fiji

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Matt and I really wanted to visit the North East islands of Fiji.  We left Viani Bay and headed to Qamea which boasts of tall mountains (300m) and deep, forrest filled valleys.  It was a short motor sail with the jib only as the wind was coming in at about 28-35 degrees.  Makes it really hard to sail at this wind angle, but it was a beautiful day and we only had about 25nm to go.

We stopped in Namata Bay on Qamea which is owned by the Mitchell Family.  We only got to meet Arthur as the other brothers were busy working.  But we had a lovely walk along the long sandy beach at mid-tide.  During high tide the beach is completely gone and during low tide we could not get to shore because there is a coral reef that runs parrallel to the beach.

We also enjoyed a lovely snorkel around the reef where we saw tons of little fish, some sea stars and some pretty coral.

Naiviivi Bay – Qamea

We took a joy ride in the big boat.  First we started out at Namata Bay and motored into the wind to Laucala Pass which is between the island of Qamea and the very exclusive and private island of Laucala.  Matt thought we could anchor here but the weather was poor so we drove in front of the legendary exclusve Como Laucala Resort.  We never planned to stop but we did want to see what the fuss was all about.

We then flipped a U-turn, unfurled the jib and motor sailed to our next anchorage called Naiviivi Bay which is a 1nm indent on the west side of the Qamea island.  It is pretty trick to get to the anchorage as it is a king tide and we arrived at low tide.  But we made it safely and it is gorgeous.

We started at the orange anchor, went east (to the right) then circled back past the original anchorage to the red triangle.

Super calm, quiet, and peaceful here in Naivaiivi Bay!  We got a little fresh water rinse and enjoyed a fabulous afternoon.

We passed this funny enclave with two beautiful palm trees growing against all odds.

Koro Island

We had a beautiful 64nm downwind sail from Qamea to Koro island.  We set the medium asymetrical spinnaker and let it ride the entire sunny day.

During this little passage we crossed the international date line and went ahead into the future where we went from East to West.  Always pretty cool but it totally screws up our instruments.

We arrived late in the day and left before dawn the next day so the only photo I have for you is one of the super blue moon. 

For the past several days we have been experiencing higher high tides and lower low tides due to the Super Blue Moon.  Unfortunately for us the first few nights were cloudy so we did not see the moon but we certainly experienced the huge tides.  But after 3 nights, I woke at 3am and got a glimpse of this special and very rare occurence.  The next Super Blue Moon will be in 2037!

We left at 0400 and had the rare gift of the super blue moon and the sunrise together.

We had another perfect downwind sail from Koro island to Yadua island.  Instead of putting up the medium asymetrical spinnaker we put the parasail up which propelled us for 72nm in under 12hours!  Pretty good day with an average speed of 6.1kt.

A small pod of dolphins came out to play with Sugar Shack.

Yadua

We arrive in Yadua and as much as I’d like to continue our travel post, I need to create a separate post for this beautiful island.  So stay tuned for more on Yadua.

Kuata Island

We leave early the next moring (0430) to make a 75nm.  It was not the beautiful downwind sail that we had for the past few days, but it was still really pretty.  We tried to fly the working sails but they kept flogging so we tried to put up our medium spinnaker.  She was only up for about 30 minutes when she decided she was done with us and just exploded.  What a complete bummer.  This is what she looked like happy and then she fell to pieces…

But, to cheer us up, a HUGE pod of dolphins came to play with us for over 45 minutes!  They were litterally leaping and jumping through the waves to come cheer us up.

Then they stayed with us playing on our bows. Certainly put a smile back on my face!

We finally arrive to Kuata island.  It was nearly sunset so we dropped the hook and enjoyed a sundowner.

Our last trip was from Kuata to Musket Cove.  A short 35nm trip / 6 hours.  It was super nice breaking up this passage across Fiji.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  We dive the legendary Rainbow Reef in our last blog post, did you see our 8 legged friend?