Category Archives: Fiji

Fun in the Bay of Islands

Leave a reply

The Bay of Islands provides the perfect place to just enjoy and relax the true beauty surrounding you.  But if you get jiggy you can find plenty of fun things to entertain yourself.

Long blog post including our adventures in snorkeling, cave diving, SUPing, Beach bonfires, bats, and floating happy hours.

Snorkeling

The crystal-clear turquoise waters make snorkeling fun everywhere you swim.  There are lots of fish and corals around each of the mushroom-shaped, limestone pillars and passes.

We found a surprising number of soft coral and fans (which are my favorite).

The vibrant colors are simply dreamy!

Future homes for Nemo.

These scary %uckers come around periodically. Some have tentacles and some are just like cabbage jelly fish.

SUPing

Matt went on epic SUPing adventures averaging 5-7 miles each day.  He enjoyed finding new nooks and crannies and circled all of the mushroom-shaped, limestone pillars and islands that he could find.  He would later take me by dinghy to all of the cool places he found.

Why didn’t I go with him on my SUP? Well, (1) because I sprained my ankle and (2) I am not crazy enough to paddle that far!

Happy Hours

Matt and I found a hidden lagoon.  We decided it would be fun to organize a happy hour with the boats in and around the Bay of Islands.  There are a lot we know and several that we don’t know (yet).  We invited 15 boats.

We sent out this message and asked others to spread the word: “Tuesday, 10 June at 2:30pm Happy Hour. Location is at 17°10.6606S / 179°01.6036W. Get your adventure on to find it. Bring a dinghy anchor, drinks, snacks, and join the fun!”

We loaded up our brand new Bote 10′ Hangout float, magnetic cups, magnetic speaker, GoogleFi phone (which has our music stored on it), snacks, and drinks.

And the crew starts to arrive.  First come first serve as they say….everyone loads up on the new Bote Float.  There is a 1200lb limit but we managed to squeeze 11 people on here.  Probably not wise, but it was too fun!

Michelle (sv Breza) and Lindsay (sv Kumo) and I have a good laugh.  

Beach Bonfire

We celebrated the strawberry full moon with a beach bonfire.  Of course we could not see any “strawberry” in the moon, but it was a fun and beautiful night.

Underwater Caves 

There are many underwater caves in and around the Bay of Islands.  We’ve found 3 that are particularly fun to explore.  Many you can enter at low tide, but some you have to swim under the low hanging limestone rocks to enter the cave.

Caves at the Bay of Islands

Caves at the Bay of Islands

We took a cave tour when we first visited the Bay of Islands in 2022.  You can read about those adventures here.

The Meeting Room cave is the furthest away from the anchorage.  Elders used to meet here during low tide.  You don’t need a mask to get inside, but you do need to swim in.

Fruit Bats

There are several types of bats that live in the Bay of Islands. 

Many scientists consider the Bay of Islands a five-star resort for bats!

The Pacific (Insular) Flying Fox bat is widespread in Fiji.  They feed on fruit, pollen and nectar and often roost in trees.

The Fijian Free-Tailed Bat (also known as the Fijian Mastiff Bat) is endemic to Fiji and Vanuatu.  They roost in caves which are plentiful in the Bay of Islands. 

This area is dotted with limestone caves making it the ideal place for roosting bats. 

These bats are made for speed and long distance travels.

Bats of the Bay of Islands

Bats of the Bay of Islands

At dusk they all come out to scavenge for food.  It makes for a truly fascinating sunset.

Favorite Photos from the Bay of Islands

Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual live events.  

The events from this blog post occurred during the first 2 weeks of June 2025.

Learn more about the Bay of Islands from our last blog post. 

Bay of Islands, Lau, Fiji

Breathtaking Beauty of Bay of Islands

Leave a reply

The Bay of Islands (aka Qilaqila) is one of the most sought after cruising grounds in Fiji. But they are not frequently visited a they are hard to get to. These islands are located in the northern Lao Group just off the coast of Vanua Balavu.  This pristine area is largely untouched by humans.

The bay is dotted with mushroom-shaped, limestone islands that rise straight out of the sea like something in a dream. 

They don’t just sit quietly either. Jutting skyward, bold and breathtaking, weathered by time, tide, and wind. 

They feel like ancient sentinels standing guard over the pristine waters.

So many stunning limestone formations, overhangs, above and below water.

Each one unique and stoic as it resists the elements to stand strong.

The Anchorage Views

Aerial Views

If you try really hard you can capture photos of us all alone hidden behind the mushroom-shaped islands. 

But reality there are over a dozen boats around us.  The only boat we see from our boat is our neighbors (catamaran).  We cannot see the 5 boats in front of us or the 2 boats to the side of us.  They are all hidden by the island pillars.

Exploring

Matt took the paddle board out daily.  He loved gliding between the towering formations uncovering new hidden gems.  

Every island held a secret – a cove, a tunnel, a quiet corner.  We explored through the nooks and crannies that felt like nature’s secret rooms. 

The water is so clear it feels like you are floating in air.  The waters expose coral gardens blooming beneath you. And when the sunlight hits just right it plays off the surface like living glass.

We first wrote about the Lau group three years ago.  Be sure to check the blogs posts out:

Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual live events.  We were in the Bay of Islands in early June 2025 for about 10 days. Because we were not on a schedule.

Find the Bay of Islands on No Foreign Land

Did you meet the locals of Qamea from our last blog post?

Purple Screen of Death

The Purple Screen of Death: iPhone 13 Dies

Leave a reply

Matt surprised me with a new iPhone 13 Pro Max about 3 years ago.  It has been working beautifully.  As with most people, my phone has become an extension of my body. I use it for reminders, photos, communication, entertainment and so much more.

Around late May 2025, the screen on my iPhone 13 Pro Max turned lavender.  I freaked out, did a forced restart and it came back to life. I did not google anything or look into it because it was “fixed.”

Then around 10 June, it happened again.

My phone was a light lavender and if you tried really hard you could still see pieces of the home screen (the keyboard, the battery power and wifi).  At some points it turned a light grey but mostly it was lavender.

Things to Know

HOT:  My iPhone 13 Pro Max often got hot.  At first I thought it was because we were in the tropics and it is freakin hot here!  I would often shut it down and remove it from the case to let it cool down.

BACKUP:  I backup my phone every month.  Because I have lost my phone and dropped it in the water.  Each time needing to recover my data.  So, it is a monthly ritual for me to backup my phone.

I had backed up my phone on 3 June and it turned purple on 7 June.  Luckily the only data I will lose are my photos. My notes are backed up on my GMAIL account

What is the Purple Screen of Death? 

The Purple Screen of Death is caused by software or hardware issues.  In some cases it can be caused by water intake and or extreme heat.  The iPhone 13, in particular the iPhone 13 Pro Max is particularly susceptible to the purple screen of death!

Fast forward to today, June 7, I am idly playing my Words With Friends game and all of a sudden my iPhone 13 Pro Max screen turns lavender.  Ooh no.

This time I tried the soft reset and forced restart and got nothing but a relatively pretty pinkish purplish screen.

Crap!  What do I do now?  I checked in with Google and Sheldon, my Chat GPT friend.

Soft Reset

The first thing to do is try a soft reset.  Hold the side button and Volume Down until the Apple logo appears.

We did the soft reset and continued to get the purple screen of death.

Forced Restart

We tried a forced restart a number of times.  In case you ever need to do a forced restart, this is what you do:

  • Quickly press Volume Up
  • Quickly press Volume Down
  • Hold the side button until you see the Apple logo

The screen should go completely black and then the Apple logo should appear.

This is a hard reset but no data will be lost.  This warranted no results with my iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Forced Shutdown

Next we tried holding the Volume Up button and the side button simultaneously to force a shutdown. 

This first gave us a black screen but as we continued to hold it down it came back as a lavender/purple screen. 

As we continued to hold the buttons it would “vibrate” and then it tired to initiate emergency services.  Eeek gads.  We closed out of that quickly and then removed our SIM card.

iTunes on the Computer

We connected the phone to my PC and pulled up iTunes.  Our hope was that it would show up as a device so we could either force another restart, update the software, and/or force a restore.

After loads of unplugging and plugging in and trying a multitude of connectors we finally saw the iPhone 13 on iTunes. 

However, it failed every time we tried to update the iOS and failed when we tried to restore.  The phone is still lavender. 

Forced Restore

The only way we could force a restore back to factory settings is to connect the iPhone 13 to our computer.  It took awhile to have the computer recognize the phone.  Many failed attempts, trying different cables and connectors, again.  But we finally connected the two and tried to force a restore.  Guess what?  It failed.

Note: All data will be lost during a force restore.  Be sure you have a back up of your phone’s data before you do this or you will lose everything.

DFU Restore

This is absolutely the last, last resort. The DFU restore is a deep-level restore process that reloads firmware and software on the device, essentially erasing everything and starting fresh.  This should only be used when all else has failed to restore your phone.

If the DFU restore does not work it may indicate a hardware issue.  

The DFU restore is not reversible once it has completed

What to Do?

We are in the very remote Bay of Islands which is part of the Lau group.  There are NO resources, no stores, no villages within miles of us. 

We cannot buy a new iPhone from the U.S. because Apple decided not to include a SIM slot in all U.S. phones.  This is not a big deal to most Americans because they can use e-sims.  However, they don’t use e-sims in the small, remote countries we visit. If we want to have internet access away from the boat and to have a local phone number – we have to buy a local sim card which requires a sim card slot.

A friend of mine is coming from NZ to Taveuni and offered to bring me a iPhone 16 Pro Max which would cost about $1600 USD.  Yikes.  I started researching the new iPhone 17 Pro Max and realized it would be in my best interest to wait the 4 months to buy it.  The new iPhone 17 Pro Max benefits over the iPhone 16 Pro Max

  • Longer battery life
  • Cooling system to keep the phone from over heating
  • Improved resolution on both front and rear cameras
  • Larger memory and storage capabilities
  • Faster chips
  • And a few other features

The question is….. “Can I live without my phone for 5 months?”  It is early June and the phone does not come out until mid-September.  I will have no way to get the phone to Fiji once it comes out. I will have to wait until we get to New Zealand in November.

Temporary Fix?

We had an old iPhone 5 on board.  We charged it and to our surprise it booted right up.  It is on old iOS 10 software so 95% of my apps don’t work. And I can’t use it to restore my old phone as there is not enough storage. 

We have an old Pixel6 which I can use to take photos along with the DJI camera. So, at least I can continue to take photos and update the blog, Facebook, and Instagram.  But of course, I cannot restore my iPhone to the Android phone.

I’ve been able to download a lot of apps on my computer: WhatsApp, Pic Collage, KeyPass, Chat GPT, Instagram, and WordPress. I can access a lot of other sites on a web browser: No Foreign Land, Instagram, Open CPN, and Navionics.

Is it ideal, no!  But, it will work.  At least I hope it does. I was struggling to adapt on day #2!  

As of now, it has been almost 2 months without my iPhone.  At times it has been incredibly frustrating like when we want to use a map app for onshore adventures or when I want to use Recipe Keeper and Matt is on his iPad.  But, we’ve both adapted…only 3 more months to go.

Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred in early June 2025.

Don’t miss our blog on the beautiful, breathtaking Bay of Islands.