Tag Archives: fiji

Onward to Fiji

We spent a lovely week in Funafuti, Tuvalu.  But, it was time to make the journey south east towards Fiji. 

The forecast showed light winds, rain, and seas between 1-2 meters.  

Prior to leaving we filled up on duty free fuel diesel. 

Pacific Energy typically fuels 200 liter drums with their large nozzles.  These nozzles are too big for our jerry cans.  Our solution was to fill a 200 liter drum.  And then use a hand pump to transfer the fuel from the drum to our (10) jerry cans. 

We transported the (10) jerry cans across the street, down the beach, in the surf to the dinghy, and then on to the boat!

Passage to Fiji

We departed early on a Saturday morning.  We spent the first 5 hours motoring across the lagoon, out of the pass, and then down the eastern side of the island.

Day 1:  The first 24 hours were really calm. We had really light winds (4-6kts) and could not sail at all.  So, we motored for the first 24 hours.  

The night brought rain showers and squalls.  The days had sunshine and rainbows. 

However, Days 2-4 we had just enough wind to raise the main and genoa to full sail. The days were beautiful with full sunshine, blue skies, white puffy clouds and decent conditions. 

Yes, we could have used more wind, but with the boat “injured” it was best to have these light winds.

We wanted to go through the Somosomo Straight (between Vanua Levu and Taveuni) during the day.  However, we did not arrive until evening.  Lucky for us we had tracks and great charts. 

We lost the wind completely between the two islands and motored through the narrow channel.  We arrived to the Savusavu channel perfect timing around 0800.  

  • Traveled:  Funafuti, Tuvalu to Savusavu, Fiji
  • Distance Travelled: 561 nautical miles
  • Total Time at Sea:  97 hours (4 days)
  • Motoring Time:  37 hours (ouch)
  • Average Speed: 5.8 and Max Speed 11kt

Matt and I under passage

The top red arrow is Funafuti, Tuvalu.  We passed many tiny atolls and islands in route to Fiji including Niulakaita Island (green arrow). And we re heading to Savusavu, Fiji the black arrow.

Arriving Fiji

Now, the tricky part.  We need to maneuver the boat in the very narrow channel to the mooring.  We had a local cruiser on stand by with his dinghy and Copra Shed Marina sent their staff to assist as well.

Savusavu, Fiji channel

Savusavu, Fiji channel

Matt was able to align the boat with a mooring.  However, before we could pick it up a large roll on / roll off tanker asked us to move so they could get past us.  He is barreling toward us and there is nothing we can do but try to reverse.

Unfortunately, once Matt reversed we had no way to get back to the mooring.

The marina guy towed us back to the mooring.  What a heart stopping event as we are surrounded by channel markers, buoys and boats.

We are here and settled.  This will be home for many weeks as we await our boat parts and start on all of the repairs.

Formalities in Fiji

Once we were settled on the mooring, the marina organized the officials. 

The Health official arrived first.  She checked under our beds, in our bathrooms, inside the fridge and freezer looking for bugs. 

We passed. 

Immigration, Customs, and Biosecurity were next.  A short 30-minutes later and we were officially cleared into the country!

Fiji Officials Clearing us into the Country

Fiji Officials Clearing us into the Country

A boat full of school kids passed by and shouted “Bula.”  It was the perfect welcome to this amazing country!

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events.  We were under passage toward the end of April 2025. 

We celebrate the bombing of Funafuti, Tuvalu – check it out!

The Beauty of Savusavu

Savusavu is a delightful place with grocery stores, fresh produce, bakeries, restaurants, chandleries, mechanics, and some tourism.  It’s small enough to be quaint and big enough to meet our needs after being off the grid for so long.

There are 4 marinas in Savusavu.  Two of the “marinas” are very small and only offer a few mooring balls:  Waitui Marina and Savusavu Marina.

Copra Shed Marina has moorings and a few slips at their dock.  They have 2 restaurants, a gift shop, chandlery, activity center, Fiji Airways office, and a Money exchange.

Nawi Marina is the new, big marina that is still in the process of expanding.  They have lots of marina slips and a haul out facility.  Soon, they will have mooring balls.  They have a beautiful pool, 2 restaurants, chandlery, small market, coffee shop, small beauty spa and more.

We stay on a Copra Shed mooring (see green arrow).  We have a nice breeze, very little traffic and a pretty view.

The marinas are all vastly different but there is something for everyone.

Nawi is still trying to figure things out.  They’ve unfortunately tripled their rates so it is not a place we stay.  But, we do love to visit and enjoy their pool, bar and restaurants.

There is a lovely produce market that is open daily.  You can find eggs, potatoes, onions, papayas, bananas, bell peppers hot peppers, cabbage, avocados, passion fruit and oh so much more!

A Month Long Stay

Normally, we would not have stayed for a month.  However, I had to fly back to the states to pick up our boat parts and Matt had to do the repairs.

At least we were “stuck” in a beautiful town with provisions, restaurants, and lots of other cruisers to hang out with!

We had lots of beautiful rainbows.

And more rainbows:

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.

We arrived Savusavu in early May and stayed for several weeks repairing the boat.  Be sure to check out our arrival to Savusavu here.

Resuming Our Scheduled Blog Posts

Hi Everyone!  We are resuming our previously scheduled blog posts.  Starting tomorrow, we will pick back up in the Marshall Islands.

Since our last blog post, Matt and I made a quick trip back to the States, visited Kiribati, and Tuvalu and made it to Fiji with some challenges. 

Be sure to stay connected with us as we share the highs and lows of our journey.

We enjoyed visiting Kiribati, the 2nd smallest country in the world.  We then visited Tuvalu and celebrated the day the WWII bomb dropped on this small country. 

Along the way we had significant boat failures including:

  • Port Engine
  • Port Engine Rudder Arm
  • Port water pump
  • Starboard Steering Gear Box
  • Washdown Pump
  • Dive Regulators

But we made it safely to Fiji where we are today!  Now on to lots of boat projects and repairs.

Our blog posts are scheduled to be released every Tuesday and Thursday around 0700 PST.  So please be sure to follows sv Sugar Shack on Facebook or check in our blog to follow our adventures!

Our last post in the Marshall Islands had us at Eneko where we snorkeled some cool reefs.