Tag Archives: seventh heaven

Celebrating the Konis Family Fijian Style

Leave a reply

As we near the end of the Konis family trip, we visit 4 islands in their last few days onboard Sugar Shack.  We stop in Naviti, Mana, Malolo, and Viti Levu in 3 days!

Day 9: Naviti Island to Mana Island

We were blessed with northerly winds which gave us a super comfortable downwind sail with our medium size spinnaker.  Everyone was a little nervous considering our last “longish” passage was pretty rough.  This time they all enjoyed the calm conditions as we surfed the seas and averaged 7kts to Mana Island.   35nm down in a blink of the eye.

I love exploring all of these islands for the first time with my family!  They get to see how we navigate into new passes and anchorages.  The pass into Mana island is crazy narrow and curvy.  It is certainly a challenge, especially during low tide.  But we manage to enter it and drop the hook with no issues (thank goodness).

We frolic in the water in the afternoon and enjoy a tasty porkchop dinner and chocolate raspberry ice cream for dessert.   Then we get real goofy watching Zoolander 2.

Day 10: Mana Island and Malolo Island

The next morning, we go ashore to explore Mana island.  It is filled with many backpacker resorts on one side of the island and a posh resort on the other.  A huge ugly fence separates the two halves of the island which is rather unfortunate!  The village and backpacker side is super friendly and very welcoming to cruisers.  We enjoyed some cold beverages, a walk through their small market, and chatting with the locals.  We did venture around the fence to the resort side and found it to be a typical posh resort.   Friendly enough to us, but not overly welcoming like we are used to with the Fijian culture.

This was a funny sign using “kava” as a pun…

The anchorage looks so pretty and peaceful from shore.

We ran into some beautiful little children while here.

We tried to do sevusevu here as well but the chief was not on island during our visit.  The local lady suggested we buy from the artisans instead of presenting kava and we happily obliged as they had some lovely wares.

We left early afternoon to visit Cloud 9, a similar over the water bar as Seventh Heaven. We were very surprised by the large number of people that came and went (in 2-hour increments) and the slow service.  Very different atmosphere than Seventh Heaven, but the food was good and the drinks were cold!

Even though it was drizzling a little, we still enjoyed ourselves.

A huge rain cloud was coming our way so we quickly headed back to Sugar Shack to motor to the east side Malolo Island.  We were hoping for protection from the winds, but as it turned out the weather forecast was delayed and we ended having a super bumpy night.

We were blessed with a beautiful double rainbow after the showers stopped.

The Musket Cove anchorage is super crowded – we spotted over 50 boats on AIS alone plus another 20-30 boats not broadcasting. Good thing we did not go there to anchor in that mess!

Day 11:  Malolo, Musket Cove

There is a pass from our anchorage to the Musket Cove anchorage.  We thought we could easily traverse this but we did not take into account the King tide.  Of course, it was low, low tide when we wanted to go ashore.  So, we dinghied to the reef, found some sandy areas and gently walked across to the shore.  Once onshore, we found a beautiful little trail that lead us all the way to the Musket Cove Resort.

We had lunch at Dick’s Place and enjoyed some pool time at the resort.  A calm, chill day.

Day 12: Malolo Island to Port Denarau

Around mid-day we leave Malolo Island for Port Denarau.  It is a short 2-hour motor directly into the wind.  We grab a mooring and decide to head to shore for a late lunch and then well-deserved hot showers (love marina life sometimes).

Back to the boat to pack and enjoy bhan mi for dinner.  We were meeting our taxi driver across from the “Sails Restaurant” who happened to be hosting a special event.  Outside Sails were some beautiful local Fijian dancers who gave the Konis family a proper send off!

It was so much fun having Troy, Kimberly, Cole and Cameron onboard as we explored the Mamanuca and Yasawa islands.  We are so grateful they chose to spend their holidays with us onboard Sugar Shack!

Events from this blog occurred in the first two week of August.  Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual events.   In our last blog, we adventure through a series of underwater caves in the island of Sawa-I-Lau.

Fiji Welcomes the Konis Family

Leave a reply

So excited to spend some time with my family in Fiji. We meet Kimberly, Troy, Cameron, and Cole (the Konis family) in Port Denarau on Viti Levu (the mainland) where we secured a mooring.

They arrive before sunrise and enjoy the beauty of nature all around me. 

We do the required covid tests and a little shopping in the Port Denarau Marina mall.  A quick cocktail stop at the “Sails” restaurant before we leave with a fun photo op.

It is a short 2-hour motor to Musket Cove Marina on Malolo Island.  On the way, we stopped off at a little sandy spit with a few other tourist boats.  The boys swam to shore while Kimberly and I took the SUPs to shore.  There were tons and tons of tiny sea stars (I call them star fish but was corrected by the Konis family).  Unfortunately, I did not get any photos so close your eyes and imagine us walking on this white sandy spit that disappears during high tide.

A few hours later, we grabbed a mooring for the night at Musket Cove Marina.  Being on a mooring places us closer to the marina, eateries, and activities. 

A quick stop in to see Patrick, the Musket Cove Yacht Club manager who gives the Konis family “Lifetime memberships to the Musket Cove Marina” for $10F ($5 US).  Matt and I sign up for the Musket Cove Regatta as well so that we can participate in the crazy fun.

We head to shore for dinner at Dick’s Place where we celebrate Kimberly and Troy’s wedding anniversary.  Perfect to be together with the Konis’s.

Dick’s Place offers a buffet dinner so there was something for everyone.  We enjoyed a beautiful sunset at this exquisite setting.

I was able to capture this crazy beautiful photo with the sun setting over the lit pool. 

Day 2: Musket Cove & Seventh Heaven

The next morning, Cole has an appointment with Fiji Surf Co. so we move Sugar Shack out to Namotu Island which is about 2-hours away near the reef and the famous Cloud break surf break.  We anchor just as his surf team pulls up in their boat (they came from Port Denarau).  Cole jumps in their boat and off they go to enjoy a morning of surf at Wilks Pass and Namotu Lefts.  It wasn’t a terribly great surf with 1.5-2m seas, but Cole had a great time meeting new people and surfing in Fiji.   The resort is called Namotu Island Resort and caters to the extreme sports enthusiasts.  It is all inclusive of surfing, kiting, foiling, and more.

Kimberly, who is not an overly zealous snorkeler decided she would jump in the water first to enjoy some private time with the fishies.

Once Cole returns, we head to Seventh Heaven, our new favorite eatery in Fiji!  We run into Glen who is one of four owners of the bar.  The last time we were at Seventh Heaven we met Glen the last time we were here with Wayne.

We order delicious cocktails and super tasty food!

And of course, Cameron shows off his mad skills on the Leap of Faith doing back flips and artsy dives.

Exploding Bean Bag

We headed back to the boat to enjoy some R&R.  Around 4:30pm we hear “oh no” and all of the sudden we see tons of white floating balls fly by us.  We quickly run up to the bow where we find Cameron desperately trying to close the exploded bean bag.  The bags are old, have been baking in the sun, and have taken a lot of abuse by young ones.  It was bound to happen.  One of the seams tore open and a lot of the bean bag filling literally went flying out of the bag.  It took all 6 of us over an hour to try to clean them up. I am sure Matt and I will be finding them floating around for years.  It was truly funny and not funny at the same time.

The boys decided they’d like to try sleeping outside, but I don’t think it turned out like they expected.  The sleeping bags cocooned them and Cole’s bottom was hitting the SUP (so he moved to the trampoline).

Day 3: Waya & Octopus Resort

We started off day 3 early as we had a 45nm motor/sail to Waya island.  We could have pushed the motors a little more to compensate for the lack of wind, but we made it in about 5 hours.

Waya island is a new island for Matt and I so we had to rely on feedback from other cruisers.  It turned out to be one of our favorite spots.  We pulled up next to the Octopus Resort and dropped the hook.

Matt dropped us off ashore to explore the beautiful sandy beach.  After asking the resort for permission, we headed over to a more secluded area where we could beach comb, play bocchi and enjoy the cool waters.

Matt made his famous eggplant parmesan which unsurprisingly got devoured in short order!

Events from this blog occurred in the first two week of August.  Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual events.   In our last blog, we explain why a stick on a hill can be extraordinary for us.

Musket Cove

Leave a reply

We leave the beautiful, and not totally explored island of Kadavu to go to Musket Cove.  It is only 100nm from our current location, but we need to do an overnight to ensure we arrive at daylight (famous last words).  We pick up the hook at 0700 and head around the island to the SW side and drop the hook at Cape Washington / Denham Island for a quick lunch stop. 

Cape Washington

Wow, what a truly beautiful spot with such a diverse landscape!  You look one way and you see long, white sandy beaches, another direction is a towering lime stone hillside, and behind you is a deserted resort begging to be brought back to life.

Cape Washington-Denham Island

Cape Washington-Denham Island

After our lunch, we make way toward Musket Cove which was a super easy and very pleasant passage. 

Trip Details

  • Total Miles:  96nm
  • Max Speed: 10.6kt
  • Average Speed: 6.0kt
  • Waves were following at 1-1.5m
  • Total Moving Time :16 hours

We have a spectacular sunrise.  The white spots are stars and the large dot near the tallest mountain is the moon.

Just because I am so in love with sunsets, here is another one about 30 minutes later.

Remember how I said we left late afternoon to ensure we would arrive at daybreak?  Well that did not work out so well.  We arrived at 0330 and decided to enter the shipping channel which was wide, deep, and well lit.  We had no problems, then headed to the anchorage, dropped the hook and took a nap.

It is super pretty here with gorgeous views, despite the many boats that are here (well over 60!)

We head to shore to explore and have some lunch.  There is a little resort on Malolo island (aka Musket Cove) and loads of cruisers wondering about.  A little supermarket, pharmacy, laundry, showers, and trash are available.  In addition to the multiple bars and restaurants.

Snorkeling the Reef

The next day we head out to the reef and a popular bommie (right in the center of the channel).  Boy these two places were fun.  Not a ton of fish, but super interesting coral, schools of reef fish and more.

These look like they would be hard corals, but they were in fact soft.

The coral had beautiful formations, indents, and caverns.

And I fell in love with all of the brilliantly, bright blue starfish.  These are the obvious ones that were begging to be noticed.

These were the shy ones that made me look for them.  I love the upper left one where he looks like he is hugging the coral.

Seventh Heaven

After our snorkel, we decided to do a drive by a place called Seventh Heaven.  This place has only been open for 4 months and sort of is a copy cat to Cloud 9.  But, we are equal sharers in love so we stopped by.  You pay $50F up front and that amount is applied to your food, drinks, water toy rentals, massage, and items purchased at the store.  We did not have any problems meeting that quota.

The food was amaze balls and the drinks were delicious.

Yep, life is good on Sugar Shack!

The boys even take the “Leap of Faith”

Port Denarau

It was time to take Wayne back to the main island of Viti Levu where he could catch his flight.  So, we motored the 2 hours to Port Denarau.  Well, this is very similar to Tahiti.  It is necessary evil to have to come here.  We need to provision, fuel, dump trash, and deliver Wayne.  But, YUCK the water is green and muddy, there are tons of boats, tourists, cruise ships, and just “so much.”

Wayne’s funny track from this holiday.  We really had a silly sail plan, but this is what the weather allowed us to do so we sailed 6 of his 20 days with a total of almost 700nm!

Stay tuned for more on Port Denarau next week.

Events from this blog occurred in the first two weeks of July.  Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual events.   In our last blog, we continue our Lao Group Island Tour.