Fun Times in Fiji (Part 2)

Early October 2024: The time had arrived to sail away from the town of Savusavu and head to some of the other Fijian Islands. Planning for this would have taken me a long time, but Ding on SV Chiquita had plenty of tracks from previous visits over 15+ years. After some evening conversations we decided on a northwesterly route to Yadua Island, followed by several stops along the northern Yasawa Islands, before continuing down the west side of Fiji to the Mamanuca Island group.

Joining us on the outbound leg was Jeanne Socrates, who has the distinction of being the oldest woman to circumnavigate the globe, singlehanded, by the five southern capes. Such is the nature of things: one minute you’re having a conversation with an unassuming person, and the next minute you find out that they are semi-royalty in your community.

Yadua Island, as with many other Fijian islands, is very sparsely populated. Fishermen from other areas come to the bay for a day’s rest before continuing elsewhere. On my second morning here I was startled by the rumble of one of these fishing boats steaming directly towards me. The three fisherman came alongside and one of them started peering into the boat, wanting to come aboard. When I didn’t invite him on, he asked if I had any alcohol (none I was willing to share with him). Then he asked for weed or heroine (strictly forbidden on Wind River). I was shocked by the brazenness of this man, and decided to leave the bay the following morning. That night I slept fitfully, but the view, as captured by Ding, was spectacular.

The next morning, I sailed with Ding to the Yasawa Islands. We spent a few days at the anchorages near the Nanuya Resort and the Blue Lagoon Resort, before our plans began to diverge and I headed to the Octopus Resort anchorage. If you want to watch the world go by, these are wonderful places to do it. Just bring a lot of bug spray!

From Octopus, I sailed along the west side of Fiji to Musket Cove (another resort), and on the way there experienced a dangerous microburst I reported earlier. But aside from that incident, October was the time when the cruising community “turns over” with some leaving the cyclone region and others preparing to stay for the season. I said goodbye to friends like Les and Lisa, Horst, and Hamish; and made new friends like Sandy, Darren, and Chris, Nancy, Claudette, Andrew and Maggie.

The pressure to choose between New Zealand and Japan was causing “analysis paralysis”. So, instead, I made a list of maintenance tasks and focused my energies on tackling them with the help of the fine folks at Port Denarau Marina and Baobab Marine.

• clean the bottom and bottom-paint touch-up

• clean through-hulls and bow thruster tube

• check the rudder motion and skeg elbow

• polish and repaint the prop

• polish the prop shaft

• change the cutlass bearing

• service the main engine

• service the generator and repair a leak

• beef up the gooseneck and other hardware on the boom

Maintenance done, and head cleared, I announced to Andrew and Maggie my decision to sail to Japan at dinner around my birthday. My rationale was that I could cruise to New Zealand anytime (it’s a popular cruiser’s destination), but few are the people and rare is the opportunity to explore Japan by sailboat. And why not do it non-stop and singlehanded? Maggie looked at me with that “you are crazy” twinkle in her eye, and I won’t forget the smile on Andrew’s face.

An opportunity to leave Fiji came on November 17th, but two days out I was forced to turn back because of a leak in the main engine’s raw water pump. Although I had a spare, I didn’t have the special tool needed to complete the repair at sea (of course, having learned my lesson, I now do!). Jamie on SV Totem helped me identify the next weather window, and on November 27th I departed Fiji, this time for good, on a non-stop journey to Okinawa, Japan.

The next post will describe the journey from Fiji to Okinawa, Japan. Please visit the website at www.sailwindriver.com or use the Substack app to browse the “Notes” section, where I have been posting more timely short videos and written updates on the journey.