Thursday Yesterday was John’s last day before going back home. Like Adrienne’s flight a couple days before, he didn’t leave until 2230 (10:30 pm). Even though we had all day, we all decided to have a quiet, mellow day hanging out aboard Kosmos.

One of the good things about a mellow day was it gave us a chance to use the internet. There is no wi-fi connection to the boats, but you can use the internet in the marina office for a $5.00 flat fee per use. The internet connection is quite good compared to other places we have been. They actually use cables, not satellites, so they have really fast connectivity and large bandwidth. The downside, though, is that you can only use the internet during office hours of 0800 1600 (4:00 pm) Mon thru Sat. As you have been reading, we have managed to keep very busy playing tourist over the last week, so our internet time has been limited to a couple of quick email checks before running off to the activity of the day.

Christi was sad to see her dad go. He had only stayed for 5 and a half days and she really wished he had stayed longer. However, after more than three full weeks of houseguests, and overlapping guests at that, we were happy to be alone again. We were also glad to be leaving Port Denaru. Port Denaru is really nice. It is just like being in America, which made it a good place to stay with guests. The guests got to enjoy a nice vacation with all the comforts of home. However, the point of our travel adventure is to go to remote places to see other cultures. As Christi kept saying “We came to Fiji to see Fiji, not to see America”.

First thing the next morning, we filled up with fuel and headed out. We were disappointed to find out that we didn’t qualify for duty free fuel. Despite the fact that we were taking on as much fuel as a bigger boat would, we weren’t heavy enough to meet the duty free criteria, which is 100 tons (we are “only” 21 tons). This was frustrating because in Suva we were told we did qualify for duty free. We are glad we opted to get fuel here instead of in Tonga. All the ferries fuel up at this dock, so they go through a lot of fuel and chances are it is good fuel. We have heard fuel quality in Tonga can be iffy. The pumps are really fast and we were done in less than an hour. It cost about $3.30 USD per gallon.

We neared Nevadra and Vanua Levu Islands at 1600 (4:00 pm). The sky was dark gray and ominous. You are supposed to go through reef passes during bright sunlight so you can see the coral. With no sunshine at all, it was incredibly hard to see the coral. To make matters worse, the charts were not much help because they were too low resolution for the area. In fact there are no high resolution charts of this area of Fiji.. Christi stood on the front deck, leaning over the bow, trying to spot any dangers in the water. The depth sounder went from 60 feet to 14 feet instantly, which made us nervous. Fortunately, we made it in just fine. Once in the lagoon, we had a similar challenge we couldn’t see where the coral was to drop anchor. Eric did his best to guesstimate where a sand patch described in the cruising guide was. We crossed our fingers and dropped the anchor. From the way we are swinging, we are pretty sure we are stuck on some coral. Oh well. That is what we bought the SCUBA gear for.

The anchorage is absolutely beautiful. Navadra Island, which is a big hill with a sand beach along part of it, is directly to our northeast.

To our south is Vanua Levu, which is hilly at one end, has a big beach along the other end, and at the edge of the beach is an enormous rock. We were under the impression these islands are uninhabited, so we were surprised to see two coconut palm structures on the shore of Vanua Levu.

We watched the shore the rest of the evenings to see if any villagers appeared, but the only sign of life was goats. We are the only boat here, which is nice. We are also surprised at how rolly the anchorage is. Even with the paravanes out, it feels like we are at sea. We would have thought we’d have better protection being nestled between the two islands.