Day 167: Tonga to Fiji – 22/06/10

The wind continues to blow during the night and a slight change of direction means that when we change watch, we have to change the position of the genoas from being goose winged to being on one side, and we still continue our 7 to 8 knots.

When I wake up, we are sailing past Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu.  From our distance, two miles off land, it doesn’t look particularly interesting, and certainly looks different to the lush green islands that we have been used to in the rest of Polynesia. 

Photo:  Not the view I expected

But this view is not typical.  Fiji has 333 islands and atolls.  The two largest islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu have rugged interiors complete with rainforests, rivers and waterfalls.  Viti Levu is 100 miles wide, quite the biggest island we have seen for some time and it takes us all day to get to our destination, Lautoka.  The wind continues to increase, gusting up to 37 knots at one time, and giving us speeds of nearly 11 knots.  No wonder it’s so bloody uncomfortable!

At the south west of the island we pass into the lagoon and for the first time in ages, we see large commercial vessels and pleasure craft.

Photos:  Signs of life at last

At least in the lagoon, the protection from the reef means that the waves subside, and the wind gradually dies to 15 to 20 knots.  We arrive at our destination just after 4.30 pm, having called the port authorities to alert them to our arrival.  We put the anchor down and for a while it drags and I have to let a load more chain down as we are in quite deep water, then with a jerk, it digs in and holds securely.  We call the port authorities again to say that we are ready to be boarded by all the officials but they have gone home, so we sit back and watch yet another beautiful sunset develop on the horizon and little fishing boats zooming backwards and forwards across the anchorage.

Photo:  Fishing at sunset

Tomorrow we will have to go through the bureaucratic rigmarole of customs, immigration, health and quarantine.  I have a couple of glasses of nice wine and cook all the vegetables we have left in case we are boarded and they are confiscated.  Then we go to bed early – we’ll need our strength for officialdom!!

 

Our position is:  17 deg 35 min S, 177 deg 26 min E

Distance so far:  8701 nautical miles