Long goodbyes in Fiji

From Taveuni we headed to the town of Savusavu, a delightful town in NE Fiji on Vanua Levu. We stayed at the luxurious Nawi Island Marina, complete with spa, kava bar, pool, Mexican, Italian and Indian restaurants, chandlery, market and water taxi to the main town. It was a luxurious vacation! We used this stop to fill up with fresh food (it had been almost 2 weeks since our last store), hunt for a replacement vacuum and celebrate my birthday. We said farewell to several of the WorldARC boats here that were headed in a different direction.

Overlooking Volivoli Bay

Dusk adventures wandering through the Mangroves

From Savusavu we continued a week long journey to Musket Cove, harbor hoping and scuba diving along the way. One highlight was a visit to Volivoli Bay on the island of Viti Levu. Home of a large dive operation and high end resort we had the opportunity to dive at the Vatu-I-Ra Marine Reserve. Located between the two largest islands of Fiji it was some of the best diving we've experienced.

On the way home, our dive boat had a bit of engine trouble and we were stranded 20 miles from the dive shop. After floating for about an hour, we heard the dive boat operator say something like "GPS?" "No", so I pulled up my phone and gave them our current coordinates to share with the 'rescue' boat. Within another hour we were rescued and on our way back to the resort. We arrived just in time to have the last serving of fish and chips and all was well.

Beautiful colored coral in the Marine Reserve (Photo Credit: Crew on SY Midnight)

The Lautoka market had an interesting mix of Indian spices and fresh produce

Continuing on we had a few more stops, one at a cool mangrove bay and then later at the industrial town of Lautoka to visit the large community market. And then we arrived at what felt like our 'Fijian home' Musket Cove. We had spent at least 4 weeks there back in 1999 and it was really cool to be back. It had been developed significantly since our last visit, but there were bits that felt familiar.

Britton showing us how to sail a hobby cat at Musket Cove Resort

All the WorldARC boats lined up along the dock at Musket Cove Marina

The new marina miraculously managed to get all the WorldARC boats in med-moor tied. It was an emotional few days as about 1/2 of the boats would be leaving the group here in Fiji. It was the first time we'd all been tied together all in a row (since we've joined) where we could socialize easily with each other. It was good fun. We were joined by my brother Dave and niece Britton which also made for more excitement. Sandra shifted her gear to another boat for the crossing so we'd have a bit more room for the 3 day passage to Vanuatu. We will miss her but she'll be back for the leg to Australia. After a few days of enjoying the resort and a long few days of goodbye to a few more friends as we set sail out between the the reefs for Leg 6.

All the crew gathering before departure at the Musket Cove Marina.

The fleet of 9 boats departing to Musket Cove, with Okisollo on the far left of the photo (Photo credit: WorldARC Rally Control)