Tonight is our last night in Fiji. We’re all checked out with Fijian Customs, cleared for departure and anchored in a quiet bay around the corner from Lautoka, waiting for daylight. Next stop? Vanuatu, 500 miles east of Fiji. It should be about a 3 day sail.

It’s been a whirlwind 4 weeks since we returned in early September to Fiji and Double Diamond.

Our first week was predictable – we spent it fixing broken boat stuff. At the top of the repair list was our watermaker which required a new circuit board and a new reverse osmosis membrane. The repair went quickly and changing out the membrane was quite straightforward (thank you Joe!). It’s hard to describe the joy and relief of having clean fresh water at the push of a button – again. The other major project was replacing the rusted-out exhaust of the diesel furnace. A furnace in the tropics you might ask? It provides us with something you might take for granted at home – hot water. Yes, we can make hot water by turning on an engine, but the furnace is much quicker (and quieter) and keeps the hours off the engines.

Then came visitors – George and Tonie Cook came intending to help us cross to Australia, but alas that intention didn’t last long. It turns out that Tonie cannot swim and in the end, her fear of crossing the open ocean ruled the day. They are now touring New Zealand. During the two weeks they were here we had a great adventure with them sailing the Mamanuca and Yawsawa island chains. (At least WE thought it was great – and suspect George and Tonie will whole heartedly agree.)

These two island chains, which stretch west from Fiji over 80 miles in one long archipelago, is what one might call “Resort” Fiji. It seems that each island, in addition to local villages, has at least one or more resorts built on it. They range from “Exclusive” (expensive) to “Backpacker” (cheap) and everything in between. Most resorts have a decent anchorage in front of them and almost all are welcoming to “yachties” as we seem to be called in this part of the world.

Although lonely deserted anchorages can be found here – and we found several – the feature here is sailing from resort to resort where, after setting your anchor at the end of a day of sailing, you can land your dinghy on the beach and have cocktails at a resort bar or even dinner if you so desire. We desired more than once! One might not consider resort hopping to be adventure sailing but regardless, the sailing in this island chain is definitely challenging. Out on the water, keeping a sharp lookout for reefs and obstructions was the order of the day. The islands are strewn with unmarked reefs and the local charts are not entirely accurate (an understatement). We had to divert from our course more than once to avoid an unmarked - and uncharted - reef.

Most tropical islands have a “dry side” and a “wet side” and these islands are decidedly on the dry side of Fiji. Up until a few days ago, they had not seen rain in almost 4 months. Musket Cove, the only marina in the chain, was unable to even provide water at the docks for the last few weeks. All the more reason to have a working watermaker!

A couple of highlights of the past few weeks :
A reef at the Octopus resort that rivaled what we saw in the Tuamotus.
Anchoring in the Blue Lagoon of Brooke Shields fame (It was better in the movie).
Snorkeling limestone caves all by ourselves, beating the cruise ship tourists to it.
A long deserted beach at “Champagne Beach”. The water was immaculate – and should have been the real Blue Lagoon.
Having a form letter hand delivered to the boat, informing us that we were not welcome at the “exclusive” resort adjoining that particular anchorage. Fine. Keep your helicopters too.
Fresh fruit and vegetables ordered via email and delivered to our anchorage via the local high-speed ferry that makes a daily run up the islands. Farm Boy – you guys are awesome!
Beer and wood-fired pizza at the Cloud 9 floating bar while bikini-clad women (and yes, men and children too) jumped from the second story railing into the water below. (Seriously. Cloud9.com.fj)
Buddy boating with The Hucksters.

We’ve actually been trying leave Fiji – and make our way to Vanuatu – for almost two weeks. For most of the time we’ve been back in Fiji, passage friendly weather has been hard to come by. Our weather window starting tomorrow looks to be workable, although the first day is forecast to be lumpy with large seas on the beam and the second day looks to have 30 knot winds, but with seas becoming following rather than on the beam. This is not the most promising forecast in the world but the following week looks dead – no wind at all. So we’re taking this lumpy, blustery window and going for it. We’ll just take our time and keep things battened down.