After a few days in the Bay of Islands we decided to brave the trip around the top end of the island to visit Bevatu Harbour. We had heard that the bay was well protected and that the plantation was worth a visit. Previously, while in Savusavu, we were told that the Manager of the Copra Shed Marina (where we stayed), was related to one of the owners of the plantation. When we informed her that we were going to Bevatu Harbour, she provided us with a letter of introduction for the Plantation Manager, providing us with permission to tour the plantation and surrounding area.

The trip around the north end of the island was a little anxiety provoking as we didn’t have any waypoints - and the charts ,as mentioned in another blog, bore only a minor resemblance to reality! However, we did have Google Earth images on our iPad that showed the numerous reefs and the passages between them. We had an uneventful trip and arrived at a beautiful bay with steep canyon like walls to block the wind. After two or three attempts (and a few calm verbal exchanges), we were comfortably anchored in our own little finger of the bay, close to a steep vertical wall in about 25 feet of water. Life was good.

The following morning we headed to shore, tied up to the small dock, and hiked up the infamous 273 step staircase which led to the plantation worker’s village. The path at the top of the hill was flanked by numerous orange trees, from which, as we were subsequently told, we were welcome to harvest as many as we liked. Upon arriving at the village we were greeted by a gentleman who offered us oranges from a large pail to quench our thirst. We signed the guest book and were directed to follow another path to the coconut oil production shed to meet Biu, the Plantation Manager. We found him a short time later after a great walk through the plantation fields, passing horses, cows and a lot of sheep. Biu welcomed us and provided one of his young staff as a guide to take us on a tour.
Our guide wore a T-shirt with “Tour 85” written on the front, which we thought was most appropriate, but only one flip flop - not quite as appropriate for a hike which involved a fair bit of steep climbing up sharp volcanic rock. We had a hard time keeping up to him in our hiking shoes! As unfazed as he was about only having one flip flop, we couldn’t help ourselves and gave him an extra pair we had onboard the next day. The highlight of the tour were two viewpoints that looked back at the Bay of Islands from a cliff with a 200 foot sheer rock face. Just before reaching the second viewpoint, and after a challenging steep climb, he almost stepped on a snake sleeping at the base of a tree. After a short howel of surprise, and after confirming whether we were okay with snakes, he picked it up from just behind its head and held it until we reached the viewpoint and were ready to head back. He spent a few moments selecting an appropriate place to set the snake down, and threw a few leaves and branches over it to make it feel at home before leading us back down the steep hill. Our hike ended with a drink from fresh coconuts opened skillfully by our guide with a machete.

We spend the next few days relaxing and visiting with other cruisers as well as the workers on the dock and at the plantation. We even had a 4th of July potluck celebration at “The Royal Bevatu Harbour Yacht Club” with some of the American cruisers! Apparently the Yacht Club only gets used two or three times a year. This is indeed a remote area.

A couple of days later we found a good weather window to head back Northwest. So we left around one o’clock in the afternoon Ipad in hand and headed back around the top of the island, through the narrow entrance to the reef and had great overnight sail up to Paradise (Paradise Taveuni Resort that is).