Lepers
12 July 2013 | Makogai, Fiji
Arthur
Yesterday we sailed to Makogai from Namenalala. Another bash to windward, again with 25+ Kts on the nose. No big fish this time. One bite, and one small skipjack which we threw back.
Makogai has a much nicer anchorage. The tradewinds are blowing hard these days, so it is good to get into a protected anchorage. We arrived just about the same time as a Swedish yacht named Dawnbreaker, with Lars (swede), Thomas (Brazil) and Bob (welsh) on board. So the whole lot of us went into the village to offer our sevusevu. The chief then showed us around the village, and the old leper colony. The leper colony is long gone, but was fairly large when active -- up to about 5000 people. The old buildings are in ruins and largely covered by jungle, but they are kind of interesting, as is the cemetery.
Now the village host a giant clam restoration project, where you can find several species in tanks on land. They are doing a good job and trying to rehabilitate the various giant clam species. The large ones are really big--several feet across. The also have a few tanks dedicated to raising sea turtles as well.
The lagoon/bay has some fantastic snorkeling. One large coral head comes up to the surface from the 50ft deep bottom, and is covered with a wide variety of corals, schools of fish, and a giant clam. The photo doesn't capture the size of the clam very well, but the fish in the photo is about 7 inches long, and the clam is well over 3 feet from right to left.
Last night we had a lovely dinner on Dawnbreaker with Lars, Bob and Thomas. They have sailed Dawnbreaker from north of Spitsbergen (81 degrees North, I think) all the way to Antarctica via the Falklands, Southern Argentina and Chile. Then around Cape Horn and up to French Polynesia.
Tomorrow, we will sail to Leleuvia, with Dawnbreaker, and will visit some friends on Solstice and Catharpin Blue.