Yesterday we managed to get ashore for a really good and much needed hike up the hill from Viani Bay. We went with friends from two other boats (seven of us plus two guides plus two dogs). We took a couple of guides (local boy Ian Angus McLeod and his little brother Challi) from the Dive Academy – we would have been lost without them and their machete.

Part one was clambering up through the rain forest. Part two was along a high ridge through long grasses and guava trees. All the way Ian taught us about the trees and plants and their use for foods, medicines and natural resources. This is a place where people can and do live totally off the land. Part three was down through more rain forest and coconut plantations to reach an idyllic beach at Sau Bay where we met Harry, the local head-man. Harry immediately produced delicious pamplemousse and home made lemonade for us all whilst we talked about life in his isolated bay. We left him a present of some kava. We all felt well exercised and better informed at the end of the trek home.

In the evening we hosted sun-downers on Barracuda with friends from four other boats (it’s good to have a cockpit that will seat 10 for drinks). There were a couple of ukuleles out at the end – perhaps the start of something there.

Today started with a dive at Barracuda Point – another part of the Rainbow Reef. It was an interesting and varied dive with excellent soft and hard corals in colourful abundance as well as barracuda, tuna, rainbow runners, a grey reef shark and for a finale an enormous manta ray swam over our heads. Can’t top that.

Tonight we are anchored off Paradise Resort on the island of Taveuni, about to jump off first thing in the morning for the Lau Group of Islands. Once we leave here we will be on satellite communications only, so these may be the last blog photos for a little while.