Fiji .....page 2
29 August 2018 | 17 46.39'S:177 11.1'E, Fiji, South Pacific Ocean
Larry Green
About a week ago we finished all our "little and set off to see more of Fiji than the port. It took about 3 hours to sail the 12 NM or so to Musket Cove, where we caught our breath.
After spending a few days anchored in Musket Cove, which we thought was home to a pretty high-end resort we decided to sail around Malolo Island to see what else was here. This is not a very large island, about 4 miles long and maybe 3 miles wide at its widest point. Musket cove is a fairly large bay at the south end with lots of reefs and the resort and yacht club sit on the south side of the bay. The island is surrounded by reef but it can be circumnavigated with care providing one goes when the sun is high in the sky. So even though it is only about 21 NM around it was prudent to split the trip into a couple of days.
We picked a spot to anchor at the northern end of the island based mainly on fading visibility and the fact that it looked like a nice place. It seems that Malolo Island, apparently along with many of these islands is home to many very high-end resorts. The one we are anchored off, the Liku Liku Lagoon Resort is quite private. Yesterday we went exploring in the dingy and as we approached their dock were stopped by the security patrol, and told that under no circumstances could we go ashore there unless we were staying in one of their huts. The exclusivity of this place was underscored when the seaplane landed next to our boat delivering guests to the resort, presumably from the airport. From our observations it appears there is also private helicopter service for those that prefer that mode of transport. I have no idea what these places cost to stay at, but I am guessing it is way outside my budget.
We also had an interesting experience while we were anchoring here. No sooner had we anchored than a 30 foot or so aluminum government boat with Fiji Bio Security painted on both sides approached us and politely asked permission to come aboard to check our papers. Of course we agreed, and the skipper very carefully brought his boat alongside and one (of 4 or five) men came aboard to see our papers. This was the first experience we have had since being in the Pacific of being boarded by local authorities. After carefully looking at all our clearance papers, he asked to physically see the cats. They are very strict about animals on boats, we had to post a 1500 f (about $650 US) bond, refundable when we depart to guarantee the cats would not get off the boat. We showed him both cats and he compared them to the photo we had sent prior to arrival making sure they were the same cats we arrived with.
He also poked his head around every cabin on the boat, queried us about drugs, guns, weapons where our food came from and was anybody sick and then politely said thank you and left. The whole process took less than half an hour and two thoughts occurred to me. First was how thorough the authorities are in making sure visitors stick to their rules, the second was how polite and competent all the government people we have encountered have been. Now isn�'t that an amazing concept, polite and competent government employees! More later...............