We travelled north up towards the Yasawa group, and stopped in at Vanua Levu. Ths island was gorgeous, with fantastic swimming spots for the kids. The afternoon was spent towing the kids around as they snorkelled behind the dinghy.

We were anchored in behind a reef ( not my favourite setup) but the wind was calm. After dark though the torrential rain came , it also completely blocked out any light. A bit of a nervous night, as re anchoring would have involved radar, and very close quarters manouvering..

The next day was a rare rainy one, and we caught up on lots of, well, rainy day jobs.

Yesterday, was surprisingly clear , and not too windy, so we decided to press on to the Yasawas. Passage plannng is difficult, as a lot of the wisdom is to pick the clearest path, even if you need to travel a lot further. I plotted a path up the west side, but afterwards was told that the east side is much clearer, and in the lee of the islands. Quite often we would be going over areas that indicated 4m on the chart, but said 74 m on the sounder.

We ended up following a boat, the captain clearly new what he was doing. It ended up being Don Salthouse from the famous boat building family in NZ.

Drawaqa island is magnificent, and has two fast moving channels either side of it.

One of the channels often has Manta rays swimming through it, at the change of tide.

We were lucky enough to be in the dinghy at the rtight time, donned the snorkels, and jumped over.

Well, the side of a 7 foot Manta Ray right in front of you, gave James a bit of a start. Livvy squealed through her snorkel, but was entranced.

We swam with it for a while, often struggling to keep up with it in the 2-3 knot current.

Now, I dont' get on my soapbox very often. But two situations have become very. very clear on our travels.

The first is the presence of MARINE RESERVES. When we have visited them ( only 2 in Fiji) the animal life, both above and below is phenomenal.

The contrast to everywhere else is unbelievable.

Maria island and Freycinet could really do with reserve status. - I know, the fisherman will be up in arms! but the spillover into the rest of the waters well and truly rebuilds all of the areas fish stocks.

The second is PLASTIC

My god, you go behind the scenes of a resort or an island village, and it is strewn everywhere. Every beach we visit has bottles (mainly) at the high tide mark, and plastic bits everywhere else.

Ok, I will step down from soapbox.