Wednesday 2nd Sept. Musket Cove Marina, Malolo Lailai Island

Lautoka is the second largest city in Fiji, and after anchoring off the industrial port with mountains of woodchips and frequent clouds of ash from the sugar mill greeting us, we clear into customs on Monday morning, getting our cruising permit for these Western shores, the Malolo group and the Yasawa Islands. There is everything here for a decent stock-up before heading across to the Musket Cove Regatta week on Wednesday and of course meeting up with Debbie, Ida's sister, who is visiting from NZ. After replenishing the fresh produce supplies, mostly lots of limes for all our new fish stocks, from the best market we've seen in our travels yet, we join Hilde, White Hawk and Liz & Steve from 'Liberte' at the Northern Club for an afternoon of sodas and stories. Being an industrious town, Lautoka is not designed for tourism, so you are sure to find the best valued little curry houses scattered throughout the bustling city, but it doesn't have any good anchorages, so many cruisers head further south to Vuda Point which is where our cruising buddies go on Tuesday but as we have to be in Musket Cove tomorrow, after a couple of attempts, Ishka finds an adequate little spot in Saweni Bay for the night. Its only about 12 miles to Malolo Lailai, so this morning we motor across in calm seas with zero winds to Musket Cove Marina, which is filling up quickly with yachts from all over the world, for the well known MC Regatta.