Adventures of Orcinius

11 September 2015 | HOME - Vancouver WA
24 August 2015 | 46 11.4'N:123 51.4'W, Port of Astoria Marina
22 August 2015 | 46 42.0'N:132 09,4'W, 330 West of CR Bouy, Astoria
21 August 2015 | 46 41.8'N:136 13.8'W, 500 West of Astoria
20 August 2015 | 46 22.82'N:140 28.00'W, East end of High
20 August 2015 | 46 22.80'N:140 28.32'W, Middle of High Same as Fish
20 August 2015 | 46 22.79'N:140 28.57'W, Middle of High
20 August 2015 | 46 22.7'N:140 30.2'W, 675 Miles West of CR
20 August 2015 | 45 57.6'N:144 54.0'W, East End of the High
18 August 2015 | 44 38.2'N:147 57.0'W, 1000 NM to Astoria
18 August 2015 | 43 31.0'N:150 28.0'W, 1126 NM to Astoria
17 August 2015 | 41 40.1'N:153 00.1'W, 1200 miles West of Astoria
16 August 2015 | 39 30.1'N:154 53.1'W, West end of the North Pacific High
15 August 2015 | 37 34.5'N:156 00.0'W, 1011 North of Oahu
15 August 2015 | 37 04.5'N:156 23.0'W, 983 North of Oahu
14 August 2015 | 34 12.3'N:157 26.1'W, 800 North of Oahu
13 August 2015 | 31 50.0'N:158 06.5'W, 650 North of Oahu
12 August 2015 | 29 02.0'N:158 51.0'W, 330 North of Oahu
11 August 2015 | 26 32.0'N:158 59.0'W, 330 North of Oahu
09 August 2015 | 23 44.1'N:158 49.4'W, 140 N of Oahu

Rounded Cape Horn!

12 August 2014 | Levuka Ovalau
Lisa / Cloudy and windy at times with occasional showers
That's right! Yesterday, shortly after lunch and a quick nap, we rounded Cape Horn in the afternoon. Not sure what all the hype is about. Yeah - it was a bit blustery, but we seemed to manage and were through the worst of it in about 14 minutes. Now we can honestly say "Been there, done that". (At least around the Cape Horn of Ovalau island)!

We arrived in Levuka on the island of Ovalau yesterday (Tuesday) around 3pm, after motoring a distance of about 40 miles from the NE corner of Viti Levu.

Scene from the north side of Viti Levu


A rainbow underway.

Mostly light winds on the nose all morning, until we were about 10 miles north of Ovalau, where we were exposed to the open seas, and a solid 20 knots of wind on the nose. When we reached Ovalau, we tucked into a bay on the NW corner to take a break from the wind and seas, have some lunch and take a bit of a snooze - hoping things would settle down enough to make our way comfortably to the eastern side of Ovalau and the town of Levuka.

We pulled up the anchor around 1 and headed for the eastern side. It was still quite windy, in the upper teens, but the natural reef surrounding the eastern side of Ovalau was doing it's job and protecting us from the chopping seas. After nosing around a bit for a good spot to plop the anchor, we decided to plant it in the least reefy area we could find - and right smack dab in front of Sacred Heart catholic church.

Sacred Heart church from 1858.

A light on the steeple of the church is used as the navigational range line marker to enter the harbor. We are parked directly in front the church with our mast light on all night. We asked the harbor master if it was going to be a problem. Nah - no problem! (You would never get away with this in the states! But at 30 foot depth and no coral within a few hundred feet, it was the best spot we could find.) Anchoring in Levuka is a bit like open roadstead anchoring - open to the prevailing winds and choppy waves finding their way into the harbor.

Anchored in Levuka Harbor.

The reef is exposed at low tide, and allows a fair amount of protection from the seas, but at high tide, the waves are breaking over the top and marching straight into shore. So we are quite bouncy this morning at high tide (around 8am), and are waiting for things to settle down a bit so we can dingy over to the cement jetty and try to make landfall without beating ourselves or the dingy to a pulp.


Waves crashing along the harbor wall this morning.

We are the only boat here - I don't think they get too many yachties visiting here as it is such an exposed anchorage, but we expect the weather to only improve throughout the day, and then we will be on our way to Suva early tomorrow as the forecast is for winds out of the ESE under 10 knots. We have a 50 mile passage to the S, then SW ahead of us tomorrow.

Yesterday after we set the anchor, we went ashore to explore the town.

Cement wharf where we park our tender.


A daycare in one of the old buildings next to the wharf.

Once ashore, we met the harbor master and he asked us to pay the port anchorage fee sometime before we left. We asked how much we owed for 2 nights. After pausing for a few seconds and trying to do the math, he said "well, it's $4.80 for a month". We didn't stop to do the math either. John just coughed up the 5 bucks, paid for an entire month, and received 20 cents in change. Off to town we went.

Walking into town.

Levuka is a pretty cool little town - has a very different feel to it - kind of like out of a Fijian Western movie - less the cowboys and indians. Levuka was once the capital of Fiji back in the late 1800's, for about 10 years. The Brits and the Catholics definitely left their mark on this little spot and it still has a number of colonial buildings, an impressive Marist Convent School largely built out of coral stone, and lots of timber shop-fronts along the main street. Very picturesque, and now it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site as of June 2013! Tick this one off the list! So we walked around a bit, took some pictures, and were, of course, in search of a cold beer. No luck on the cold beer. Of the 3 little restaurants in town, none seem to have a liquor license, so you're welcome to bring your own. It seemed a little silly to run all the way back out to Orcinius, just to grab a few cold ones and haul them back to a little restaurant just to drink in the near dark evening (with one large generator powering the entire island, lights don't go on until it's almost completely dark out - so all the shops and restaurants are very dim in the late afternoon - all part of that western frontier charm!). So we came straight home to have our sundowner overlooking the quaint waterfront of the town, and start work on some dinner.
Here are some more pics of our tour of the town from yesterday.

Old colonial style homes still stand on the hill overlooking the bay.


Cool western looking store fronts.


A side view of the church.


More views of the wild west town.


Holding up the lamp post - with a WWI and WWII memorial in the background.


View to Orcinius looking south.


Walking the back streets (I mean street), towards the police station.


The old Masonic Lodge burned down by villagers in 2000 - locals suspected the league was in cahoots with the devil and had a tunnel leading to the headquarters in Scotland. This turned out not to be the case. Look at how Romanesque it looks though - here in the south pacific!


Scenic walk along the stream.


John knows all about this kind of place.


I would love to have a peek inside this old building.


A bit more of the view from Orcinius.

Today we will head into town again once the tide goes back out and the concrete jetty is a bit more settled. We still have the Fiji museum left to check out, also the Cession Site - a memorial commemorating the 1874 handover of Fiji to Britain, and a jaunt up Mission Hill - 199 steps to a view of the bay. I am starting to see more blue sky up above, and the wind is settling down once again. Time to head into town!

Lisa
Comments
Vessel Name: ORCINIUS
Vessel Make/Model: Lagoon 440
Hailing Port: Vancouver, Washington
Crew: John LeDoux & Lisa Danger
About:
Sailing since the mid 90's. Prior to this trip, 4 sailing adventures from Vancouver WA to the San Juan and Gulf Islands in the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Bought ORCINIUS in West Palm Beach Fl in April 2010. Sailed her South through the Panama Canal and back up the West coast to home port. [...]
Extra: Lisa is the real captain. I have never been at the helm when docking or anchoring, she has a great touch to docking.
Home Page: www.orcinius.com

Who: John LeDoux & Lisa Danger
Port: Vancouver, Washington