The Lau Group of Islands are on the far eastern edge of Fiji. These are all remote, small islands that only recently were opened to cruisers. Because of their location, the weather works against you to get to them - they are mostly upwind. For this reason, many cruisers never get to see these islands. We patiently watched as a weather window opened up that would allow us to get to Vanua Balavu in the Northern Lau Group of Islands, and jumped on the opportunity. We were not disappointed!

The overnight sail was quite easy. The hardest part was trying to not go to fast, so that we would arrive at the pass in appropriate daylight. We entered the pass and proceeded to Daliconi Village where we went ashore and did the requisite sevusevu ceremony. Later in the day one other boat arrived. After an early night we moved over to our anchorage for the next few days in Ships Sound in the Bay of Islands. Getting there was a matter of weaving our way around numerous mushroom shaped islands, rock outcrops and reefs. It is difficult to describe how amazingly beautiful the area is. We did pass one other boat at anchor on our way into Ships Sound, but other than that we had the place to ourselves - for a day.

Another catamaran did arrive the next day. The fact that they asked if we minded sharing the anchorage made it that much easier to welcome them. We ended up having a great time with our neighbors on SV Quixotic, and their charter guests. Exploring the area via dinghy and paddleboard was great fun. At times it was hard not to wonder if we were lost and would be able to find our way back to the boat.

Eventually it was time to change anchorages and we moved over to Bavatu Bay on the east side of Vanua Balavu. Here there is an abandoned “Yacht Club” is an outstation of the Royal Suva Yacht Club. It is also the access to a beautiful coconut plantation. One morning we took a dinchy ride over to their dock and went ashore, climbing the wooden stair case up the cliffs to the plantation. There we met the local villagers that took care of the plantation. They allowed us to come in to their fenced property and showed us the trail to an overlook to the west of Vanua Balavu. What a stunning view of the Bay of Islands, the outlying reef, and other islands of the northern Lau Group. The walk was spectacular!

While there were more of the island that could have been explored, our weather window to return was running out, so we were forced to make a decision of where we would go from here. It would have been easy to stay, but we knew that we needed to start making our way back towards the west side of Fiji to meet friends that would be arriving to sail with us back to NZ.