Our three-day passage to Fiji was pretty uneventful and a motor sail the entire way. We did catch our first yellowfin tuna (woohoo) which was delicious. We pulled into Suva Harbour on Monday, October 8 at 1500 in a downpour. Our friends, Dave and Yvonne on Abundance, were already anchored near the yacht club as they had arrived a few hours before us. The Fijian officials are sticklers about quarantine so we were unable to greet Dave and Yvonne (other than waving from a distance) until the next morning after we had been cleared. In fact, we had read that a cruiser was almost fined because someone pulled up beside their boat to visit prior to them receiving clearance. So, we abided by the rules and stayed put until the next morning. Once cleared, we set off to shore so we could pay all the fees (Biosecurity/Customs/Yacht Club) and check things out. Suva is Fiji’s largest city. The people are the friendliest we’ve encountered…even the teenage boys are welcoming and greeted us with smiles and Bula (hello in Fijian). About half of the Fijian people are of Indian descent with most others being Melanesian.

Fiji celebrated their 48th year of independence with Fiji Days. There was a military parade, a concert, a barbeque and various other activities around the islands. After checking out the museum and taking pictures of and with the guard stationed at the President’s palace, we joined the crowd at the sports field and enjoyed the afternoon’s entertainment of DJs, dancers, performers and loads of children. Since we mentioned the President’s guard…we’re told it is similar to Buckingham Palace where the “changing of the guard” is a formal event. The various military arms take turns guarding the entrance and the change is done (we believe) during the first week of each month. Anyway…we did get the gentleman to smile and acknowledge us even though he tried not to notice.

We took the next few days to make our way from Suva (located on the southwest corner of the main island, Viti Levu) over to the west side of the island to Lautoka and Vuda Point. We took about three days, anchorage hopping along the way, to get to Momi Bay (a large anchorage just inside the reef) and spent a couple of nights there. Our next stop was Saweni Bay located just southwest of Lautoka (Fiji’s other large city and also a commercial harbor).

After stopping in Lautoka and discovering that the outward clearance process would be quite cumbersome from there, we did some provisioning and decided to head over to Vuda Point Marina. We took on fuel then spent the night tied to the pontoon intending to clear out the next morning. At happy hour that evening we came across Stu (a gentleman we met in Shelter Bay Marina in Colon, Panama) and heard all about his story of losing his mast (in 15 knots of wind) on his way to the Galapagos and having to motor 500 miles to Costa Rica where he began a long, arduous search for a new mast.

The next morning, after checking the weather and consulting with Dave and Yvonne, we decided to forego clearing out while a frontal system passed through and made our way over to Musket Cove, about 15 miles to the west. John and Fran on Kia Ora were tied up to a mooring there. The next morning Dave came over to let us know that Yvonne’s brother was hospitalized with invasive cancer and Yvonne would be leaving the next day to fly back to the U.S. We joined them for breakfast at the resort on the island before they took off back to Vuda Point. The next five days were spent relaxing and doing laundry…since laundry only took a morning, we spent lots of time relaxing.

On Wednesday, October 24, we cleared out of Fiji and departed for New Caledonia. The predicted weather was to be calm seas and mild wind…instead we sailed away from Fiji in 25+ knot winds and 8-foot seas. After the first 24 hours, the conditions began to calm and by the end of the second day, we were motor sailing. Another boat that had cleared out the same time we did was not far behind us as we left the protection of the reef and the island. We lost sight of them visually and on AIS before nightfall only to learn later that they had turned back and waited two more days before setting out again.

Our approach to New Caledonia came early the morning of Monday, October 29 with a beautiful sunrise. When we arrived in Noumea (the capital and the most sophisticated city in the South Pacific outside of those on New Zealand) we called Marina Port Moselle to report our arrival and make arrangements for Quarantine. We tied Sheric up to the quarantine pontoon inside the marina and waited, only a few minutes, for the officials to arrive. New Caledonia is pretty serious of their quarantine rules. They took all the fresh vegetables and fruit we still had on board (a few potatoes, onions, one lime, a coconut and our organic waste). They also asked about honey, dairy products, corn, dried legumes and meat (which we believe they would have taken if we had any but we had heard about the strictness and ate what we could before we arrived).

We spent our first night on the anchor in the very crowded anchorage outside the marina. There were more boats than we’d seen since being in St. Martin. Interestingly, a good portion of the boats are local boats or those that are kept in New Caledonia during the off season. However, we did meet a number of cruisers that were staging (as we were) to go to Australia or New Zealand. The next morning we completed our Customs and Immigration clearances then moved Sheric into a slip at Port Moselle…we were treating ourselves. It felt quite nice to be securely tied up to a dock and not have to be concerned with anchors, moorings and other boats. We also used the hot showers and free wifi. The local farmer produce market and fish market were within a two-minute walk from our dock. Very nice.

On Halloween, in a moment of spontaneity, we jumped on a train tour and enjoyed a ride around the city. While it didn’t take long, the city (and island) is noted for the TV shows Lost and a season of Survivor. Also, one of the casinos is named Casino Royale after the James Bond novel and movie. It is a beautiful place and reminds Sherry of pictures she’s seen of the French Riviera. New Caledonia is a French property so it was fortuitous that we happened to jump aboard an English-narrated tour.