Up with the sun again today we found ourselves pleasantly anchored in a much more windy Fiji. The sky was fairly overcast but not dark and threatening. We pulled up the anchor with no problem (we were wondering how things would go last night when we set the hook). We put the main up just outside of the anchorage with a reef in. Things in the anchorage said full main, but the sailors in us said reef one.

It was a reef one day. We had wind from the northeast to north at 20 - 30 knots. The trouble being that the route to Vuda Point winds around reefs and causes you to have to jibe frequently. We're cruisers, jibing every half hour (sometimes in rapid succession) is a lot to ask! It was one of the most lively sailing days we've had. We ran wing and wing, port tack, starboard tack and typically with a scrap of jib but sometimes with no jib at all.

We passed by Latoka in the early afternoon. As we neared curly's Vuda Point waypoint we began to wonder what was up. We were headed right into an oil tanker mooring field, complete with oil tankers. The only coastline feature was a reef with a nice break on it about a quarter mile from shore. Hmmm.

We crept forward until we began to see masts sticking up in shore. The entrance to Vuda Point is far from obvious. The marina is fairly new also so the chart simply shows a solid shore and reef line. The two ponds that they used as the marina basin are on the chart though. As you come right up on it (and very close to the coastal reef I might add) you will be able to make out a narrow fairway with wooden markers on either side with white painted tops.

We hailed the marina on 16 about an hour out and they responded right away saying to call back when we were on approach. When we called back no one answered. Except some folks we had chatted with earlier on the VHF who were headed for Vanuatu. The yacht Barbara Ann (from California of course) has been cruising for a few years and they suggested we go to Denero. If we weren't doing maintenance and the like it would have been the best tip yet (see future blog). We thanked Barbara Ann and hope to see them in Vanuatu. They are heading south to Oz as we move North so perhaps in Port Vila.

We made our way into the marina unaided by staff and finally got someone's attention as we entered the circular docking area. It is really advisable to contact the marina before hand in hind sight. The fairway coming in is blasted out of pure reef and there is not a lot of room (especially with catamarans involved) for two boats to pass).

In the marina there is a large mooring buoy in the center of the "pond". It is designed to tie up to while you sort out where you will be tying up. Unfortunatly thee is no painter and with 5 feet of freeboard there was no way Hideko could pick it up. It wasn't too windy in the marina so we just stayed on station until a guy came to help us stern to the dock between a couple of other boats.

Parking a catamaran is much easier than parking a monohull, unless there are lines in the water. The marina at Vuda Point is a circular basin with moorings around the circle and little stubby one meter square docks along the shore to use for ingress/egress. The problem with a cat in these scenarios is that the moorings are fairly close together and it is difficult to position the boat with both screws clear of hazards. In this situation I focus on using just the prop under the helm so I have the best vis. Even so you have to avoid moorings on the other side because they can still snag the drive leg or rudder.

A guy from the marina came in a dinghy to pull the moorings to one side as we backed in and some helpful cruisers took the stern lines from Hideko. In short order Hideko had the bow lines to the guy in the dinghy and we had two lines off the bow to moorings and quarter lines on the stern. We spent a while tuning the setup and ended up putting cross ties on the stern to align the starboard swim step with the little dock for getting of the boat.

The tide here runs up to 6 feet so the swim step is handy some of the time, the swim platform is handy some of the time, and you have to jump the rest of the time. We could have put out the pasarelle but we were to lazy to drop the dingy.

Ashore there is a nice restaurant near the coast, usually with a good breeze to keep the mosquitoes down. The marina office is laid back and the main building has a general store, a chandler and a great little cafe with internet.

In water berths run 50 cents per foot per day, $3 per foot per week, $10 per foot per month, $50 per foot for 6 months. The hard runs 80 cents a day per foot and $65 per foot for 6 months. Electricity is 240V and runs $3.50 a day. All prices in Fijian of course. The water and the cock roaches are free and there's a lot of both to go around.

Abdule the cab driver set us up with a good rental. The Rav4, 4 door 4wd has come in very handy because everything is a good 20 minute drive from here. Nadi is about 20 minutes to the south and Latoka is about the same to the north. Abdul is very helpful and is just about the nicest guy you could meet.