Silver Fern has been making the most of the holiday weekend in Vavaʻu! After our morning arrival on Good Friday, we headed into Neiafu to see if there would be any celebrations or services we could join in on that evening, however we found that we had just missed them that afternoon. So we enjoyed a quiet coffee at Mango cafe, and went back to the boat for dinner onboard.

The next morning we returned to town, pleasantly surprised to find it extremely busy! We wandered through the shops and fruit markets in the rain, and then made our way up the hill to the top of Mount Talau, which overlooks Neiafu town and the surrounding islands.

On our way out of town, and en route to our anchorage for the weekend, we made a stop at Swallows Cave. John and the crew jumped in the dinghy whilst I stayed aboard the mothership. They returned with reports of electric blue water teaming with life. Our anchorage that evening was a short journey from there, at Port Maurelle. We pulled into the large bay to find only one other sailboat, and parked ourselves on the northern side of the anchorage. It didn’t take long for us to inflate the paddleboards and head off to explore. We found the reef all along the hillside that protects the northern side of the bay was pristine, with heaps of fish, starfish and coral. We spent the afternoon playing in the water and the rain.

Easter morning the crew went to shore in search of a church service, despite the forecasted rain all day. I stayed back to take care of my morning chores onboard, and prepare an Easter brunch. It didn’t take long for the rain to hit after the crew landed ashore, absolutely soaking the islands in true tropical style. It didn’t stop raining until long after they returned, but that didn’t spoil their fun. They had found multiple services after wandering all over the island, and were welcomed into the celebrations by all the locals. We enjoyed our banana pancakes and chocolates back onboard and embraced the rain, making for a truly memorable holiday.

That afternoon, Robyn, Chris and myself took the dinghy out to see what trouble we could get into. Robyn had her eyes on a particularly nice looking island from shore that morning, so we made our way over to see if it was as nice as it looked. And it did not disappoint! We landed on a perfect white sandy beach, where a sign was posted declaring it a fish sanctuary. As we wandered down the beach, Robyn called us over to a little cove to show us a baby reef shark chasing a school of fish. We followed him down the beach and found a whole pack of baby reef sharks, all enjoying the beach just as much as we were!

That evening John and Maisa had gone off for one last snorkel before sunset. John raced back to the boat to rally the troops, claiming he had found a spot so beautiful we had to come see it. Despite having already put on dry clothes, he managed to convince Robyn and myself to come and have a look. They had found a cave in the rocks by our anchorage, and the reef right under it was full of all sorts of different corals and fish. We took turns diving through the caves formed by all the volcanic rocks, and were delighted to find the sky lighting up with pinks and oranges as the sun began to set despite the rain all day. We made our way back to the boat to catch the second half of the sunset, as it continued to get better and better. John had managed to prepare a Sunday roast amongst all the excitement that day, which we enjoyed after the sunset finally came to a close. It was one of the most memorable Easters I’ve had, and definitely will be a hard one to top in years to come.

Cheers,

Liv

Easter in Vavaʻu!

Vava Voom Vavaʻu!