Day 8 and day 9 on our adventure brought moderate winds and many a sandy beach. We spent Sunday anchored in Oarsman Bay. The ladies decided to go to church at the neighbouring village and the boys went snorkeling. I dropped Patti, Lisa, Sally and Jo off to find a church. On the way back to Te Kaihōpara I saw turtles!!!!! I’m happy now but still want to see one snorkeling. The ladies on the beach ended up bumping into a local man Jone who we’d met yesterday and he invited them to go to his church. After discovering the small congregation, the ladies experienced some marvelous singing, some well behaved children all dressed in their Sunday best and a sermon in mixed Fijian-English. While trying to sneak away after an hour, the congregation stopped and said goodbye and thank you to our ladies. One woman followed them out to chat. She was a kiwi living here in the village and had some great tips and suggestions for us. Things like bras and clothes, goggles/snorkles and medical supplies were well received, while plastic toys, she said, generally end up in the ocean or river once the kids have got bored of them. She managed to send the ladies off in a long boat to get back to Oarsman Bay where the rest of us were hanging out on the beach.

John 9, Kingsley and Simon went for a snorkel while Callum conquered the hill behind the resort. Fantastic views from the top of an undulating path, it was a hot walk in the Fijian sun! John 11 and I sunbathed on the beach while the others explored a wee bit and then eventually the three musketeers ended up at a poolside with cold drinks, the ladies disappeared into manicure rooms and Jo, Kingsley and I went back to Te Kaihōpara to make lunch to return ashore with a picnic. Armed with chicken and pickle sandwiches, three of the guys decided to order food at the resort instead. Once the sandwiches were consumed, the wait staff came over and asked for a room number, then informed us that they didn’t serve food to out-of-house guests! The poor boys, they missed out on sammies! Eventually we all came back to Te Kaihōpara as it was 5pm, and there were some hungry people. A friend of the nice kiwi woman Patti met at church came past us to collect some donations for the village. After a group photo, we resumed relaxing positions and thought about dinner. After a delicious dinner of curry whipped up by Sally and Kingsley, we watched the film Blue Lagoon from 1980 with Brooke Shields. This was a quiet affair as I couldn’t manage to connect my laptop to the Bluetooth speakers so we all sat quietly to read the subtitles. We watched this movie as part of this film was recorded where we’d been yesterday, and other scenes were filmed in the caves we plan to go to tomorrow. I wonder if Brooke Shields is still floating around these waters…

Another beautiful sunrise into day 9 kept us excited for the day ahead. We were going to swim in the famous caves at Yasawa-i-lau! Ready in our togs, the long boat came to collect us to go two islands up and into the caves. With wind against tide, the boat ride was exhilarating and many of us got quite wet! On the beach, we followed the guide up a large stone staircase then through a gate and down into the main cave. We had to jump from the last stair into the black water below! I didn’t squeal when jumping which I thought was a win. Being the first group to go through, we had the luxury of the internal cave system to our selves. Ducking under a low rock roof, we appeared into a large long cave that had no bottom. The guide took us around and shone the torch under the water for us to see the vertical walls disappearing into the gloom. Several stories later, we re-emerged into the main cave to a whole load more people who had arrived while we were inside. Two of the guides did a big cliff jump for us from about 8 meters high! I definitely would have squealed if it was me jumping from up there. We trundled out of the cave onto the beach again where the local ladies had set up their market tables for the tourists. All dry now, we loaded into the long boat and got returned safely back to Te Kaihōpara. No sign of Brooke Shields.

We tried to make water but the water maker wasn’t playing ball. This ended in multiple hours in the engine room bleeding the system finding the place where the water wasn’t going in the right direction. Meanwhile, the crew hoisted the sails and we sped off to the north under sail, making 7-8kts the whole way. Several sail changes as the wind continuously increased kept all hands busy, and when not sail handling busy holding on! Big spray over the bow as our lovely lady cut through the chop was exciting, and we enjoyed getting her up and going nicely. After 16 miles of perfect sailing (with Callum on the helm, the Johns had to beg him to give them a turn!), we furled all sails and motored into Naloto Point at the north end of Yasawa Island. The closest village is Yasawa-i-rara which is the northern-most village in the Yasawa Group - we made it to the top! We might visit the village tomorrow. Dinner underway, Jo and I fought the watermaker and finally pinned it down to a box which turned out to be a salinity solenoid which diverts water either overboard or into the tanks. This was jammed into the discard position, so with the help of the miraculous Callum, whipped out the solenoid and bypassed the water into our manual system. Problem solved! Whoopee, we can stop thinking about how to beg the villagers for water. Tanks filling, one by one the crew disappeared into their bunks and eventually we did too, after shutting down the fragile water maker. Let’s hope it still works tomorrow!

Hannah - Chief Mate - Te Kaihōpara