Good evening and welcome to the latest Te Kaihōpara Fijian expedition. Joining the crew this time we have a dominating number of Australians on board, and only one Kiwi. Hailing from Kalgoorlie we met Dennis, the Fijian born and raised radiator genius bringing with him 750 bras. From Brisbane we have Sofia, an aid doctor with a passion for Fijian villages who seems to know everyone over here. Max comes from Mount Hotham, and is travelling with friends Sue (Yarck) and Lisa (Southern Highlands) and the three of them have already kept Jo and I well entertained, including spelling those strange Australian placenames to me and bringing an entire case of tonic water on board. In the mid cabin we have Peter and Nicky from New Castle who brought along a folding guitar and a passion for swimming. Our final Australian is Steve who hails from Mornington Peninsula and is an early riser which must be typical of that population. Rounding off the crew is Nic from Whangarei (that’s in New Zealand) who left the kids at home and came aboard with the worst jet-lag of us all! That’s ironic because Fiji is in the same time zone as NZ, but she’d just arrived from the USA so we’ll forgive her.

Upon arrival, the crew had their first agility test - walking the plank from the shore to the boat. Everyone passed and nothing or nobody got wet. First night completed, we were busy the next morning preparing crew and vessel for departure. Silver Fern got waved to as they slipped lines and then we powered out ourselves into the open waters of Vuda Point. After some lessons of how to take off ratchet straps, we stowed lines and fenders and had another lesson on how to put on ratchet straps. Smiles all round, we ate sandwiches as Viti Levu became smaller and smaller and the Yasawa Group appeared from the haze.

Peter the pirate with the Yasawa Group in the background

Anchor down! Arrival at Waya Island and Yalobi Bay. The sun had gone behind the towering cliffs as Dennis, Jo and Nic swam around the boat while Peter and Nicky swam almost the whole way ashore and back. Max battled with the flames on the BBQ and managed to cook an entire dinner outside in 20kt wind gusts! He’s a legend. Supported by Sue and Lisa in the galley, a giant coleslaw (not the biggest I’ve seen but still pretty big) emerged alongside BBQ chicken, potatoes and onion. One of the crew missed out on the meal having been caught by a bought of seasickness after reading their book downstairs for just a wee bit too long - I won’t mention who!

Max on the barbie with Steve offering moral support

Waking up groggy, I was in good company as several of us had a bad sleep for some reason. No matter as the scenery of Yalobi Bay is so beautiful, you just can’t be anything but content. Ashore to the beach armed with kava and bras, the crew had a fantastic time meeting the chief, the local ladies and the children. There were fresh coconuts to drink and markets to buy from, but our crew were focused on getting into the water finally! Jumping into light blue water, they splashed over giant brain corals, blue tip staghorn corals, and amazing shapes and walls of fans. The fish were stunning and many small ones followed us all the way back to Te Kaihōpara.

Back on board, we pushed on and headed out of Yalobi alongside Silver Fern. We had an issue getting the mainsail up - turns out the battens were caught up in the boom and Jo with Max had to manhandle it out of the boom with some firm encouragement, but it would never have come out by itself without “ripping shit fast”. Silver Fern was way off in the distance by now so the theoretical race was over. That was ok though as we enjoyed our relaxed cruise north and indulged in some pasta salad at lunchtime. We motored through schools of fish and Dennis had a line out. Woohoo, fish on! Reeled in with the whole crew holding him on board, Dennis landed a skipjack tuna straight into the bucket. With the line out the back again, all focus was on the fish in hand but not the fish on the end of the line! Fish #2 on! Double whammy, Peter skilfully filleted them and put the fillets in the fridge for dinner time.

Once the boys had cleaned the deck, I ventured outside again to set the genoa and cue the wind drop off. Typical! No issue for the Gardner engine though, with Lisa on the helm and Sofia on the bow we weaved through reefs and onwards to Drawaqa Island to try and see the manta rays. Arriving at the manta ray passage, there were lots of small boats in the water! We quickly joined the fleet and shortly after joined by the crew off Silver Fern: then weren’t, as their outboard cut out and they drifted away. We did go to reassure them but John managed to get the engine started again. Two drift snorkels later there was no sign of the manta rays. With a few people starting to get cold, we headed back to Te Kaihōpara to rinse off and start making dinner.

We watched the sunset and some people saw the green flash. Fresh tuna was cooked on the BBQ and cabbage was steamed along with delicious mashed potato and some buttery carrots. It’s a pretty good life cruising in the Yasawas!

-Hannah , Chief Mate, Te Kaihōpara.

One fish, two fish

I thought this was a Sailing Expedition

Swimming with Sails