Download PDF - Oyster News 66 - Oyster Yachts

Fiji, Land of Friendy People and Beautiful Cruising Grounds continued
“We dinghied ashore that
morning to visit the village
of Namara where we were
met by a child of about
three who did not hesitate
to help drag our boat
onto the beach.
”
50 www.oystermarine.com
glass and we snorkelled the area
discovering colourful coral microbes
housing fish so well camouflaged we could
not detect them until they moved within
their hideaways and others so intensely
coloured they might have been painted
with a box of florescent crayons.
The island, uninhabited except for goats,
offered us total privacy. It meant I could
shower nakedly carefree off the stern and
wind dry on deck with only the goats for
company. That was special. Not the goats,
the solitude.
That night, the almost half moon offered
enough light to never let the islands totally
disappear, glazing the white reflecting sand
beach like a glowing luminescent strip.
I could see the black silhouette of a lone
goat standing on the narrow peninsula like
a black cut out pasted on a piece of art.
The following morning we carried on north
keeping well out from the neighbouring
islands which seemed to magically support
trees and shrubs in seemingly invisible soil.
It was rolly once we left the anchorage and
the smell of lamb shanks stewing in the
bread maker below was not as enticing to
me as it might have been in steadier seas.
Small waves were capped with white and
when one hit the side of the boat splashing
salt water over the fore deck, Mike grumbled
about the salt residue it would leave on our
recently washed boat. See, what happens
when you stay on land too long?
A little motoring and a little sailing brought
us into Blue Lagoon, but not before we
almost met with a submerged reef by
taking one of those bare reef markers on
the wrong side.
Besides offering one of the most
protected anchorages in the Yasawa
Group, Blue Lagoon, offers a casual resort
of cottages nestled amongst a forest of
coconut trees. Lunch is available to
cruisers, and dinner if you are willing to
chance your motor prop navigating the
shore reef after the sun goes down.
You can walk around the island if you time
the walk at low tide or take a twenty
minute walk across the island on a well
worn path used frequently by backpackers
staying at a casual resort on the windward
side. I loved that walk through the tall
grasses, they sway in the breeze like
waves rippling through an anchorage and
as many times as we have enjoyed
spectacular views from hill tops. I never
seem to get quite enough of them and
always take a moment to inhale the
surrounding view; white caps on the
windy shore, blue calm in the lee.
We decided to leave the bay and go in
search of the manta rays at a snorkel
sight in Manta Ray Bay four hours away.
The morning we left a rain shower was
dousing the far end of the island and a
double rainbow reached over the islands
unimpeded by clouds.