S/Y Interlude IX: South to North

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

South to North

From Southern Lau to Northern Lau okay it is only 120 nautical miles, an overnight sail. No problem????

· A good forecast … check

· Winds in the right direction…yup downwind …check

· Seas 1 to 1.5 meters from the right direction...NOT SO MUCH…2 meters.. WRONG DIRECTION

· Sleep….are you kidding see Seas above

· Food…yummy split pea soup courtesy of Ian on Summer Spirit.

· Buddy Boat; Local Talent, Dean and Sabina …check

Okay the winds where not quite the 15 -20 knot but okay and in the right directions so Interlude with just a head sail was honking. However the seas were in just the wrong direction, so no sleep, even for Karen. Apart from the seas it was an okay passage it was great to travel with another boat and yak about the winds and seas during a passage. So with Local Talent on the radio and with great food in our tummy we arrived in Vanua Balavu, the Northern Lau.

With the sun shining we lead the way in the pass, with Local Talent on our heels, it was easy. This set of islands have such many large openings in the reefs that current in the passes is not an issue, the issue is that most of the charts are off by almost ½ a mile! While we have several tracks from other boats into the anchorage we get a heads up from Mer Soliel on a reef on our approach, so we motored around it. We tried to anchor at the south of the anchorage as we noticed less swell, but couldn’t get the anchor to stick, so we went to the back of the pack and parked .

We put Trouble, our dinghy, in the water and went and picked up Local Talent so that both boats could do their Sevu Sevu at the same time. We presented our waka and $60 to the chief and were welcomed to the village. Then off we went for a little walk with Dean and Sabina, to stretch our legs after a wobbly passage. We walked through the village and several kilometers down the road, lovely views over the sea. We passed pigs, goats, cows and horses, the school and taro and cassava plants, papayas and bananas, all is well in the world.

Yup a grass skirt. The birthday boy

One of the reason we actual bee lined up to the northern lau was we were invited to a surprise birthday party for a fellow cruiser. Bev on Mer Soliel had planned this surprise birthday for Robbie’s 70^th (also known as Robin or his Robbieness). Bev had contacted fellow cruisers and friends to meet up on a his birthday at the Vanua Balavu way back last year. Bev had arranged with the village of Daliconi that they would put on a feast; a Lovo for us, complete with a pig cooked in the ground and all the fixins Yummy!! It was a complete surprise and poor Robbie had to get dressed up in traditional Figian garb, what a great time complete with singing and dancing.

Robbie checking out the pig in the pit

Teaching the village kids Bocce

The next we had arranged to go on an island tour with Local Talent. So we went to Lomo Lomo, the largest city on the island, bought Voda phone top ups for our cell phones, Local Talent bought some fruit and veg, such as it was. With shopping completed, off we went to the hot springs and caves complete with human bones and then to a lookout, all before lunch. Our driver took us to a lovely backpacker place for lunch, then to the other end of the island to the village of the former prime minister and a church leader and then back to Daliconi, the village we were anchored off of. We had a dispute over the price, which was not a nice way to end to the day, but it was all settled and well worth the trip.

Outlook mid island

Cooking off the moisture

We then moved to Batavu Bay, where Tony’s (the owner of Vuda and Copra Shed marina) grandfather bought a place, many many moons ago. A deep lovely bay large enough to hold good 10-20 boats, but the depth of the bay ranges from 15 meters to 22 meters; we lucked in and found a place that was 9 meters. Here you are welcomed ashore and welcomed to walk all around the plantation, which is complete with hiking paths! The plantation has sheep and cows, the village has chickens too. Here they do the first press of coconut oil. It is mostly manual process; they husk the coconuts by hand, and then split the nuts in two, keeping the water and cores to feed to the pigs and chicken. They then use an electric coconut grater to get the white coconut meat out. 3 kilos of coconut meat are then put onto a steel sheet heated by a fire made from coconut shells. They cook it to get off most of the moisture then put it in a press. The 3 kilos will yield a litre of oil. Of course we bought a wine bottle full of oil!

Pressing the coconut oil out

The plantation has roads and trails, substantial trails. One has a look out over the Bay of Islands. It is just beautiful and we were welcomed to pick mandarins along the way! And they were awesome. Nothing is better than just picked fruit

From the lookout with a view of the Bay of Islands

We did the same walk 3 more times, with Fabio and Lisa on Amandla and when Mer Soleil and Local Talent arrived, with them too. Everyone was happy with the Interlude guided tours!

We celebrated Canada Day with Exit Strategy, Tom and Lisa fellow Canadians; we had met back in Bora Bora.

As the American boats soon took over the anchorage (Domino, MerSoleil, Amandla and Local Talent) and July 4^th was coming up so a potluck on shore was planned, at the Yacht Club, actually bocce followed by the pot luck. Great food and great company. Robbie took this day as an opportunity to light his birthday sparkler, courtesy of Interlude.

Follow the bat to the bat cave

Since we were just around the corner from the Bay of Islands we went there the next day, all of 7 miles. In between rain showers we explored by dinghy as there is nowhere to go to shore. We found the mother of Bat colonies! It was something watching them climb the trees, like monkeys and watching them fly around. Didn’t see Bruce Wayne though. They have these rocks that look like ship wrecks…well kind of or maybe if you are on drugs or something, but the anchorage was peaceful and flat worth the stop over. We left the next morning to head for Savu Savu.