I did a two tank dive today along Rainbow Reef in Viani Bay. Ann was going to come but at the last minute a sun sore on her lip split and was bleeding like crazy. Not a good thing to dive with. She instead stayed on a Charisma and made bread! How lucky am I! (Notice that was not a question, but a rhetorical comment)

So, the diving. It was gorgeous even though it was a very overcast and somewhat windy day.

The operator picked us up (Mark and Vicky from Southern Cross came in to the anchorage yesterday afternoon and joined in the diving today) on our boats. That was fun. Just wait for them and they come alongside. You jump aboard and you’re off. They come over from Taveuni-which is a couple miles away across the Somosomo Straight. It was the three of us and a young woman from Calgary (who is a vet student there).

Sea Anoneme and Anenome Fish (the orange guy hiding inside)

The hard and soft corals are amazing.

The soft corals only "come out" when the current is running and they can filter feed from the moving water.

Drifting along "The Wall" with the current.

So there we were…I won’t go into detail about the two dives, but the highlights were:

-Some of the most beautiful hard and soft coral anywhere.
-A smoking fast drift on our second dive past the Purple Wall and the White Wall. Big current, very fast! The soft corals waving in the flow of the current were spectacular.
-The highlight for me; five large mammals-either pilot whales (that’s what the dive operators said they were) or Risso’s Dolphins, which is what my books would suggest. No matter which, they were at least 12 feet long, very curious and came within about 20 feet and took my breath away to see them underwater. I figuratively dropped my jaw (but not with my breathing apparatus in) and the dive guide I was with had to bang on my head and point at my camera to remind me to take a picture. I was so in awe, I completely forgot and was just staring at these stunning creatures.

First these guys checked us out...

Then their friends came over...

Awe inspiring.

I think we’re going to try and dive again on Saturday. This is just such an amazing underwater landscape. In the mean time, tomorrow (Friday) we’re planning on going in to the school during their recess period around 1030. We see the kids getting picked up every day around the bay by longboat around 0730 and then taken home again around 1600. It’s cute to see almost a dozen little ones zooming to school in the open boat and then jumping out and wading over the reef to class.

(Hint: there’s some new pictures that go back a few days posted 7/6/13)

Today was “get off the boat” day.

We saw a cool looking path on the other side of the bay and decided to head for it.  We learned it’s name is “Prayer Hill”.  I’m thinking that’s because you “hope” you’re going to make it up, and you “pray” you can get back down.  It’s pretty steep.  In Fiji they don’t mess with switchbacks.  You have a ridge?  Go straight up.

If you look closely, you might see the path up the ridge. it's called Prayer Hill. (click to enlarge)

We found a convenient path "hacked" through the mangroves to get ashore.

Jack's nephew Dex was nice enough to guide us through the mangroves to the beginning of the hike.

Ann summits the hill.

And....a picnic on top!

Viani Bay.

You might be able to make out Charisma in the little cove at the top middle of the picture.

Once back down from the hike we watched Dex work on his new raft. All made from bamboo, he'll use this to fish off of.

Anyway, we had a nice little adventure, met one of Jack’s nephews; Dex, who was nice enough to stop work on his raft building project to guide us to the beginning of the trail.

The pictures tell the rest of the story, but the day didn’t end there.  We got back to Charisma by about 1400 and had time to inflate the paddleboards!  Yay.  We tooled around the bay for an hour or so and met up with one of the folks who lives here.  She had spent the last several hours in the water hunting dinner.  What did she have in her bucket?  Octopus!  And a couple of fish.

The paddleboards are so fun.  Many thanks again to Mom and Dad who got these for us as wedding presents!

Well, we’re here. And we caught two fish on the way up. Problem was they were both Mahi and a bit small so we let them go thinking what we really wanted was a nice big TUNA. Alas, no joy on the tuna.

We're here in Viani.

We're anchored off a little island that has one family living on it.

But, we’re tucked into a gorgeous spot in the NE corner of the bay, just next to a little island that provides some shelter from all but direct south wind. Right now, there’s absolutely zero wind. We could be on a mountain lake.

Last night we caught up with Rich and Jan on Slip Away (which was great) and also got to meet Andrew and Kerri on Mariposa, a Westsail 42. We had a pot luck and really enjoyed the evening. New friends and old. Great combo.

Mariposa (left) and Slip Away.

Today, we had a wonderful first full day in the bay thanks to Puddy Tat, a Brit/South Africa duo (David and Silvie) who were kind enough to offer their boat as “taxi” for the day. They contracted with Jack, the local fixture and character, to guide them to a couple of snorkeling spots on the barrier reef. Would we like to come? “You Betcha!”

Here comes Jack. He rowed about 1/2 mile from his house on the beach at the other end of the bay.

Meet Jack. What a character. I really enjoyed his stories. He'll talk all day if you let him. He's been guiding boats one way or another for 40 years.

The deal with Jack is you pay him $10 Fijian per person and make lunch, and he’ll guide all day. And as a bonus, we got to hear his stories of guiding boats in and around Fiji for the past 40 years. Definitely a character and a lot of fun.

We also had some tremendous snorkeling. The first spot we stopped at in the morning was the “White Wall”. This is an internationally known dive spot, but how would snorkeling be? Just OK is the answer. We battled a bit of a current and ended up snorkeling a couple hundred yards up current and then sliding back to the boat. The coral was just OK-the better experience is deeper-but there was a highlight. I got to see a shark pursuing an octopus. I didn’t see the final outcome, but it was a thrill to watch the chase.

Then we relocated to the Cabbage Patch”. I thought, “well, what a stupid name” until I dove it. Wow! That’s exactly what it was. I’ll try to get some pics up soon. It also had some of the most beautiful coral we’ve ever seen. Ann and I felt really fortunate to have had the opportunity to see this spot. Many thanks to David and Silvie for playing “taxi” and taking us all out to the reef.

Ann diving down to the Cabbage Patch coral formations.

Yup, looks like cabbage!

The coral here is just stunning!

We just can't get tired of these views.

So, we’re here for a while. In the plan is: diving (with tanks-there are several operators who will pick us up at Charisma), going ashore to meet some of the locals and do some hiking, and hopefully paddle boarding. There’s also some bad weather due in the islands this weekend, so we’ll likely hunker down in this nice bay until that blows over.

We’ll see what comes.

So we left Cousteau Resort around the corner from Savusavu and motored 20 some miles up the coast. We’re now in Fawn Harbor, which is not a “harbor”, it’s a bay and we’re the only boat here. We came in through the reef around 1430. Pretty straightforward other than a significant dogleg. We had good visibility though, so easy to see the shallow water/reef. Once inside we choose the western side to avoid the need to do sevusevu at the village to the east since we’re only stopping here for the night on our way to Viani Bay where we expect to spend a week or more.

The hook's down and the sun's setting...

Surrounded by mangroves but we were the only ones here.

This is a nice spot. It’s actually a hurricane hole-surrounded on all side by mangroves. And living in the trees above the mangroves are hundreds if not thousands of fruit bats. We had quite a show just befor sunset as they all rose from the trees and flew around. It’s pretty impressive since they have a wingspan of somewhere around three feet!

The only disappointment today was not catching fish. I was sure we’d get one. We had two lines out and were seeing baitfish jumping all over the place, but no joy. Maybe tomorrow.

We’re planning to leave early for Viani. Hopefully we’ll get there before noon and have time to play a bit before end of day. Also hoping to hookup with our friends on Slip Away, who we have heard are there until Monday.

Our goal for Viani: dive (it’s supposed to be one of the best dive sites in the world), paddle board, meet local people and hike. There are some worthy hikes to waterfalls on Taveuni Island, just a little ways across the Somosomo straight from the anchorage-or so we have heard.

Stay tuned. I think there’s Internet coverage at Viani too, so maybe we’ll be able to upload our pics as well.

P.S. a big shout out to our families who are at “The Beach” starting today. That’s Aptos in Santa Cruz, Ca. If we weren’t here, we would be there with them and we are thinking of them and all the fun they are having!

Here’s Ann’s Facebook post for today (since we’re still in internets range), couldn’t have said it better, so here it is:

“Today’s itinerary went like this: coffee in the cockpit, dinghy over to snorkel area and snorkel (disappointingly cloudy), instead of snorkel let’s scrub barnacles off of Charisma’s hull (lookin’ good!), lunch, paddleboard to the reef on the other side of Cousteau and back to check out alternate snorkel spot, tie paddle board to buoy and enjoy simple beauty, back to Charisma to get snorkel gear and dinghy to return to great spot (so many fish they startled me when I rinsed my mask prior to getting in), back to Charisma, Bob naps, Ann takes three more paddleboard laps of anchorage, showers, delightful sunset display with a Charisma in hand. This is cruising!”

The dive boats moored off Cousteau Resort where we're anchored today.

Part of the resort from our anchorage.

Our view away from the resort.

OK, I should add that free diving on one of the bommies, I saw a Lionfish. First one I’ve seen in the wild. He was hiding under a coral overhang. Very graceful.