We left Musket Cove to sail north through the Yasawa Group which is made up of about 20 volcanic islands that cover approximately 135 square kilometers.
We found lovely small islands including the one used in the Tom Hanks film ‘Castaway’.
The pass between Drawaqa and Naviti is famous for manta rays. The mantas come to feed here and can most often be found at the NE side of the pass. We were there with several local trip boats and snorkelled with the mantas.
Somosomo-Naviti-Yasawa
The last 24 hours has been about sheltering from some pretty strong winds, with plenty of rain thrown in for good measure. Despite the conditions, the locals were out fishing and came by offering us lobster. Slight change of plan for dinner tonight saw Lesley enjoying fresh lobster tail in white wine and garlic butter, whilst I stuck to fajitas!
After several days of miserable weather, the wind has gone and the sun is back out. We moved up to Nanuya Lailai island, or ‘The Blue Lagoon’ as it’s known since this is where the movie was filmed back in 1980. Actually it’s the adjoining island where the filming took place but we can’t anchor there. Lo’s Tea House is across the island and Lo serves freshly made doughnuts and refreshing lemon drink, amongst other things. It’s a lovely walk with great views and good to see Lo still serving food from her house despite losing her tea room to the weather a few years back. Her new tea room will be up and running in a month or so and looks cool. Hopefully loads of cruisers will support her by buying more doughnuts!
Amazingly and unusually we had a good weather window to return to the southern Lau islands, a trip against the trade winds, so we picked our way through the shallow waters of the pass for a 3 day passage to Ogea Levu crossing Bligh Water and the Koro Sea.