The Lau Group- The Bay of Islands and Vanua Balavu

 Mike and I took off from Paradise-Taveuni after a really fun week with our friend Jerelyn on Pangaea.  We decided to do an overnight passage to the Bay of Islands so that we arrived in the morning with enough light to move through the pass and on to anchor in a safe nook.

The night was incredibly beautiful; we had a planetarium view of the southern hemisphere, and also saw between the two of us 9 shooting stars!  That’s a lot of wishes.  We also had a beautiful display of bioluminescence with every wave displaced by Pangaea.  It was quite magical and I remembered why I like night passages so well.  

We arrived as planned in the morning and it was so quiet!  Quite a difference from the hustle and bustle of a resort.

We arrived at the pass and then went around the Bay to find the right place to tuck in for a while.

   

 

Pangaea in her safe anchorage - Mike tied a line from the back of the boat to a rock to keep us from getting close to nearby coral

We discovered the first night here that there are a ton of Fijian Bats that come out at dusk.  This was a video we took.

We love it here!  

First Mate Kate

Fiji 2.0

 Bula!  We are enjoying our second season in Fiji.  We started our exploration in June from Vuda Marina, and then off to Musket Cove about a week after we both arrived.  Here are some highlights of our trip and our delightful guests who made our time together so much fun!

We had a nice breeze in the west basin!

    Sunset pictures from the hanging chairs

One of my favorite morning walks was to First Landing Resort, down the street from Vuda Marina.  There’s a nice beach and beautiful views.  Also fresh, chilled coconut water right out of the coconut!

Mike turned 60 on 6/16 and Monica who runs the cafe at Vuda made up a plate with a big piece of chocolate cake on it for him.  So SWEET!

Later that night we walked down to Nila Resort with our friends from Cinnabar for the best tasting Indian Food on Viti Levu and they decorated the table with flowers and Happy Birthday and sang Happy Birthday to Mike in the Fijian tradition:

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Mike, Happy Birthday to you!

Happy long life to you, Happy long life to you, Happy long life happy long life -happy long life to you!

May God Bless you! May God Bless you! (Repeat)                       

 

They also have amazing sunsets at NILA!

One of the first things one has to do when they arrive back in Fiji is provision for sailing trips.  So, Sylvia, Kellie and I went to the Nadi market and Denarau for all the essentials, including Kava for Sevusevu ceremonies and, of course, food and drink!

We motor-sailed over to Musket Cove, and took a little hike up to the Lookout.  That night we had a stunningly beautiful sunset!

We decided that Mike’s 60th needed to be celebrated again, so we went to Lomani Resort for dinner and an incredible sunset.  It was so delicious and the entire staff came out and sang Mike Happy Birthday at the end of the night.  It was great fun!

Of course, the ladies need their alone time, so we did a morning hike coupled with a cool coconut and mango smoothie back at Lomani. While we were at the Lookout-we saw Leto arriving (with our friend’s son on board!)

                                       

It is soooooo great to be back in Fiji!!  

First Mate Kate

Heading to Fiji from New Zealand

 Greetings from Marsden Cove, NZ.  We are checking out of the country and starting our sail to Fiji tomorrow am.  We left Riverside Drive Marina a little before noon so we could catch the noon opening of the Whangarei Bridge.

Our friends Ian, Ronnie, Ad, and Glen assisted us safely out of our slip, which was really appreciated because we had a mini squall move through.  So, I like to think we were baptized by New Zealand as we left.  We were also given a beautiful rainbow.

I made Lobster Bisque for our last meal before the passage with four crawfish tails.  🦞 

The passage is predicted to be 8 days long, so hopefully we will arrive before my cousin Eric arrives into Nadi on the 22nd.

The adventures begin again!

First Mate Kate

Half way there...

We are half way to Suwarrow. The passage from Raiatea to Suwarrow is 669 nm. We had good sailing the first day and night, but yesterday the wind was light and we turned on the motor. The wind is predicted to return this afternoon.

Suwarrow

We are leaving French Polynesia and heading to New Zealand via Suwarrow, Niue then Tonga. Stay tuned...

Saying Goodbyes

We are starting to have our “lasts” in French Polynesia. We had our last walk in the park in Tahiti, our last stay at Marina Papeete, our last visit to the Marche.

We did have a first, as we finally stayed in the anchorage at Marina Taina. That was a hoot! We got together with Birgit on Pitufa for dinner and happy hour with Shelly and Mike on Avatar, Jaye and Irwin on Windsome and Birgit on Pitufa.

We left Tahiti for Mo’orea today, as we need to start heading west. So, we left the island and our friends not knowing when we will meet them again. I felt so sad today as we left, like I did at the end of summer camp as a kid. The rainy and blustery weather masked my tears as we sailed on.

We were treated to a beautiful downwind sail almost all the way to the anchorage. The island of Mo’orea blocked the wind as we turned toward the anchorage.

We had a beautiful evening enjoying fresh ton rouge with asparagus and duck fat potatoes!

First Mate Kate

Sent from my iPhone

Visit with Cousin Eric

We had such a blast with my cousin Eric! He flew down to Huahine the day before I did and we had a couple of weeks to explore French Polynesia. 

Mike’s brother had just spent two weeks on Pangaea and was now staying at a pension on Huahine, so we got to hang out together. We decided to rent scooters and tour the island.

Eric hadn’t ridden a scooter before but he was an instant pro.

We toured the local Marae and saw some fish traps in the river.

Greg and Mike exploring the Marae

Fish traps

We stopped at a little beach and relaxed after briefly stopping at a little art gallery by Melanie. She was working on this painting that I absolutely love !

We had a little boat ride to a Pearl Farm and got some pearls and pottery!

We heard that there are blue-eyed eels here, so we went exploring.

We tooled over to Avea Bay for lunch and the next day we brought the boat over to the bay to do some snorkeling. It is so beautiful!

drove over to Huahine Iti and Avea Bay for lunch to complete the day.

The next day we sailed here and snorkeled before heading to Taha’a.

Taha’a

We sailed over to Taha’a just in time for sunset. It was so gorgeous!!

Looking at Bora Bora

The next day we went over to Pari Pari for some vanilla education and Rum tasting!

They dry their vanilla slowly to optimize flavor and reduce mold growth.

The T Rhum is the award winning rum agricoles from Pari Pari. It is VERY strong! I like the vanilla rum and passion fruit rum, also.

Raiatea

We sailed over to Raiatea to do a little more exploration. We anchored at Taputapuatea to show Eric the mare there.

This octopus is the symbol for the connected South Pacific islands

We were able to attend the first night of the Heiva celebration in Raiatea.

We had a lovely dinner on Eric’s final evening at the Raiate Lodge.

The next day we took Eric to the airport by dinghy and waited with him for his flight. We decided to have a final Hinano together. . The next thing we knew -an agent from Air Tahiti came into the bar asking for Mr. Severson. Eric answered yes. They were waiting for him.

Awesome!

Please hurry back, Eric! We miss you already!

First Mate Kate