We left Mana island for Kaduvu on Monday morning. It was a bright sunny morning without a lot of wind so we had to motor for the first couple of hours. On our way to the Navula pass, we could see Cloud Break in the distance. Cloud Break is currently hosting the World Surfing Finals, from August 26th until September 3rd. It is located off the island of Tavarua and is reported to be home to one of the most perfect and iconic waves in the world. It is a fast, left-hand barrel that breaks over a shallow reef and can hold waves from two to twenty feet! As we passed, we could see the judging stand towering in the distance, pretty cool! The rest of the passage was okay, we had a little bit of chop due to the wind direction but it was manageable. We were able to sail a little bit but it was mostly motoring. We arrived at the reef entrance to Vunisea Bay around 8am on Tuesday. We used our satellite overlay to wind our way into the anchorage of Vunisea Bay. A boat we had met previously, Arcturus, was already anchored there and shared some helpful navigation notes! We got our anchor set and Meraviglia cleaned up from the passage. In the early afternoon, we had a visit from the local police who checked us in and looked at our cruising permit. They were very friendly and even gave us the phone number of the station in case we needed anything while we were there.

On Wednesday, we went to shore. We use an app called No Foreign Land that gives us great cruiser shared information about anchorages. It showed that there were a few markets and a restaurant or two so we were excited to go check it out. We were definitely underwhelmed upon exploring. There was a market that had a small selection of produce (including the habanero peppers that we thought were sweet peppers if you have been following my Instagram posts LOL) but no other items on the shelves. We walked a little further looking for the restaurant but apparently that is no longer there. We saw one other store that had a very small selection of supplies. Other than that it was a dusty walk down a dirt road with lots of stray dogs wandering around so back to Meraviglia we went. We did notice that there was a cargo ship at the jetty so it was possible that the stores were simply out of supplies but it seemed unlikely.
On Thursday, Bob went to shore to see if the stores had any other items available. He did not find much more there but was able to get some fresh bread and replenish our snack supply. We spent one more night and made a plan to leave on Friday for a new anchorage.

We left on Friday at about 9am for the next island, Ono Island. It was again a motoring day without much wind. We arrived at the Nabouwalu Village anchorage around 3pm and were pleasantly surprised to find it empty. What a beautiful bay surrounded by green hills and a rocky coastline. We got the boat settled and took the dinghy to shore to complete sevusevu. We went ashore and were greeted by a smiling young boy of about 6 years old. We asked him if he could take us to the chief and he happily let us down the path into the village. There was a volleyball game going on and lots of kids and adults having fun. He introduced us to a man named Sai who said he would take us to an elder to complete sevusevu. We had worn our appropriate sulu dress for Bob and a long skirt and covered shoulders for me. We were invited to enter his home and sit on a woven mat. Prayers and blessings were given and sevusevu was complete. After it was done, we chatted for a few minutes and Bob asked about the village and schooling. The village currently has about 30 permanent residents. The children begin to attend school at age six, and travel off island to Suva each week to attend school. They leave Nabouwalu on Sunday afternoon and return on Friday afternoon. Currently, they are on a 2 week school holiday so all seemed joyful to be together and enjoying their volleyball game and time at the beach. We left to the sound of lots of giggles and children yelling goodbye to us as we got in the dinghy to return to Meraviglia.

On Saturday, we had a visit by a local villager to Meraviglia. He was heading out to fish and stopped by to say hello. He shared that he lives full time in the village while his wife lives with his kids on Suva so they can go to school. We had a nice chat and he was very friendly, he even came back later and offered us a fish from his catch! We then took the kayak to return to the village. It is very shallow to get to shore so taking the dinghy is much more challenging! We went onshore and followed the path past the church and across the bridge to the other side of the island. We wanted to take a trail that we read about and do a hike but we were having a bit of trouble finding it. A family stopped us to say hello and gave us guidance to get to the trail which was most appreciated. Now when I say trail, what I mean is a narrow dirt path that I assume is maintained simply by the villagers needing to use it to get to the next village. It was a bit challenging to follow and definitely very muddy in parts. The same family who gave us directions actually passed us taking the trail as well and the youngest children were in rubber boots which definitely would be helpful for the mud rather than the hiking sandals Bob and I had on! We had one or two backtracks to get back on the trail and did have to ask another person for directions but we were able to follow it for a while including two small water crossings. It was beautiful and felt like being in the middle of the jungle but at places it would have been helpful to have a machete to cut back the greenery overhanging the path! We hiked for about an hour out and then followed the trail back to the village. When we got back to the beach, the kids were back playing in the water and paddling around in a kayak using palm fronds for paddles. We left them with a new card game called Pirates that we had on board so hopefully they will have some fun with it while they are on holiday.

On Sunday morning, we woke up to a beautiful sunny morning and calm water. We decided to take the kayak around to the other side of the island where we had heard there was a cave you can paddle into. We headed out and paddled along the coastline seeing some beautiful rock formations, pretty coral in the water, and even some bright blue fish. We found the cave and paddled inside to where you can see light on the other side. It was very cool and very dark in the middle! We got out and had a quick look around -lots of others had clearly visited as there were cairns scattered all around. We did not add one as we have just been reading how this practice is actually discouraged due to the negative impact on the natural ecosystems. We got back in the kayak and paddled back out and found two more small caves or indents in the cliff face, very cool! The water on that side was also really pretty, super clear and very blue- we might go back for another visit to do some snorkeling!

We will probably stay here for another day or two and then hope to visit a few more islands close to here that have manta ray cleaning stations. We are really hoping to get another chance to swim with the mantas! We need to be back in the Port Denerau or Nadi area by the third week of September to get ready for my sister’s visit, so hoping to see a few more things here before we leave! More next week from Fiji!