Coral Palms, Fiji

Apr 4, 2013
10 min read

Greetings from Fiji, Still,

After receiving a few e-mails from people politely wondering what I am up too and some persistent ones demanding information and pictures I thought maybe it was time for an update. For the most part life in Fiji for me is pretty laid back and uneventful but I will try and come up with some entertaining stories. On the upside when my sister and mom left I copied their pictures to my computer so I won’t have a problem posting some new albums, between the two of them they took more pictures in three weeks than I have in a year.

Definitely another highlight of my travels was spending the last three weeks with family, considering that some of the most enjoyable times have been when people come to visit maybe I should have just stayed home, kidding of course. This time my sister Nicki, her dude, Robbie, my nieces Kiara and Ellie, my nephew Charlie and Mom and Dad, (Oma and Opa,) came to Fiji for three weeks. We had a wonderful time staying at a few different places, a house on the main island and two different resorts in the Yassawa Group of Islands. I felt absolutely spoiled, it may seem strange but it was the simple things that I really enjoyed, after close to a year in the tropics I take for granted the sun, white sand beaches, warm ocean water, beautiful sunsets etc. King size beds, ensuites, refrigerators, A/C, that’s what I’m talking about.

The last 11 months or so was by far the longest I have ever gone without seeing my parents or sister but between the emails and pictures they send me it really seems like I am constantly in touch and once they were here it was like I never left. My nieces and I have always had a great time playing and hanging out and we instantly continued where we left off. Charlie wasn’t too sure about me at first but it didn’t take long for him to warm up to me. Fiji is a wonderful place to holiday, my favourite place I have been in the south pacific, but not easy to get to nor cheap. For what it costs to fly here you could probably go to Mexico all inclusive for ten days. When my cousin came his flight from the interior to Van was cancelled due to a snow storm and they had to drive through the night to the coast, (in a snow storm,) to make it here. For my sister and Robbie to travel that far with a two year old, especially when that two year old is Charlie, is not exactly a relaxing plane ride. What I am trying to say is that I really appreciate the fact that people have planned their holidays to come and visit me; it means copious amounts to me.

For the first seven days we stayed at a vacation home on the Coral Coast called Coral Palms. It was a beautiful home on the water with good snorkelling, a couple kayaks, a pool and many other activities. Numerous day trips were available but for the most part everybody seemed content to relax at the home. The girls pretty much lived in the pool and Charlie only almost drowned a couple of times. We went out for dinner one night to a traditional Fijian restaurant that cooked all the meat in a Lovu Oven, hot rocks in a pit, food covered in banana leaves then buried in sand. Miraculously no sand got in the food. Unfortunately Robbie had to unexpectedly return to Canada early for work. Unfortunately Robbie brought Nicki’s passport to the airport. After a quick few phone calls to our taxi driver I was on the way to the airport with the right passport. It had taken us about an hour and a half to get from the airport to Coral Palms; it took us about 50 minutes to get from Coral Palms to the airport. On the way the driver pointed out that we were behind a police vehicle, I figured this wasn’t good, but the driver stayed on his ass and when the police truck passed a vehicle we passed the same vehicle as quickly as possible. The driver informed me that by Fijian Traffic Law we could only get pulled over if the police where stopped on the side of the road and if we let him get ahead of us he would pull over and get us. I asked what would happen then and he explained because he was driving a licensed taxi he would lose his license. Considering this was his livelihood I told him that this was not worth losing his license over but he kept on flying along and Robbie boarded his plane with his passport as the doors were closing.

After Coral Palms we left for the Yassawas, the weather was not very good and we had an interesting boat ride on a small go fast boat there. What was usually an hour boat ride in settled weather took us over two hours, once in the bay we had to transfer to a smaller boat to unload on the beach in breaking waves. Everybody was happy to be on land and I think had a new appreciation of my 37 day trip. After the weather cleared we found Octopus Resort on Waya Island to be an absolutely beautiful spot. Again the girls lived in the water, whether snorkelling along the reef, bobbing in the waves or playing in the pool, I was thoroughly impressed with their swimming skills and love for the water. What really sets Fiji apart, (I think, because that was actually my first stay at a resort ever,) is the Fijians. Fijians are for the most part wonderful people, the all seem extremely happy and genuinely friendly, and you really feel that they appreciate you coming to their beautiful country. My parents and sister who have stayed at resorts in other parts of the world felt the same way about the people whether it was the resort staff or the people in the villages.

Another boat ride, this time uneventful, and we were at Blue Lagoon Resort on Nacula Island. A day trip to the limestone caves was definitely a highlight. The main cave was open to the sky, which I suppose by definition makes it not a cave at all, anyway, the limestone walls open to the greenery on top was a beautiful sight. The level of the water in the caves goes up and down with the tide and because we were there at high tide the entrance to the secondary caves, which were in fact caves, was completely underwater. You had to swim down, through a short tunnel and surface on the other side all in complete darkness except for the guide’s flashlights. Some people chose not to do this, even some avid scuba divers found it too sketchy. I couldn’t have been more proud when Kiara said she would do it, brave girl. The caves seemed to keep going and we swam around with the guide, found a huge creepy spider and of course yelled “BULA!” and listened to the echoes. Another resident of the caves were freshwater eels and we followed one swimming around with the flashlight.

After just about two weeks in the Yassawas we headed back to the mainland, this time we took a sea plane. Of note was the fact that we were in a De Havilland Beaver, Canadian made sea plane, with a Canadian made pilot from Montreal, go team Canada! All in all we had an amazing time, the girls didn’t want to go home but I think Nicki was ready. I really have to hand it to her, vacationing with three kids especially when one is a toddler is really a vacation for them, not her. My sister’s sunscreen program vigilance was an amazing feat; pretty much every white person in Fiji is stomping around with a burn at some point, but not one of Nick’s kids. It was so good to see my family and I can’t put in words how much I appreciate them coming out. Of course after they left I think more about the people I haven’t seen and it makes me miss them a little more.

As far as what I have been doing prior to my family coming out, well, not much. Sailing away from my hurricane hole just doesn’t seem like a good idea. There are a few islands a half day sail away so I go visit them sometimes. Mana Island has a couple backpacker hostels so it is fun to hang out with other budget minded travellers from all over. The local children swim out to the boat and I am more than happy to have them on board for a cup of tea. My small friends Joe and Milo took me spear fishing, actually kind of more like sling shot fishing and cooked me their small catch. I have acquired a beater surf board and have some fun surfing. Surfing in the south pacific is probably not what you imagine; there are pretty much no beach breaks. Most of the waves are reef breaks at the passes, which makes things a little more challenging. First of all you need a boat to get to them and ideally not a sail boat. I can anchor of Nomotu Island and then take a short dinghy ride to the break; the problem with this is it is a very rolly anchorage making an overnight stay quiet uncomfortable. The other option is to stay the night at Malolo Island and sail over for the day, which makes for a long day hauling anchor, sailing, anchoring, putting engine on dinghy, surfing, taking engine of dinghy, hauling anchor, sailing, anchoring. The reef breaks are a little scary, the idea is you ride the wave and it shoots you out in the pass, if not it slams you into the reef. I obviously stay on the easier waves that have enough water over the reef at high tide to be somewhat safe. If you are interested Google Cloudbreak images and you will see some beautiful pictures that show you why Fiji is a world class surf destination.

On one of my sails back from surfing about half way the wind was dying so I decided to motor for a while. For the first time in probably seven years my trusty 35 year old single cylinder cast iron Yanmar didn’t start. No problem I thought I’ll just sail back and radio the marina and ask them to send a boat out to meet me in case I need a tow. I had lots of time to plan but my plan was foiled when nobody answered the radio, I called the marina numerous times, I called “any yacht at Vuda” numerous times and no answer. Fine, I’ll show them I don’t need their help anyway. The wind had since picked up and I was making good way towards the marina. I decided I would sail in under headsail alone as I would be going too fast to dock under both sails, with plenty of room still left I took the mainsail down. Everything was going fine until I got closer to land, land has many effects on the wind and this time it died down and shifted away from my favour, balls. The current and waves were pushing me away from the entrance of the marina towards a tanker that was anchored in the bay, I quickly hoisted the headsail again and started making just enough way to avoid the massive mooring cans. While this is happening I noticed a small boat in the bay that seemed to be watching me, I tried radioing them, no answer, I radioed the tanker and asked if they had a tender in the water, I said I wasn’t in any danger but was a maybe going to drift into his boat. He suggested I call the police, sure bud. This is all happening within sight of the bar at the marina and I am thinking to myself, that bar is full of sailors who are watching me, who all have boats and dingys, fine I’ll show them. After just avoiding colliding with the mooring cans the wind started picking up again and with both sails up I was heading back towards the channel. I nice beam reach down the channel, spill the sails, and dock at the visitors dock, it was pretty much flawless. I was a little pissed, as I sailed past the bar people where congratulating me on my seamanship and I would have liked to tell them that they obviously didn’t have any. The two people that came to the dock to catch my lines weren’t even sailors and to top it all off someone actually said to me, “we were watching you the whole time and we didn’t think you were going to make it,” twat.

My plans haven’t changed; I am watching the weather and waiting to sail to NZ. The trick is to leave Fiji as soon as there isn’t any more risk of a tropical cyclone developing which is hopefully before the winter storms start coming in NZ. This passage is not a trade wind route and there is the possibility of an uncomfortable ride sailing into the wind and encountering some low pressure systems further south. I will hope for the best and be prepared to deal with whatever I get. I have heard many great things about New Zealand and I hope to see much of the country but my priority will be to work so I can get my kids out again and save money so I can keep cruising. There are couple of things I would like to do to the boat, I am not travelling without a refrigerator anymore, I should have converted my ice box before I left but living in Canada I couldn’t fathom having enough sun to maintain the power for a refrigerator. The other thing I would like to do is throw my Yamaha outboard off a very tall building. I am seriously pissed at Yamaha and anybody who sells this terrible product. How is it that I have more problems with a brand new engine than a 35 year old one? Everybody I have talked to has had the same problems with this small 4 stroke engine as well as a million people online. Yamaha has not come up with a solution other than to pull the carb and have it cleaned every couple months. There is also the possibility of maybe adding crew, but still very undecided on that.

Thanks for reading, hope you have enjoyed this letter. As always I look forward to your replies and any stories, information, pictures or gossip from back home. Please enjoy the web albums and keep in mind most of the pictures are compliments of my sister and my mom. I’m off to pull the carb on the outboard.

Lots-o-love,

Jonathan