November 20, 2013
To review a bit, we’d survived our freshman year of cruising which included making a long passage from Los Angeles to the Marquesas before cruising the islands and atolls of French Polynesia. After that we made another passage to the western South Pacific, starting with Samoa before heading south through the islands of Tonga; then made yet another passage south to New Zealand.
In spite of our previous cruising experience (to Hawaii and Mexico), this first season was physically and emotionally challenging. Thankfully we met the challenges, survived the nerves, and even though we lost our footing a couple of times we hung in there and managed to have a successful first season full of all the magic and wonder we’d hoped to find. After a much-needed period of rest in Opua (New Zealand), we did some pretty extensive cruising around New Zealand’s north island and got lots of practice.
After then making a successful passage to Fiji, we felt pretty confident about the start of our sophomore year. Unfortunately that didn’t last long as our “school” had some difficult new challenges to throw at us. The main difficulty with Fiji was the lack of a good cruising guidebook. Yes, there were a couple of very outdated guides, but they weren’t useful. There were also sites on the internet, but they didn’t take the place of a cruising guidebook. The lack of a Fiji guide was confounding because every other place we’d gone had at least one good cruising guide (Hawaii, the Sea of Cortez, French Polynesia, Tonga, and of course New Zealand. OK, not Samoa but with so few practical anchorages, they really didn’t need one.) Fiji is a large area and one of the world’s major cruising grounds. Not having a cruising guidebook here felt like not being able to find a travel guide for New York City!
To make matters worse, we’d attended two seminars with less-than-helpful, even harmful, information, the second of which was held in Savusavu, Fiji. Once again, we lost our footing, but thankfully we were among friends. It was this camaraderie that helped us figure out where to start, then where to go from there. This season, more than any other, is one where we relied on sharing information with other cruisers. It was helpful that we made Viani Bay our first stop (after an overnight in Fawn Harbour) because we were able to benefit from the knowledge of the cruisers passing through. We also started a small radio net, another good source of information. And finally to help fill in the gaps was the Fiji Compendium created by the cruising boat Soggy Paws. This gave us the waypoints we needed to visit to the anchorages we’d learned about. (Thank you again, Soggy Paws!)
I will say learning about Fiji this season was like walking through a fog. We’d start out and everything would seem murky, but as we’d get closer things would start to become clear. By the time we left Viani Bay, we had a good idea of what we should see in the cruising grounds of northeast Fiji.
Life became more challenging again when we decided to go to the Lau group of islands. Information about Fiji’s anchorages was sparse as it was, but the Lau islands were newly opened to the public; so there was even less information! Cruisers who had gone to the Lau early in the season were truly pioneers, and the rest of us relied in their waypoints (being passed around the fleet) to get around. Once again we had the challenge of figuring everything out, but it was more than worth it–the northern and southern Lau island groups were both fantastic. It did help immensely that we had friends with us much of the time. Once again, camaraderie to the rescue.
One of our best decisions that season was to realize just how big Fiji was and decide we’d be much happier and more relaxed if we focused only on cruising the eastern half of it, then return another season to do the west. We also realized the value of having a hub that we could return to as often as necessary to re-provision, rest, and sort out our next plans. Savusavu was our hub, and what a great hub it was! We’d meet up with friends, enjoy eateries, do any needed repairs, refuel, shop, get laundry done, research and plan our next destinations, and just have a good time in general. By the time we’d head out again, we’d be rested up and more than ready to tackle another round of cruising.
When the time came to head south, we continued to benefit from the advice of other cruisers. From them we knew where to find the snorkeling in Koro Island, to seek out the giant clams in Makogai, and to stop at a very small island gem called Leleuvia that we may have otherwise overlooked. Ending the season in Suva turned out to be a lucky decision in that it was still comfortable while the rest of Fiji was getting pretty hot.
So, in looking back, I can see several themes for our sophomore season:
1. Figuring Out Confusing Stuff: It’s a shame that we (and everyone else new to Fiji) had to suffer through this. But sometimes, as the saying goes, “With great effort comes great reward.” Neither one of us had Fiji on our bucket lists; but after a season here we felt it was bucket-list worthy! Fiji is full of scenic wonders, both above and below the water, and we had so many magical moments. And by the end of the season we could look back and be very happy with the way our itinerary worked out.
2. Diving and Snorkeling. It’s amazing how little snorkeling we did during our previous year’s crossing of the South Pacific. There just wasn’t enough time and opportunity to do more than a handful of special places. Fiji, though, was an underwater wonderland; so what better time for me to learn to dive? Thanks to friend and fellow cruiser, Helena on Merilelu, I was able to do so. This gave both Rich and I an entire season of not just wonderful snorkeling but incredible diving. I love being a diver; the only downside is it adds a lot to the “see and do” list.
3. Feeling more “Comrades-in-Arms” with our fellow cruisers, especially our class of 2012 (the group of us who crossed the South Pacific that year). Cruising is a very social activity, but it can also be competitive, especially during times when there are not enough resources (namely anchorage space or marina space) for everyone. French Polynesia was particularly challenging in this way, especially with a 3-month time limit for foreign yachts. Thus, while we made good friends that season, stepping back we’d often see the group, in its entirety, more as competition than as some on-going party.
But not this 2013 season. This season we relied on each other for information, and Rich and I felt much more bonded with the group as a whole. Especially being that there was a bit of an attitude among people with previous experience of “If I had to figure out myself; then so should you.” (In other words, the class of 2012 was kind of on its own.) Naturally, we not only cemented existing friendships, we now shared a history with people who had only been passing acquaintances the previous year, thus making a sort of automatic kinship—you see a boat a few times and well, you know them even if you don’t know them.
This would be a good spot to take a moment and acknowledge a few special friends this year, people whose presence made a difference and still come to mind whenever I think back on our 2013 season in Fiji. It meant a lot spend time in Savusavu and Viani Bay with Gato Go, Lady Bug, Morning Glory, and The Rose. I feel like we all shared such a special time together, and it was great going on all the outings with them. And we’re so grateful to Helena and Kari on Merilelu who, as well as being our friends, taught me how to dive and added to our cruising experience in ways I could never had imagined. And last, but never least, we’re so grateful that we had our besties on Bright Angel with us through most of the season. All the challenges were so much easier and more fun, and the rewards even greater, when we got to share them with Bob and Linda.
I will also mention that some of our friends weren’t in Fiji this season. For various reasons, several of the cruisers we knew took this season off, but nearly all planned to go to Fiji the following year. This would end up being the instigation for a surprising new chapter in Rich’s and my lives. Born out of frustration at the shroud of mystery that seemed to surround Fiji cruising and wanting to spare our friends some of the hurdles we faced, Rich and I created the Fiji Cruising Information pages. (And it has continued to grow ever since.)
In all, we had some bumps long the way, but in spite of that we both agree, without a doubt, that our sophomore season was truly much easier than our freshman one (and we suspect it’s that way for most cruisers). Last year we had some wonderful times when we’d ask each other if it could get any better than this. Apparently the answer was yes because it did get better. We think this came from being more experienced, confident and competent at cruising.
Our sophomore season in Fiji had been an amazing one. We fell in love with Fiji and were so happy that we’d be coming back the following year to see more of it. Below, a last-chance gallery of photos that didn’t quite make the cut for previous galleries, taken throughout the season. (You can click to enlarge and scroll through them.) –Cyndi
