October 31, 2013
The morning in Makogai greeted us with more rain and lightening. We still planned to leave but decided to wait until the weather abated. Rich had a quick radio chat with a couple of the boats who were departing for New Zealand. Did this make us feel anxious to go? No, we were in no hurry and still had places to visit yet in Fiji.
Later in the morning the conditions let up and we took that opportunity to head to Ovalau, about 16 miles away. We went out the west pass of Makogai and didn’t get rained on, but as I looked behind us the clouds were already building over the island again. It felt as though a door was closing behind us, Makogai having given us a break in the rain just long enough to wave us off to the next island. While we’d found answers to our questions about Makogai, there was still an aura of mystery to this beautiful place.
Our next destination was the island of Ovalau, specifically Fiji’s old capital city: Levuka. While Suva is now the capital city (with all the big city action), Levuka still has some government presence and foreign yachts can actually check into the country here, although not many people do.
While Levuka has an interesting history, it also has some drawbacks. The island is volcanic and lacks beaches, the anchorage isn’t that well protected, there’s a tuna cannery right there which creates unpleasant noises and smells, the water isn’t clean (nor appealing) enough for swimming, and the area has more than its share of cloudy days. Many cruisers decide to give this place a pass. We, on the other hand, were still intrigued. Below a map showing our less-than-approximate route to Ovalau (as always, do not use this map for navigation).
It took us about 4 hours to get to Levuka, and with washboard seas, wind just ahead of the beam, and some big swells, it was a less-than-pleasant trip. On approach, Ovalau was really interesting looking, mountainous and green with some pointy rock spires. Below, a few photos of Ovalau and first views of Levuka as we approached.
It was a relief to go in through the reef pass into the calm water off Levuka. What we saw was a striking-looking place: a small coastal city lay nestled at the base of dramatic green mountains rising up sharply behind it. We could see the old wooden buildings (false-fronted like the American old-west style) and the clock tower. Not surprisingly it was cloudy and gray—this was definitely a rainy kind of place.
At this point I was pretty excited about Levuka as it reminded me a lot of American Samoa, a place I love (in fact I promptly dubbed this the American Samoa of Fiji). I was anxious to go ashore and try the eateries, and I was even thinking we could be here a week or two. Unfortunately this feeling would change by the end of the day, but that will be the subject of the next post. –Cyndi
