The north Lau is east of the Fiji group and an overnight trip from Fulaga. This is the location of the Bay of Islands of Fiji, plus some other nice anchorages. The Southern Lau tends to get all the accolades, but the northern Lau, though different, is just as special. Well, at least to us.
If you took a poll, most people would tell you Fulaga is best. If you love beaches, be aware there aren’t really any nice ones here. If you loved the village in Fulaga, you might find this one is not as embracing and special. The snorkeling, while nice, isn’t nearly as spectacular as Fulaga. There’s not actually a lot of places to anchor; so don’t come when a crowd (rally) is here. The fee is higher here (If I remember correctly, 30fd per person), and the anchorages are far more limited.
Update 2022: It seems they have dropped the fee for the Bay of Islands and only now require a Sevusevu.
So why bother to go? Because of the scenery, especially in the Bay of Islands. It has Thailand-like rock pinnacles, coves and hidden little places amid rock islands. It’s unique with a Pacific Northwesty-feel from its vegetation and mountain peaks. In the water, electric blue fights it out with electric green every hour of the day as the sun and clouds shift the intensity of light.
If colorful water and rock pinnacles don’t do much for you, you might want to skip this. I did talk to someone who was pretty disappointed with it, but he loved that village in Fulaga and didn’t care as much about this sort of scenery. So, in all I guess while there is something for everyone in Fulaga, there is not necessarily something for everyone here in Vanua Balavu. I’d advise looking at Google Images and seeing if it intrigues you. We loved it.
When you come here, you need to first anchor off the Dalconi Village, and then ask for Sam, who is the liaison between cruisers and the chief, and do the sevusevu thing, even if it’s late in the day. (From what I gather, they’ve had people come in and skip out on the sevusevu and fee, and now they get worried if you wait too long.)
When you do the sevusevu here at Dalconi Village, you are covered for them and for the Bay of Islands a few miles away. (There are no people in the Bay of Islands area). If you visit other villages, you will need to do sevusevu there.
Dalconi, in turn, provides a few services, coming in their boat to collect trash and offering trips to see the sea caves (for a fee). By the time we got to the Bay of Islands, it was late in the season, we were about the only people there, and the trash collecting and sea cave excursions had dwindled out along with the cruisers. That was OK with us because we loved having this area to ourselves.
Since we didn’t have good holding off Dalconi, we spent the night in Malaka Bay right nearby. There’s a bus that stops twice a week by the village in Malaka and goes to the Lomaloma, the town on the other side of the island. We opted to go because we were nearly out of eggs (and as it turned out the town was really neat to see). We would need to walk through the village at Malaka to get to the bus stop but were told by Sam we would not need to do a sevusevu there. But on our way through a man came up and said we needed to do a sevusevu with their chief when we came back through. We said OK, but since we were leaving as soon as we got back, we didn’t do it.
Mbavatu: Aside form the Bay of Islands, there are some nice anchorages on the other side of the island. One is Mbavatu. It looks large, but it’s deep and not easy to anchor. The whole area is owned by a foreigner, the same guy who owns the Copra Shed marina. He’s built a yacht club here with moorings, but it was closed when we were there. We didn’t know if we were allowed to pick up a mooring so we motored over a perfect bay only to find a mooring smack in the middle of it. We went to the innermost part of this harbor and managed to get anchored in fairly deep water after finding too much coral further in. Come to find out later, yachties are welcome to pick up a mooring ball by the club.
Mbavatu is not Fijian owned and you don’t need to do a sevusevu, but there’s a caretaker and some other workers on shore, and you can say hello if you run across them.
One must-do is climbing the series of stairs up the hillside. There’s a boat dock near the head of the bay where you can tie up your dinghy, and from there it’s not hard to find the stairs. Once you’ve climbed them, go east to find the caretakers’ settlement and plantation. Continue walking until you get to a couple of vacation rental places. They’ll probably be unoccupied, and if so, you can walk around the yards to see terrific views of Mbavatu harbor on one side and a bit of the Bay of Islands area on the other side.
Once we did our sevusevu at Dalconi village (and anchoring 2 nights at Malaka Bay), we only visited the Bay of Islands and Mbavatu. There’s a popular bay called Little Bay, and we’ve heard it’s pretty nice. You do need to do a Sevusevu there. You also need to do sevusevus if you visit the islands on the southeast side of Vanua Balavu. (Sevusevu Mandatory in most bays)
Below is a list of links to our Vanua Balavu posts in chronological order:
Dalconi Village and Malaka Bay
Journey to Vanua Balavu
Dalconi Village
Pleasant Evening in the Malaka Anchorage
A Trip to Lomaloma
The Bay of Islands
Motoring North to Vanua Balavu’s Bay of Islands
Our Anchorage in Vanua Balavu’s Bay of Islands
Our First Afternoon in the Bay of Islands
Settling In For Our Time in the Bay of Islands
The Blue Pool
Snorkeling at the Blue Pool
Exploring Around the Anchorage Island
The Bay of Giants
The Deep Blue Lake
The Jade Pool
A Beautiful Rainy Day
Snorkeling Around Our Anchorage
Hidden Worlds
Hidden Worlds Annex
Evenings in Vanua Balavu
Outboard Woes in the Bay of Islands
Electric Blues
Good-Bye Beautiful Anchorage
Good-Bye Bay of Islands
Mbavatu Harbor
Journey to the East Side of Vanua Balavu
Mbavatu Harbor Arrival Part 1
Mbavatu Harbor Arrival Part 2
Mbavatu Anchorage Dinghy Ride
Misty Morning in Mbavatu
Trip Ashore at Mbavatu
Mbavatu Evening
Leaving Mbavatu
Vanua Balavu Last Chance Gallery