July 17 2015
(A rare current-time post from Cyndi)
As long as we’re on a roll posting our current cruising adventures in western Fiji, we might as well add in the last places we visited before heading back to Vuda Point Marina (where we are now) to sit out some winds, do some boat work and restock our food.
So far we’d visited:
–Musket Cove between Malolo and Malololailai Islands (some things we loved, some things we didn’t, and our future blog post about this will include a rant about their bone-headed mooring system).
–Likuliku Resort’s anchorage: between the helicopter, seaplanes, ferries, small power boats, fishing boats, the chainsaw, and the mosquito fogging machine (which sounded remarkably like a chainsaw), this very exclusive, couple’s only resort is the noisiest anchorage we’ve ever been to. We just had some wine and laughed about each new noise (earning it the nickname: the Now What? resort), but we felt sorry for the guests.
–Castaway Resort: we really liked this place (blog below)!
–Momi Bay: Nothing really there, but a convenient overnight stopping point on the way to Likuri Island.
–Likuri Island and its Robinson Crusoe Resort: It takes some effort to get here, but it’s worth it for the twice-weekly dinner show they put on (blog below).
–Cloud Nine floating restaurant: A fun adventure, unlike anyplace we’ve ever been (blog below).
Which brings us to our next stop, Mana Island. It has the dry, grassy look typical of the Mamanuca Islands, but it’s longer and flatter than most, a crescent of an island with only a few hills. Its long stretches of beach are lined with palm trees.
It’s a nice looking island and anchorage, but it has some issues. First, it’s surprisingly busy with the comings and goings of all sorts of boats and ferries. It makes it a bit challenging to get through the pass (see Rich’s previous post, Mana Island Pass). Another thing that was kind of fun at first, but got old after a day of it, was the resort speed boat pulling people around the anchorage on a rideable banana. From the number of times they zoomed by our boat, it seems like everyone in Fiji must have ridden that banana! (I secretly wanted a ride on that banana, too, but the resort doesn’t welcome non-guests.)
The island itself is very divided: there’s an upscale, exclusive resort one side of the anchorage and a village with a backpacker resort on the other. No one is allowed at the upscale resort except for its guests. Everyone is allowed at the backpacker resort’s area, complete with a restaurant and dive shop.
We looked forward to visiting onshore, but we were disappointed once we got there. We landed on the beach in front of the restaurant and headed up there to check it out. There were people around, but everyone seemed so indifferent that we felt invisible. The menu looked interesting, but it was surprisingly expensive for the rustic sort of place it was. There was a table with women selling jewelry nearby, I suppose to people coming and going on the ferry, but it seemed out of place and tacky.
The only interaction we had with anyone was a kid who insisted on playing in our beached dinghy. We tried to get him to leave but he didn’t understand. Mom, at the jewelry counter, tired to get him to leave, but she gave up when he didn’t listen. Eventually he got bored and left, but by now we just didn’t feel very good here. This whole place just felt tired and apathetic.
We were also disappointed with the snorkeling, but that may be the fault of our guidebook which recommended snorkeling on the “main reef.” What does that mean when there are several reefs? We went out and searched along the outer reef and found an area that was interesting but not as special as we’d heard.
Later we discovered what must have been the more famous area where the reef abruptly drops not far off the middle beach. It looked like it could be much more interesting, but by then we’d showered and changed out of our snorkeling gear.
Finally, we did take a ride around to the beach on the west side, which my guidebook claimed was the best beach on the island. The ride over the shallow blue green water was beautiful. The beach was nice enough, but apparently owned by the resort. We noticed the telltale lounge chairs, and the employee marching down the beach toward us with a “you’re not allowed here” expression. Not in the mood for a verbal spanking, we left before she reached us. (You can click to enlarge and scroll the gallery of photos from our west beach outing below.)
Again, I have to fault my guidebook for this, because I later checked on Google Maps and saw the recommended beach is actually on the northwest tip of the island.
For us, I’d say the highlight of our time at Mana was the dinghy rides. There’s a very nice-looking beach on the southeast side of the island, but we didn’t go ashore there.
The sunset was lovely, but we soon found another problem with this anchorage: it gets rather rolly at high tide. Overall this was not a favorite anchorage for us, but maybe it was just one of those off days. I know other cruisers enjoy it; so while I wouldn’t say we recommend it, we don’t not recommend it, either. Who knows, maybe we’ll even try it again sometime. –Cyndi
Waypoints:
Info and Disclaimer: You’d be a fool to use these! For entertainment only. In other words, the same disclaimer on all charts.
These are zip files bacause WordPress thinks gpx files will destroy the universe. Just unzip to get the gpx files. You can import these into most chartplotters and openCPN. If you want the waypoints in text, you can use a free program called GPSBabel.
There are probably more waypoints than needed for the pass. I took these from my route. High tide is nice. Low tide in the pass is kind of scary.
