The winds had been blowing yet again, but today they calmed enough that we could snorkel with our friends at what we’d nicknamed Shark Pool. We’d gotten pretty good at pulling ourselves out, against the current, through a gap in the atoll, then riding the current back in. It’s quite a workout, but it’s fun. Our friends opted to snorkel in the pool, as enchanted as we had been by the blue depths and Disneyesque coral formations.
“Shark Pool,” one of our favorite snorkeling spots in Fulaga.
One thing I was reminded of today: it is possible to get chilly in the tropics. After we’d been snorkeling awhile, we were starting to get chilled and wanted to head back to our boats. I hadn’t thought to bring a T-shirt, and during the long ride back I was so cold I had to lie down in the dinghy with fins pulled over me, and shivering. Advice to anyone going on a snorkeling or diving excursion in the tropics: bring a sweatshirt, or at least a T-shirt. –Cyndi
We’re still here. We’re still loving it. We still don’t have internet (this was posted by sat phone). We’ve been sitting out some less-than-perfect weather with some rain and stronger winds. It’s cramped our get-out-and-do-ness a bit but it’s providing a nice break from having to be Lewis and Clark every single day.
We have taken to calling rainy days on the boat “snow days” and kind of look forward to them. Neither of us grew up in a place that actually had snow days but we like the concept. The wind and rain allow us to give ourselves permission to not be out seeing and doing every second of every day. Does that make sense? A little vacation from the vacation and I think that’s absolutely necessary as this “vacation” is not a week or two long but a way of life that hopefully will last many years.
When we get some more weather more appropriate for traveling, we’ll head north, making a stop or two on our way to Vanua Balavu. -Rich
It was a cloudy day, but after a couple of days of being boat-bound during a windy period, we were anxious to get off the boat and do more exploring, even if the weather wasn’t ideal.
About a mile across from us was an area of small islands and a sand bar. We’d occasionally seen a mast on the other side of that bar, and we were very curious about what that anchorage was like and how the heck boats got in there. There’s a saying from a movie, The Edge, that Rich and I love: “What one man can do, another can do!” That was certainly the theme for Fulaga as there was so little information back then, we’d only learn about an anchorage by seeing another boat there. If they could do it, we could do it, too.
We beached the dinghy on the sandbar, wide at low tide, and walked over to an area of limestone rock formations nearby. Someday, far in the future, these formations would become islands. For now they were connected by one small landmass, and in between them were lots of hidden beaches, shallows and little bays. We could hear bird and fruit bat sounds from the thick vegetation on top of each “mushroom.” I climbed one of the rocks to try to spot fruit bats. I didn’t find any, but I did have a nice view.
We walked around the limestone formations, sometimes wading through shallow water that had a surprising number of tropical fish. After some walking, we ended up in a huge area of shallow water where we could walk way out. (You can click to enlarge and scroll through photos in galleries below.)
We decided to explore a bit further and took our dinghy to the neighboring island (just to the northeast). There we found a perfect white sand beach with rocks and mushroom islands spilling off of one end. We walked around them to find yet another perfect crescent of beach and another mushroom rock headland. This place was stunningly beautiful.
Here’s a very short video of the area…
The water was too deep to walk around the next headland; so we took the dinghy and discovered a small sandbar. We made a quick stop and walk here.
Next, we motored around a nearby cluster of mushroom islands. The afternoon was cloudy but windless, and in this soft light the shallow water around the islets was a beautiful shade of blue so clear we could see large tropical fish swimming below us. A fruit bat swooped by us and landed on a branch, hanging upside down. This area was definitely magical. We hoped to return and snorkel but unfortunately never got back. Still, it will always remain a fond memory of Fulaga. -Cyndi
One challenge of cruising is dealing with our trash. We throw food scraps overboard, most of which are quickly gobbled up by the fish that dwell under our boat. If we’re out at sea, we can also toss thin cardboard, paper, glass and cans, but near land those things stay onboard along with the plastic and foil, which never get tossed overboard. It’s a little dismaying how quickly those trash bags in the lazarette multiply. Generally they can wait until we get somewhere with trash disposal, but here in Fulaga there’s no place to get rid of trash. There came a time when we had to do it the old-fashioned way; we had to burn it like the locals do.
Today we teamed up with friends to go build a fire on the beach. We chose a beach east of the anchorage, well away from other boats. It was a place none of us had visited before; so it would be a sightseeing outing, too.
This is how we came to visit the bizarrely alien world that is the beach east of the sandspit. Fulaga has a bit of an alien-planet thing going on as it is, but this took it to a new level. Along the beach and the wide shallows offshore, boulders were strewn as though a giant hand had just scattered them around. The sand here was soft and white, the shallow water light aqua and white. Palm trees and a small bush-covered hill area backed the beach, and from over the hill we could hear waves pounding on the reef.
We gathered palm fronds, dried wood, and leaves to build the fire. We burned our trash, and when the fire was done we gathered any debris that hadn’t burned away. We still had trash, but a lot less of it now.
After our trash burning, we went to explore the area. Big boulders and rocky undercut ledges formed small headlands, but the tide was low enough we could walk around them to the next bay. I kept on going, always wanting to see what was around the next rock, and ended up in an area of knee-deep green water with really neat mushroom rocks.
This was a beautiful spot, but it had a sort of desolate vibe and wasn’t a place I’d want to hang out for longer than that afternoon. Still, it was neat to walk around and explore here. Fulaga never ceased to amaze me. Below a gallery of photos from the afternoon. Click to enlarge and scroll. –Cyndi
