David and Martin showed the local kids how to fly the drones

We enjoyed visiting with the kids on Makogai. The kids were keen to fly the drone and showed me their homemade “blow dart guns” (pvc pipe with corked steel darts) they basically shot-to- kill anything on the island with trained proficiency.

Beachcombing at it’s best

“Our new normal” is having to burn our rubbish just like the locals. No garbage collected and the “garbage dumps” on the main islands are just large fires to throw your garbage on. So now we take the trash to the beach and burn it. Rik and Saunne from SV Incentive joined us for our rubbish burn, beach combing, kayaking/SUP and snorkeling adventures on Makogai.

First stop at the top of the Yasawa Group: Sawi-i-Lau

Sawi-i-Lau is the odd limestone island amid a string of high volcanic islands. We came here to explore the caves but, we weren’t received by any locals and we didn’t want to approach the village uninvited so we had to explore on our own. On the way to Sawi-i-Lau we sailed into a large pod of Pilot Whales with their babies.

Nanuya Lailai- home to the celebrity of all the Yasawa’s beaches,

the Blue Lagoon

Beautiful Blue Lagoon where Brooke Shields gave fame to this crystalline and glossy beach in the movie Blue Lagoon did not disappoint. However, most of the beaches were private resorts (Turtle Island Resort $2,700 per night) and even though there aren’t any guests here due to boarder closures there were security guards protecting most of the beaches.

We met the Aussie owner Ivan that was maintaining the Nanuya Island Resort during the boarder closures by keeping a shop open for the locals & employees to taking care of the property. We were invited to make an order of veggies and he would get together what he could for us. We came back in the afternoon to a huge box of eggplants, bananas, cilantro, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, oranges and potatoes! We had been down to one cucumber and three carrots so the fresh veggies were a culinary celebration!

CASTAWAY ISLAND

DENARAU ISLAND MARINA & RESORTS

Marty Surfs Restaurants with only yachtie’s in the lineup

Vinaka Fiji

Thank you Fiji.

Sincere gratitude to all the wonderful people we met in Fiji. It would be so easy to Stay in Fiji however, this would be our third time here and we are drawn to unchartered waters as the cyclone season is imminent. We have set our sails for Indonesia.

XXOO to all the amazing yachtie’s we met this cruising season. It was an intimate-quickly acquainted community of cruisers, surfers & kayakers. We all seemed to embraced the “Silver Lining” of Covid Cruising/ FIJI BLUE LANES CRUISING. We are grateful to have the unique opportunity to sail through the islands of Fiji and truly appreciate the Fijians for their fortitude. BLUE LANES allowed cruisers to explore Fiji by water while the country remained in various levels of lockdown.

Cheers to all the cruisers we chilled with…fondest memories XO #Galliant #Brave #Heritage #Patches#Periguine #Incentive #HooDoo #Indigo #India #Wildthing #Sequia #Ibis #FlipFlops #Hallabaloo of Normandy #Seaglub #SpiritofMillenium #Persuasion