It looked to us like the wind had dropped a bit, so we took off this morning for Yadua Island, 10 miles west of Vanua Levu. Since we're now sailing in company with Puanani we decided to have a fishing tournament on the way.
It blew like heck once we got out of Vanua Levu's lee, but the wind was well aft of the beam so it was a quick, easy sail with a double reefed main and half rolled up jib. We got skunked and unfortunately heard over the radio that Puanani had landed a single 3 pound kawakawa. How embarrassing - losing a fishing tournament to a 3 pound kawakawa.
We are anchored now in a beautiful protected bay, open only to the west, with wooded hills behind white sand beaches. The hills aren't high enough to protect us from the still strong trade winds, but we are anchored right off the beach so at least the water is flat. We heard that this 2x3 mile island is inhabited, but we've seen no sign of humanity since we arrived.
We were barely anchored before the crew of Puanani came over by dingy to share their catch with us. I'm not sure they weren't just lording their victory over us, but the sashimi was excellent. I'm pretty sure it wasn't kawakawa. It looked and tasted far too good.
Clay spotted cuttlefish behind the boat, and after we jumped in to snorkel he found a pair of remora hanging out by the keel. Lori and I swam in to the reef and almost immediately came face to face with a 4 foot white tip shark. That kind of took the excitement out of snorkling so we headed back to the boat.
I'm just finishing an excellent book, "Resolute", about Great Britain's series of spectacular failures in their attempts to discover the Northwest Passage in the nineteenth century. I love a good book, but there is always something happening at home that prevents me from reading. There is no TV, radio, newspapers, appointments, or other distractions out here so there is plenty of to read.
But there is the blog to tend to! Thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteBut there is the blog to tend to! Thank you!!!
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