Cruiser's Heaven

0800 position 17-10S 179-01W. At anchor in the Bay of Islands, Vanuabalavu, Lau Group, Fiji

Yesterday morning Rob took the hard bottomed dinghy and went snorkeling at a spot outside the entrance to Bavatu Harbor recommended by John and Leilani. Eric and I got into the smaller soft bottomed inflatable and paddled around the entire shoreline of the Harbor. It took a couple of hours to complete the circuit. The uplifted coral geology with 500 foot high cliffs surrounding the harbor was spectacular. At sea level the coral was undercut by wave action. This undercutting extendede around the entire perimeter of the half mile wide harbor and was so perfect it looked in places like it was cut with a tool. Above the high water level was a fully wooded forest of trees and shrubs growing out of the coral. There was no soil though, and it was surreal to see trees with trunks as wide as a couple of feet growing directly out of the coral. Where did their roots go?

Our first stop was the "Royal Exploring Islands Yacht Squadron" near the entrance to the harbor. The facility was built by the owners of the plantation as a waterfront "getaway" from life up on the plateau. We found a two story club house, pier and launch ramp, and two moorings at the facility that were badly damaged during Hurricane Winston. Doors and roofing were blown off the club house and the pier was destroyed during the storm. The plantation staff hasn't gotten around to repairing the facility with higher priority work up on the plateau. In working condition it would be a facility that any real yacht club would be proud of.

We stopped by for a visit with John and Leilani who were anchored in an arm of the harbor out of sight of Van Diemen. Further up the arm they were anchored in was a deep pocket in the cliffs that would have been a perfect hurricane hole.

Just as we were completing our circumnavigation we came across a cave in the cliff that begged to be explored. Inside we found what we first thought were bats flying around, but later decided were swallows. The cave went back almost 200 feet into the coral and terminated at a small skylight that opened into the jungle above. Very cool.

After lunch we raised the anchor and powered around the north end of Vanuabalvu to the Bay of Islands. There we found a labyrinth of mushroom shaped coral islands and channels that provide some of the most amazing anchorages I've ever seen. Getting into our current anchorage was like winding our way into the middle of a suburban subdivision using only the back roads. Left turn, left turn, right turn, left turn, right turn, second anchorage on the right.... If you didn't know how we got in here, you wouldn't be able to find your way out.

I'd guess there are about 500 islands in this two square mile bay. I can see twenty seven individual islands from where we are anchored, and I can't see the open ocean. All of the islands are at least twenty feet high and they are all fully wooded just like the cliffs surrounding Bavatu Harbor. The islands vary in diameter from ten feet to 100 yards with deep channels between most of them. Some of the channels are only a couple of feet wide, but most are wide enough to let Van Diemen through.

We picked a 200 yard diameter clear spot right up against the cliffs of Vanuabalavu to drop the hook in. It is 100 feet deep here but we have plenty of swinging room. After anchoring yesterday I took the small rowing inflatable out to explore and got lost in the maze of islands for a couple of hours. I wouldn't have believed that a place like this existed on planet earth if I hadn't seen it myself.