0800 position 16-53S 177-24E. At anchor in Malakati Bay, Nacula Island, Fiji
It looked to me like our next anchorage in the Yasawas, Malakati Bay, a large deep U shaped bay with the opening facing west, would provide better protection from the strong easterly trade winds. Unfortunately, when we got there we found that the hills behind the bay were not steep, and a saddle in the hills caused the wind to accelerate as it swept down on our anchorage. At least the seas were calm... We were all below about a half hour after anchoring late in the morning when a huge gust came through and all hell broke loose on deck. We rushed up to find that Van Diemen's beloved full awning, which stretched from mast to transom, had blown out. The once taught tent had ripped out its corners and was billowing like an out of control spinnaker. After we got it captured and put away we noticed that the same gust of wind had broken our flag pole on the transom. That was a pretty good puff!
As we finished cleaning up what was left of the awning I looked up and noticed that Van Diemen's anchor was dragging. We had moved about fifty yards to leeward and were still slowly making ground. Rob and I were surprised. We had anchored in twenty feet of water on a sand bottom and had more than 120 feet of chain out. We started the engine, moved closer to shore, and anchored again in fifteen feet of water. This time I put 160 feet of chain out. We dragged again! What gives? Rob went in with fins and mask to look at the anchor, which of course by that time wasn't dragging anymore. It was buried in the sand, but not as deeply as it normally goes. He swam back to the boat, I jumped in, and we took the opportunity to clean the beginning growths of grass off of Van Diemen's water line. When we were finished Rob let out another 100 feet of chain for insurance.
Late in the afternoon Rob and Renee took the dinghy ashore and harvested some papayas and bananas from the jungle behind the beach. They also met a local fisherman who offered to get some lobster for us. He showed up at the boat at 9PM in his power skiff with three lobster he had just speared night diving. Lobster for dinner tomorrow!
Rob's hearing isn't as good as it used to be, and sometimes he misses what's been said. He has had a couple of hilarious comebacks as a result. The other day Eric said something like "Rob sure knows what he is doing on a yacht", and Rob replied "What? I didn't fly fighter jets in Iraq!" I don't even recall what was said before Rob answered with "What? Stevie Nicks eats fish?" We were laughing too hard to figure it out.
It looks like the strongest of the trade winds may be behind us. We woke up this morning to lighter winds for our trip today down to "The Blue Lagoon", the area made famous by the movie of the same name filmed there thirty plus years ago.
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