Nothing Says Happy 20th Better Than a Leper Colony.........

A dyslexic celebration of our 20th anniversary

We dodged Cyclone #2 of the season and began limping back to the hurricane pit, crossing between Fiji's main islands and heading Southwest. Leaving Nawi Marina and its category-5 cyclone certification (still untested, but great for marketing) was profound because should a cyclone appear we could get caught between theoretically "safe" locations (our pit in Vuda and our Marina in Nawi, 180 miles distant). L'ORIENT is showing some wear and tear, including a leaky transmission, damaged sails, and various subsystems that now work intermittently. In short, we need a fix of spare parts and weeks in a boatyard to put things back together. The reality of Fiji is that there are just no good chandleries.

Our idea was that we would stop frequently along the way as we work our way Southwest. Fiji is very poorly charted, so this was out of necessity. Moving L'ORIENT can only be done in bright sunlight to avoid the killer reefs, many of which aren't where the chart says they are. Our first stop was Namena Island, which is a marine reserve with supposedly great diving and wildlife. We navigated the circular reef and anchored in front of the island and became quite enthused about the potential for diving. 

Namena's beach- not too many visitors in cyclone season

View from our front door- not bad

But the diving proved a bit trickier than we had hoped. The diving spots were located near or even outside the island's narrow channels through the reef.........meaning fierce currents and nothing to tie the dinghy to. You could easily end up blown out to sea, miles from your starting point. We waited for slack tide, light wind, and, frankly, enough courage to try this dive in an area with next to zero people to help you if you got into trouble. On a blustery day, your life literally depends on your outboard starting when the dive is over and after waiting three days, we succumbed to our fear (or good sense) and skipped diving.

Caution- the above video contains disturbing noises. Namena's other notable feature is the millions of loudly screeching birds.......who serenaded us non-stop. Every branch, every tree-top was crammed full of sea birds, large and small. I'm not sure we could have slept without the wine we had on board.

Leper colony ruins- the island's jungly growth soon reclaims everything

Next up was a southward jog towards Makogai, which has the distinction of having been a leper colony for people across the South Pacific from 1911 to 1969. The last Makogai leper died in a Fijian hospital in 2017, for those of you scoring at home. Anyway, what better place to spend our 20th wedding anniversary than this creepy place? Boasting 1400 leper graves, a leper jail, hospital, and accommodations, I figured nothing says "I love you" better than this "Emerald of the Pacific". 

Regional low in your life- you have leprosy and you are jailed

Also a metaphor for marriage? Just kidding.

Of the 1400 lepers buried here, less than 10 graves  can be observed due to overgrowth

Makogai has a small band of fisheries rangers waging a losing battle against the jungle growth which is steadily reclaiming the island. 

Perfect backdrop for a horror movie- teenagers get lost among the overgrown leper graves

Rosie showing off humpback whale vertebrae- we didn't inquire as to their provenance

Their other job is to raise and plant giant clams into the ocean. Giant means around three to four feet long and up to 400 pounds which definitely counts as the largest clam I have seen. Our tour of the island was quite interesting, but between the jungle encroachment and periodic cyclones, I fear this place may be unrecognizable in the coming years.

Giant clam "factory"- they start small

Recycling Makogai style - leper bed now a reef

Protection against predators.....until they become the predators

Another monster clam 

Next stop was Levuka, on the island of Ovalau. Levuka was the first capital city of Fiji until the British said it wasn't in the late 1800s and moved operations to Suva. The decision to move was due to the tall mountains surrounding the small town and the limited ability to grow. It's now a sleepy backwater that boasts a Unesco World Heritage Site designation. 

Just a normal small town- rec league rugby, bored parents watching, etc.

Downtown Levuka- not so picturesque but fine for a night

The central church- stood up to cyclone Winston in 2016, so solidly built

The town of Levuka is a bit "wild west", and is dominated by a tuna cannery. We shuddered upon learning this based on our experience in American Samoa, but the smell of this operation was not as intense as our earlier experience. We've grown used to the stares we get walking down the street on obscure islands. Levuka has no tourists now, as we are six weeks into cyclone season and probably ranks as one of the World Heritage Sites with the fewest tourists ever. Scuba diving was out, as murky water and tuna remnants attracts sharks and made the water a no-brainer to avoid. We enjoyed our walks and some meals out but wouldn't call this the Paris of the South Pacific. It does have the distinction of the oldest continually operating hotel in the South Pacific - the Royal Hotel opened in the 1850s.

Oldest hotel- already needed renovation in 1965

Provisions remain difficult to come by on the out-islands

Next stop Leleuvia, a small rustic resort island with very nice islanders. If you're wondering whether the Chinese are involved in the noticeable lack of game fish in Fiji, they are. On the beach in Leluvia is a huge metal spool of high diameter fishing line......this thing has to weigh thousands of pounds......and obviously fell off a Chinese fishing boat. When the local fisherman need some line, they just walk out to the beach and hack a bit more from this giant spool, which probably has enough line on it to reach back to China. We looked at it as a scary thing to hit at night in the middle of the ocean.

Some Chinese fisherman had to fake his expense report after losing this- it's tens of miles long

You really do feel far away from anything on Leleuvia - the primary activity is watching the tide come in and soak in the amazing waters here.

Storm brewing in the distance- usually our signal to get back to the boat

Another world class swimming hole- just sit down in 3 ft of water and meditate

So now things get interesting. Our hop, skip and jump plan is working fine until it's not. We are anchored near Suva, the big bustling commercial hub of these parts. We need a few things and felt like buying them in Suva would be better than doing that in the US and schlepping it back thousands of miles. We checked the weather, which had been benign and cooperative for days..........until it wasn't. Our weather model indicated a cyclone was forming and was about 8 days out from our cyclone pit in Vuda Marina (western Fiji). So, we were forced to abandon our shopping in Suva plan and begin an accelerated drive toward the cyclone pit as we watched the cyclone form. We were now on the dead run East to West at top speed.

At this time, the general Spring sunshine suddenly gave way to those humid, scary, slate gray clouds that mean trouble. How much trouble? Seeing a bad storm developing at 4:00 PM, we were forced to anchor to avoid driving around at night among the reefs. We chose a nearby bay with a narrow entrance through the ringing reef and began our approach for anchoring. As we were about 1/4 mile from our anchoring spot a huge bolt of lightning struck the tree-line right in from of us. We quickly voted on a change of plan (the vote tally was 2-0 in favor of rapid retreat and took about two seconds) and we sped westwards to any bay we could reach before dark. It's amazing how fast L'ORIENT can move when motivated. We arrived in a different terribly rolly anchorage, but were pleased we had avoided what would have been our 4th proximity strike.

Another remote, perfect beach

Some Gen-Z vacationers bedazzles this driftwood with shells

Our rapid march forced us to bypass Beqa an island that we now intend to see after cyclone season. Likuri Island was another example of how far off the charting is in Fiji - our electronic charts indicated a pass depth of 23 feet and we saw over 95 feet. Likuri caters to day tripping tourists but we enjoyed two days of lounging around with spontaneous fire twirling shows breaking out. Living like a tourist can have its moments. 

More our speed - lounge chains, a restaurant, and the warm ocean

One more day hop and we were safely in Port Denarau, just 4 miles from our cyclone pit. Of course, the cyclone that caused this trouble turned west towards Australia and now we had more time. Musket Cove beckoned, which has swimming, a restaurant, nice ocean access, and other amenities so here we are, waiting for our Dec 12 date with the boat lift and our cyclone pit. 

Musket Cove and our own version of a Christmas tree

A lot of work awaits, but we are proud and grateful that we have continued to explore during cyclone season for 42 days (many other boats get moth-balled for 6 months). We hope to continue our travels when we return and are done with the massive boat projects that await. Thank you for following our travels this year and we wish you a happy holiday season and an adventure packed 2024!

Sunset= happy hour on Club Bow (of L'ORIENT)