Calypso's Journal: Taveuni, Qamea & Laucala


Laucala Island

In our last blog when I mentioned that the next anchorage was just ‘over there’; that was true enough. If it hadn’t been around a corner, it would have been in seeing distance. So then why did it take us two days to get there?

Well firstly, once we got outside the reef, we were in the Somosomo Strait which is the narrow channel between Vanua Levu and Taveuni Islands. Due to the extensive reef outside our last anchorage, it makes the channel very narrow so with over 20 knots of wind from guess where, yup right on the nose, and 3 knots of current from the same damned direction, anything remotely described as ‘speed’ was out of the question.

We had chosen Naselesele as our next stop with the anchorage on the northeast corner of Taveuni Island but, as we got to the point, a howling gale hit us with sufficient force to make us decide to turn around and high tail it out of there. Besides, with the constant squalls and approaching evening, we couldn’t see a thing. The distance that had taken us literally hours to achieve was swallowed up in the matter of minutes in the other direction. We anchored for the night half way down the island and the following day (which looked so much better) found us tacking back and forth against unfavourable winds and currents again but at least it was more achievable and we eventually dropped the hook just outside the tiny village of Mate.

There was one other yacht there, Auspice, so we joined up to hire a taxi to take us to the village of Lavena which offers an amazing hike running through the rain forest along the coastline. The hike proclaimed to be three hours return so, being relatively fit and used to so many times being overestimated, we thought about two and a half should do it. Ha! Nearly five hours later, we arrived back at the beginning having had a fabulous excursion along the coast then up a river headed by a gorgeous waterfall. The last stretch can only be reached by swimming up the river, into a sort of grotto, where two waterfalls fall into the same pool. We loved it - so cool and refreshing and a magical setting.

The first waterfall that we swam to

On the return trip, we stopped at another waterfall, the first of three in that region but, it was now getting late and we’d done sufficient hiking for one day so one was enough. A thoroughly enjoyable day.

A few days later, we moved farther east to a spot between the islands of Qamea and Laucala, a deep bay with coral reefs and heads spotted around the entrance and sides. And just look at what Paul caught along the way! Dinners in abundance!

Laucala is a privately owned island with stunning views from the 25 bures (the Fijian word for house), beautiful beaches and some of the most spectacular snorkelling imaginable.

At first, we anchored in the bay off the steep slopes of Laucala where we could see nothing other than rain forest, but apparently they could see us and politely asked us to move farther away. I guess three small cruising yachts were considered a bit of an eyesore to their clientele. We then moved across the bay but Paul & I took the dinghy and went around to the north end where the resort was located. Wow! What a place!

A little research taught us that the prices range from US$3800 - $8400 per unit per night (all inclusive), each have their own swimming pool and, of course, there would be the usual fitness/wellness facilities, private dining amenities, diving, horse back riding, jet skiis and anything else one can muster up. However, if you feel that that doesn’t quite fit the bill, you could hire the hill-top unit for a mere $26,000 per night!

You, too, could stay here for only $26,000

Well, it was below this that we decided to do a bit of snorkelling. We could hear someone yelling at us from above which probably meant that they didn’t approve, however, we had just chatted to the same chap who’d asked us to move the boats farther away and he seemed quite happy even indicating this as a good spot to snorkel. Besides, all the guests had left the night before – the resort was empty of the rich and famous. Somehow those who can pay such prices seem to get the best of everything, as this was truly magnificent coral.

The current between the two islands gets very strong at times so, the following day, we chose the outgoing current to drift-snorkel northwards across the reef. What an amazing experience that proved to be. It was a little like low flying over fields of colourful flowers with some very interesting inhabitants. Quite spectacular.

This appears to be a very remote area as not many yachts visit and, on the east side of Qamea, there is literally only one house. There are no roads and the chap who lives in the house can reach the village in the next bay only by boat or on horseback along the coast at low tide. He has been sponsored by the Chinese to develop a business to dive for ‘bêche de mer’, which is the fancy name for the homely sea cucumber, more aptly nicknamed donkey turds. These are salted, smoked and dried before being shipped over as a delicacy to China. If you have ever seen a sea cucumber, you would have to ask yourself, ‘would I want to eat one of those hideous things salted, smoked and dried?’ My answer is an unequivocal NO!

As I write this, the weather has turned foul. The wind is howling, the rain squalls hitting us regularly and our anchor chain is rubbing and jerking on rocks making it somewhat disconcerting and uncomfortable but we’ll sit it out until is passes then move on to a new spot. So much more to see.

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