Nalauwaki Bay

 Stardate:  August 27, 2023

Well, as bucolic as Yalobi Bay was, the southern exposure left us exposed to big swells.  I mean BIG swells.  You can’t stand up in the boat big swells.  Not conducive to sleeping, either.

Had we anchored on the other side of the sand spit we wouldn’t have had to worry, but that side was exposed to the imminent east wind (with accompanying warnings).  Imagine trying to raise a dinghy motor to its mount during those swells.  Imagine trying to raise a dinghy on its davits during those swells.  At one point, I was standing in the dinghy and watched the stern of the boat rise far enough for me to see the propeller.  At night.  Alone.  

So Nick and I made the decision to go around the island and anchor on the north side, out of the southerly swells.  We ended up in Nalauwaki Bay in front of a picturesque village and over the hill from the Octopus Resort.  Went in, did sevusevu with the Chief’s brother (the chief was absent that day) and got a lot of side eye for having only one have bundle between two boats.  We tried to explain that we were traveling together and that there were no others on the boats.  I mentioned glasses and one woman there got all excited, so that seemed to help.  I indicated that I would come ashore the next day to distribute what I had left.  They seem to have been mollified by this.

Nick and I got the boats sorted and decided to take the hike over the hill to Octopus Resort.  There is a concrete stairway/trail that goes from the village over the hill.  It’s not for the faint of heart (or drunk) because there are no rails and a misstep often times would result in a fifty foot drop.  But, we got to see the pigs.  And smell the pigs.  Clearly these folks aren’t muslim.  We were accompanied by a gaggle of boys who wanted to do something useful for money.  I asked them if there were good hikes up in the hills.  They said there were and they all volunteered to be guides the next day.

One of my sailing apps had mentioned this little hike to have a duration of 10 minutes.  Thirty minutes later we arrive at the crest of the ridge and look down on Octopus Resort.  Ten minutes later we found the bar.  Now OR is a very tony resort, but reports had it friendly to cruisers.  We go to the bar and order Fiji Bitters.  The bartender sends me to the ‘Office’ where I have to ‘register’ my credit card in order to get served.  Ok, their house, their rules.  Four beers later we’re in to them for $36 FJD and decide to leave.  Got to the office with Nick who offers to pay cash, which they accepted.  Then I look at the bulletin board where all the prices were posted.  You want a bungalow with two rooms?  Only $2999 FJD! I made there rookie mistake of asking if that was for a week.  The nice, understanding, tolerant Lucy said “Oh no, that’s the daily rate.”

So back we hike, up over the ridge, past the pigs, and it starts raining.  Not hard, but one that got your attention.  Out to the boats and sleep.  NOT.  Nalauwaki Bay is not sheltered from the east and those east winds arrived as predicted.  I felt like I was at Gilleys in Houston, TX.  Remember Gilleys?  The bar from ‘Urban Cowboy’, that Travolta movie with the mechanical bull?  Yeah, the swells now coming from the east made our Yalobi Bay swells seem mild.  Shit was flying around the cabin all night.  I felt like I was riding Gilley’s bull all night.  Luckily I had made the executive decision to let the dinghy ride on its painter rather than try and raise it.  Of course, it did fine.

The next morning Nick and I connected on VHF.  We agreed that this was not the place to be with the incoming winds and decided to head north up the chain to what looked like a good cove in a lee shore.  Probably disappointed the lady waiting for glasses.  Definitely disappointed the kids wanting to guide us on a hike.  Sorry, folks.  The weather dictates our schedule.