Sunday 22 June
At 2am we round Cakau Lasemarave giving it a wide berth due to our lack of confidence in the chart plotter! Before Ian goes off watch, he and Annie jibe, set a new way-point and head NW towards Savusavu. We’re now on a course of 297’, wind-speed 10 knots and we’re doing 5 - 6 knots SOG. By dawn there are several islands of the Lau Group visible all around. The sun is shining and Stewy gets the line out for the “glorious hour”. At 10.30am we’re passing midway between Cicia Island to port and Mago Island to starboard, heading towards Vatu Vara Island with approximately 90 miles to go to our destination. We continue on the same course of 297’ all day. It’s perfect conditions; blue sky, gentle seas and a steady 12 knot breeze, meandering along at a steady 6-7 knots SOG. While Stewy’s making the tea and coffee there’s a bit of a stramash – he misjudges the roll of the boat and the coffee pot goes flying, coffee and grains go everywhere! Ian continues the breakfast preparations while Stewy comes up top to cool down but it’s still quite rocky rolly and, probably because we’re all a little sleep deprived, we’re not very good at anticipating potential flying objects this morning – there’s a few more spillages before breakfast is over! We continue on, thoroughly enjoying the sail, the sun and looking at the islands we’re passing – most of them uninhabited and un-navigable for us due to the reefs surrounding them. The wind drops in the afternoon and we’re down to about 5 - 6 knots for a while. Ian and Stewy see a big fish skirting round the lure – obviously a smart fish who realises the lure is not what it seems – it swims away ! At sunset, some cloud sets in and there’s a few wee squalls pass over twisting the wind so we have to adjust the sails accordingly. It’s another beautiful night sail with bright light from the moon which is now on the wane. At about 9.30pm, the wind gets up to 18 – 20 knots and we’re cruising along nicely at 8 – 9 knots. We reach the entrance of the bay at 2am. We identify a few lights and another yacht ahead of us. We take down the sails and motor gently into the bay, then the 4 miles up to the anchorage. We’re very thankful for the moonlight and that it’s such a calm, clear night. We drop anchor and go to bed.