After a wonderful afternoon with the people of Koroinasolo we enjoyed an evening under the stars on Dazzler. The sky was crystal clear and the stars shone bright above. We sat in the cockpit and enjoyed the beauty all around us until it was finally time to head below for a movie and bed.
Yes, it was a magical day but today it’s time to move on. After all, we still have a lot of ground to cover if we are going to circumnavigate Vanua Levu and be back in Suvasuva by the 1st of July we have to keep moving.
We pulled our anchors bright and early and headed to Nukubati Bay (prounounced Newkumbody). We were all very excited to see this bay as we heard there is a wonderful resort there and Dazzler was completely out of beer! Yes, this could be considered a tragedy for sailors like us but fortunately we still have rum and other spirits aboard.
The cruise here was absolutely wonderful and full of rainbows. It seemed everywhere we looked we saw yet another beautiful rainbow over the land or sea. If you’ve never seen a rainbow when it ends in the sea it is truly magnificent. The rays actually penetrate the water at the surface and it literally glows. Maybe this is where the whole pot of gold thing came from.
As we neared the entrance to the bay we could see Nukubati Resort on the tip of the peninsula with its palm frond roofed huts dotting the bright beige sand. All of this was accented by the brilliantly colored aqua water lapping on the shore. I was on the bowsprit keeping an eye out for coral and of course checking out the resort. We were all ready for a nice afternoon of cocktails at the resort. But wait, what’s this? I don’t’ see anyone on the shore. Hmmm….let’s get a closer look here. OH NO! It can’t be…please say it isn’t so! This place looks to be completely closed up! This is not as we expected our afternoon to end. Wait! Maybe they don’t open the restaurant until later in the day. It’s still early so let’s not panic. Let’s just get settled and see what happens. Yes, we must keep a positive outlook here.
As we get a bit deeper into the bay we see there are three mooring balls. Seeing as how there is coral everywhere we decided to pick one up. After all, it beats having your anchor chain wrapped around a bommie and it does save the coral from being destroyed so we are doing our part to protect it. Sure, it may cost us a few dollars but it’s worth it to us. And we’ve read that this resort is owned by a yachtie so we reasonably assume the moorings are solid and well kept.
We pick up the mooring and then proceed to get on the phone to call the resort to see what is going on there. Dan speaks to a nice lady who informs him that the resort is closed. She is very short on the phone and possibly doesn’t speak much English so we begin to wonder if it’s not just closed because it is Sunday. Maybe it will open tomorrow and we’ll stay an extra day. Yes, that it surely it. Tomorrow we will have beer and a great meal at the resort. We can wait another day.
I send an email to the resort asking about the moorings and how we pay for them. I also inquired as to their schedule. Soon I receive a reply telling us they are closed for the week. BUMMER! This is going to put a little damper on the day but we are still in paradise so there’s that. And, the good news is they welcomed us and said not to worry about paying for the mooring so we’ve got that going for us as well. Okay, okay, it’s not so bad.
So I guess it’s time to implement plan B. We invite Lutz & Gabi over for dinner to thank them for their assistance with the electrical issues we had at Bua Bay. What’s on the menu? New Zealand filet, baked potatoes, grilled eggplant and fruity rum cocktails. Oh there is something very special about New Zealand beef and we are blessed to have so much of it on board. We left there with 24 filets and plenty of mince to make lots of taco dinners. Tonight we will dine like royalty aboard our magnificent Dazzler.
The evening was lovely with great food and company. It was the perfect end to a wonderful day full of sunshine and rainbows. In the end, no one really cared that the resort was closed. Tomorrow we head 15 miles to Kia Island. Here we expect to see lots of the beautiful Fijian water we’ve been waiting to see. And, we hear that not many cruisers visit this island so we are looking forward to yet another wonderful adventure in a place less traveled.
Until next time,
Jilly & Dan
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