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Firefly - Approaching Fiji



Firefly is sailing down the Nanuku Passage towards Fiji at first light on Wednesday 18th June. Having gybed onto port we are still running goosewinged in 15 knots of wind after a much more comfortable second night at sea - our ETA is about 0300 on Thursday morning. Our port of entry will be Savusavu on Vanua Levu and we are reading up and preparing the entry requirements. This is a free cruising period of the World ARC so the checking into Fiji is down to us for a change.



To make things more complicated, Vava'u, Tonga currently has an outbreak of Dengue fever called Chikalunga - fortunately neither ourselves or anyone else we know has contracted anything while we were in Tonga - although it does mean there are some defumigation procedures to go through when we arrive in Fiji. World ARC boats ahead have advised there will be some mosquito spraying inside the boat while we are moored to the quarantine buoy.



With extra time now available for our Fiji cruising we have been planning our itinerary. After Savusavu we will head back east to Taveuni Island - Taveuni is known as the garden island of Fiji and is famous for its spectacular waterfalls, world class diving in the Somosomo straight and varied bird watching - it sounds like a good place to start.



Rosy, our daughter is coming out to spend a month on Firefly around Fiji, arriving at the beginning of July and will join us just before the World ARC rendezvous at Musket Cove on Malolo Island. This is west of Vitu Levu, near the International airport - therefore after visiting Taveuni we will head to the extreme west of the Fijian archipelago making our way down the north of Vitu Levu across 'Bligh' water.



Malolo is part of the Mamanuca Islands and is renowned for its world famous surfing sites. 'Cloudbreak' is the most famous and is the break used for competitions such as the Professional World Tour. Rosy is a very keen and experienced surfer and during her stay, Firefly will become surf HQ. Interestingly, in the Fiji yachting handout booklet there are instructions regarding where to anchor at the most popular breaks. Our plan is then to visit the various island chains working our way around in a clockwise direction, starting with the Yasawa Group.



At the Musket Cove rendezvous we will leave World ARC 2014/15 and along with crews from about 8 other yachts will sadly say goodbye to the fleet who head next to Vanuatu before going on to Australia. We will pick up World ARC 2015/16, here, a year later and will complete our circumnavigation by April 2016. During the extra year we will cruise Vanuatu, New Caledonia, New Zealand and then come back here to visit the Lau Group of islands to the East of Fiji - as well as taking a couple of trips back to the UK.



Paul and Susie

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