September 6 – October 18, 2015
Almost three months previous we had left Savusavu to cruise around Fiji, and now we were poised to close the circle and make our way back to the starting point. This leg would be challenging from a weather perspective because we basically wanted to head east against the trade winds from the Northern Yawawas back to Savusavu. Since tacking in Exodus isn’t much of an option (we love her, but she goes to weather like a fat pig) our strategy was basically to wait for light winds and then motor or if we were lucky, motorsail. This strategy mostly worked.
We departed Blue Lagoon up in Northern Yasawas in the very early morning on Sunday September 6th and we had a pleasant light air upwind motorsail to the island of Yadua. We stayed a few days at Cucuvou Harbor on the west side of Yadua and then eventually made our way to the other side to anchor inside the reef near the village. When the winds were right, we continued heading east back to the island of Vanua Levu (the island where Savusavu is located). We stayed a couple days at Bua Bay and then a couple days at Coconut Point until we had light enough winds to motor down to the small island of Namena in the world-famous marine reserve and dive location. We stayed three days at Namena before sailing, yes sailing, up to Savusavu.
We ended up staying in Savusavu for about three weeks, because we had to order a new membrane for our watermaker, but there are definitely much worse places to be stuck. We enjoyed getting to know Savusavu a little better and catching up with old friends. I was also able to slowly and methodically complete a massive reprovisioning as we prepared for our upcoming adventure north for cyclone season. We eventually departed Savusavu on Sunday October 18th, but we weren’t leaving Fiji just yet. Stay tuned for the final upcoming Fiji chapter that will cover the islands of Koro, Rabi, and Rotuma.
(Blue Lagoon) –> Cucuvou Harbor (Yadua) –> Motubua Islet (Yadua) –> Bua Bay –> Coconut Point –> Namena –> Savusavu
Gresham Family Exodus 