September 6-15, 2015
After leaving the Yasawas we headed east to the island of Yadua. We stayed the first few days on the west side in a nice big, protected anchorage but then went around to the east side to be closer to the village. The people here were very welcoming, and we are so glad we made the stop at this island.
Logbook – September 6, 2015 (Blue Lagoon to Yadua)
Passage Log Highlights
- 0649 engines on
- 1653 engines off Cucuvou Harbor
Daily Notes
- Excellent fishing day! 2 x yellow fin tuna! Released – skipjack tuna, barracuda, sierra
- Very close call with a bombie in the anchorage
- Boys to Fluenta for Minecraft
Logbook – September 7, 2015 (Yadua – Cucuvou)
Daily Notes
- Re-anchor for SE winds
- Hike to village, sevusevu, panga ride back
- Drinks and sashimi on Exodus with Fluenta
Email to Family and Friends dated September 7, 2015
Subject: Exodus – Yasawas to Yadua
We had a nice time hopping north up the Yasawas, but last night when we pulled into Cucuvou Bay on the island of Yadua we had that cruisers bliss feeling that we were missing in the resort laden, high traffic area of Yasawas. There’s only one village on the entire island and it’s on the other side from where we are now. So, the bay we entered is completely missing any evidence of human activity and it’s absolutely gorgeous and peaceful. Tim and I sat in the cockpit having safe arrival drinks and felt like we needed to whisper it was so quiet. We have had to say a couple more sad good-byes, and at the moment our kidboat convoy is down to two — just us and Fluenta. So, even though we are in this much more remote location, we still have friends around us.
Our passage yesterday was a nice one as long as you ingnore the fact that we had to motor the whole way. Winds were light, but we picked that window intentionally since we were heading east (against the predominant wind direction) because motoring into light winds is much better than motoring into strong winds! Fishing was great — the boys caught two yellow fin tuna (our first in Fiji) and they also caught and released a skipjack tuna, a barracuda, and an unidentified.
Yadua seems like the kind of place we can stay awhile, but after this we’ll head back to Savusavu to prep for our voyage north for cyclone season.
Love and miss you all,
-D.
Logbook – September 8, 2015 (Yadua – Cucuvou)
Daily Notes
- D – paddle board and walk on the beach
- Guests from the village on board. Tea & popcorn.
- T – troubleshoot water maker
- Sundowners on Fluenta
Logbook – September 9, 2015 (Yadua – Cucuvou)
Daily Notes
- Writers’ Workshop
- D – paddle/walk on beach
- T/B/Max – spearfish, B – coral trout
- Boys Minecraft on Fluenta
Logbook – September 10, 2015 (Yadua – Cucuvou)
Daily Notes
- Guys from village didn’t show up to take Tim diving for sea cucumbers
- Wind has eased. D – long paddle
- T/Max spearfish – Monster 1/2 of a dogtooth (sharks!) + 2 walu
- Happy hour on Honey
Email to Family and Friends dated September 10, 2015
Subject: Exodus – Drizzly hikes and blustery conditions
We have been 3 days in Yadua now, and so far, we are really enjoying it, even if the weather seems to want to keep us down. Our first day here we hiked 3 hours in the mud and drizzle to the village on the other side of the island. Other than the dampness, the hike was an enjoyable one, mostly along a ridge with views of the different bays around the island. The people of the village were pleasant and as usual they appreciated our effort to come and present sevusevu, and we ended up getting a ride back to our anchorage in one of their small fiberglass fishing boats (aka panga in Mexico). The primary source of income for this village is selling sea cucumbers for sale in Asian markets. They did that as well in Matuku, and there they told us they had a Korean buyer. Not sure who the specific buyer is here, but they dive every day, and while we were in the village they were filling all their dive tanks. It is unclear what the sustainability of this operation might be. Tim told me that in Matuku they said they keep having to dive deeper and deeper to find the sea cucumbers, so that seems to indicate that it may not be a long-term endeavor. Today, Tim is going to go out with them, so he’s up early having his coffee and breakfast. I made biscuits and popcorn for him to take to share with the guys. The people of this village seem to love popcorn. Anyway, since that drizzly day of hiking we’ve had clear, sunny skies, but 20+ knots of wind howling. We are in a nice, protected bay but the wind makes it quite a workout when I paddle to shore to enjoy the beach. This morning is a calm morning, though, and we are enjoying the peacefulness of it.
Love and miss you all,
-D.
Logbook – September 11, 2015 (Yadua – Cucuvou to Motubua Islet)
Passage Log Highlights
- 1311 engines on
- 1327 P engine off
- 1425 P engine on
- 1508 engines off Motubua Islet
Daily Notes
- T/B/Mx – spearfish. B – big walu. Max – HUGE walu.
- Move around the island
- T/B/Max/V/J – take Max’s walu + tuna/walu fish heads to the village
Email to Family and Friends dated September 11, 2015
Subject: Exodus – Half a dogtooth
Well, the guys from the village never showed up yesterday to take Tim diving for sea cucumbers. But the upside is that the boys enjoyed snacking on the biscuits and popcorn all day. No, the REAL upside is that Tim and Max (Fluenta) went spearfishing and came back and filled both our freezers. I was just getting out of the shower when I hear them pull up in the dinghy yelling, “anybody home?” After hearing that a couple more times, I thought I should see what’s up, so I poked my head out and asked if he needed anything. His response was priceless… “just a photographer.” Clearly there was something to see so I dressed quickly, and wow, was it a sight. The biggest dogtooth tuna that I’d ever seen BY FAR, but the thing was, it was only half a tuna. Because a shark took the other half. And just the half a tuna weighed 35 lbs! And of course, they also came back with a couple good sized walus as well. I told Tim we may need a fishing ban now, and he gave me the stink eye. We have saved the heads from all these fish to give to the village, and as you might imagine the tuna head is enormous, but somehow Fluenta’s magic freezer was able to accommodate it. We think we’ll move around to the other side of the island today or tomorrow so we can go to the village for church on Sunday, so we’ll have to keep the fish heads in our freezers until then.
Love and miss you all,
-D.
Logbook – September 12, 2015 (Yadua – Motubua Islet)
Daily Notes
- Test lesson day
- Family shore excursion with Liz/V/J – mangrove forest, mud flat. Kids swim back.
- Drinks on Exodus – B breaks the Lego helicopter
- We tease about “over”
Logbook – September 13, 2015 (Yadua – Motubua Islet)
Daily Notes
- Longest church service ever!
- Father’s Day lunch with Chief’s clan at community hall
- T/Max/Liz – back to shore for grog
- Kids – Minecraft
- Drinks on Exodus after, nice talk with Liz
Logbook – September 14, 2015 (Yadua – Motubua Islet)
Daily Notes
- T/Max – spearfish east reef, no fish
- Kids swim to beach then games on Exodus
Email to Family and Friends dated September 14, 2015
Subject: Exodus – Church for Father’s Day
It turns out that yesterday was Father’s Day in Fiji, and so it was a special kind of church service. Instead of the pastor giving a single sermon, several dads of the village got up and read scripture and did a little of their own preaching. It was all in Fijian so we couldn’t understand a word, but it was interesting to observe the different styles of the men who were speaking. Some were quiet and reserved and some were real fire and brimstone. However, this format produced the longest church service ever! Well over 2 hours. The kids did great, and so did the adults. As usual, what really made it bearable was the singing. It’s also in Fijian, but so beautiful you feel like you can understand it anyway. After church we were invited for a big family lunch with the entire chief’s clan, something like 50-60 people including many, many kids. It was an enjoyable afternoon, and I must say that this is the nicest, most welcoming village that we’ve been to since the Lau group. We’d love to stay longer, but we are in need of internet, because we are having issues with our watermaker. It’s been giving us issues since Fulaga (a couple months ago) but it’s getting worse now, and if we need to order parts before we leave Fiji we need to get a move on that. Basically, the salinity takes a really long time to come down to acceptable levels, and it keeps taking longer and longer. We’ve suspected the membrane all along for various reasons, but Tim has been in contact with Spectra, who makes the watermaker, and he is following their troubleshooting advice before making any final conclusions. Don’t worry, we have plenty of water! But we don’t want to leave Fiji and head to more remote island groups before resolving this.
Love and miss you all,
-D.
Gresham Family Exodus 