Rotuma is an isolated island located about 250 nmi north of the rest of the islands of Fiji. Although it is administratively part of Fiji, culturally it is like a different country, and the Rotumans are Polynesian rather than Melanesian. Rotuma is a young enough volcanic island to not yet have a fringing reef and lagoon, so the anchoring situation can be somewhat precarious depending on the weather. The main anchoring location is near the main wharf on the northeast side of the island. There is a little bit of a lip of land that can just protect you enough from the prevailing trade wind direction. Anything from the north and forget about it.
When we arrived (with very little light), there was one boat anchored outside of the main wharf area (s/v Navire), and one boat anchored inside the wharf area almost on the beach (s/v Menkar). We ventured inside and were promptly visited by a couple guys in a dinghy warning us that the groundswell from the north was causing breaking waves on the beach in the little harbor and it wasn’t that safe to be anchored in there. What about the boat already there? It turns out they have a retractable keel and they were able to tuck way up into the shallows behind the wharf, which was an area less affected by the swell. With not much daylight to work with we decided to just go anchor out and reassess in the morning. It was a bit rolly out there, but certainly not as rolly as being on passage, so we still all got a good night sleep. After two days the swell had subsided and we safely moved Exodus inside the little harbor.
Rotuma has got to be one of the nicest places that we’ve visited. The geography reminded me a lot of Hawaii, with dramatic black volcanic rock and fine white sand beaches. Seriously, the beauty of this island cannot be overstated. The people here are consciously and actively resisting development and tourism. This place could easily have resorts all over it, but they don’t want it that way, and you just have to respect that. We were absolutely loving the warmer water too! It was a perfect 85 deg F, and I went swimming almost every day.
Gresham Family Exodus 