Monthly Archives: Tuesday April 22nd, 2014

Easter at Malolo Lailai

These last few days we spent together with Thomas, Susanne, Ivi and Jack from the SY Time Lord at the island of Malolo Lailai. One of the better places we’ve seen in a long time. Not soo much because the of it’s beauty – although most people will agree that it’s a 100% awesome, tropical island. For our liking it’s a bit too much on the touristic side. But it’s because of the Muscet Cove Resort that is totally geared towards sailors, that we like it so much. The former owner of the resort supposedly was a keen sailor himself.

So as a yottie you can anchor, pick up a mooring or go into the little harbor where you moore stern-to. There’s a little shop, showers, toilets and a bar on the little island at the end of the jetty. At the bar one can use the two gas barbequeues and the resort even provides for dishes – as long as one consumes an occasional beverage at the bar.

The Musket Cove Resort with the little marine and BBQ-island in the back.The jetty and the BBQ/bar-islandIn the cockpit of the SY Time LordIn Cloud 9 ;-)

The resort has a nice (saltwater) pool, there are lots of other kids around and in the evening the staff organizes a childrens dinner, followed by a cinema evening. So while the grown ups have a good time on the BBQ-island, the little ones have endless fun at the resort and in the evening all four kids sleep together on the Time Lord.

The bar at the reef - 'Cloud 9'The kids having funNonsense at the bow, coming back to the anchorageLittle crazy people...

With the Suvarov we made a little excursion towards the outer reef where the bar ‘Cloud 9′ is to be found. A floating, little heaven for surfers who enjoy the close by surf spots. Today our friends from Norway had to leave, to haul out at Vuda Point marina and do maintenance on the ship. Hopefully they can finish the work in time so we can sail out together in two weeks…

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A few more pics from Yanuca Island

Die Suvarov unter Segel (Danke an die SY Time Lord fuer die Fotos !!)Und endlich mal wieder ein Bild der kompletten LosLocosVor Anker im Westen der Insel Yanuca Ein kleines, verlassenes Resort im Hintergrund

Die Haengematten blieben zum Glueck erhalten !Die Kinder klettern Stundenlang ueber die Steine am UferFuer Stunden nicht gesehen......kehren sie zurueck...

...mit einer Schuessel voll......Einsiedlerkrebsen !'Unser' StrandSelfie der Fotografin

Badespass fuer viele Stunden...und die Kinder hauen alle zusammen mit dem Kajak ab.Und wir hauen ab in den Westen Fiji's, eine Nachtfahrt weiter.Ein schmutziger Frachter in der Riffpassage

Doch schoen wirkt er, mit dem Tagesstern im HintergrundDie Kinder traeumen noch vom Strand, waehrend wir schon in die Lagune von Malolo einfahrenOekologische Aktivitaeten fuer unsere wertvollen Touristen.Wertvolle Aktivitaeten fuer unsere oekologischen Touristen.

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The Yanuca island and a difficult farewell

A few days ago I mentioned big news and I guess now it’s time to let the cat out of the bag: We’re in the last weeks of our voyage. Soon – probably sometime in July we’ll return to Berlin. Back into the concrete jungle, yes. Well. Now it’s out.

Of course some of you will try to encourage us to stay and I really appreciate it but be assured: It was not an easy decision. And somehow we wished we could continue. But the time is not the right one. We’ve been sailing three years, crossed two oceans, lost one yacht, had many adventures, met wonderful people and were able to see and live in the amazing beauty of the South Pacific. It’s a good time to stop.

Motorenderweise verlassen wir gemeinsam mit der SY Time Lord die Bucht vor LamiFlautensegeln Richtung MbenggaViola sorgt fuer gute AussichtenGui im Ausguck, um nicht versehentlich Korallenkoepfe zu beschaedigen

We also searched for ways to continue our travel or fast routes to sail back to Europe but nobody on board really wants to cross the Indian ocean and even less the Atlantic from south to north with very few and short landfalls in between. We all miss our family and friends a lot and – it has to be mentioned: Since our shipwreck we always have been very short on money which sometimes complicated things.

Bruno badet Viola, waehrend wir unterwegs sindVor AnkerStrandspassSuedsee vom Feinsten

Soon we’ll try to go back in our previous lives but not quite yet: We still have some weeks left and want to visit Tikopia in the Solomon Islands and climb the volcanoes of Vanuatu. Later we probably will end up in Australia which seems to be the best place to sell a boat in the Pacific.

And just as we made up our mind, the South sea throws this unbelievable gorgeous island called Yanuca in our way. Together with the family from the SY Time Lord we’re the only souls around. The kids wander off and disappear for hours looking for crabs on the beach and investigating a lost resort hidden by the palm trees. We snorkel in the crystal clear water, see turtles and sharks. Dolphins swim and jump in the bay and in the evening we have a wonderful camp fire on the beach. And to top it all off, we experience a rare ‘blood moon’ as we return to our boats.

But still, today in the afternoon we’ll pull the anchor out of the coral sand and sail through the night towards the western islands. We try to reach Malolo Leilei (what a name !) in the morning and probably stay there for a week to celebrate easter and Violas 6th birthday.

Posted in Berlin, Freedom, Kids, LosLocos, Pics, Sailing, Suvarov, Travel | 5 Comments

Via Namena, Makongai, Leluvia and Nasilai River towards Suva

Two days ago we arrived in Lami, a little village west of Suva. Here in the little bay, we finally met some more cruising families which is extremely welcome. The kids have endless fun and are messing up a different boat each day. ;-) In the meantime, the captain crisscrossed through Suva to get all papers, copies, photographs together and verified  by the german consul. Now a pack of paper is underway towards Canberra where the (nearest) austrian embassy will hopefully issue me an emergency passport.

Namena aus der Vogelperspektive. (Dank an Julia fuer's Foto !)Am Strand im Osten NamenasDer Klassiker - auf der PalmeHoch hinaus

Suva being the largest city in the tropical south Pacific is home to 50% of all escalators – namely: two ! There is also three or four traffic lights and a cinema. And today I will wander off to see ‘Rio 2′ with the kids.  Heh. After stocking up a little, we’ll probably be out on sea in a few days, visiting the island of Benga and finally arriving in Malolo Leilei where we plan to celebrate easter and (even more) Viola’s sixth birthday.

Also we made a huge decision and have changed our long term plans but more on that in an upcoming blog post.

Endloser Spass beim Spiel in den WellenUnd der Strand ist wirklich einer der schoenstenZusammen mit der crew der SY Elhaz in MakongaiWunderschoen bunte Krabbe

Viola mit Echo, dem Bordhund der SY ElhazSonnenuntergang im Mund des Nasilai RiverAbendliches Malen und BastelnUnd angekommen in Suva, ihres Zeichens groesste Stadt im Suedpazifik.

 

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In the mouth of the river Nasilai

The day before yesterday we said goodbye to our friends from the SY Elhaz and sailed on to the tiny island of Leluvia. It was only for a stop-over during the night as we’re constantly sailing through reefs and badly charted waters and navigating is better done during daylight only. On our last stop at Leluvia we were amazed that they offered a free internet connection – but (you guessed it) that was history. We didn’t even bother to put the dinghy in the water as today in the morning our journey continued towards Suva.
Again, the trip would have been too long to make it in one day and arrive during daylight hours, so we decided to stop in a river entrance that gives some protection. Even here the charts were quite off and we were glad to have some easterly sweel that showed us the reef and an uncharted patch of corals right in the entrance.
It’s quite a funny way of sailing: although we’re in the vincinity of land we don’t really set foot on it; makes it feel like an ocean passage somehow. But tomorrow we should arrive in the bay of islands, a bit west of Suva. There we will stop for some days to get my passport problem solved. Otherwise all fine on board, the kids are watching a movie right now and the capitana seems to have found her sea legs as today she was cooking while out on sea (that’s a primer !)

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Unterwegs durch die Koro-See

Ewig ist es her, dass ich via Kurzwelle einen Blogeintrag gesendet habe. Nun, gegen Ende der Regenzeit ist es also endlich mal wieder Zeit.
Vor ein paar Tagen sind Gui, Bruno und Viola aus Argentinien zurueckgekehrt und die LosLocos sind wieder komplett. Zwei Tage spaeter haben uns mein Bruder und Julia verlassen, die knappe zwei Wochen mit uns Fiji genossen haben.
Nun geht ‘der Ernst des Lebens’ wieder los. Wir segeln nach Suva, wo ich mit Hilfe des deutschen Konsulates einen neuen (Not-)Pass fuer mich beantragen kann. Dieser wird dann von der Botschaft in Canberra ausgestellt. Wie das alles genau klappen soll, bleibt erst mal noch etwas ungewiss.
Wir sind also auf dem Weg in die Hauptstadt Fiji’s – Suva: ihres Namens die groesste Stadt in der Suedsee und laut Augenzeugenberichten soll es dort sogar eine Rolltreppe geben ! Wir sind gespannt… Unterwegs sind wir mit der zweiten Seglerfamilie, die sich die letzten Monate in Savusavu aufgehalten hat: die franzoesische crew der SY Elhaz. Gemeinsam verbringen wir zwei Tage im traumhaften Namena beim schnorcheln und heute geht’s weiter nach Makongai fuer einen kurzen Zwischenstopp. Dort trennen sich dann auch unsere Wege. Die Elhaz segelt im Norden Richtung Lautoka, wir im Osten erst mal nach Leluvia und dann in die Bay of Islands (ja, toller Name: gibt’s sonst nirgendwo !) gleich neben der Hauptstadt. In ein paar Wochen wollen wir uns zu Viola’s 6. Geburtstag dann wieder im SW der Insel Viti Levu treffen und dort gemeinsam feiern. Grosse Plaene fuer zwei so Chaotenschiffe.
Soweit alles gut. Windtechnisch tut sich nicht viel. Laut Wetterbericht sollte es auch in Stroemen regnen aber wir hatten die letzten Tage blauen Himmel. Heh. Die Crew ist unterhaltsam und lustigerweise ist keine meiner Landratten seekrank geworden. Also alles tip-top auf der Suvarov.

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