After a social week in the Blue Lagoon, Eitan and I were looking forward to having some time alone and headed for a couple of islands off the tourist track: Vanua Levu and Nevadra. These islands are considered to be the birthplace of Fijian culture and are called The Sacred Islands These islands are completely uninhabited and have signs lining the shore telling you to keep off. Based on the surrounding reef and beach break, I struggled to see any way we could safely get to shore anyway so we stuck to water activities for our two nights that we were anchored there. Eitan and I went for a snorkel and some freediving practice and perused the walls of the surrounding reef, spotting about three different turtles and a blacktip reef shark who swam by the boat every hour or so.
These islands were easily the most beautiful place we had visited in Fiji. They weren’t dry barren hills like many of the other islands we had seen. It appeared tropical and lush, with palm trees hanging over white sandy beaches. I could see why the Fijians called them sacred. We enjoyed a couple of nights of privacy as the only boat in the anchorage before heading to our final outer island stop in Fiji: Mana Island.
Mana Island, and the rest of the Mamanuca Island group, is most famous for being the filming location of the show Survivor as well as another survival movie, Castaway. Although, I’d have to say I did not get the sense of remoteness portrayed in the productions, since all the islands have resorts and villages without much tall vegetation at all. Once onshore at Mana Island, we walked to the areas identified on Google Maps as the Survivor challenge area and Survivor tribal council, but found them to be unrecognizable clearings, filled with prickly weeds that pierced our feet.
We headed back in the dingy and motored to the pier used by the ferry boat. After tying up, Eitan and I made our way into the resort, completely undetected. It wasn’t clear to us if we were allowed to be there, but our light complexions kept anyone from asking. We wandered around, admiring the bungalows, and eventually made our way to the pool, making a note to bring our bathing suits next time. We spent the hot part of the afternoon in the air conditioning, playing ping pong.
The following day, we returned to the resort looking like proper tourists on a tropical vacation, and made our way to the adult-only pool, surrounded by honeymooners reading books or being preoccupied with their phones. The picturesque infinity pool was unused and we had it all to ourselves! After a few hours, we debated on getting food but $27 for a buffet seemed a bit expensive. Instead, we exited the hotel to walk to the only independent restaurant on the island and were stopped by security, saying hotel guests were not allowed on that part of the island. After we told him we were not guests, he let us go and it reminded me of French Polynesia, making sure guests spend their money only at the resort.
Without resort guests, the restaurant’s five picnic tables were filled with other cruisers and it seemed like maybe they weren’t hurting for business. Eitan and I ordered some inexpensive, delicious food and shared a beer. As the tide came in, the outside swell was able to make it over the reef, through the lagoon, and splash along the edge of the patio. Sometimes, a bigger set would roll in and completely soak half of the table.
After a few days in Mana Island, enjoying resort life, Eitan seemed to be getting antsy about having the boat hauled out and stored for the cyclone season, which started the beginning of November. It was still early October at this point but I could sense that Eitan was feeling the financial pressure of not having worked most of the year while paying premium prices for goods and services in the remote South Pacific, not to mention the future expenses of boat storage and having the bottom paint redone. Also, staying in Fiji longer only hurt his chances of locking in yacht contracts since it is much cheaper and easier to fly someone from the US for a charter or yacht delivery.
Even though we were scheduled to haul out on October 31, and my outbound flight was booked for November 2, we decided it best to move our haul out date to October 14. I was a little bummed to feel like we were cutting the season short and skipping places like Musket Cove, Castaway Island, Cloud 9, Seventh Heaven, and the famous surfing spot, Cloudbreak. I understood that Eitan needed to do what was best for him and hoped we would, in fact, return back to Fiji next year and be able to see all the sites we couldn’t get to this time around. Then again, so much could happen over the 6-month cyclone season…
