Overnight anchored off the Cousteau Resort (and a quick snorkel about)
Just after we got the anchor down, a boat called Oyster Reach called on the radio and invited us for sundowners. Maryanne had chatted with them while I was out collecting the kava (back in Savusavu). Once we climbed aboard, I recognized Ian. On the day before we left New Zealand's Marsden Cove marina for the sail to Chile, we were waiting in the marina lounge for my Birthday pizza delivery. Ian was also there, very excited about having figured out a way to buy a boat that generally would be way out of his range. He was to be signing the papers that very day. Oysters are beautiful, multi-million dollar boats. Ian and his partner Cindy had made their careers out of crewing aboard them and finally found somebody who cared more about selling the boat to a worthy owner than making all of his money back. He and Cindy were still pinching themselves at their good fortune. Their boat is beautiful.
In the morning, all of the boats anchored at Cousteau’s pulled up anchor within the same hour and gradually diverged to their destinations. We headed about 25 miles to the southwest toward the marine reserve at Namena Island.
On the southwest corner of the island, they have a single mooring ball for visitors (first come, first served). The anchorage is steep and with lots of coral, so we were hoping to find it empty, although not expecting it, since it’s close to Savusavu and a good distance to stop on the way to many places.
Approaching the pass, we saw what looked like a big motor yacht with a crazy long radio antenna milling around. Once we got up next to it, we would see that the antenna was in fact a mast for flying a boomless sail like a jib. We could also see that it was a livaboard dive boat that did multi-day tours. Perhaps they fly some sail on long downwind legs to save fuel or perhaps they also market sailing tours so they can raise the jib for effect.
As we approached Namena we could see that there were no other boats where the mooring was reported. We were hoping the dive boat wouldn’t race over and beat us to it. We needn’t have worried. While we crossed the lagoon, they milled around, stopping here and there on the reef to disgorge guests for their time at that spot.
After picking up the mooring, and checking it really was secure, we had to cross to the northeast side of the island to get to the reserve office, where we needed to pay our fees for the tag that would indicate we had permission to swim in the reserve.
There was supposed to be two trails to the other side, one along the shore and one along the spine of the island. Cyclone Winston had wiped both out in 2016, so our only option was to pick our way along the former shore route.
It turned out to be a horrible jumble of big boulders and deep, soft sand. We quickly realized this wasn’t going to be a quick walk and calculated a turnaround time that would get us back to Begonia by dark. We made it with about thirty minutes to spare.
First trip ashore - plenty of red-footed boobies, brown boobies, and frigate birds
We met the three caretakers, bought our tags. They were suspiciously numbered 001 and 002 for the year. During our time there, we saw several boats enter the reserve, stop for a bit and then leave without coming to the reserve office. They currently have no launch, so no way to chase down trespassers. They seemed surprised to see us when we announced we had come to pay. We asked to have a look around. We were shown the grounds, which they were slowly cleaning up, and one of the two bungalows that had been rebuilt after Winston. Our host then insisted that we take some fruit home with is. The resort had extensive plantations, but no guests, so fruit was in abundance. I accepted only a fraction of what was offered on the basis that it was a long walk home and a bag of succulent fruit gets heavier by the mile. We had enough to last us for a week but the guy kept saying we could come back tomorrow if we needed more.
When tomorrow came, our original plan of swimming the reefs on our corner of the island morphed into a circumnavigation of the island with the dinghy punctuated by as many snorkeling stops as we liked.
Snorkel all around the Island - and Kyle even found an Octopus
We found a few spots on the windward side, but the water was a bit too surfy and churned up to be ideal. Back at the resort pier, we tied up and walked up the hill to see the guys. They gave us the run of the place, so we took the time to have a leisurely stroll of the resort grounds. It looked like it must have been really nice in its day. Now, most of the bungalows had been flattened to their foundations. Only a little cleanup of the grounds had occurred since then.
The story we heard (not from the park guys) was that when Winston was approaching, the owner had the resort guests evacuated by helicopter. That would have been fine, except that he didn’t return for his staff. Some of them had to tie themselves to trees to keep from being blown off of the island during the cyclone. When a boat finally did come to collect them, nothing was left and they were making do in the rubble. This put a sour taste in the Fijians mouths about the owner. Word is all of his rebuild permit applications are getting lost down a very deep hole.
Another trip ashore (and more fruit to take back to the boat in time for sunset!)
As we were leaving, we were offered ripe fruit from any of the trees we could see. As I was busy explaining that we could not possibly eat that much, another huge pile of freshly cut fruit grew at my feet. We carried all that we could lift to the top of the hill and then went down to look at the beach. When we returned, the pile was gone, but an even bigger pile was sitting on the pier by the dinghy. Once it was loaded up, we could barely find room for ourselves as we straddled piles of papaya and bananas.
We left the mooring ball in the morning and took Begonia over to a shallow spot along the fringing reef for some snorkeling on the outside. We found loads of colorful corals, a handful of sharks and a few sea turtles, all of whom bolted if they thought we were even looking at them. We swam past cliffs and canyons that disappeared into the black depths below, all while being followed by big schools of fish who dove and soared with the topography. To top it all off, when we were done, that mooring ball was still there for our taking, which made for a more restful night than being in the surf near the reef.
Snorkelling at the outer reef (and pass)
[Maryanne] A bit about Namena - Namena is a protected marine reserve, which includes a small island surrounded by a fringing reef - jutting out like a big thumb (or alternative appendage) from the bottom of Vanua Levu into the Koro Sea. You need to purchase a permit tag to snorkel/dive within the reserve. You can purchase this from the office in Savasavu (currently in the Waitui Marina), but when we went there they were sold out so we were told to just buy them once we got to the island ($20FJD per person). Until recently the island was an active top dive resort, but after the 2016 Cyclone Winston all the accommodations were destroyed and there have been no guest since. The north pier has been rebuilt recently (a bit smaller) although at low tide it is hard to climb from your dinghy up to the dock until they add a ramp or stairs. A couple of the guest lodges have been repaired/re-built (pretty cool to visit), but still no infrastructure for guests as of yet. Along with a volleyball net, we even came across a few rusty old Frisbee-golf targets (so bring your Frisbee if you visit).
Namena Island and reef dive/snorkel spots - from Namena Island Resort
We were told much of the reef was damaged as a result of the cyclone and the Giant Clam site is no longer what it once was. For anyone following - we found this reef map useful along with information about each dive site from the Namena Island Resort website. We clearly could have spent a lot longer just at this one area - but we were keen to make it to the Lau group so we just spent 2 days snorkelling there before moving on.
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