Passage to Fiji

[Kyle]Since the wind had shifted the day before for the passage from South Minerva Reef to Fiji, all the boats, except us and one other, left one by one and disappeared over the horizon. I thought our remaining neighbor might be up early the next day to do the same, but there was no sign of activity aboard by the time we weighed anchor, caught the wind and had a fast run to the pass on the other side of the reef. I had really been hoping we would get at least one day with the place to ourselves, like on our previous visits, but this year it was not to be.

Rainbow on the passage

Since our southerlies were forecast to gradually bend into the usual easterly trade winds, rather than shape a direct course, we hedged to the east of the rhumb line to keep from ending up close-hauled at the finish. The plan worked great, with our apparent wind being fifteen to twenty knots on the beam the whole way. Since we were trying to avoid weekend overtime charges to clear Customs, we sailed the significantly over-reefed. That allowed us to react to the occasional squall with shrugs, rather than the need to madly rush on deck and start clawing in sail. Apart from the occasional rain shower or smack from a bigger than average wave, the passage was pleasantly uneventful.

The day before our arrival, as our course bent from north to north-northeast, and then finally northeast, we saw the first birds – gannets and boobies, as they checked us out on our approach.

When Maryanne handed Begonia over to me on my last night watch, the lights of Fiji's big island of Vitu Levu were just starting to break the horizon, blinking as we rose and fell with the waves. They were still a long way off though, and for the rest of the night, as far as I could tell, Begonia was the only vessel closing on Suva Harbour. It wasn't until the very end that another boat, Midnight Sun. popped up on the AIS display, converging along the rhum line course. They had been one of the boats that left South Minerva the day before we did.

This is where I always get a little melancholy. I was looking forward to completing the passage, but I was also just starting to enjoy the solitude and routine of the open-water passage. The lights of Suva, the biggest city in the tropical South Pacific, were not just signaling a new destination to explore. There was also going to be jobs, lots of jobs, and waves of officialdom, right when our sea bodies are shutting down for our day off-watch naps.

This is where we were somewhat fortunate to be in Suva. Different regions interpret Customs regulations with their own flavor. In Suva, it is permissible, if arriving on a weekend, to wait up to twenty-four hours before clearing in, as long as you fly the Q flag and don't leave the boat. With that in mind, we had targeted our speed on the passage to get us into the harbor late on Sunday morning. When we called to check in, we were told to expect officials to board us for clearance tomorrow morning. That was exactly the right answer. We had time to tidy up, take the dinghy out of lifeboat mode, share a wee dram (so we don't have to declare it, of course), and then get a good night's sleep, so we can both be alert and helpful to the officials when their boat arrives.

Suva is the capital of Fiji, and an important hub for ALL the south pacific islands - so the harbour can be quite busy with an industrial feel

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Anchorage location >> On google maps