Buliya Group - Great Astrolabe Reef

[Kyle]Our first stop after Suva was an all-day sail to Buliya Island, on the eastern edge of the Kadavu Group, to the south. The sail started out a bit stressful. Suva's peninsula blocked about two-thirds of the wind, which made our speed so low that it was looking like we would never make it to Buliya before dark. We were just about to resign ourselves to a night at sea when a little bit less wind than forecast arrived from a little bit aft of the forecast. Instead of plan A, which was to have a fast beam reach with full working sail, the wind was the perfect speed and direction for a broad reach with the spinnaker. That seems great, but if winds came in that actually matched the forecast, having the spinnaker up was going to be scary. We wasted time waiting for a band of heavy rain to pass over us, which it did without the usual gusty arrival, before we finally decided we would just have to deal with a new wind if it came. We were running late.

We got lucky. The new wind held and we were able to clock faster than normal speeds with the spinnaker pulling. When we got to the pass entrance through South Astrolabe Reef that was nearest to Buliya, we still had an hour of daylight left for the thirty-minute transit to the island.

We anchored by the village just outside of what seemed to be the whole population having an end-of-day swim/rugby practice. It was a bit too late to go ashore for sevusevu, so we would have to do it the next day.

The problem was that the next day was Sunday, so we would have to wait until church services end before it was reasonable to go ashore and present ourselves to the chief. This was a little frustrating because there was only one good day coming up in the week's forecast and Sunday was it. Buliya has two nearby islands within its jurisdiction. One is a bird sanctuary, the other has a cleaning station for giant Manta Rays. To see them both, we would have to anchor in three different places in one day, as if we were sailors from New Zealand or something.

On this particular day, church services were running long. We later learned that once a month, Buliya has combined services with the adjacent island, which makes the service take about an hour longer than normal.

Fortunately, the Chief's house was nearby. He was not on the island, but his brother was there to accept our kava and give us his blessing to enjoy our stay. He used the abbreviated version of the ceremony.

Anchored off Buliya village by dark, and keen to complete our permission ceremony (sevusevu) before exploring beyond (after a beach walk and a quick tour of the village)

Within a couple of hours, we were back on board and steaming toward Yabu Island, which everyone around here just calls Bird Island.

Yabu Island (Bird Island) didn't disappoint. Most of the birds had already departed, but there were still a few residents

We walked the short beach there, where we were able to find herons, frigate Birds, and boobies. We even found a few booby chicks that were still in their original fluffy down. Afterwards, with just a little daylight left, we opted to spend the time snorkeling the island's fringing reef. That turned out to be much nicer than expected, particularly on the island's eastern side, where there were vast swathes with great variety.

The snorkelling was unexpectedly good at Yabu (large areas of healthy corals

Then it was the quick trip to Vurolevu Island, where we were hoping to get a glimpse of the mantas the next morning before the poor weather arrives.

Begonia safely at anchor - Rainbow picture thanks to SV Odyssey

After daybreak, as I was lifting my coffee to my face for my first sip, Maryanne's bouncy, bright-eyed demeanor made it clear that I was going to have a hard time putting her off until I could see the bottom surface of the inside of my mug. When I told her to go ahead without me, she practically did a swan dive off the boat before I had even finished my sentence. She wasn't wrong to do so. Dark clouds could already be seen coming over the horizon.

Later, I was about to get in myself when I looked outside and said, "Ah...no"

Maryanne arrived a few minutes later. Then the rain started. She came back reporting that the coral was, meh!, but she did get to see the mantas. She said they were at least half again as big as any others we have seen.

The next morning, during a pleasantly unexpected break in the storm, I was right out there with her. The water was a bit churned up. That initially seemed disappointing, but then we got to have the experience of seeing mantas with three-meter wingspans emerge out of the murk as they swam right over to us. We spent an hour watching them circle the cleaning station without any apparent concern about our presence. We only left when a tour boat from a nearby resort came in to take our place.

We snorkelled over several days and both were able to see the Manta Rays

... And, whilst the reef was not a healthy as at Yamba, there was still plenty to see under the water

Plus we enjoyed some beach walks and exploring ashore at Vurolevo

The weather continued to slowly worsen throughout the rest of the week. Vurolevu Island's protection turned out not to be as good as we had hoped. Strong winds approaching from the other side would wrap around the island to arrive as big gusts from one way and then the other. Begonia was skittering all over the place and the ride was not comfortable. Then the wind backed enough for us to be in the full force of it. That finally allowed our wind turbine to do some actual work, rather than spinning around trying to match the wind direction. The waves soon followed and we started spending the dark nights holding on and hoping our ground tackle holds. When it was light enough, we moved to Buliya's western side, where the little swell that wrapped around the island into the anchorage felt positively relaxing by comparison. Around this time, we learned that, in response to an accident where a local boat taking islanders to Suva had flipped, losing some of those on board, the Fiji Maritime Authority had decided to prohibit movement of any vessel under fifteen meters until the storm warnings for the whole country are no longer in effect. We were relieved we were tucked behind Buliya instead of exposed in the open roadstead between Yabu and Vorulevu Islands.

Where we were, we had much better protection from the waves and less protection from the wind. That's the way we like it; fewer bugs, more consistent wind for making electricity, and Begonia doesn't wander around so much. At high tide, some leftover swell would wrap around the island and hit us broadside, which reminded us of the feel of the rough high tide/smooth low tide cycle at Minerva Reef.

Snorkelling on the SW corner at Buliya Island

Back at Begonia, a group of squid were sheltering

The weather was quite gloomy and reports of many distressed boats and sadly even deaths from the wild sea conditions which held for several days

At the first available not-too-bad patch of weather, Maryanne and I swam out to the extensive reefs between Begonia and the beach. We were both pleasantly surprised by both the interesting variety of life, particularly the soft corals, and the background topography of walls, mounts and canyons. Only the cool water and the lack of warming sunlight finally drove us back to our warm, dry home, where we could ride out the rest of the blow in relative comfort.

---

Anchorage location - Just of Bulyia Village >> On google maps

Anchorage location - Yambu Island (Bird sanctuary) >> On google maps

Anchorage location - Vurolevo Island (for Manta Rays) >> On google maps

Anchorage location - SW Coast, Buliya Island >> On google maps