Pitufa.at

Fulanga is one of the few atolls (or rather island-cluster with an outer reef–there are hardly any classic atolls here in Fiji) with a proper pass, meaning a narrow outlet of the lagoon with steep coral-clad walls like we know them from the Tuamotus. Most other “passes” are very open, wide and don’t have walls up to the surface so you hardly notice you’re in a pass when sailing into one of these open “lagoons” that feel more like open ocean.
It’s also one of the most beautiful passes we’ve ever snorkeled with a great variety of stunning, healthy corals. Today we took the dinghy all the way out to the outer reef and drop-off and were amazed to find huge groups of different kinds of big snappers, jacks, barracudas, surgeons and even three napoleons hovering in the light current–really impressive! We were glad to see half a dozen white-tip reef sharks among them–in most places we’ve snorkeled in Fiji so far they were hunted to extinction…
Further inside the pass the coral is even more beautiful and the biomass of little swarm fishies is mindboggling, a really dense fishsoup.

Yesterday we checked out a few inlets through the reef on the eastern side, expecting to find similar biodiversity, but the coral’s all dead and there are hardly any fishies–hopelessly overfished with even the tiniest fish scattering in panic and hiding underneath rocks at the sight of a human diver. Inside the lagoon there aren’t many bommies and the few only have some small growth of coral and hardly any fish. The lively pass area is a wonderful contrast to these lifeless areas.

Like everywhere on the islands of Fiji it’s obligatory here in Fulanga to visit the village to introduce yourself and to bring a sevusevu (kava bundle as a gift), so we wandered across the island to the main village (that sounds serious, but it’s just a twenty minute walk on a well-cleared path) to ask for the Turanga ni Koro (headman) who then introduced us to the chief. We gave him our present and were welcomed to the village, had to pay a fee of 50 FJD (flat rate for every small boat) and given a host family. Fulanga’s a very popular place and the chief showed us the entries of the other yachts in his visitor’s book–120 were here this year!
They are also more interested in paperwork than other islands, so we showed them our clearance and cruising permit. Apparently another yachtie who arrived in May had neither of those and was picked up by a Navy boat and his yacht is still tied up in the lagoon–weird story, we’ll try to find out more. Pebbles, a German registered boat apparently with a Bulgarian singlehander on board…
Despite the many visitors the people in the village are really friendly and we bought some nicely done carvings from the three carvers here we were casually introduced to
We had lunch with our host family, Christian promised to look into a cable issue at another house -the dwellings are very basic here, just corrugated iron, but the little houses still look neat and the gardens are lovingly decorated. There are some solar panels, but usually just for a few LEDs, not many have a fridge or TV. Apparently some sort of internet will be installed this week (maybe a wifi router, we’ll find out), so maybe smartphones, facebook and Co. will soon arrive…

Fulanga is a strange geological phenomenon. Imagine an atoll with a line of outer motu, numerous coralheads and reefs which was then lifted 20 m or so by tectonic movements. That’s what happened here.
The lagoon is now shallow and gleams in light turquoise and scattered all across are mushroom-shaped limestone islets–former coralheads that were eroded by the high tides here in Fiji. Thanks to their overhangs and spiky rocks they are completely unaccessible which makes them perfect nesting places for seabirds (we see raucous groups of bridled terns and white-tailed tropic birds) and great destinations for kayers!
We’ll post pics as soon as we have internet again…

Our article about the regatta is now online on Cruising World:

https://www.cruisingworld.com/people/2022-musket-cove-fiji-regatta-week/

Yesterday we took the kayak to a beach, found a camp fisherman had recently left (Yagasa is uninhabited, but people from neighbouring islands come here) and followed a horrible stench to the carcass of a turtle. We collected a bag of plastic rubbish around the camp site and burned it on one of the many fire sites the raiders had left.
It’s really sad to see how ruthlessly the islanders exploit Yagasa. We had high hopes finding lots of wildlife on an uninhabited island group, but we see just a few birds, hardly any fish and the reefs are mainly dead. Everything is overgrown with algae…
This lifeless desert may have some natural reason, but it seems more likely that overfishing (maybe with poison or even dynamite–both still used around here we heard) are to be blamed.

We brought a new kayak back to Pitufa from the US, but until now we didn’t have the opportunity to use it. Now, among the mushroom-shaped limestone islets of Yagasa we unpacked it, inflated it for the first time (quickly done), admired the bright-yellow, sleek vessel and took it out for a first round. The ancient kayak we used to have, had its own mind, always tried to turn its bow into wind and waves and regularly made us go in circles. Cursing the damn thing (and occasionally each other) we’d have to constantly correct course, go for miles paddling on one side–we thought that was part of kayaking.
The new Advanced Elements Island Voyage kayak holds its course, is wonderfully easy to handle and we effortlessly took it around the bay and to some adjacent beaches. Who knew kayaking could be so easy!!

Remember when I wrote that we’d be out and playing with the fishies? Well, the weather didn’t agree with that plan. Ever since we’ve arrived in Matuku it has been windy, cool and rainy in between. So we’ve done a work-program instead of the fun-program we had hoped for.
Now there’s a new track for the pole on the mast, a new tap in the galley, the cockpit table got enforced hinges and today we tackled a project we’ve been postponing for many years, because we didn’t know how to approach it. The shower tap on the bathroom wall had been dripping for ages, but it’s completely impossible to reach the backside of that installation through the engine room. We contemplated all options, even cutting out a large portion of the wall in the bathroom to reach the spot. In the end we thought out of the box and installed the new tap on the opposite wall next to the bathroom sink, where it’s easy to reach.
The new solution looks better than the old one and is much more practical!
By the time we had removed now unnecessary pieces of plumbing from the engine room, cleaned up the mess in the bilge and the chaos in the boat it was 4 o’clock, but at least the sun had come out as a reward, the wind had dropped, so we could take a swim and wash off the bilge grime