Onward to Savusavu

Well, we did not stay long on Koro Island, and actually never made it to shore. We motorsailed from Gau (also spelled Ngau on some charts) with Ranger in light winds which finally increased from the south (on our tail). When we got to the first bay on the northern end where we thought we could anchor, two other sailboats were there, anchored in front of a nice looking resort with thatched roof "bures" etc. Picking our way around the barrier reef took a while. Although it was straightforward as the reef was in a big comma shape, you still have to go very slow, look for waves breaking on the outer edges of the reef, monitor the depth sounders and look real hard. Cindy goes on the bow to get a better look ahead while I motor very slowly through the area. Once we got in there, neither Ranger nor us could find a suitable enough spot that was shallow enough and close in enough. It was also very exposed to the south where the wind was blowing from at a brisk pace. So we went back out which is much easier with a GPS trail to look at. GPS's can marked a detailed track or trail on the screen so it is easy to backtrack exactly how you came in, which we knew was safe.

We had to go around Nolo Point then and it's very large system of barrier reefs. They extended a long ways out and around and by that time the sun was going down and making it difficult to see the changes in water color. Fortunately our chartplotter was still pretty accurate but we followed Ranger in any way. They had a very disconcerting habit of making sudden and dramatic course changes right in front of us. Not sure what was going on but it happened several times there and other places.

We got in OK then Ranger reported not finding a suitable spot to anchor where they went so we took the lead and found one a few hundred yards away close in to shore as we dared in about 40' for water. The wind was blowing hard over the point in front of us which makes you want to set the anchor very well, and it set hard right away. We set the GPS anchor watch alarm though just in case we drug anchor overnight. But it still looked like an open roadstead and the village where we would have do sevusevu with the chief was at least a mile walk through the jungle and even with a trail it would have been a real hike. So in the morning we decided to go ahead and leave for Savusavu which was just another 25nm north. We tried to sail but now the winds were too light so we motored again (yuck!!!!!).

Savusavu is a real town, small but with stores, a marina, cafes, etc. And, several of our friends from other places were there - Winbird, Camdeboo, Rise and Shine, and, a big surprise, Vigoda who we last saw in French Polynesia. We met them our first few days in the Marquesas over a year ago. They were illegally in Polynesia as they did not have passports with them and could not officially check in until they got them. So they went to smaller anchorages and dodged the French Customs boat which went around and checked for papers all the time. They had sent their passports to India for job visa applications from Equador in South America and would not pick them up until Tahiti at the far end of Polynesia, which they did. They then went to Vava'U in Tonga and left the boat after we had left there and went to India to work, and we are just now catching up with them.

There is an internet cafe here so I will try to post some pictures and describe our first village visit next. I will also correct the Yotreps link on our blog to make it easier to find us on the chart.

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