Sailing the Yaskawa's and Lau with my Niece.

With Joline fixed and my niece, Darcy, ready to continue her adventure with us, we headed straight to the Yasawa islands to swan about and wait for a weather window to head east back to the Lau Islands.

The Yasawa islands were like a tonic for us, after 10 days working at fixing the keel it was paradise. The islands are very accessible and, much to Darcy's delight, – flat water and plenty of beaches to keep the sun tan topped up. For John and me it was hours of fun snorkelling taking in the amazing variety of live coral and fish.

Our days fell into a good rhythm, exploring in the morning sometimes in the dinghy, other times by paddleboard or minicat, always armed with snorkel and fins. Darcy would head to a deserted beach to top up the tan and after a bit of boat fixing/maintenance or a hike up a mountain with the locals, 4pm came around far to fast and it was time for Kangaroo, (very competitive card game which Darcy somehow managed to win most days). For dinner, we take it in turns  to create a gourmet delight from what ever was left in the fridge, sometimes this can be a good challenge but usually a tasty  pleasant surprise lands on the table.

After a couple of weeks, a weather window opened up and we were able to sail east around the south of Viti Levu to Fulaga– only a two day sail which was a bit lumpy but sooooo worth it. We passed through the Fulaga reef into shelter as Darcy and trim woke up and we were all blown away by the scenery.

We dropped the hook in amazing turquoise waters and were greeted ashore by Choi, a lovely big framed islander who had been out harvesting mud crabs who offered to anchor our dinghy. It was the start of beautiful welcome by the local village. We did our Sevusevu with the chief and were allocated the lovely Mui family as our hosts. Turns out our hosts are fabulous wood carvers and sculptured a turtle out of a block of wood for Darcy in 15 minutes. They also treated us to Kava with the family and cooked us traditional mud crabs and Choi took a shine to Darcy carving her name into a tree after our short hike to the cave of bones!.

A sailing friend of mine told me that we must visit Fulaga. Now I can understand why, we could have spent months exploring. Most days we headed off on the minicat to explore the numerous bays, and nooks and crannies – extraordinary. This year we had committed to pick up friends and drop Darcy back in Nadi on the 1^st  of August so our time was limited, but we are very likly to come back next year and stay alot longer. This time we made the most of the time we had and as the wind turned from the south we headed north to another extraordinary place the Bay of Islands, Venua Balavu.

We did our Sevusevu at the village of Daliconi then found an extraordinarily beautiful anchorage in Ships Sound. A stunning location and it felt like we were on some kind of remote film set, again fabulous expeditions to caves and snorkelling spots. There were about seven other boats in the whole area, all tucked inot perfect anchourages and we felt we had the place to ourselves. One evening we all met up for a Dinghy drift in a secret alcove and made yet more friends from around the world. Unfortunately time past far to quickly and it was time to cast off again and head west back to Nadi.

The Lau islands of Fiji have now entered my top three of stunning locations. The stunning scenery, emerald waters teaming with small colourful fish and live corals combined with their remoteness is the reason we will try and return next year to spend longer emersed in this beauty.

Sadly, it was now time to say good by to Darcy. After her 9 month adventure around Asia , Australia and Fiji, Darcy had landed a fabulous new job in the UK,( interviews all on board Joline from the middle of the Pacific!), and was due to start work on the 11^th August.

Darcy was a real pleasure to have on board, always so positive and smiling and willing to help, it has been a real privilege to get to know my beautiful niece. Darcy settled into boat life with two oldies, did some amazing cooking, embraced new locations and worshiped the sun. For company she endured an endless stream of other old yachties and I am sure she will miss the endless  “battery bollocks t”," broken boat bits" talk , other “muppet”  chit chat that dominated the conversation. Darcy leaves Joline an expert in Kangaroo, a good crew hand who understands the wind, waves and autohelm, can identify all the different types of sailing vessels and has a very high tolerance for old yachty talk from the baby boomers. . We are now of course experts in Gen Z and ‘The girls bathroom’.

We loved having Darcy on board Joline and wish her every success in her new role.

A video to summarise the last month aboard Joline.