Vanua Levu Island, Fiji

June – July 2024

Viani Bay is often the first place that many boats call into, after arriving into Fiji at Savusavu.  Viani Bay is just around the corner, relatively speaking, and is well protected in most winds.  It is also the home of some world-famous soft coral diving in the Somosomo Strait.  We decided not to buck the trend and after a rest, a restocking of fresh supplies and getting our cruising permit, we headed around there with a definite air of excitement as we had heard a lot about this area and were keen to start exploring.

The red dot is us heading around to Viani Bay to the east (right).

Leaving Savusavu, we passed one of the Inter-Island Ferrys – it’s not often that 60’ AraRoa looks small.  For some communities, the Inter-Island Ferry is the only form of transport and contact they have with the rest of Fiji – we were to cross paths with it and its sisters quite a few times as we mosseyed around the eastern islands.

The clouds built up as we headed east under the Island of Vanua Levu, which meant we did not have good visibility for negotiating the Somosomo Strait or the reefs around the entrance to Viani Bay.  There are a number of turns involved, but the way points given in the guides proved correct and Peter didn’t need to do much arm waving from the prow of the boat as we negotiated the entrance.  Once into the bay we decided to anchor in the clear, although deeper water, away from the shore. 

Most of the yachts and catamarans were anchored much nearer to shore, but there were a lot of bombies to negotiate in there.  We have enough chain to anchor out deeper, so we did.  The bay proved to be quite well sheltered.  At one point there were 20knot winds blowing out in the channel, but we only had 8knots in the Bay.  While tendering around in the Bay we found that the bombies and reefs were clearly visible, and it was a lovely little area for tootling around in.  There is no Sevusevu required here.

Us heading into the rather quaint little Viani Bay Resort for drinkies. 

The resort, run by the very lovely Marina, has a number of small bures, each with a verandah and shower for guests.  But we were headed for the lovely airy verandah in front of a bar, with big wooden tables for meals.  After a cold beer or two (a fruity smoothy for some of us – makes a nice change to my regular soft drink order) we booked in for tea the following evening.  Cruisers are welcomed, indeed encouraged.  You just point to your boat and open a tab. But you do need to remember to book your evening meal before lunchtime.  The resort’s guests were mostly divers.  The resort takes divers out into the Somosomo Strait every day, and has coral planting and snorkelling tours for the non-divers.  There were also a few people who were here just to ‘get away from it all’.  As with most smaller resorts, there is a set menu each night.  We had booked in for dinner on Lovo Night. (Lovo is the Fijian equivalent of a Hangi).

The Lovo being prepared in the afternoon.

Jenny, Terry and I ready for our pre-dinner drinkies.  The lovely Marina runs the resort and Johnny (the chappy with the huge smile in the Lovo photo above) is also developing a brand of flavoured salts which are available for purchase.  Peter bought 3 packets, so I am looking forward to his future culinary creations.

The Lovo was a little late (I think the local lads got into the Kava a bit early) so one of the waitresses performed some local dancing for us.  They must learn dancing at school, as it is beautifully choreographed and obviously telling a story of some sort.  I couldn’t work out what the story was, but it certainly beat the liturgical dancing I learnt back in my school days – these girls are smooth and flowing in their movements.

The Lovo being dismantled later that evening to reveal our dinner.  A Lovo is the Fijian equivalent of a New Zealand Hangi (food cooked over hot rocks in the ground).  Unlike our experiences with Hangi (and I’ll grant you they may not have been representative) the Fijian Lovo is really nicely cooked and not fatty or tasting of wet hessian at all (which is what we’re used to).  The most surprising dish was the taro leaves all wrapped up into little parcels and poached in coconut milk; not something I thought would be yummy, but I went back for seconds on that – it’s green so it must be healthy.  I can’t really recommend the dessert of taro balls in caramelized coconut milk.  It was definitely sweet, but the texture of the balls was incredibly chewy.  There was a lot of very unpublishable (on my blog anyway) banter about those big guys.

Don’t forget to take your torch with you to the resort.  It is pitch black at night and finding your tender, launching it and then negotiating the corals isn’t much fun in the dark.

The other diving business in this bay is run by Roland and the effervescent Steffie (Dolphin Bay Divers is located around on the western area of the Bay).  Roland built his house, an accommodation unit for guests and a terraced garden, by hand, using mostly local stone from the look of it (he told us about bringing up a block or two every time he went down to the beach). 

We drank fresh juice on his verandah while admiring the ‘to die for’ view.  The island in the background is Taveuni, across the Somosomo strait.  The top of the island was permanently covered in cloud while we were here and every afternoon at around 4pm we were treated to the most glorious rainbow over the island.  We were told it rains a lot on Taveuni and it is pretty much always covered in cloud.

Roland has built his house near a stand of huge trees.  Looking at their buttressed roots I’m not surprised that they have survived cyclonic winds. They are also growing in a natural hollow in the bay, so that helps.  You may notice in the photo that Terry is rocking his Sulu.  He is practising wearing it, trying to work out how to stop it falling off – we were all hoping he worked that out some time soon.  (I eventually popped some studs on it for some security).

We booked with Roland to do two dives a day for three of the four days we expected to be here.  This area is renowned for soft corals, especially a place called the White Wall, and there are some 25 different dive sites over 11km of reef.  The soft corals flourish here because of the sometimes formidable current flowing through the Somosomo Strait.  So while the soft corals are happy, divers can only access the White Wall on certain tides of each month (a drift dive on the wrong tide would be quite hair raising).  Fortunately, we were here on the correct days – Yay.  Unfortunately, I caught a tummy bug and wasn’t well enough on the day they did the White Wall – Not so Yay.  Beloved made me feel much better by RAVING about how wonderful it was when he got back to the boat. 

Peter said it was truly beautiful “A vertical wall, 30m high, of sparkling-white lacy corals, waving in the current” (quite poetic for Peter).

It can be quite busy down there.  (I forgot to set the camera for Peter so his photos are that distinctive “I’m a dive photo” shade of blue).

View of Gorgonian Corals, looking towards the surface.  Once you are down and relaxed, it really is very peaceful down here.

Even when there doesn’t seem to be anything interesting, like this broken coral bottom, you can find something fascinating.  It’s not always about bright colours.  This is a little black, for the moment, octopus.  We discovered they can really move when they want to and change colour really quickly.

One of the most spectacular sights we saw on these dives was the huge expanse of the Cabbage Patch, a massive mound of vase shaped corals.  It was like we were in a SciFi movie, floating over an alien landscape of huge spirals.  I’m sure I could have fitted into some of them – didn’t try that as it would damage the coral.  But the thought made me giggle as the image came to me as one of those Anne Geddes baby cards from the 90s.   No Cabbage photos I’m afraid, as I didn’t want to complicate my first dive back after being ill, so I didn’t take the camera [Good thing too as my buoyancy was way off again and it took an extra 2 weights to get me down to the bottom after floundering around on the surface desperately exhaling.  I’m not a natural diver but truly love it once I get down there].

The water maker is being pesky (as in just not working), so I’m trying not to waste any fresh-ish water.  This tub had already rinsed all our diving gear and it was a tight fit, but my bathroom did have a lovely view.  Some of the more liberated people on smaller yachts just strip off and shower on the back board of their boat.  It’s practical as they don’t carry much spare water; wash in salt and rinse in fresh; but I’m not that liberated.  It took me back to my younger days in Kalgoorlie in the mid-70s during the water saving measures, when the dam supplying the goldfields ran dry (Peter just recalls the posters saying “Save Water, Drink Beer”).  We are down to our lower tank and that will keep us going for a week, if we are careful with the showers.  In the meantime, we have cracked out the manuals and are problem solving the watermaker.

As our introduction to Fiji we were very impressed. Viani Bay is somewhere we could happily stay for quite a long period, but the remote Lau Group beckoned, so it was time for us to move on.

Navigation Notes:

[This is a record of our experiences and is not intended as a recommendation for others. Phone reception on ‘Opal Lady’ is assisted with the use of a StarLink satellite system. Dates are in standard Australian format DD/MM/YYYY. We measure our depths from the lowest point of the hull (add 1.6m for actual water level depth).]

WayPoints for entry into Viani Bay: used 29/06/2024, WP1 16 46.872S, 179 56.342E, WP2 16 46.571S, 179 56.388E, WP3 16 46.422S, 179 56.089E, WP4 16 46.229S, 179 54.459E, WP5 16 45.814S, 179 53.900E.

Anchored Viani Bay: 29/06/2024, at 16 44.977S, 179 53.657W, in 30.1m water, 100m chain, scope 3:1, exit 150o.  Winds N <1knt, backing to SE 20knt outside the Bay, but only 8knts in the Bay.  The Guides state that the anchorage is not protected in Southerly winds.  Good holding, but coral and rubble in places on the bottom.  Most other boats anchored well into shore, but there are many coral heads and rubble patches closer in.  Insects in the evening, but not biting type.  No Sevusevu required. [Chart BA2691 Overview of Fiji] [Pacific Rally Handbook, 2024, Island Cruising and Rally Down Under] [Fiji and Tonga App, www.sailsouthpacific.com, $84] [NoForeignLand App, free] [Navionics App]

[The following comments are hearsay, not personal experience]

If the weather is not good enough for getting all the way around to Viani Bay, stop over at Fawn Harbour (about 2/3rds the way there).  Navionics has a pink line to follow for the Harbour that is apparently correct. We were told not to worry about going in to do Sevusevu if you are only stopping overnight enroute to Viani Bay.