Cruising the South Pacific with Tackless II

Tackless II, along with her two captains, Don and Gwen, cruise from Fiji to Australia

Friday, July 6, 2007

6 July 2007 – Blackjack Bay

We spent the night of July 5th anchored in a small dimple of a bay (S16*14.5; E179*31.9) on the west side of Vatudamu Point, a long finger of land thrusting north from the coast, dotted by a muffin-shaped islet at the end. Dubbed Blackjack Bay by Nigel Calder in his cruising guide (named for a boat that was at anchor with him), the anchorage proved to be one of the prettiest on our trip. Due east on a low isthmus was an actual sand beach – courtesy of the low tide – backed by coconut palms. Framing the low strip were rugged lumps of rock with eroded hollows where boulders had fallen out. I paddled the kayak all along the shore which was glad in some sort of pine tree, enjoying the scenery and listening to the sigh of the breeze through the pine needles. There is no other sound like that.

In the afternoon we had two visitors. The first was a panga-load of Fijian ladies being back chauffeured back by a lone man from their afternoon fishing to a village neither in sight nor on our chart. They rafted alongside to "chat" and peer in through the portholes! They were displaced by Jim Bandy, net control of the Rag of the Air SSB net, whom we are on our way to visit. Jim was making the run from Labasa to "Also Island" (his home base) in a work boat that could make the trip in about three hours – a trip that will take us altogether about twelve! Jim paused for a cold beverage and a quick chat about approaches tomorrow, before he was on his way, needing to make home base before dark.

Evening was stunning, with just the barest loom of Labasa to the west challenging Venus and her starry companions and the strand of lighted fishing boats out on the reef for the night.

We got an early start this morning, exiting through the great Sea Reef at Sausau Pass to sail and motorsail eastward to Nukudamu Pass.

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Labels: Fiji 2007, Vanua Levu Circumnavigation

Written at 9:51 AM by Gwen and Don.

1 comments

1 Comments:

Unknown said...

Keep putting your coordinates in the
posts. Makes finding you in google earth easier :). Blackjack Bay was a hi rez section of the maps. I can make out the coral heads. No boats anchored there when that was taken.
Maybe look for you on HF when you transit to Futuna later. I have not worked anybody on Futuna since 2000.

73's Dan K0TI

July 6, 2007 at 12:41 PM