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Viani Bay is undoubtedly my favorite spot in Fiji. A large and well-protected anchorage, world class diving, great fishing, beautiful scenery, nearby provisioning and very welcoming locals are just a few of the reasons.

Viani Bay is situated about 50 miles to the east of the town of Savusavu, the port of entry for Vanua Levu. It is also just a 9 mile hop across the Somosomo strait to Fiji’s spectacular “Garden Island” of Taveuni. Taveuni’s high profile protects Viani Bay from the full force of the southeast trade winds, while the off lying Rainbow Reef intercepts most of the large sea swell that finds its way to Fiji from the big winter storms down south.

We visited Viani Bay twice during our 2000 cruise of Fiji and I’ve just returned from my second weeklong visit again this year.

Shortly after you anchor in Viani Bay, Jack Fisher will greet you. He is Viani Bay’s self-appointed goodwill ambassador to cruisers and a wonderful example of Fijian hospitality. Jack has lived at Viani Bay most of his 49 years. His grandfather, a Scottish planter came to Viani Bay in the last century and developed a coconut plantation. Over the years, much of the original plantation has been sold, but Jack and his extended family still live on the edge of the bay, and make their living by cutting copra, farming, fishing and catering to the yachties. Jack and his wife Sophie have a way of making everyone feel at home and are able to accommodate many of the cruiser’s needs.

There are no roads to Viani Bay. You can only get there on foot or by boat. There are no resorts with screaming kids, loud music, paragliding or personal watercraft. Just lots of beautiful peace and quiet, only occasionally broken by the sound of a local long boat or a jumping fish. Only a few families share the beautiful, mostly sand and palm tree lined shore. The surrounding hills aren’t scarred by development, and the locals keep their land very tidy. On a calm day, the water is so clear you can easily see the bottom of the bay more than sixty feet below the surface.

Some of the best SCUBA diving in the world can be had on the Rainbow Reef, about 20 minutes by dinghy from the anchorage. Jack Fisher is an excellent guide and for a very reasonable fee, will look after the dinghy(s) while we enjoy some exciting and spectacular drift dives along the reef. He’s also happy to accommodate snorkelers and spear fishers

On our visits we’ve had a chance to dive sites like the “White Wall,” “Fish Factories #1 and #2,” “The Zoo,” “Viani Pass” and “Cabbage Patch.” In more than 500 dives all over the world, I have never seen more varieties of fish on a single dive than at the “Fish Factories” and “the Zoo.” The “White Wall” is a spectacular dive starting with a swim through a 60 degree angled cave, which exits at about the 80-foot level along an underwater wall covered with beautiful white soft corals. The white wall is frequently visited by big fish such as trevally, walu, tuna, wahoo, maori wrasse and reef sharks who are waiting for the Sea Gods to send a meal their way. Drift diving along the “White Wall” in 3-4 knots of current with arms outstretched is what I imagine an eagle might feel like when it is soaring along the rim of the Grand Canyon. It just doesn’t get much better than this with your wetsuit on!

Yachties are typically social animals, and Viani Bay is a great spot to enjoy one of our favorite pastimes. Jack Fisher has built an excellent barbeque pit on the beach on one lobe of the bay. He and Sophie love to host potluck barbeques whenever there is a group of yachties in the bay. They’ve done this at least once a week every time I have been around, with as many as 21 people attending on one occasion. Jack is superb on the barbeque, Sophie usually offers up some excellent Fijian dishes, and the yachties always bring in some of their interesting specialties to share with the group. Add a little beer, wine and music, and you have the makings of a perfect island evening, Viani Bay style.

On a recent visit, I was running a bit low on fresh provisions, so I popped across to Somosomo, a small town on the island of Taveuni, to stock up. While provisioning in Somosomo is “not exactly” like Suva, Nadi or Savusavu, one can get gasoline and some very basic food items. On the other hand, Taveuni is probably one of the most beautiful islands in the Fijian chain. If you can imagine what the Hawaiian island of Kauai would have been like about 100 years ago, you would be pretty close to picturing Taveuni with its canyons, lush vegetation, waterfalls and rugged, unspoiled geography. Taveuni sits right on the 180th meridian, also known as the International Date Line. The Fijians have conveniently doglegged it to the east to keep the entire country on one time zone.

In Somosomo, I caught up with friend Peter, who was visiting from California. Peter recently “punched out” of corporate America and was looking for a bit of adventure. While on passage from Sydney to Noumea on Bossanova, the rig came down and cut the voyage short. Unphased by the “gravity storm,” Peter decided to continue his adventure on Moonshadow. We took a short sail north from Somosomo to the more comfortable anchorage at Matei and enjoyed a nice meal with a spectacular view at the Taveuni Island Resort.

The following day, we made a short hop over to Matangi Island to spend a few relaxing days anchored in the beautiful horseshoe shaped anchorage on it’s north side. We enjoyed some snorkelling in the blue waters and walking around Matangi’s rugged and scenic shoreline.

We were ready for a change of scenery, so headed back to Taveuni to pick up some fresh provisions and do some more hiking.

The following morning was overcast and breezy-perfect weather for exercise in the tropics. Peter and I loaded our knapsacks with rain gear, swimsuits, snacks, water and cameras then headed ashore, intent on some hiking. We hopped into a minivan and took a half-hour ride to the other side of the island. Along the drive were numerous large coconut plantations, small villages and a few gorgeous ex-pat’s homes, all with great vistas to the sea.

The paved road ends at the north tip of the island by the airport. From there it becomes a narrow and winding dirt road, with no shortage of potholes. The dirt road ends at Lavena Point where there is a small native village. From there it becomes a single-track trail and the only way around the rest of the island is by foot.

We hopped out of the van and began heading south on the beautifully maintained and well-marked trail, which follows the coastline for about 5 kilometres (3 miles). This is known as the Lavena Coastal Walk, which is the most scenic of any that I have taken in all of Fiji. The sea views along the rugged windward coast are magnificent, the vegetation is lush and beautiful, and there are native settlements scattered along the trail. The further away from the road we got, the fewer modern materials (cinder block and corrugated tin) that were used in the construction homes. Near the end of the trail, the homes were traditional Fijian thatched bures.

Towards the end, the trail meets a rather large creek, turns inland and begins to ascend into a narrow valley. After a few smaller cascades, one finally comes to the end of the trail at Wainihau Falls.

At the falls we changed into our swimsuits, jumped in the refreshingly cool water and swam up to the gorgeous pool into which pours two magnificent waterfalls. The taller of the falls appears to drop at least 100 feet into the jagged rock rimmed pool at the bottom. This spot is nothing short of pure paradise. After an invigorating swim and some lunch, we retraced our steps back to Lavena Point.

We headed back across the Somosomo Strait to Viani Bay for a few more days of diving before returning to “civilization” in Savusavu. After a crew change, I’ll be heading south through the Koro Sea to Suva, the capital of Fiji, on the main island of Viti Levu.

My friends Trevor and Mel arrived at oh-dark-hundred on Sunday morning. I was sound asleep and Moonshadow was tied to the marina at Port Denerau. Their three-hour flight from Auckland had been delayed by about sixteen hours but it didn’t seem to dampen their enthusiasm to get underway later that that morning on our cruise to Savusavu.

Savusavu is the second largest town and only port of entry on the second largest Fijian island of Vanua Levu. Situated about 140 miles as the seagull flies from Port Denerau, the actual track around islands and steering clear of the massive network of reefs, roughly doubles the distance. We had also planned to stop off and spend a week at the beautiful and remote island of Yadua (pronounced Yan-doo-ah).

Victualled and fuelled up, we tossed off the lines and motored out of Port Denerau right after coffee and breakfast. It was a crisp clear morning, with nary a breath of wind and sea state that would have most water skiers drooling. And so it stayed for the entire day as we motored all of the sixty miles of our first leg around the north side of Viti Levu, the main island, with the mainland on our starboard side and a massive labyrinth of reef to our port side between Bligh Water and us.

Bligh Water is named after the tyrannical captain of the H.M.S. Bounty, whose first mate led a mutiny that left him and a small group of loyal crew to fend for themselves in a small open sailing boat. I wonder if this body of water is so named because he safely navigated through the area on his miraculous voyage back to civilization, or if it is because it is arguably one of the nastiest and foulest pieces of ocean on the entire planet.

We arrived at a small island called Nananu-i-ra, just before sunset and anchored in a pleasant little bight on its west side. We had a sundowner and a nice dinner at one of the two small resorts on the island, while a string band (C for quality, A for effort) serenaded us. Trevor, having lived in Fiji for two years and knowing some of the songs even “sat in” with the band, playing the one string bass and singing.

The next morning, as soon as we had good light, we headed north out of Nananu Passage, which opened up to 26 miles of deep and mostly obstruction-free water between Yadua and us. The southeast trades were in perfect form so we had a spirited sail with about fifteen knots just abaft our starboard beam until we sailed into the lee of Yadua Tamba, a small islet just off the southwest corner of Yadua. Along the way, the Sea Gods sent a 15-pound mahi-mahi to join us for dinner.

We slipped through the pass into Thukuvou Harbour about mid-afternoon and anchored in the wide-open bay. We celebrated a “good-as-it-gets” day of cruising with sundowners and mahi-mahi on the barbeque while taking in the dramatic landscape of volcanic rock, lush tropical vegetation and white sand beaches.

We spent thee days there on the west side of Yadua, snorkelling on the beautiful reefs, fishing, reading, relaxing and socializing with a friendly Freysian ( a region of Holland) couple named Janneke and Jouke (pronounced Yan-a-ka and Yu-ka) who had cruised all the way from home on their Catalina 42.

We were visited twice by Chief John, from the only village, located on the opposite side of the island. It seems that a few villagers, who are wealthy enough to own boats, use this side of the island as a fishing ground and/or as a getaway from the hustle and bustle of life in a remote Fijian village. Chief John gave us a nice trevally that he had caught and then asked us for enough gasoline so that he could get back home on the other side of the island with his outboard powered longboat.

Our keel was getting a bit itchy, so we decided to do a bit more exploring around the island. The trade winds had become reinforced by a huge high- pressure system to our south, so anchoring on the south side of the island would have been untenable in the big southeast swells. We decided to check out a couple of anchorages on the north side.

The first and prettiest anchorage we came to, which was not named on our chart or cruising guide, was quite small. There was a motor yacht anchored right in the middle of the bight. We attempted anchoring to one side, but with “bullets” (strong shifty wind gusts) swinging us about, I was uncomfortable that we might kiss one of the surrounding reefs or bommies. We hauled up the anchor and moved on down the coast a few miles to a larger, but less attractive anchorage called Watering Bay.

Watering Bay is so named because of a fresh water spring running out of one of the steep hills bordering the bay. The local fishing boats come in to take on fresh water and the crew head ashore to have a bath. We shared the anchorage with a Labassa-based beche-de-mer (sea cucumber) boat working in the area. Beche-de-mer fetches about Fijian $50 per kilogram or about US $12 per pound and is sold to the Chinese who believe it to be a powerful aphrodisiac. This is big money in a country where the average wage is F $1.75 per hour (half that for US $). The Fijian divers collect these animals in 120 to 150 feet of water using SCUBA tanks or hookah rigs (long air hoses). Unfortunately, they are not always fully aware of decompression sickness, and we had heard that two divers had perished from it in just the last month .

We had a nice visit with the captain and the crew of the “ss Love Potion,” who told us all about their trade. During the night, the wind backed around to the northeast so we returned to the better-protected and much prettier Thukuvou Harbor the next morning. That evening we had sundowners on the beach, joined by Janneke and Jouke, as well as fellow Ponsonby ralliers Charles and Glennis from “Racundra” who had just arrived that day to Yadua.

The next morning, we made our way to the west side of the island to Navilaca Bay, this time going around the south side of the island. This side, being more exposed to the moisture carried in the trade winds, was lush and green, as opposed to the north side of Yadua, which is dryer, rockier and scrubbier, more reminiscent of the Kona Coast of Hawaii.

The entrance into Navilaca Bay is quite narrow, just a slit in the reef, but opens up to a large but bommie-riddled lagoon. We found good anchorage with plenty of swing room at the north end of the bay, off of a small palm tree-lined beach set against a backdrop of jagged rocks.

The next day at high tide, we negotiated our way through the reef, around the point to the village of Ndenimanu, generally known as Yadua Village. We went primarily to make sevusevu, which is the Fijian custom of offering a gift of some yaqona root (kava) to the village chief for the privilege of anchoring near and/or visiting the village. We found the villagers to be cheerful and extremely friendly. The village of about 200 people was very tidy, with many traditional thatched bures giving it a very romantic, South Pacific flavor.

After making our Sevusevu with a village elder (Chief John was away), we were seated on a mat under the shade of a frangipani tree and served tea and biscuits in the company of a couple of the village ladies. After tea, one of the ladies gave us a tour. In typical fashion, we were taken first to the church, next to the school, where the headmaster showed us all four classrooms, and finally to the government-operated clinic, before walking amongst some of the homes. Also in typical fashion, we were greeted with a friendly bula! (hello) and warm smiles by all that we encountered. We said our farewells and negotiated our way through the thick reef back to Moonshadow while the sun was still well above the yardarm.

The reinforced trade winds had blown themselves out, so we decided to put in a bit more easting while the conditions were in our favor. We lifted the anchor, set the mainsail and motor-sailed toward the island of Vanua Levu dodging reefs to port and starboard, passing though Yadua Passage into the protected waterway along the southwest coast of Fiji’s second largest island. Once inside the outer reef, the seas calmed and the (mostly present) navigational marks were easily visible to either side of the wide channel, making for easy navigation along the mangroved shoreline.

We passed the day just watching the verdant, mountainous landscape move along our port side, occasionally checking out a village or other landmark with the spynoculars. We reached the notorious Nasonisoni Passage late in the afternoon. Nasnonisoni Passage itself is quite well marked and easily negotiated, but in a strong trade wind situation, the eastern exit into the Koro Sea is the final resting place of waves that have had hundreds, if not thousands of miles to be whipped up by the winds into a constant barrage of direct frontal attacks on one’s yacht. Conditions being benign at that moment, we decided to put Nasnonisoni Passage behind us and then anchor in Navatu Bay, a snug little harbor just on the other side, for the evening.

With a couple of days up our sleeve before we needed to be in Savusavu, and the trade winds still nowhere to be seen, we decided to hop down to the lovely Island of Koro, about 30 miles to the southeast. We started the day motor sailing in light air and finished it bashing into a fresh southwesterly, brought to us thanks to a small disturbance to our south. We were able to take protected anchorage on the northwest side of the island in Dere Bay.

Hoping for a long-overdue meal out, we headed ashore to the Dere Bay Resort, which we visited when it had “opened” two years ago. No luck as they were still not really in operation. The boys had to suffer through my cooking again!

We decided to do a bit of exploring the next morning so put on our walking shoes, headed ashore and hit the road. In the area surrounding the resort, there are blocks of land being sold to persons wanting an “island getaway” or perhaps an escapist lifestyle. So far, at least a dozen homes have been built, some quite posh, and others pretty basic.

Koro is far from a weekend retreat, in fact, it is far from everything. We stopped to chat with one American couple from Denver who were finishing their home, which was perched on top of the highest hill in the development. They were happy to take a break from sawing and nailing to describe to us what it was like to live on Koro.

The “roads” are mostly unpaved and turn into slip-n-slides whenever it rains, which is often. There are NO utilities. Each home is self-contained. Electricity comes from solar panels and/or a generator. It is stored in golf cart batteries, much like on a cruising yacht. Water comes from the heavens and is captured on the roof and channelled from the rain gutters into a cistern. If there is a drought, then you must drive to a spring and fill jugs. To make a phone call, one must go to the post office in the nearest village and wait in line. Most of the island’s population have never seen a computer or heard of the Internet.

There is no grocery store on Koro, only 15 small villages whose people survive by fishing and subsistence farming of fruits, veggies and root crops. The couple we met told us that they did their shopping at the grocery store in Suva once a month. This involves a nine-hour ferry ride, each way, and an overnight stay. The ferries don’t run when they break down or if the weather is bad. In the odd event that the ferry is on schedule, it arrives at Koro at 2 am. By the time they get everything home and put away, it is 5 am. If they need to borrow a cup of sugar, their closest neighbor is a half-mile down the road. The closest Starbucks is 1100 miles away. Koro is one of the few final frontiers on this planet, a beautiful tropical island surrounded by deep blue water where one can still come and own a slice of paradise, light years away from reality. It’s the kind of place that is (and has been) the setting for one of those trendy “Survivor” type TV shows.

We set sail on Thursday for Savusavu, 35 miles to the north. Along the way, the southerlies faltered, so we ended up motor sailing about half the way. Returning to “civilization,” we all enjoyed being tied to the Copra Shed Marina, plugging into shore power, having a long shower, a drink at the Savusavu Yacht Club, a meal out and some concrete under our feet again.

Savusavu is a busy little town that has it roots in the copra (coconut) trade. Since that has waned a bit, like many parts of Fiji, it is slowly shifting to tourism. In the case of Savusavu, it’s eco-tourism. This is great hopping off spot that’s close to remote islands, world class SCUBA diving, jungle hiking and a host of other “eco” activities. Savusavu has a small marina complex, an airstrip, one decent grocery store, three banks (one even has an ATM inside), a farmer’s market, a few cafes, a dozen churches and an assortment of other small retail businesses. The social center for the local expats is the Planter’s Club and for the yachties it’s the Savusavu Yacht Club.

The big event of the week is the local dance on Friday nights at the Hot Springs Hotel. Everybody that’s anybody in town shows up. The cover charge is $5, the drinks are expensive and weak, the DJ is hopeless, but its “people watching” at its best. And just like at a hockey game, every now and then a fight breaks out.

Savusavu seems to attract a lot of expats as the area offers about 80% of the freehold (outsiders can buy and own free and clear) land available in Fiji. The expats generally fall into two categories; people wanted by someone, and people not wanted by anyone. Hang out here for a week and you can generally figure out which are which. This seems to be a place where retired marijuana farmers, tax dodgers and those running from a business deal gone bad, come to disappear and live in peace. Some call themselves “real estate brokers.” It’s places like this that make cruising interesting.

It has been nearly six weeks since Moonshadow made landfall in Fiji. I have been a bit remiss on tapping out any sort of an update, but there has been no shortage of things to do. Between post rally festivities, yacht maintenance, guest visits, working on my Dive master’s certification, and a bit of fun here and there, life has seemed to maintain that first-world pace even though we are supposed to be on “Fiji Time.”

I’ve been based out of the Musket Cove Yacht Club on Malolo Lailai Island, about eight miles west of the mainland island of Viti Levu. Musket Cove is an excellent “home base” for cruisers wishing to casually visit some of the lovely islands and anchorages in the Mamanucas group of islands. More on this great little cruiser hangout later.

The Mamanucas are a group of 20 small islands lying to the west, or in the lee of Viti Levu island which is Mainland Fiji. Many of the islands are volcanic in nature, giving them dramatic topography, and most have a bit of beautiful white or yellow sand beach. They are protected from the west, south and east by barrier reefs or islands and generally receive less wind and rain than the other island groups. If you come here on vacation, odds are that the weather will be good. The sailing is easy, but the area is pocked with coral reefs and sand shoals, so movement can only be undertaken when the weather is settled and the sun is high (about 10 am to 2 pm). Only a handful of the islands offer good overnight anchorages, but in settled weather, it is easy to make day visits to many of the islands, as the distances are relatively short.

A few days after our arrival, I was invited to spend a day aboard Peter Churchouse’s beautiful 65-foot Alan Warwick designed Moonblue II. We cruised about nine miles north to the island of Eluvuka and enjoyed a leisurely lunch at the beautiful Treasure Island Resort. This place is a nice quiet little getaway for couples and families who are happy to relax in one spot and are immune to “rock fever.” In addition to the usual island activities, they’ve squeezed in a pool, tennis court and play area for the kids.

Our first excursion aboard Moonshadow was during the post rally activities. This was a day trip to a tiny little island called Etui, situated about nine miles to the north of Musket Cove, next to Eluvuka. We took about a dozen visiting friends from the Ponsonby Cruising Club so it was more of a party cruise than a sailing adventure. We had lunch, a few beers in the beachfront bar, did some swimming and sunbathing on the beautiful beach before steaming back to Musket Cove for more festivities.

Etai is the home of Beachcomber Resort. This is sort of the Club Med of Fiji, targeting the younger and more active holidaymakers. Don’t come here looking for peace and quiet, because this island rocks! Accommodations range from a dormitory for backpackers to private bures (thatched bungalows) for the less budget conscience or those seeking some degree of privacy. Meals are all buffet style, and the quality is pretty good. The resort offers all the typical island activities like SCUBA diving, personal watercraft, water skiing, parasailing, snorkelling, volleyball etc. Every night, there is island entertainment, live music and dancing in the casual, sand-floored main lodge. This place pumps till well past midnight. If you are looking for a night of fun in the Mamanuthas, this is the place to go! If you come here, you don’t need much more than a bathing suit and a T-shirt. You can leave your hiking boots at home. To walk across the island takes less than two minutes. A circumnavigation walk on the beach takes about ten minutes. Beachcomber is about ten miles from mainland Fiji and a million miles from reality.

I took a single-handed cruise up to Mana Island, about nine miles to the north west of Musket Cove. Mana is a very scenic island with a native village, two backpacker’s resorts and an upscale resort. The beach on the north side is stunning, and belongs to the upscale resort. The only anchorage is in a small lagoon on the south side, near the backpacker’s resort and local village. I felt that the backpacker’s resort resembled a minimum-security prison. It was crowded, noisy, and dirty and the southern beach was covered in litter. While the lagoon offered good protection, one night was enough for me!

A few days later, I sailed over to Port Denerau to do some provisioning in Nadi and then picked up long-time cruising friends Cindy and Tim from Total Devotion, who popped into Fiji for a week’s visit. We spent a couple days in Musket Cove catching up and then visited a couple spots nearby.

We spent an evening anchored of the beautiful and dramatic little Qalito (pronounced Galito) Island and enjoyed swim and a dinner out at the Castaway Island Resort there. The next nite we spent anchored at a beautiful little bight on the northwest end of Malolo Island. The crescent-shaped bay is lined with palms and other trees, has a beautiful white-sand beach and is uninhabited. This lovely little getaway has no name on any chart or cruising guide that I have seen, but is easily the nicest and quietest little spot in the neighborhood. Maybe I’ll just call it “No Name Bay.”

We steamed over to Port Denerau again to pick up my lovely lady friend Gretchen from Auckland. She popped in to visit for the Queen’s Birthday Weekend and to escape some of the shocking winter weather New Zealand has been experiencing.

From Denerau, we made a beeline twenty-six miles northwest to Navadra (pronounced Navandra). This is a small cluster of rocky islands, two of which are connected by a stunning white sand spit. The island had just been vacated as the set for an Irish version of Survivor.

We enjoyed a walk (more of a climb) part way around the island and enjoyed a mostly relaxing few days on the hook. The only drama was being on awakened early Sunday morning to the sound of a Captain Cook cruise ship’s whistle signalling us to move clear so they could get to their massive mooring line. Unbeknownst to us, they moor there for a few hours each week as they cruise through the Mamanutha and Yasawa Island groups. The skipper and crew were most gracious, even sending over a bottle of champagne to thank us for our trouble. Now that’s class!

Working our way back to Port Denerau, we made a one-night stopover again at Musket Cove. I dropped off my guests and returned back to “home base.”

Musket Cove not only possesses the physical features of a good anchorage, such as a good protection from the weather, good holding, room for lots of yachts and beautiful surroundings, but the Musket Cove Yacht Club and Resort go a long way toward attracting and supporting the cruising fleet.

Musket Cove derives its name from the original purchase price for this beautiful 6000-acre island-one musket, and was originally used as a coconut plantation. It was purchased by a yachtie named Dick Smith in 1964 for “many muskets.” He has developed the island into three resorts including one timeshare and added a golf course, marina, airstrip and a few private homes. The island is self-contained, making electricity from a diesel generator, getting water from rain catchment systems and underground springs, and even treating its own waste.

And of course there is the Musket Cove Yacht Club. The only prerequisite for membership is that you must have sailed into Musket Cove on a yacht from a foreign port. Lifetime membership is affordable, even to cruisers on a budget. Cost $1 Fijian (US 50 cents). For that you get a membership card, which entitles you to use of all the Yacht Club and Resort facilities on the island, your name and yacht name carved on a beam in the Yacht Club and hefty discounts on travel to the mainland via the Malolo Cat ferry.

And the facilities are excellent, particularly for this part of the world. The Yacht Club has a bar and big screen cable TV in case you want to have a beer and catch up on world news or the latest sporting event. Attached to the Yacht Club is a restaurant/bar/pool complex open to members.

Musket Cove is no five star mega resort, just a relaxed place where the not very rich and not at all famous from all over the world come to get away for a casual holiday. During the day it’s no shoes, no shirts, no worries. At night a shirt and shorts or a sulu are standard dress. If you come here, you can pack light and leave your designer gear behind.

The Musket Cove Marina has room for at least a dozen yachts med-moored (stern to the dock). The marina will cost you F$14 a day, F$85 a week or F$318 a month. Deep-water moorings are just over half that. The current exchange is about $2 Fijian to 1 $US. If that’s still too spendy for you, there is plenty of room to anchor out in the bay absolutely free.

A few steps from the marina at the Boatshed complex is a PADI Five Star dive facility, water toy rental as well as all the amenities that make a cruisers life easier. The shower/toilet facilities are clean and well maintained. There is Internet access, laundry, mail, phone, fax and trash disposal. Fuel, fresh water and LPG are available dockside. There are also some limited marine repair facilities on the island near the airstrip. If you wish to leave your yacht for the summer season, there is even an inner lagoon designated as a “hurricane hole.”

If that isn’t enough for you, there is also a very well stocked general store. At the Musket Cove Trader you can find everything from blue cheese to bilge pumps. Fresh bread, fruits and veggies arrive daily from the mainland. With the exception of off-sale adult bevies, the prices are very reasonable. When you need to load up the “fun locker” you can hop on the Malolo Cat ferry and hit one of the grog shops in Nadi.

A few steps from the seaward end of the marina dock is a small, palm-studded island with a thatched-roof kiosk-type bar surrounded by lots of picnic tables. The Island Bar has one price for all drinks-$3. Everyone here just calls it the “3 Dollar Bar.” In fact, it is pretty famous with yachties all over the world, who might know it as the $2 or $2.50 Bar from days past. This is the most popular spot for sundowners with a good view of both the beach and the lagoon to the east. Adjacent to the bar are some industrial-sized barbeques that seem to be fired up most every evening. You can bring in your own food and throw it on the barbie and keep your galley cool.

For a meal out, my favorite spot is Ananda’s next to the airstrip. The staff are very friendly, the food is tasty island style, the wine list reasonable and most evenings there is a string band playing a blend of island and pop music.

Wami, a dwarf who barely overstands his massive acoustical guitar, heads up the band and sings in a unique, near falsetto voice. Bill and George usually back him up on guitars and singing and a guy sitting on a tea crate plucks away on one string attached to a moveable stick, laying down the bass notes. The band sit and play around a large cocktail table on which sits a tanoa, a large wooden kava bowl. It is apparent that this bowl has seen lots of use as it is well seasoned and even has a little cast supporting one leg. Between songs the boys pass the bilo, a half coconut shell containing kava to any of the guests wishing to partake in the muddy looking (and tasting) local grog. There are always some good harmonies and a group of people gathered around having a good time-Fiji style.

For some real action you can head next door to the Plantation Island Resort for the weekly crab or frog races. A dozen or so hermit crabs or frogs are gathered from the beach or the island, marked with numbers, and auctioned to the highest bidders. The Fijian auctioneer does an excellent job of hyping up the event and some of the locals do a good job of bidding up prices for the livestock. After all the “thoroughbreds” are sold, they are placed under an upside-down bucket in middle of a large square drawn on the dance floor, and “the gate” is opened. The first frog or crab to walk, hop, crawl or otherwise travel out of the square is the winner. Owners of the animals that win, place or show split most of the takings from the auction, which can go into the hundreds of dollars. If you have any energy left after that, you can stay and dance the night away to some mostly cheesy disco music.

Musket Cove is generally a “cashless” society. Anything at the Resort or Yacht Club can be charged to your room or yacht and you can pay your bill once a month by credit card and when you depart. And Fiji is still in the “no tipping zone.”

It’s no wonder it is so easy to linger. Yea, maybe we will leave next week.