It was our turn to go out exploring this morning. We tried one of the jetty's thinking it belonged to a resort to find it was private and we should move along. The longest jetty, apparently the longest in Fiji, gives access over a drying shoreline out to depths sufficient to get a dinghy alongside at low water. It's at least 200m from shore to end. At the shore end we found an empty resort, empty apart from the maintenance man who showed us around. Next door along the beach was the second resort, Koro Beach, which had 2 guests, a decked dining area under a spreading mango tree and a thatched pavilion where the guests and resident expats meet for sundowners each day.
When we'd been ashore we learnt that there were mooring balls, not private as we'd thought, but available for visiting yachts to pick up and thus save the fragile coral. Always wanting to protect coral from damage we pulled the anchor up, getting snagged on the way up, and moved over to one of the balls. One other yacht was tied up, Koro, which belongs to Neil and Qui Ing who have a house here. He'd put them in and assured us they were checked and strong so when Cool Change a NZ catamaran with 2 masts which we'd seen in Opua came in we passed on the information and they decided to pick up a mooring ball too.
With the promise of meeting another type of Fijian community we went back at 4pm for a beer and a gossip. Word, and a full view of the bay, had alerted the locals to fresh blood and we had a full compliment of residents to tell us about the private land development and how this was an eco community, ie collect your own water, use solar power and grow your own vegetables. Robert and Jenny have a house here and a live aboard tug in Nelson, S island NZ, Neil and his wife Wui Ing had come via Australia, Jenny was English, another American, another Canadian. Talking to Robert I asked him about diving and he said it's good stuff and would show a good spot for tomorrow morning.
With the sun gone and the mosquitoes arrived just after 6 o'clock we went home for a quiet dinner and watching a film in the cockpit. The wind piped up around 8pm and that's when we saw lights and realised Cool Change was motoring behind us. It turned out the 'strong' mooring they were on had parted company with the sea bed and set them adrift. They did get the anchor down for the night but we were concerned in these stronger winds up to 25 knots he same might happen to us so David stayed up until the wee hours anchor watch alarm. Our mooring held but we were tired next morning. At least with your own anchor you'll have tested the sticking and have faith in it and your chain.
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