{"id":4050,"date":"2016-07-15T04:01:32","date_gmt":"2016-07-15T04:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/?p=4050"},"modified":"2016-07-15T04:01:32","modified_gmt":"2016-07-15T04:01:32","slug":"run-to-paradise-taveuni-island-fiji","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/?p=4050","title":{"rendered":"Run To Paradise – Taveuni Island, Fiji"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Paradise
Paradise Resort, Taveuni Island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moving east or south-east in Fiji is tricky because those south-east trades blow constantly at this time of year. So when we saw a wind shift to the north-east we thought we\u2019d better take it, despite the fact that it came with a trough bringing rain and crappy weather. (Still better than motoring, according to the skipper). For once I wasn\u2019t arguing – Savusavu is a nice place to hang out but it\u2019s easy to get lulled into a kind of \u2018cruisers comfortably numb\u2019 state. I get itchy foot syndrome quicker than Bruce so I was more than happy to up sticks this time. And there was the small matter of a birthday dinner to look forward to!<\/p>\n

Our destination was Paradise Resort, on the south-west corner of Taveuni Island, approximately 40nm away. But our first stop was the huge distance of 3nm down the bay to the Cousteau Resort, where we anchored out for the night. The resort was badly damaged by cyclone Winston, and was still closed for repairs.<\/p>\n

\"Cousteau
Cousteau Resort in the repair stage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"foggy
A foggy, drizzly morning at the Cousteau Resort anchorage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next morning there was fog and not a breath of wind. So we motored out into Somosomo straight (complete with grumpy \u2018not happy about motoring\u201d skipper at the helm). Mercifully the wind filled in during the day and we ended up having a great sail.<\/p>\n

\"Approaching
Approaching Taveuni Island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But by the time we got to the resort it was blowing 20 kts, with no protection from the seas or wind. Hmmm—don\u2019t tell me this is paradise!! We were counting on the conditions to ease later in the day, so we took a punt and picked up one of their moorings and rocked and rolled while we waited with fingers crossed.<\/p>\n

\"Paradise
Paradise on a bad day!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And hey presto, in a few hours the wind had shifted round to the south, and the next morning it was like we were in a completely different place. Now that was a nice birthday present!<\/p>\n

\"Now
Now that’s better!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alan and Terri, who own Paradise Resort, are very welcoming to yachties, allowing us to use their moorings free of charge (there are at least three available, approximate position 16 56.04S, 179 54E) plus the use of the resort facilities. Again, they suffered extensive damage from the cyclone and have only just re-opened. Most of the guest cottages have been re-built and the gardens are being replanted. The resort is low-key but the staff are a friendly bunch, so it\u2019s a fun atmosphere and there\u2019s a pool and spa if you so desire. I\u2019m sure it\u2019ll take a while to get back to its\u2019 former glory, but it\u2019s good to see that they had plenty of guests.<\/p>\n

\"the
the pool at Paradise Resort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sadly the reef will take longer to recover from its\u2019 battering, so while there was still plenty of fish life, the coral has been reduced to rubble off the front of the resort. I didn\u2019t care though – it was wonderful to get into warm water and have the first snorkel of the season!<\/p>\n

\"plenty
plenty of fish of all shapes and sizes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the evening Bruce treated me to cocktails and dinner at the resort. We were joined by Jack, a single-hander kiwi on \u201cHigh C\u2019s\u201d who arrived about the same time as us, so we had a very pleasant evening together. (I have to say the food was a bit disappointing, but hey I didn\u2019t have to cook so I can\u2019t complain!) Jack is an accomplished guitarist and has offered to give Bruce some ukulele lessons -we now have 2 guitars and 2 ukuleles on board, but with no skill between us we\u2019re in desperate need of tuition!<\/p>\n

\"sundowners
sundowners at Taveuni<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"No
No birthday is complete without a Fou-Fou drink<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We spent a few days here, doing a few more boat jobs (always, always there are boat jobs!), snorkeling and just chilling. Our other reason for coming to Taveuni was to deliver some of the aid supplies donated to the villages affected by the cyclone. We loaded up the dinghy with the 101 cans, rice and a bilge pump for the desalinator at the local village and handed them over to Alan to store until they could be distributed.<\/p>\n

\"Deliveries
Deliveries from Sea Mercy for the village<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On our last night we went back into the resort for their \u2018Fijian\u2019 night \u2013 music and dancing supplied by the staff, and a traditional \u201clovo\u201d feast. Similar to the New Zealand \u201cHangi\u201d, \u201dlovo\u201d is a method of cooking food in an earthen pit, using coconut husks and hot stones, the whole lot covered with taro leaves. The chicken and pork are wrapped in banana leaves, topped with taro or sweet potato and cooked for several hours.<\/p>\n

\"uncovering
uncovering the Lovo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Pork
Pork and chicken wrapped in banana leaves<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"music
music provided by the staff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"As
As well as dancing…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Love
Love those Fijian smiles!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the end of the evening it was time for the kava ceremony. We\u2019ve had kava before in Vanuatu, so we knew what to expect it terms of the taste (imagine peppery, earthy dish-water and you\u2019ve got it) but we learnt a bit more about the Fijian rituals (it seems to involve a lot of cupped hand clapping and no talking). It certainly wasn\u2019t as strong as the Vanuatu kava, so all we got was a bit of tingling around the lips and a bad taste in the mouth.<\/p>\n

\"The
The kava ceremony begins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A muslin cloth is placed over the bowl of water and powdered kava is put into the muslin and then squeezed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ok
Ok my turn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"the
the face says it all…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I really can\u2019t see the attraction, but with spirits at FJ$130 a bottle I guess it\u2019s a cheap way to party. I think you\u2019d need to consume an awful lot to get any effect though! For us, one half-shell was more than enough\u2026..I think we\u2019ll stick to our beer and wine, thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moving east or south-east in Fiji is tricky because those south-east trades blow constantly at this time of year. So when we saw a wind shift to the north-east we thought we\u2019d better take it, despite the fact that it came with a trough bringing rain and crappy weather. (Still better than motoring, according to … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Run To Paradise – Taveuni Island, Fiji”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Run To Paradise - Taveuni Island, Fiji","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-svtoucan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6B46t-13k","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4050"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4057,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4050\/revisions\/4057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}