{"id":4213,"date":"2016-08-06T20:09:40","date_gmt":"2016-08-06T20:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/?p=4213"},"modified":"2016-08-06T20:09:40","modified_gmt":"2016-08-06T20:09:40","slug":"putting-on-the-ritz-musket-cove-mamanuca-islands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/?p=4213","title":{"rendered":"Putting On The Ritz – Musket Cove, Mamanuca Islands"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Musket
Musket Cove Resort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The West side of Viti Levu is definitely the ritzy side \u2013 as we motored the short distance to the legendary Musket Cove we passed numerous sandy cays dotted around the reefs, each one occupied by an exclusive resort. It was a hive of activity with jet skies, dive boats and high-speed ferries transporting tourists hither and thither.<\/p>\n

\"Every
Every sand cay has its’ own resort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We\u2019d heard and read so much about Musket Cove from other cruisers\u2019 reports that we had to check it out for ourselves. To make it more enticing, for a nominal fee anyone who sails into Musket Cove from overseas is eligible for life membership of the Musket Cove Yacht Club. Now that\u2019s pretty cool!\"IMG_1453\"<\/p>\n

Set in the Mamanuca Islands on Malolo Lailai Island, it\u2019s a tricky entrance through the reefs particularly as our electronic charts were waaay out. It\u2019s always alarming when the chart shows you going straight over a reef when there\u2019s nothing but blue water in front of you. You have to learn to trust your eyes and not the charts!<\/p>\n

\"Our
Our alarming track – I assure you we didn’t touch any reefs!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once inside the sheltered deepwater harbour it was obvious that this is a favourite haunt of yachties \u2013 almost every mooring ball was occupied, with many more boats at anchor. I think we were expecting a kind of low-key cruiser\u2019s hang-out with a few thatched bures and a beach bar. It probably was<\/em> like that in the 1970\u2019s, but now it\u2019s a big flash resort with the works, including some stunning villas for rent on the hillside. Surprisingly, it\u2019s still very welcoming to us \u2018grotty yachties\u2019, so we indulged ourselves by using their amenities as much as our wallets would allow!<\/p>\n

\"Toucan
Toucan in the midst of it all, Musket Cove anchorage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dick's
Dick’s Place restaurant and pool – the food was superb<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The beachfront, Musket Cove<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Guests
Guests are serenaded by the staff as they arrive and leave<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"there
there are regular ferries but some prefer a more upmarket entrance into the anchorage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rehua\u2019s kids enjoyed the pool and meeting new friends, and we relaxed and chilled, feeling very decadent and somewhat out of place amongst all the bona fide guests at the resort, many of whom were Aussies. We took a walk up the hillside where we got some great views of the extensive reefs around the island, went snorkeling and kayaking and generally had a great time.<\/p>\n

\"the
the anchorage and surrounding reefs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The view to the mainland on the north side of the island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sundowners
Sundowners on Rehua<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"IMG_1450\"It seems that some yachts get \u2018stuck\u2019 here for a long while. Lovely as it is, for us it\u2019s a novelty but not our preferred habitat \u2013 there\u2019s only so much \u2018resorting\u2019 we can do before feeling the need to move on. Rehua are planning to stay a little longer to catch up with other friends, but we have to make tracks to Vuda Point Marina on the mainland where we\u2019ll leave Toucan to fly home for Nick & Sally\u2019s wedding. Exciting times coming up!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The West side of Viti Levu is definitely the ritzy side \u2013 as we motored the short distance to the legendary Musket Cove we passed numerous sandy cays dotted around the reefs, each one occupied by an exclusive resort. It was a hive of activity with jet skies, dive boats and high-speed ferries transporting tourists … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Putting On The Ritz – Musket Cove, Mamanuca Islands”<\/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":"Putting On The Ritz - Musket Cove, Mamanuca Islands","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-4213","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-15X","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4213","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=4213"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4217,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4213\/revisions\/4217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}