Monthly Archives: August 2013

Musket cove

While in Mexico, we invited Christine’s family to visit us on our big adventure.  We originally agreed to host 3, however as the excitement grew, all 8 extended family members wanted to see Gray Matter and experience the South Pacific. From faraway Cabo San Lucas, we researched on resorts in Fiji and quickly arranged them to book the Plantation Resort on Malolo Lai Lai island, adjacent to Musket Cove where we could anchor Gray Matter. Five months and an ocean-crossing later, When we met Christine’s parents, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, 2 cousins in Nadi and set out to Malolo Lailai Island we had no idea it would be one of the memorable stops of our trip.

Musket Cove is one of the most popular cruising destinations in Fiji. It is a well-sheltered cove between Malolo island and Malolo Lai Lai island, which hosts Plantation resort in addition to two other resorts and a handful private properties. Here is also home to the infamous Musket cove marina and yacht club. We had a fabulous time here. Musket cove has the perfect formula – with all the beauty and allure of the South Pacific, a well established yacht-friendly infrastructure and, once again, the most welcoming Fijian culture.

The pictures will speak for themselves, we should note that we have had less rain (1 day in 2 weeks), and moderate temperatures (mid 80s) which explain why we and many others just hang out here.

Anchorage

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The Amazing underwater world (video)

Sometimes what seems like the biggest challenge turns into the biggest blessing. In American Somoa we noticed a problem with our dive compressor, sure enough when we arrived in Fiji, it would not fill tanks beyond 1500psi (half full). With good internet in Savu Savu we contacted the dealer in Sydney Australia and they suspect the fourth stage has failed. They have a piston and cylinder in stock and we arranged to have it shipped to Nadi later the month. Yet, the reality is that we are in some of the world’s best diving without a compressor.

Running between the moorings in our “micro dinghy” we stopped and chatted with a couple from Chicago on “Eagle’s Wings”. They have been cruising for 9 years, and this is their 3th season in Fiji, returning to NZ for each cyclone season. They offered that they were going to the Namena Marine Reserve and would be happy to fill our tanks.

Arriving in the Namena we anchored near Eagle’s Wings, and arranged to dive with Ken and Beth the next day. A couple days later, 3 NZ boats arrived – one of them, “Just In Time”, carry a big dive compressor unit onboard – 10 minutes a tank – Mark is having serious compressor envy. Soon enough, we were doing 2-3 dives a day with all these new diver friends we just made and having a blast.

We logged 12+ dives in the week at Namena and Makongai- absolutely spectacular – the best soft and hard coral we had seen. Check out the action in the video.

Namena island

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