Port Denarau and Civilization

We got another early morning start from Robinson Crusoe Island, fortunate that the tide was low so we could easily see the adjacent reefs. The sail north west up the coast was wonderful with a 15-knot wind tailwind so we could fly our downwind sails. As we entered through Navula Passage were now inside the reef and could breathe a sigh of relief (for awhile). We still had another 14 miles to go, but it looked like a no brainer as we had waypoints from a trusted source (Curley) in Savusavu. 

We rounded Pt. Denarau through a narrow passage and began to see the vestiges of society:  large resorts lining the shore and jets skis zooming by. We became a little to engrossed in all this because when I looked down at our depth sounder (remember we’re still following the trusted waypoints) I saw our depth was only eight feet, leaving us only two feet to spare. A quick turn to the north got us in a little deeper water but we realized the whole bay was fairly shallow.

Port Denarau is the home to super yachts and cruise boats that service the tourist industry.

The very high-end marina at Port Denarau was full with boats so we anchored outside with about 20 other sail boats and took the dingy in to explore the port. I wasn’t paying close enough attention to the layout of the marina and promptly dinged the bottom with our prop, but luckily it was just mud. That made the depth less than one foot. Got to be careful around here.

We spent the afternoon exploring the marina and shopping for some much needed parts. We found a yacht chandlery that had the exact Shurhold boat hook we’d been searching for (lost ours in the storm off Tonga) and another store had some dive masks to replace my leaky one. We then had a great lunch at Cado's Restaurant, enjoying the leisurely time to just sit and enjoy watching the tourists. Port Denarau is close to Nadi Airport (pronounced Nandi but spelled Nadi) and most tourists come to Denarau to board fast ferries out to the resorts in the Mananuca and Yasawa Islands.

Jacks of Fiji is much like the ABC shops in Hawaii, but actually has great prices on "bula shirts" and other items.

After lunch I patiently tagged along as Meryl shopped in the various stores in the Port Denarau Mall where she bought presents for various people back home. We even managed to find some good ice cream at a local shop, somewhat of a treat when you’re on a cruising sailboat.

A wonderful hour.

Still not ready to go back to the boat, we casually walked into the Oasis Spa just to look at the prices (very reasonable) and ended up getting a “Couples Massage” for one wonderful, blissful hour. I can’t tell you how much we both needed that. Our poor bodies get so banged up sailing the boat and maneuvering around tight places that I’m sure the masseurs thought we beat each other given all our black and blue spots.

We then (carefully) motored the dingy out of the yacht basin and back to the boat where we enjoyed a good dinner and a beautiful sunset.