Week 104: Blue Lagoon to Musket Cove (68nm)

To start the week, we enjoyed an exceptionally special two nights at the Turtle Island resort (our first sleeps on land in nearly a year!), which is a famed celebrity haunt and where both the 1949 and 1980 “The Blue Lagoon” films were shot. Later, bad weather and a nasty case of strep throat for Laura had us retreating to the comfort of Musket Cove, where we slowly started work to pretty up Serenity for her upcoming photoshoot.

First Mate’s Log

Sunday, 6th September: Liv and Elliott had been trying to treat us to a night ashore in a hotel for months, but we’d never managed to make it work. Well – we finally got our opportunity and decided to go big! A lot of googling had revealed Turtle Island resort, a secluded celebrity haunt that was able to take guests at short notice since all the staff are resident on the island. Normally it would be well outside our budget, but they were willing to have us for a night at a generous rate as none of their usual guests can get into Fiji. Major win for boat life! It was a truly magical experience and a wonderful treat after a tough and uncertain few weeks – see Story of the Week below!

Monday, 7th September: Our friends on Amazing Grace (Anne and David), after hearing our glowing reviews, decided to join us at the resort the following day. They requested a special Fijian night, which sounded like great fun and not to be missed. With a special offer to stay another night… well how could we say no? Story continues in Story of the Week below.

Tuesday, 8th September: We got back on board Serenity around 10:30am feeling fully rejuvenated. Influencer and Max were singing the praises of the manta ray anchorage, so we made a last minute decision to head down there in hopes of a snorkel the following morning before heading off to find protection for some weather coming through Wednesday / Thursday. Arrived in time to join everyone ashore for a very delicious pizza and a few beers at the local resort. Sadly, the anchorage had not improved despite the more favourable wind direction and we spent all night bouncing around and not sleeping much at all.

Wednesday, 9th September: A cloudy, moody morning dawned and I discovered I was feeling truly awful; some sort of flu-like thing had set in. Alec was exhausted after barely sleeping thanks to the wind blowing us towards a reef, so we were a bit of a sorry pair. Decided neither of us could manage snorkelling with the mantas, even though we desperately wanted to, because we just felt too crap. So, we upped anchor and headed on our way – destination was Navadra, a small uninhabited island that offered good protection from all S wind directions, perfect for the storm due to blow through tonight / early tomorrow. We made our way down and arrived for a late lunch, hoping to relax. But, an unexpected NE wind meant we spent all afternoon nervously watching the anchor alarm. To make life trickier, five sharks continually circled our boat, meaning neither of us felt safe swimming to check our distance from the reef. And, a late arrival catamaran parked very close to us, adding to the stress. There was little we could do though, so we just watched and crossed fingers that the wind would come around at some point as it was forecast to. The persistent N in the wind meant the swell in the anchorage picked up through the afternoon, making for an unpleasant roll, but it was too late to go anywhere else. So we just had to accept that we likely wouldn’t sleep much again tonight. Sigh. Not ideal for a sickly me!

Thursday, 10th September: I was so ill by yesterday evening that I was zero help in watching the weather and monitoring the boat’s position. I am very lucky to have Alec, who, despite not having slept much the night before, stayed up most of the night on his own monitoring our situation (thankfully the wind did eventually come around to a better direction, but not until about 2am). I woke up with my symptoms having concentrated to my throat, which was now so sore I could hardly swallow. We clearly needed a place we could rely on to sleep well (and with access to a clinic if I got any worse), so there was no question that we would head to Musket Cove at first light. We motored down, tied up to a buoy, and spent most of the rest of the day napping. Some googling of my symptoms revealed I most likely had strep throat (which I must have picked up at Turtle Island?), so we also started me on the recommended course of amoxicillin. We can’t catch a break with health stuff lately!!

Fri-Sun, 11-13th September: A mostly quiet few days continuing to recover (I did not start to improve at all until Sunday). Alec started on cleaning up the boat ahead of the photo session we had planned for the following Wednesday (to take pictures to advertise the boat) as well as the mammoth task of catalogueing the full inventory and details of Serenity First’s features. I pitched in a little when I was feeling up to it by cleaning rust stains off the gel coat and polishing any particularly rusty bits of stainless.

Story of the Week: Turtle Island

Alec and I were still feeling really worn out from the intense stress of our passage to Fiji, even after a relatively relaxed couple of weeks. We’d started to think a bit of land time might be just what the doctor ordered, which also worked out as Liv and Elliott have been trying to treat us to a night in a hotel pretty much since we arrived in the Pacific! Lots of googling hadn’t revealed quite the right spot, until… Turtle Island Resort popped up. It was clear from the incredible reviews and pictures that this was the top end of luxury so probably not in the birthday budget. BUT, being the eternal optimist that I am, I thought it couldn’t hurt to ask if they maybe would do a special deal for us given Covid means tourists can’t get to them.

The owner himself got back to me right away with a pretty unbelievable offer. I mean, it would still be the most we’ve ever spent on a night in a hotel by a considerable margin, but for a place this incredible and that is usually booked solid months in advance (and also normally requires six nights minimum stay) this was absolutely a once in a lifetime opportunity, so we just had to go for it!

We showed up Sunday morning at 9:30 on the dot, and no sooner had we dropped the anchor than the hotel launch came out to meet us and take us ashore. As we approached the beach, we discovered the entire staff had assembled to welcome us in song. While Alec was allowed to hop out into the shallows, two traditionally clad warriors waded in to carry me to shore! No sooner had my toes hit the sand then I was enthusiastically greeted by each person in turn with a huge hug and a genuine welcome. Well, we were sold already – coming here was such a great idea!!

Bale, our host for our stay, showed us to our room. I say room… I mean villa! We had our own house, easily two or three times the size of the boat, complete with a hot tub and the biggest shower I’ve ever seen. There we met Elle, who would be our “Bure Mama” – a dedicated member of staff who was always available to ensure we had everything we could want and our room was always perfect. I could get used to this…

We were excited to explore Turtle Island, so Bale and activities coordinator Jerry took us out in one of their big golf carts for a tour. The resort is based on its own private island, which is an impressive 500 acres in size and boasts 12 private beaches. The island had started out, when the owner Richard Evanson first bought it in the 1970s, as a barren, boggy place overrun by goats. But he painstakingly reclaimed the land, planting 60,000 trees to create a beautiful forest of mahogany and rain trees on the interior of the island, and adding coconut palms along beaches. He built himself a rustic little house, and took pride in living as eco-friendly and self-sufficiently as possible. Though the footprint has grown, those sentiments remain today – for example, 90% of the energy for the island comes from a large solar farm, and nearly everything eaten by staff and guests alike is grown in the extensive, modern gardens (complete with a large hydroponic system for growing lettuce). The pride that the staff and owners take in these endeavours was infectious and inspiring. They were excited to show us the huge woodshop where they build ALL of the furniture for the resort (from the now mature mahogany and rain tree wood), the mechanical workshop where they maintain and fix every system on the island, and even the newly commissioned chicken coop and pig pens (projects undertaken to make use of downtime during Covid). What an amazing place! Read a bit more about this history, if you like, on their website.

Back from our tour, we were offered the choice to have lunch anywhere on the island, and quickly opted for what looked like the prime spot – a clifftop viewpoint complete with its own pool and hammock. The chef packed us a HUGE picnic of fresh veggie dishes and locally caught fish, and they then dropped us off to relax in solitude. It was bliss!

A glorious afternoon nap rejouvenated us after lunch, followed by a full body massage (for Alec) and a trail ride on one of the resort’s ponies (for me). A pre-dinner dip in the hot tub and then an egregiously long, hot shower was everything I could have hoped for. We love this place!!

At our cruising friends’ request, we’d been sharing lots of pictures of our stay, and for Anne and David on Amazing Grace, at this point the FOMO was just too much – they decided to come for the following night! This won us lots of points with the resort, who agreed to put on a special Fijian dinner and show for the four of us if we’d stay for a second night with our friends. Well, it would be rude not to say yes to that!

Our first evening’s dinner proved another epic meal (we even had local lobster), after which we were invited to join the staff kava social. Our first kava experience! Made from the root of a local plant, kava is a drink with (we’re told) mild narcotic effects. It is common practice for villages to regularly come together to drink kava as a social activity or, in a more formal setting, as part of ceremonies on special occasions. The Turtle Island staff have a kava social every evening, and we were delighted to be able to join and experience the tradition. Kava itself tastes mostly like dirt (in my opinion), and had the slightly odd effect of making our mouths a bit numb, but we’re still happy to have tried it once! The best part of the social was actually that the natural musicality of the Fijians came to the fore. Someone would start humming and before long everyone would break out in song. We enjoyed it so much, we decided to sing a few songs for them – Alec borrowed a guitar and we shared a few of our favourites. It was a truly special evening! Of course, we only managed until like 9pm (cruiser’s midnight), but they didn’t mind :).

That was only day 1! The next morning, Alec took me out on the resort’s Sunfish dinghy for my first ever dinghy sailing lesson. It was a little nerve racking, but still good fun! Unfortunately a part on the boom broke so we had to cut our lesson short, but I definitely enjoyed my first try on a sailing dinghy. After that, we aimed for a more relaxed day, and enjoyed a walk through the resort, a glorious few hours reading on the beach and more time in the hot tub. Two of the staff also put on a demonstration for us on weaving palm leaves in the afternoon – including making me a lovely belt.

The pinnacle of the day, though, was the special Fijian night the resort put on for our friends and us that evening (which they kindly scheduled early for us, given they knew we’d be ready for bed by 9pm!). They built a traditional lovo for dinner (a Fijian underground oven), which they packed with enough food for an army, and set up a candlelit table under a huge banyan tree. There were so many dishes they literally couldn’t fit it all on the table!! We sat down with Anne, David and our host Bale for a spectacular feast. It was one of those meals where you really wish you had an extra stomach. I ate till way past the full point, but it was just too tasty to pass up!

After dinner, the staff put on a ‘meke’ for us – a show of singing and dancing, this is the traditional way in which stories and oral history were passed down in Fiji. Even though we didn’t understand the language, it was beautiful to watch. Afterwards, they hosted a more formal kava ceremony and we enjoyed a fun rest of the evening chatting to the staff and our friends.

For our last morning, Alec and I squeezed in another lesson on the Sunfish (now fixed) and a final walk on the beach before we reluctantly packed up our things to head back to the boat. The final surprise awaited as we walked down the dock to hop into the resort’s launch. Maybe 10 of the staff followed, we thought just to say farewell, but suddenly they all jumped in too! We quickly realised they wanted to see Serenity, having never had a yacht come to the resort before. So, of course we invited them aboard! It was fun to see the roles reversed, us hosting them as they all enjoyed taking selfies around the boat. It was a lovely end to our visit!

We will not soon forget our time at Turtle Island, especially as, in a way, it marks the beginning of the end of our time cruising. Shortly after this, Serenity First goes up for sale and we will start to turn our thoughts to home. But, not quite yet :).