18 days in Fiji (#9) Cruising with Freewind Sailing Adventures

Bula! Hello and welcome to my series on Fiji.

Before my trip I had many questions. After 18 days in Fiji (with five day cruises and four nights on an island resort) I felt quite equipped to answer a few of these questions. So, here I am, sharing with you my discoveries in the hope that you will have a more enjoyable holiday and be able to make wise decisions that will help you make the most of your time there.
 So now, onwards and forwards to the topic of day cruises.

During those 18 days, we had the opportunity to go on five different day cruises which stopped off at four different islands plus one that we didn't actually land on. Three of these were quite similar, the fourth was almost like a private charter, while the fifth was little bit more 'action packed'.

So, today, I'll talk briefly about the 'private charter' day cruise.

Skipper Ron 
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo)

Cruising with Freewind Sailing Adventures 

The first day cruise we embarked on was with Freewind Sailing Adventures. This was a cruise we had pre-booked before leaving Australia. Like many other Fijian cruises with an online presence, booking any cruise is simple and straightforward.

Ron and Joyti are the entrepreneurial couple who operate this 46 foot sailing vessel that can take 15 people for day excursions or 4 for overnight or longer. They usually sail the waters of Savu Savu Bay but also do customised trips to suit their clients.

With Ron and Joyti 
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

We met Ron near the jetty of Port Denarau. The Freewind is anchored a little off-shore from the jetty so we take a small dinghy to get on it. When we were all safely boarded, we set sail in a generally westwards direction towards Malolo Island after navigating through the port area.

Freewind 
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

Charting a course for the island 
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

We were served tea and biscuits while we enjoyed the sea breezes and looked forward to plunging into the waters of the Pacific Ocean. For this trip it was just us (a family of four) and a European traveller. We stopped short of the island and dropped anchor after slightly more than an hour of sailing.

In the cockpit 
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

You can change below deck, but as I suffer from sea sickness quite badly, I make it a point to never go below deck or into confined spaces on a small boat - I have learnt my lesson the hard way. So I was already dressed in my swimming gear and it took no time at all to put on my snorkel.

Ready for the plunge 
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

One by one we jumped into the water to explore the coral reef with its marine inhabitants. Perhaps my expectations had been set rather high by colourful images of Fijian waters and marine life, but, for comparison's sake, it wasn't anything like the Great Barrier Reef or Malaysia's Tioman Island (of years ago) but it wasn't bad either (that's the Aussie understatement at work here). I was also rather distracted by my first encounter with sea lice.

Nevertheless, the water was clear and the fish was plentiful and colourful. My son had a ball and you could not drag him back on board. That was one of the reasons we didn't make it to the island. As our focus was on snorkelling rather than kayaking or sun tanning on the beach, we didn't mind skipping that part of the trip.

Having a yarn on board with fellow passengers 
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

Lunch was beautifully prepared by Joyti and comprised of a tasty meat and salad roll. This was later followed with home baked chocolate cake and more tea.

On the journey back, we encountered rain. It was after all December which is when you can expect tropical thunderstorms in the late afternoon, which after a heavy downpour, generally clears up for the evening. Just as well I was still in my swimming gear as there isn't much shelter if you want to stay in the cockpit. You can always go below deck if you want to stay perfectly dry. The five of us decided that we preferred the cockpit.

Sailing back into port 
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo)

View of Port Denarau from the boat 
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

By the time we arrived back in Port Denarau, the weather had cleared. The Fijian Christmas trees are in bloom from November to January usually and put out a colourful display in the shopping mall.

Dining options in Port Denarau with Fijian Christmas Tree in the foreground 
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

Dining in Port Denarau 

As it was already getting on in the day, we decided that dinner in Port Denarau would be a good option. After spraying on the prerequisite insect repellant for dining out in the evening by the waters, we check out the place. There is quite a selection to choose from. We decided in this instance to go Indian and also enjoy the water views.

Dining by the water 
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

There was a free fire dancing and musical performance in the centre of the shopping mall while we were having dinner. We couldn't see the show from the restaurant so it was a case of catching what we could or letting the food get cold. We did a little bit of both (!).

Fire dancing 
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo)

If you are planning to do dinner in Port Denarau at this time of year and you also enjoy cultural performances, I'd suggest that you time it better than we did. The performance was of a decent length and well worth watching.

Dinner is served 
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

Catching a taxi back to our resort was a simple matter. Even at that late hour, the taxis were still operating and at the taxi stand, we were directed to a waiting taxi by one of the friendly Fijians dressed in a similar garb to those we had seen earlier in the day manning the taxi area. We had no problems returning to Denarau Island for less than FJD10. For door to door service for four people, that was good value.

Someone said 'Taxi'? 
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

We arrived back safely, tired, rain washed and quite satisfied with our day's adventures - the first of many more to come.

Fijian Christmas Tree 
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

Vinaka and thank you for reading and staying with me on my Fijian adventures.

Hope you'll keep reading! If you liked this post, do click like and share it! Vinaka vaka levu!

18 days in Fiji (# 8) Swim or hitch hike to the islands?

Bula! Welcome to my 8th post on Fiji.

Before going to Fiji I had many questions for which I couldn't find answers easily. Well, upon my return I decided to share them with you in the hope that you might benefit from my discoveries and have a smoother more enjoyable holiday!

Yes, we put it right back after the photo
(Photo taken by copyright Maria Ngo) 

In this post today I want to tackle a question I had which was about how one gets from the resort to the various islands. For the best snorkelling and diving are found out there.

Welcome to Mantaray Island
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

I had no idea how 'primitive' or 'advanced' the transportation network was before we arrived. In all honesty, I thought I'd be taking a small speed boat or a rickety 'ferry' of sorts to get from the mainland (on the west coast near Nadi) to where the action was. I was not looking forward to this aspect of the trip because I am by all accounts a horrible sea farer. I probably had this notion in mind in part due to my experience on Phi Phi Island,Thailand and Borocay, Philippines.

Beautiful coral and fish just a flipper kick away
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

All I can say is that Fiji compared to those two places is like chalk and cheese. What I discovered and experienced in Fiji far exceeded my expectations. So in answer to your question, do you swim or 'hitch hike' to the islands, I'm glad to say, neither. 

One of the ways to get to the islands
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo)

In years past, this might have been almost the case when Fiji was mostly a back packer's destination and it was a challenge to get to the outer islands. But after the development of more up-market resort style accommodation (thanks to some enterprising Kiwis) on these islands took off, a consortium developed an efficient and cost effective means of moving people via fast speed catamaran.

On board the top deck of the Yasawa Flyer
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

The Yasawa Flyer is a fully equipped modern vessel and offers an upper deck which has unhindered ocean views, a middle deck which has outdoor seating to the rear of the vessel and air-conditioned seating on comfortable seats towards the bow on the lower deck.

Departing the Yasawa Flyer for the island
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

If you are travelling out to an island resort, the process of off-loading (and also on-loading) your luggage and yourself is a well refined process. Just follow the instructions as they are announced on the PA. If you have luggage, just before arriving at your destination you will be asked to identify your luggage on the lowest deck. After identifying your luggage, just wait on the bottom deck for further instructions.

Two boats from the resort will meet you at the Yasawa Flyer You don't have to physically lift any of your luggage onto the smaller craft. The staff will do that for you. (I was worried about having to do this myself before my trip! I was not sure how I was going to manage this being rather wobbly at sea.) One of the smaller crafts will be just for luggage while the other will take on passengers.

Smaller transfer crafts
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

Mantaray Island welcoming party
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

This is a well honed process and is undertaken with almost military precision with effective communication from the island to the vessel to time the meeting of the vessels perfectly and with the least amount of time wasted in transferring people and luggage.

No sweat - for me at least
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

The Yasawa Flyer makes quite a number of stops to drop off and pick up passengers as it makes its circuit in a northerly direction from Port Denarau out to the furthest resort which is about 4 hours away. On its return trip it'll do the same at each resort or island.

Yasawa Flyer route
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

There are other ways of getting to the islands that are closer to the main island. Smaller pleasure crafts that seat anywhere from 8 passengers to about 40 (as a guestimate) are not uncommon. If speed is of essence I recommend the Yasawa Flyer. But if you enjoy a more leisurely sailing experience, then opt for one of the other options.

Another day another cruise
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

Onboard entertainment
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

Not ABBA but they come close!
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

We experienced both. Our first sailing experience was with an intimate small group of seven - five passengers (we, as a family of four), one other passenger and the two owner operators. We got home-made chocolate cake and tea for afternoon tea and a lovely sandwich lunch on our cruise with Freewind Sailing Adventures.

Captain of Freewind
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

Freewind
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

If you are taking the Yasawa Flyer, you might prefer to bring your own supplies. But you can also purchase snacks on board the vessel.

Tickets for your transfers from your hotel to Port Denarau can be purchased easily online or in person at the Passenger Terminal which is well organised and extremely clean - and I include the toilets in this assessment.

Passenger Terminal, Port Denarau
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

Transfers from the hotel to the port are also well organised and systematic. They run a number of large comfortable, clean, modern coaches for the morning run to the port and vice versa in the evening.

Front seat view from the coach
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

Did I mention that everyone speaks English? And the signs are in English also? If that's your language you'll be right.

So I hope that has answered your question on how to get from the mainland to the outer islands. In short, it's quite a breeze - as long as you book ahead. And with modern effective telecommunications infrastructure in place (which is even available in the villages) and just about every company having their own website, travelling has never been easier.

Have a great holiday!

Vinaka vaka levu for checking out my blog.

Sailing with the wind
(Photo taken by and copyright Maria Ngo) 

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