We arrived at the Barrier on 27/12/13 and had a great trip over, although there was no wind!!!! Glassy calm and the sun shone gloriously. alas, on arrival the weather turned to custard! The wind came in from the NE with heavy rain and has now changed to W, cloudy and just glimpses of sun through the clouds.
Hope the weather improves in 2014!!!
We anchored off the voli voli resort again, just as we have done previous years. it was time to launch the dinghy and head into the bar for a beer or two. as usual we were welcomed by the owners, the Darling family, and enjoyed catching up with all their goings on over the last year. a great resort, great facilities and very welcoming to cruisers. we even watched the All Blacks thrash the aussies in the bledisloe cup game!!!! we managed to get out for two dives, the breath taker and dream maker. again we were not disappointed with the dives. lots of fish, soft corals, swim throughs and giant fans. the wind is always a bit of a problem here and makes it awkward for diving and anchoring 'just in time' out at the reef. we have been lucky this year having robert onboard, who doesn't dive, be our boatman and watch.
:title naigani anchored in a lovely horseshoe bay with clear water, white sand beach and swaying palm trees. there had been a wedding here recently as the arch was still standing. tried to get jock to renew our vows, but, no way was he going to participate!!!! had barbeque dinner ashore with spanish mackerel robert had caught on the way with paul and jo on yinka. a lovely evening until the mossies came around. gorgeous sunset. no diving here as the next day wind increased and decided to move onto voli voli.
1/8/2013 said our farewells to all our old and new friends in savu savu for the last time this year and headed to namena. this is a well known diving haven and marine reserve and we have been trying to get there every year and it is critical the weather is right for this anchorage. our chance came and we arrived here wednesday lunch time along with steve and suzy (hiraeth) and paul and jo (yinka). the weather has been perfect since arriving. there has been absolutely no wind and glassy calm seas. the diving is absolutely drop dead gorgeous and amazing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! as this is a marine reserve there is a $30/diver charge, but we have certainly got more than our $30 worth. i am beside myself!!! the corals are beautiful, fish by the thousands, sharks, moray eels, lion fish, cleaner wrasse, coral trout.....................there are so many dive spots from the chimneys, grand central, kansas city, the mushrooms but my favourite is called the tetons. this is a real wow factor dive. we have already dived this twice!!! we start at eight in the morning and usually do three dives a day. a dive compressor is a must and ours has certainly paid for itself over the last few years.
