We left Vuda marina on May 26th and sailed to Musket Cove Island Resort. This place was talked about as a ‘must see’ by many of our fellow cruisers and it was a half day sail away.
Musket Cove Island Resort & Marina is located on Malolo Lailai Island in Fiji’s Mamanuca archipelago. It offers 3 different resorts with several restaurants and snorkeling, diving and fishing tours. Musket Cove is also home to Fiji’s only working deep-water resort marina, serving as a haven for international yachties since 1976.
We arrived in a busy harbor with about 30+ boats anchored or attached to a mooring ball. Fortunately, we were able to get a mooring ball. This is helpful because they are closer to shore and you don’t have to worry about your anchor not holding. Tracy sleeps better too because he doesn’t have to worry about the anchor alarm going off if the anchor starts dragging. I should also mention that this has never happened but he still worries.
You get a sense it’s a cruiser haven with a medium-size market for provisions fuel, water as well as several casual restaurants. We caught up with cruisers that we met in Vuda marina and enjoyed meeting new friends.
It’s beneficial if you pay the membership fee on Musket Cove which allows you to use all the resort amenities such as their restaurants, pools, bars, etc. The cost is $70 Fijian (about $35 US) and it’s a lifetime membership.
We met up with Lulu (Jodi and Magnus) and spent a pool day with them on shore. We also had dinner with our friend George who we met in Vuda marina and has the same type of boat as Quid Sea.
The Beach Restaurant/Bar hosted a cruiser party on Sunday where they provided live music. The restaurant had large outdoor grills where you could cook your own food or order from a menu if you wanted restaurant food. It was a fun night with friends, fun music and good conversation.
We ended up staying at Musket Cover for 9 days that went incredibly quick. After another 5-hour sail, we anchored in the bay of the Octopus resort on June 4th. Octopus Resort is part of the Yasawa Island group in Fiji, located specifically on Waya Island, which is the largest island in that chain.
We spent one afternoon walking around the resort and having lunch. While Musket Cove offered a lifetime membership fee to enjoy their amenities, many other resorts offer a day pass so you can use the pool, enjoy the restaurants, etc. They typically cost about $50 US dollars and more than half go towards food and drink, making it affordable.
Our friend George also came to this anchorage, and we invited him to our boat for a couple of happy hours or as we cruisers say, come on over for a sun downer. It typically means you bring your own drink with maybe a snack to share and watch the sunset. We enjoyed nice weather here and swam off the back of the boat to cool down.
After 3 nights in Octopus, we went to Paradise Cove for one night. It was a beautiful spot and nice sunny day with very little wind which made it great for paddle boarding. We had happy hour at their resort and enjoyed a lovely sunset. We hope we can go back someday.
It’s now June 8th and we left early from Paradise Cove so we could meet up with friends at Blue Lagoon, #1. It was another short sail but by the time we arrived the wind had picked up making it challenging to anchor. With all our friends watching, we finally found a secure spot.
Fun fact: this is the same island where the movie with Brooke Shields called Blue Lagoon was filmed in 1980.
We have fond memories at this anchorage because we met up with friends and enjoyed a traditional lovo feast put on by the locals. A lovo feast in Fiji is a traditional underground earth-oven cooking method and communal meal where meats, fish, and root vegetables are slow-cooked over fire-heated stones. The menu was varied with pork, chicken and fish along with cassava root, assorted vegetables, green salads, and desserts.
As guests of this island, all the cruisers brought Kava as a gift to our dinner hosts. After dinner our hosts invited us to stay and enjoy Kava with them. We all drank the Kava to be respectful, but it was not my favorite. However, the Fijians seem to like it quite a bit. The locals shared stories, answered our questions and sang songs. We are finding that Fijian’s have beautiful voices. Overall, it was a grand experience.
We left the next morning and cruised to Blue Lagoon resort #2 on June 9th. Our friends followed us over there and we spent several days enjoying this anchorage. The anchorage is bigger as well as the resort compared to Blue Lagoon #1. We all enjoyed lunch and a game of Jenga hanging out by the resort pool. Another day, Tracy and I snorkeled at a nearby reef. Our friends on their catamaran had us over for a sun downer with 2 other couples. We can’t say enough about how nice it is to meet up with other cruisers and socialize. It’s a big part of what keeps us going.
A big storm was coming and on our last night where we could still make it to shore, we went to a Japanese-Fijian fusion restaurant called Donu. We decided to go for dinner and try their 10-course chef’s tasting menu. It was very good and quite unique to other restaurants in Fiji. The rest of our stay in this anchorage was not as much fun. A strong front came in with heavy rain and winds as high as 45 knots or 50 miles an hour. It lasted for 2-3 days where we stayed in the boat and waited it out. Our anchor held strong so we felt safe, just a little claustrophobic.
After the storm we said goodbye to our friends and headed back to Vuda Marina to catch our flight back to the US. We are going home for Lucas’s & Anika’s wedding and for the birth of Marina’s and Dakota’s baby and our first granddaughter!
More to come on these happy events…..
SV Quid Sea - Sailing with Tracy and Cindy 