Tempting Fate at Varuna Pass

Guava anchored in Varuna Pass.

Sailing towards Varuna Pass the squalls had begun to stack up in the distance and rapidly approaching they seemed to squish together into one massive black sky that dumped bucket of rain. The upside was Guava was getting a thorough pressure-washing, removing the salt form the days passage and the tanks were filling with sweetwater. The downside was there was no visible passage to transit in order to reach the protected anchorage.

Guava framed by looming clouds in distance.

Varuna pass is a narrow, winding slice thru the fringing reef which is treacherous even by Fiji standards. Very few boats ever visit here as there is no village nearby and a few miles down the coast are more forgiving passes with better protected anchorages. This cape extends like a crooked finger pointing to the northeast…basically the Maine of Fiji. The lighthouse stands on the last bit of land and has the similar feel to all those other lighthouse capes….exposed, alone, just doing its job.

NE Vanua Levu Chart.

Varuna Pass Anchorage. Thanks Hilton for the Cruising Guide.

The squalls halted our progress and we waited for a break in the weather to enter…tho a perfect opportunity never presented itself. As mentioned in a previous post sometimes you have to weigh the options and make a decision. Here we decided to sneak in during a lull in the weather. Well…my luck finally ran out and Guava managed to ‘contact’ the reef past the entrance. Just a tap and the Volvo had no problem backing her off the coral but I was only thru the entrance with much more zigzagging ahead before the safe anchorage. Jason’s eyes are sharp after his corrective surgery and he slowly passed me to take the point as I backed off the reef and follow him in.

Guava with track.

Once inside we found an adequate place to drop anchor until the next day when the light was better. I immediately dove over to survey the damage and as suspected there was a scratch in the bottom paint and a pea-sized ding in the fiberglass and gelcoat. Jason offered an underwater repair ‘gum’s patch the area and all is well.

I took this picture from the top of Bodhran’s mast and I traced the route of the passage. Crazy, eh?

Pot O Gold Jason

Panorama shot from Jason from his new tablet.

The next day, satisfied with our anchorage, we made the difficult trek to the nearest village for sevusevu. With larger than normal tides and no knowledge of the small passages we ended up dragging the dinghy thru the mucky shore in search of a secure place to leave it while we looked for the village.

Dinghy Dock

Chief Emori and wife

On the passage to Varuna I landed a prefect Mahimahi. With landfall fast approaching I saved the head to present to the chief during our sevusevu ceremony.

The remaining days were spent diving in the pass which offered some of the most stunning seascape lately. The visibility on the surface was soso with the amount of plankton but the clarity was much improved at depth. There were numerous chasms, cracks and holes in the reef and the wall fell off into the abyss. So many of the usual suspects were in attendance as well as some sharks displaying unusual behavior. We managed to get some videos and pix before cutting our losses and moving elsewhere.