19/07/2024
Do you know how you lie in bed sometimes dreaming of that perfect sail, or that beautiful anchorage? You picture diving from the boat into cool water to wash away a tropical sweat, or sharing the discovery of an underwater world with your kids, watching them overcome their trepidation of a foreign yet alluring experience.
Sometimes the “list” becomes all consuming and the dream that’s fueling the hard work and preparation is all you have to justify the costs. The days on the hard, the smashed bank balance, the 7 hour 5-minute boat jobs, the burn in your gut when stretching upside down in a bilge to blindly fix an impossible bolt.
I’m happy to say that the dream vs reality balance is returning with recent experiences delivering dream-worthy results. Fiji has been so amazing already, with an intensity of opportunity for discovery that I haven’t experienced before. 40 mile hops can bring a whole new world which is refreshing after a 1600nm passage to get here.
We left the anchorage at dawn in an explosion of pink across a calm, mirror-flat sea. “Best sunrise ever” was the unanimous call as the coffee kicked in and the kids were distracted enough not to start poking each other to prompt parental intervention.
Once the breeze started to fill in we enjoyed 7’s in 10’s sailing in flat water which makes passage making very pleasant. A load of washing, some fishing, a movie for the kids, sail trimming and full water tanks made for a productive days work at 40 degrees apparent. We arrived early afternoon which gave me an opportunity to tick another box for the kids. We sent James up the mast to the first spreader to look out for reef. He was excited to be perched in a position of importance and confidently painted a mental picture for me of the love heart shaped bay filled with random trip-ending coral bombies. We anchored in a clear patch in 12m and started deciding which of the three beaches we would explore. The coconut palms lined the white sand as one would expect of any dream-like scenario.
We had a day of snorkelling and beach combing to collect a few bits of driftwood for our fire. Calzones were on order so the kids got to learn the joy of making dough, and how to build a small fire to cook on. We sat beneath the palm fronds protecting us from the afternoon sun, and the kids played with the fish in the clear shallow water of the high tide against the white beach. With full bellies and smokey swimmers we made our way back toward a blazing orange silhouette of Watermark, bookending a day that dreams are made of.