Accurate info to our best ability but each cruiser captains his own boat!! Disclaimer...don't sue us!!!
but write with any waypoint conflict or improvements to our info!
We pursued a permit from the Lau Provincial Office in Suva meeting with David Uluilakeba, the head representative of Lau
Islands. The requirement was for a police investigation of us and for a formal letter
stating the description of our vessel, all crew names, our specific purpose in visiting the Lau,
which islands we wanted to visit and stating our requested visit dates and enclose the fee.
The process required a fee of $50 and $10 a day for our proposed visit of 2 weeks in the islands
which is sent to the villages.
The next business day, bringing all the required elements, we had an interview with David. He
stated that the approval could take 2 weeks but later he emphasized that he had authority to
shorten the time, waive a police investigation of us and the permit would be ready the next day.
There is the Hydrographic Office near the Yacht Club where we were able to buy recent charts for most
of Fiji. We used South Pacific Anchorages by Warwick Clay for info on passes and possible
anchorages. The only other guide about Lau Islands is Calder’s Fiji, and it is out of print
but we took a camera copy of a friend’s book.
As we cruised the Lau, there were over 50 boats in Savusavu and many of them wanted to get permits to cruise
the Lau group. It had been reported that permits were easier to get there in 2007. Suddenly, the Lau
Provincial Office has only been issuing permits from Suva and many are disappointed. They have even been
more conservative in the number of permits they are giving after June '08. Hopefully this situation will
have resolved itself by 2009 and readers here will have a greater opportunity to see some of the most
wonderful places in our cruising experience. Rumor has it that there may be slight fee increases, too.
We brought to share:
Teeshirts, reading glasses [bargained for $4 ea in Suva], chisels, sharpening stones, fish tackle, hooks and line,
hair ornaments, colored pencils [$1 ea in Suva], stack of unlined drawing notebooks[$.69 ea]
The Lau Group Islands are 200 miles to the east of the main islands of Fiji and about 120 miles long,
including about 20 inhabited islands. These culturally unique islands value education, religion,
custom and modern conveniences are nonexistent. Boats have to sail through these islands coming from
Tonga without stopping because a special cruising permit is needed and this requirement is strictly
enforced with fines for violators.
We chose our 4 islands without a lot of research and decided on: Fulanga, reputation
for beauty; Lakemba, the capital of Lau; Thithia, due to our invitation; and the northernmost group,
the Exploring Islands, Vanua Balavu, known for an abundance of anchorages and also about which we
had the most information.
They don't seem to have any weather info. We can tell them what we have found from our SSB reports.
At the future more remote islands I think we will bring printer copies of weather for a "PR gift".
They seemed amazed we knew the weather for several days.
We wish we had brought:
Personals like combs, nail clippers [big and small], fabric wraps [cheap in fabric store in Suva],
first aid spray or cream, insect and rash treatment cream, Q-tips, fly strips, pieces of cheap carpet
[samples to wipe feet at doorways, cheap in Suva], hair clips and elastic bands for girls, small towels
and wash cloths, plastic tubs of all sizes [they made kava is worn out tubs], kava straining cloths
[where you get the kava], small gardening tools, cheap cooking tools and containers. They sleep on
really worn out foam….any amount, 1-10, of compressed [for space] foam pads would be great, even small
ones for kids.
June 4. 2008
Dear Sirs,
I am writing to request permission of the Lau Provincial Council to visit the Lau Group from about
June 10, 2008 until about June 25, 2008. We want to experience the beauty and uniqueness of these
Islands and their people, traditions, and culture, by visiting them personally. We are especially
interested in the local handicrafts of the Lau Group islands because we are craft persons ourselves
who work in wood and clay.
We would like to visit the islands of Moala, Fulanga, Lakeba, Thithia, as well as the Exploring Islands
Group including Bavatu, Lomaloma, Vanua Baluvu, Susui, and Munia.
We plan to visit in the USA flagged
sailing vessel “CYAN”.
The vessel is a 13 meter sailing yacht with 2 crew and no guests on board:
Chuck Evans, USA Passport #00000000
Lynn Evans, USA Passport #00000000
We expect to spend about 2 weeks visiting the Lau Group. I have attached copies of our passports and a
letter of invitation from one of the residents of the island of Thithia.
Thank you for taking your time to consider our application. We have great enthusiasm about our Fiji visit.
Most Sincerely,
Chuck Evans
Master
s/v CYAN
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Approach to pass from NE
We approached island from the west and followed the NE side of surrounding reef to the obvious pass which heads SW into lagoon. We stayed to the port [SE] of the pass due to current drifting us NW to starboard, on a slight incoming tide, [1 hour before high tide in Lakemba, the only tide info we had]. Current was only moderate and depth was 14' to 20' in the pass but might be a bit deeper in very center of the 100'+ wide pass. We passed closer to the big rock just inside the pass, than expected and the coral head we saw might have been the eastern of the 2 shown in the "South Pacific Anchorages".
CYAN's Map of Fulanga |
Our Pass Waypoints:
Line up outside pass WP: 19deg 07.310S 178deg 32.404W
I know this is more WP's than anyone needs but if I'd had had them on our Raymarine Plotter I would have felt better just looking at them all lined up. Our Raymarine 120 Navionics Gold chart was brief on this island but amazingly accurate. Other waypoints we noticed inside reef:
Coral head on port in mid lagoon[By sight from boat on our route NW thru lagoon]WP: 19deg 07.818S 178deg 33.605W
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