Monitoring the markets in Fiji means getting up in the dark, and closing down for the day about the time the sun starts creeping up, which is nice as it leaves the whole day wide open for proper cruising fun.

We found out some friends had splashed their boat (gotten off the hard and back into the water) and were in a bay just around the corner from the marina, so we decided to go join them. It’s an easy area of Fiji to zip around, with everything we need within just a couple hours sail away.

This boat had about 20 inflatable toys on it when we bought it. The unicorn has now been decapitated, but the crocodile lives.

Nice quiet little bay to hang out in, though the water and coral left a lot to be desired. Amazing what a couple hours in either direction can mean around here.

After a couple of nights there with our friends we popped back over to the marina to catch up on chores and restock the groceries before meeting back up in Musket Cove.

Cute shop a few miles up a dirt road off the main highway. Not really sure who is making the trip up here, other than us, but we appreciated their efforts. Nice use of a shipping container, and a cool Toyota alongside.

Ali trying to dry laundry as quickly as possible.

The marina’s entrance at low tide doesn’t look like much. Fortunately, it’s usually flat calm out here.

Back in Musket Cove.

There’s a little pass in the upper left of this picture which leads to the resort and marina. The marina is just one long dock that mostly local tour boats tie up to, but there is the occasional cruising boat, too. The yacht club charges $10 Fijian ($4USD) per person for a lifetime membership, letting you use the dinghy dock, garbage, water, and all the resort’s facilities. It’s quite impressive how welcoming they are to cruisers, honestly, considering the cheap rooms here go for about $400/night.

If you wander across the airstrip there’s a guard shack that asks what room you’re staying in (this is a different resort), but waves you through if you just say you’re on a boat. Bunch of fancy expensive restaurants for adults, and some fun activities (floating parkour course, basketball, etc.) for kids, and all you have to do is pretend like you belong there.

Commuting back home at rush hour.

Lots of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish in the reefs here. I don’t really know enough about them to determine if it’s a typical sustainable number or not, but it does seem like too many to me.

Nailed it.

The Musket Cove Resort Beach Bar. I would compare this anchorage and this bar to being virtually the same as Georgetown and Chat ‘n’ Chill in the Bahamas. If you know, you know.