Emily Grace: The Mamanuca Islands

We enjoyed the Nananu-i-Cake area for 3 days before moving around to the town of Lautoka on the west side of Viti Levu. We stopped about half way and made the trip in two short 4 hour trips. We just anchored for the night and did not go ashore. Upon arrival at Lautoka, we had to check in with the customs folks again and did some shopping at the local market. We only stayed one night and made a short trip out to the Mamanuca Islands.

The Mamanuca Islands are a group of beautiful reef-encircled islands located just off the Nadi coast which is off the west coast of Viti Levu. They are known for their beautiful white sandy beaches and island resorts. The islands of the Mamanuca group have well-known names such as Beachcomber Island, Treasure Island, Mana Island, Tokoriki, Malolo, Matamanoa and many more.

We headed to Treasure Island (Levuka Island) and were greeted with a mooring for $5 Fiji per night which is about $2.50 US. We had the use of all their facilities including several pools. They had some cultural presentations and a killer buffet each day for lunch. We gorged ourselves on fresh lettuce and other goodies that we could not find in the local markets followed by multiple trips to the desert bar for chocolate cake, pastries and ice cream with all the toppings.

They also had a nice SCUBA shop that filled our tanks and we decided to splurge and have Emily get her SCUBA certification. Emily did the classroom reviews and tests while Kim and I dove the reefs. The second day, Emily did two open water dives and passed with flying colors. She now has her certification card and can get air fills worldwide. Yeah Emily!

After 3 days, we moved about 10 miles to Musket Cove Resort (Malolo Island) which is a famous cruiser hangout. The yacht club can only be joined by Yachts coming to Fiji from a foreign port and the cost for membership for the Captain is $1 Fiji. There were almost 30 boats there. We saw cruising friends from Leu Cat and Sea Mist and we all enjoyed a pot luck dinner ashore. The yacht club provides wood-fired grills, free utensils, china plates and $5 drinks at the bar. They also have a nice pool that we used on several days.

Emily met Latisha from a Swiss boat here and after a morning SCUBA dive with Dad, the two girls played in her stateroom and ashore in their days together. Latisha is also 10 years old and speaks Swiss, German, French and English. We went in one morning and all enjoyed eggs Benedict at the poolside restaurant and Kim and Emily had a nice swim afterwards. We also attended a pig roast and enjoyed a Fiji dance troupe afterwards with the crews of Sea Mist, Leu Cat and others.

We stayed here for 4 days and we did several enjoyable dives. The pinnacle was the best one and here is a video of Emily and Roberta (fellow cruiser and dive instructor) diving with a Lionfish. Pretty much everything about the venomous lionfish—its red-and-white zebra stripes, long, showy pectoral fins, and generally cantankerous demeanor—says, "Don't touch!"

The venom of the lionfish, delivered via an array of up to 18 needle-like dorsal fins, is purely defensive. It relies on camouflage and lightning-fast reflexes to capture prey, mainly fish and shrimp. A sting from a lionfish is extremely painful to humans and can cause nausea and breathing difficulties, but is rarely fatal.

Lionfish, also called turkey fish, dragon fish and scorpion fish, are native to the reefs and rocky crevices of the Indo-Pacific, although they've found their way to warm ocean habitats worldwide. Lionfish are popular in some parts of the world as food, but are far more prized in the aquarium trade. Their population numbers are healthy and their distribution is growing.