Musket Cove, Malaloleilei Island, Mamanuca Island Group, Fiji
05/14/2008 - 05/22/2008
Musket Cove!
After a few months summer cruising in New Zealand, and three months working on boat preparation, projects, and provisioning (and after that passage!) we were ready to be in the tropics and "on vacation" for a while. For us, vacation usually means settling in to one place for two or three weeks, socializing a bit, keeping active doing things we like to do (snorkeling, diving, windsurfing, hiking), and relaxing (lounging by the pool/beach, and maybe reading a book or three and watching DVD's). To the extent possible, we ignore boat chores, and we just try to relax and enjoy.
Musket Cove Resort and Marina is perfect place to achieve this! Musket Cove is a cruiser-friendly resort about 15 nautical miles from the Lautoka check-in point. It is called Musket Cove because it was allegedly purchased by its original owner from the local Fijian tribe for one musket. We didn't ask what the village chief did with his one musket once he had it or whether the sale included any ammunition, gunpowder, upgrades, technical support, or an NRA membership? You should always ask these things. The locals don't like to talk about it, so we suspect no good came of it.
Our arrival into Malaloleilei. Although reef-strewn, the entrance is fairly well marked and we acquired some good waypoints to follow from fellow cruisers.
Once in the cove and tied up to mooring #20, it's time to enjoy our new view. Our friends, Rick and Robin on Endangered Species, clued us in on which was the best mooring to grab.
The Musket Cove Marina is a nook into Malaloleilei where dozens of boats can Med-moor against a nice new floating dock. A hurricane hole is also available back in a lagoon behind the resort.
This is the high end beach-front "bure" where for about $450 US/night you can kick back and relax in your own bungalow. Then take a nap in your own hammock slung between the coconut palms.
Our personal tour guides
Rick and Robin on Endangered Species have been here a few times and decided to make this their cruising base for the entire 2008 season. These ambassadors for Musket Cove should get a discount for bringing all their friends here!
First, by opening a resort tab at check-in, there is no need to carry cash. Initially, we suspected Whisper's budget might get into in trouble with a spa, three bars, two restaurants, the pool, the beach, and the water-sports are all just a pen-stroke away — saying "I'd like to sign this onto our yacht's account" (using our best "Have you any Grey Poupon" accent).
Then everyone on staff starts calling you by your first name (Bula Duncan! Bula Robin Number Two!). Next, you discover the food and beverage are reasonably priced for a resort — and the local Fiji Bitter beer is served icy-cold from a freezer! A fully stocked store is only steps away from the dock. A laundry service is available at a very reasonable price. There are water sports galore — swimming, diving, snorkeling, windsurfing, sailing, surfing, and kite boarding are all at the resort or right nearby. On top of all of this, you can bring your own evening meal onshore to BBQ at the Ratu Nemani Island Bar. This bar serves as the central point for all off-the-boat cruising community socializing. Resort guests will also show up to chat and ask about the cruising lifestyle.
Whisper's Robin and Rick and Robin from Endangered Species. The staff calls them Number One (Endangered Species Robin) and Number Two (Whisper's Robin). Duncan and Rick know better than to embrace these new monikers.
For the first time in two weeks, we are together on dry land, and interacting with other humans, and getting our photo taken with each other. No more three hour watch shifts for us. Here is one of those rare photos of us together where someone else is holding the camera!
The nice resort pool, beach, restaurant and bar are all available to us as (lifetime) Musket Cove Yacht Club members. Ritzy huh? Did I mention our lifetime Yacht Club membership was $5 Fijian ($3 US)?
This sailboat has been re-purposed as the in-pool bar. The bartender serves drinks from the hull to guests sitting on bar stools in the pool.
The Ratu Nemani Island Bar is the main cruiser hang-out onshore. The bar opens daily when there are people that want to drink and close after they have all gone "home" (back to their boats).
Vasiti is one of the friendly faces that greet us at the Island Bar.
Robin enjoys some Fiji water in Fiji. Duncan had always assumed Fiji water came from a tap in someone's backyard in Bakersfield. Imagine our surprise when we learned it actually comes from Fiji. Although now owned by a conglomerate, the local economy and 400+ Fijian employees benefit from this economically viable (but environmentally stupid) industry.
Musket Cove Marina at dusk. Great sunrises and sunsets, swaying coconut palms, clouds looming over the mainland that never seem to come out to Musket Cove. Sweet place.
Robin samples a "Coffee Dope" from the pool bar. Ice cream, espresso, Baileys, and maybe some Kahlua. Low calorie and so good for you!
Number One and Rick enjoy a great day of pool/beachside relaxation. Oh, and lunch.
One issue with Musket Cove water sports is you are limited to the six to eight hours around the high tide. Usually one shot per day at getting in some windsurfing or small boat sailing.
Although Rick and Robin claimed it never rained in Musket Cove, we did see a bit of rain while we were there! A few days of rain, a few days of sunshine. We can live with that.
Contrary to our "ignore the boat chores" philosophy, Robin gets out to clean and wax the blue stripe. It is ready again for a good professional cut and polish, but this touch-up will carry us for now.
After a nice hamburger lunch (and Fiji Bitter) stop at the nearby backpacker resort The Funky Fish, the four of us climb to the hilltop in an attempt to burn off a few of the 2000 calories.
One of our favorite places in-and-around Musket is "the sand bar". This spit of sand is about 1/2 mile away from the boats and it exposes daily at low tide. It is a great place to kick back, relax, and cool-off. An excellent snorkeling reef is about 100 yards away and serves as a pleasant diversion from all that relaxing.
Let's go snorkel and snap a few photos with the new Canon 870 IS and underwater housing! This blue starfish is our first subject.
Then a nice but very shy Picasso Triggerfish.
The Threadfin Butterflyfish are thick on this reef.
Rick scopes out the fish life teeming on this shallow reef.
A black Featherstar.
Another Butterflyfish, this is the Redfin variety.
Although this is the first reef in Fiji we have looked at, it seems very healthy and intact. It is unusual for a reef this close to a resort and with so many snorkelers visiting daily to be this healthy.
An Anemone and Fiji Anemonefish.
An up-close hello to the Fiji Anemonefish.
This is an adolescent Pacific Sailfin Tang.
A cute little colorful Pinstriped Wrasse.
Another Threadfin Butterflyfish close-up.
And a Latticed Butterflyfish. Pretty, no?
A Moorish Idol and a Lemonpeel Angelfish.
And a zoom-in on a Moorish Idol.
Another Butterflyfish. This one is the Saddled Butterflyfish.
Not sure exactly what these fish are. Taking a guess at some kind of Chromis, but these guys are beautiful and always hide the entire school in a specific type of staghorn-like corals.
Whisper Robin found this sand dollar, but E.S. Robin takes the photo honors.
On the morning we left Musket Cove for Savusavu, we needed to dodge this seaplane gunning for us through the anchorage.
With our 8-day sampler of Musket Cove complete, it's time to move on to points north. In our original Fiji cruising plan, we were to clear into Fiji in Savusavu, some 100 miles northeast of here, cruise that area for a couple of months, then move south to Musket Cove. By coming here to Musket first, we now know exactly what the Mamanuca Islands area have to offer, and this will influence how quickly we want to come back.
Well, let's be honest, as we write this log one-month after leaving Musket Cove, we have already decided to come back to Musket Cove for the month of August and most of September! As we are learning, Fiji is huge, there is enough to fill a lifetime of cruising, and it has a ton to offer every type of cruiser. For us, in our current cruising mood, and with this our last cruising season for some time — we decided this type of pampered resort cruising is just what we need before returning to the real world. If we get tired of it, we can always go hang out on some remote primitive island in Vanuatu eating fruit bat and drinking Kava with the penis-sheath wearing natives — but not likely.