Anchoring off Qalito Island, Mamanuca Islands, Fiji

August 5th, 2024

We decided to sail to Qalito Island after spending a couple of very rolly nights at Navadra and Vanua Levu Islands. The route we took was through the other Manauca Islands which did not disappoint. This island chain is absolutely stunning. There was no wind so we had to motorsail. The sea state was like a millpond with lots of fish activity. Although we had our fishing line out, no fish bit!

We entered the gap between Monu and Yanuya Islands. Once inside this 'bay', you are met by scenery your eyes just want to keep taking in. There are no words that can describe how breathtaking this place is. There is a village on Yanuya Islands and with its golden sands and palm trees, it was really picturesque. Monu Island is where the film Castaway was filmed and we could see why the movie chose this place! We used Navionics and satellite imagery to navigate through the channel. With no wind and the sun shining brightly, we could see the fringing reefs from their turquoise coloured waters. We had initially intended to anchor off Yanuya Island but after seeing a slight swell coming from between Monuriki and Monu Islands, we decided not to! We had enough experience of rolling over the last two days and needed a good nights sleep so we motored to Qalito Island.

Qalito Island is the island next to Mololo Island where Musket Cove is. We entered the reef via the northern channel and slowly made our way in. There were two reefs that we could clearly see but did not see any channel markers as indicated on Navionics. We initially anchored on the northern side of Qalito and were very pleased with the spot. Qalito Island has the Castaway Resort on it and the island itself provides a beautiful vista. There are however resort and other tour boats that come back and forth from the daytime activities which often cause a wake. The first night was very settled and we slept well but the following night the swell started coming in from the northeast which started to make Tāiko roll again. We decided to motor to the south side of the island where we had a good view of the resort.  We spent another two nights anchored here and this was more settled. 

The resort is very cruiser friendly and staff even helped us drag Tītī up the beach and they offered to keep an eye on her while we had a quick lunch. The pizzas are very tasty but the food and drinks are pricey. We think this is due to having to bring in these items by boat and many of the ingredients used (e.g. cheese) is expensive anyway in Fiji. This anchorage is a lot quieter than Musket Cove and we were the only boat in the anchorage for 3 of the 4 nights.

We prefer anchoring in quieter spots. We saw a few baby black tip reef sharks around the fringing reefs, giant trevallies, and some other tropical fish. Adam also spotted a turtle and we think a stingray. Our final night here, Adam saw a sea snake (yellow with black bands) trying to climb up the ladder. Gave us a fright but it went on its way after we pulled the ladder up. It's the first one we have seen since being in Fiji! 

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