Tropical Storm Thirtyone became Tropical Cyclone Vaianu this morning. She’ll be arriving here in New Zealand in about five days. Hopefully, by then, she’ll have quieted down to a Tropical Storm again. We’re expecting gale force winds.

This is the first time we’ve used Google’s new DeepMind AI-based weather model. It’s specifically tuned for predicting cyclone tracks. We’ll see how accurate it is with this one.

We are back in Tauranga, finishing up some additional projects. This should be a good place to weather the storm.

Fortunately, she’ll give Fiji a pass. We have quite a few friends who left their boats there for cyclone season. That’s good news for everyone in Fiji.

Once a storm is numbered or named, our insurance policy changes our deductible for any claim related to this weather. Our deductible jumps up to 20% of the claim. It’s part of how these insurance companies cope with big, catastrophic losses that occur when a storm rolls through and piles up all the boats at the back of the harbor.

Note: the issue’s cover photo is of our friends Matt and Christine and their magnificent Catana 471, Sugar Shack.

All is well. Now, anyway. We are presently anchored with Chaos and Fundango after motoring over from our previous anchorage in Kiwiwiri Bay. We plowed through some of the heaviest rain I’ve ever experienced. 30 to 35 knot winds with gusts into the 40s. The strong winds and heavy rain made for difficult visibility. Fortunately, the Port Fitzroy area is sheltered, and the seas were flat.

Why were we out motoring around in such deplorable conditions?

At about 1445 local, all three anchor alarms sounded. Two successive bursts of 40-knot plus winds had broken the anchor loose, and we were dragging toward Midnight Sun and the islets behind us.

I quickly got the engines started and the plotter on the helm up and running so we had charts. It took nearly all of our engine power to keep the boat pointed into the wind so we could start the process of retrieving the anchor.

I managed to foul the anchor bridle on the chain, which made it impossible to raise the anchor. In between gusts, Pam and I would swap places, me on the bow and her on at the helm, and make a little progress unwrapping the bridle. As the chain came up, we found a large fishhook bent around it. It wouldn’t pass through the windlass, which meant we had to free it by leaning over the crossbeam.

An hour and a half later, we had everything recovered, and we set about looking for a new spot to anchor. The anchor had a large metal strap bent around it that Pam had to free. That may have compromised the holding.

The inner part of Kiwiwiri Bay had room, but the boats already there were skewed in all different directions with the swirling winds. It is difficult to precisely anchor a boat in a gale. We’d be a threat to the other boats. Instead, we turned around and headed out of the bay in search of a better protected spot. A cautious hour later, we motored into Kaiarara Bay and, with some guidance from Scott and Joanne on Fundango, settled into a spot up against the hillside.

The wind and biblical rain raged all night, but we held. The next morning, it was calm and sunny.

We handled a difficult situation. A big credit to Pam, who is always calm in a crisis, and to our magnificent Yanmar 4JH57 engines, that were up to the task.

Departed: Thursday 26March2026, 0152 UTC

Log: 10,605 | Generator: 912 | Port: 1466 | Starboard: 1466 | Barometer: 1014.6-

Roam’s Fiji to New Zealand passage is featured in Latitude 38 Magazine, Changes in Latitude, February 2026

Changes in Latitudes

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Roam's Fiji to New Zealand passage featured in Latitude 38 Magazine's February 2026 issue.

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2. Pam & Jim Yares

US sailors Pam and Jim have been sharing reports this year with Noonsite as they cross the Pacific: from Niue, Cook Islands, Fiji and their informative report about their passage across “the dangerous middle”. Now in New Zealand, their Catana 472 SV Roam is undergoing a refit, after which they hope to explore NZ’s South Island before returning to Fiji. They plan to spend 2026 and maybe 2027 cruising the South Pacific extensively.

Venture capital firms sometimes track their “anti-portfolio.” It’s made up of all the investments they didn’t make. Then, they torture themselves by looking at the results over time.

I do the same thing with weather. I track the weather windows I decided not to take.

Here’s one. We decided not to leave on the 22nd. Had we departed, we’d be making landfall in a full-on gale in New Zealand!

It’s that time of year. Boats are departing Fiji, heading for Vanuatu, New Caledonia, New Zealand, and points beyond.

If you are berthed in Vuda Marina, the staff comes out to your boat and sings the traditional Fijian farewell song, Isa Lei. It is a wonderful and touching tradition. Everybody onboard cries. How can you not love Fiji.

Here is the entire song.

Mana Wall has been on my list of dive spots. It was my last dive of the season here in Fiji. The crews of Chaos, Fundango, Hudson, and Roam, got together and booked a boat with Subsurface dive shop in Musket Cove. We headed first to the Wreck of the Salamanda. Our second dive there. The visibility wasn’t as good as our first dive, but still fun.

After, we had a short chat with the Subsurface crew about what might make for a good second dive. We decided on the Mana Wall which today was on the lee side of Mana Island (home of Survivor). It was an easy drift, full of great coral and critters. A nice end to the diving season in Fiji.

A Few Photos

In 1994, local divers and tour operators in Fiji got together and arranged to scuttle the Salamanda. She had been a ferry and small cruise ship, plying the waters around the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands. She was stripped and hollowed out to make her safe for penetration dives by recreational divers.

Today she lies upright on a sand bottom in 25 meters of water. She’s about 40 meters in length and features plenty of easy swim-throughs. You can reach her on your own or with most of the dive operators in the Mamanucas.

Joanne, Scott (Fundango), and I chartered a boat from Subsurface in Musket Cove where we are presently anchored. It’s about a 30-minute run out to the site. It was a great day to be out. Light winds, calm seas, bright sun.

Charles, our guide, and Williame, our captain, took good care of us. They featured a few new things—a surface emergency signal (3 engine revs) and a hang tank at 5 meters (in case a diver loses track of their air consumption and needs some extra gas at the safety stop).

The Supermarket

On the way back to Musket Cove, we stopped for a drift dive at “The Supermarket,” which is one of the go-to dives here. Always interesting things to see. Nosy gray reef sharks, white tips, black tips, and a very hungry turtle.

The diving in Fiji continues to be amazing. I can’t get enough of it.

We all needed a break from boat work. Joanne, Scott (Fundango), and I joined the crew of Subsurface here in Musket Cove for a one-tank, afternoon dive at the Cabbage Patch. A huge field of Lettuce Coral. This is the first time I’ve seen such a large coralscape of it.

It was a nice afternoon swim on a small aluminum 63 tank with a collection of other tourist divers from all over. About a 15 minute run out from Musket Cove. Fun times!

We almost always see turtles on these dives.

Hard to imagine a better place to celebrate your birthday than Fiji. Specifically, the Lomani resort on Malolo Lailai Island in Fiji’s Mamanuca archipelago. Pam put together a wonderful evening with friends watching the sunset and eating good food.

Fijians love to sing and birthdays are no exception. The entire staff turns out for all three verses of Happy Birthday. “Happy long life, to you..” being my favorite of the three.

Vinaka!

Mark (Chaos) and I joined the crews of Fundango and Dandelion for indy dive on the Plantation Pinacle. The local dive shop has installed a handy mooring ball we could tie up to.

We planned for slack current and got it. It’s a solo spire with a base at about 75’, a top at 30’, and a swim-through at its base. It was a short 2 mile dinghy ride from our mooring in Musket Cove. A fun dive in beautiful weather.

I watched these white tip sharks for a while yesterday. We were diving off the Tavarua Wall here in the Mamanuca Islands of Fiji. He chased her for a bit and then seem to get tired of trying to get her attention and swam off. At which point she started chasing him. And, trying to get his attention.

My wife thinks I’m making up a story here.

Here is the interaction:

A low is forecast to ripple through Monday night and Tuesday morning. We have to figure out where to be to weather this. We have space to leave the boat for a week in Vuda Marina but we can’t get in there until Wednesday.

Musket Cove seems like the safe bet in this northerly.

When we made the decision to buy a catamaran for this adventure we started narrowing down our options. Fast, fun to sail, carry a typical cruising load, and built for crossing oceans. There aren’t many that fit those criteria. Catana, Outremer, and Balance were on our short-list (though Balance was out of our price range, as was HH).

Here we are in the Yasawa archipelago of Fiji sharing an anchorage with one of each!

We’ve completed a near-cirucmnavigation of Fiji. We’re ready for a little break after being out in the remote islands. Looking forward to visits from family and friends as well as a work trip to NZ.

Diving in Fiji is generally amazing. Had the opportunity to dive Astrolabe Reef yesterday.