The Minerva Reefs, and a change of plans.

7th – 19th July 2022

The Minerva reefs are remote, like really remote.They lay just over 800nm from both New Zealand and New Caledonia, 416nm from Fiji and the closest neighbour is Tonga 250nm to the north east. Both the north and south reefs are uninhabited and the silence is deafening save for the odd seabird calls

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Approaching the anchorage in South Minerva

Once inside the lagoon depths vary from 20-50 ft deep, however once back outside the depth range is anywhere between 4,000 to 13,000 ft. So being able to anchor in calm waters inside the reef in the middle of the ocean is an absolute treat for world cruisers like us.  

And the added bonus is that there are plenty of lobsters to be caught.

 This year was particularly bountiful as with the pandemic and most of the countries in the South Pacific closed no one was able to visit the reefs for at least two years. So the lobsters had bred like rabbits.

We had the company of three other yachts at South Minerva. Two of which we didn't know and the third, Pogeyan with Rich, Michelle and crew Levi onboard, was a dock buddy of ours from Whangarei. As we had never stopped at South Minerva before and they had been there several times on passages to and from NZ and Fiji we followed their advice on where the best snorkel spots were and where all the lobsters hung out.

The lobbies awaiting their fate

The day after we arrived, Liam and the boys from Pogeyan were on the hunt and headed over to the drying reef at low tide, the catch was pretty good with the booty being shared. Day two of hunting was extra bountiful with a head count of 14 shell food delights. 

Sadly Liam took a fall on the reef and was swept along by a wave which carried him 30ft along the jagged coral. He was pretty much a mess when he arrived back to GWTW with deep cuts on his arms and legs. 

Due to the high risk of infection and no medical clinic within cooee that was the end of his lobstering activities for the season.

So with Liam boat bound I did a couple of days of snorkeling various parts of the lagoon with the Pogeyan crew. The fish life and coral were stunning and the water so so clear. All was good until the last few minutes of our first excursion when a very territorial 6ft grey shark sent us a no nonsense message that we were in his turf, and with a hasty retreat back to the dinghy we headed his warning.

Pretty Parrot Fish

The lobster harvesting continued for a few more days and even though GWTW no longer had a horse in the race we did have a home delivery service complements of Rich and Levi, which was much appreciated.

After seven delightful days at South Minerva it was time to make the 20nm passage to North Minerva and see what was on offer there. 

We spent four days in the north. On day two a very large frontal system was destined to slam into our location from the south east, so both boats picked up our anchors and headed down to the southern end of the lagoon where the reef was higher and would afford better protection than up the north end.

Beautiful Sunset

Just as we were approaching the anchorage a cigar shaped rolling cloud appeared on the horizon. We've seen these nasty clouds before so we had a pretty good idea of what would happen next. Try as we might to get the anchor down we knew we’d run out of time. This was a very fast moving weather event.

The first wave of the front hit us like a freight train. It was a total whiteout with 30 knot winds. As the anchor was not set we pulled it back up and motored  north following our gps track until the squall had passed. Then we retraced our steps south dropped the anchor in 50ft sand, backed down with 1000 revs on each engine to set it firmly and were ready for the next onslaught from the heavens. 

In between squalls the Pogeyan lads were back doing what they do best and a few more crustaceans were transferred from the sea bed to the table. My gosh we’d eaten a lot of lobster. Our cholesterol levels must have been through the roof.

On the 18th of July Rich received a call via his satellite phone from his family in the USA. Rich’s dad had passed away. The funeral via a zoom call live feed was scheduled to be online in five days from now. The following morning a sudden decision was made that Pogeyan would lift anchor and head to Fiji to meet the funeral timeline.

The two cats alone in the lagoon

That left us in a very vulnerable position if we stayed here on our own waiting for the elusive good weather window to sail to New Caledonia. If something  else, apart from Genny our generator being in a coma, went wrong on GWTW with no other boat as backup we’d be stuffed. We were now scrapping plan C. ARRR the best laid plans of mice and men.

Another giant clam

As the designated paperwork hound on this fair vessel when it comes to departure and arrival documentation I’m  also quite good at making contingency plans which is exactly what I did before we left NZ. You see the general rule is that the border authorities of most countries don't like surprises eg vessels just showing up on their doorstep and saying “we’re here”. They like to know in well in advance so they can put out the welcome mat.

That being said I’d filled out and sent all the relevant docs to Australia, New Caledonia and Fiji just in case. And here it was paying off.

By 2pm that same day both boats headed out the North Minerva pass. Destination : Port Denarau Fiji, 416 nm  to the north west.

Oh and our final lobster count was eleven in the freezer.

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