Fiji… A Paradise in the South Pacific - Bula!

An archipelago of 300+ volcanic islands in the South Pacific Ocean, Fiji abounds in coral reefs and lush forests. A multicultural, independent nation, Fijians love rugby, drink kava and maintain many tribal, cultural and religious traditions.

Brief History:
Fiji became independent in 1970, after nearly a century as a British colony. There have been several recent military coups usually related to poor Indian-Fijian relations which has left the country in political upheaval for decades. That said, Fiji is one of the most progressive and developed countries in the South Pacific.

If you counted every single island (including coral outcrops) that belongs to the Fijian archipelago, the total number would be in the thousands. However, only about 322 are deemed big enough to support human habitation. Of these 322 islands, only 106 are inhabited.

Enroute to Fiji

We left Opua, Bay of Islands, New Zealand at the end of May 2011, heading almost directly north to Fiji. It had been getting very chilly in New Zealand and each day heading north became a little bit warmer and we were able to trade our warm, layered clothing for lightweight shirts and shorts. By the time we reached the Koro Sea, we were in shorts and tank tops and almost (not quite) complaining about the heat. The nights were mild and the breezes warm. We weren't the fastest boat on the ocean, the ~1220 nm passage took us 11 days.

There wasn’t much bird or marine wildlife until we entered the Koro Sea. Then we were welcomed by a pod of dolphins and flying fish found their way into our scuppers. There were lots of birds, diving brown boobies, streaming tails of white tropic birds and soaring great frigate birds. We watched a magnificent sunrise over Vanua Levu...as if the island was ablaze.

Savusavu, Fiji - Nakama Creek - 16S46.64 /179E20.19

Entering Nakama Creek, we could see lots of masts ahead and knew that our passage was nearly complete. The anchorage was just off Nawi Island
opposite Savusavu town. We eventually moved to a mooring at the Waitui Marina. Like its sign, the marina is a bit dilapidated. However, Waitui was managed by long-time e-mail friends and SSCA Cruising Station hosts, Michael & Kendra. It was friendly, cheap, and had all the basics we required.

Learning the Language
A new language is always a challenge. Pronunciation is difficult when letters in Fijian are not pronounced the same way they are in English. We always try to learn some basic starter words.
b = mb               d = nd           q = ngg
g = ng                 c = the

Fijian greeting/hello - Bula Goodbye - moce (moh-thay)
Please - yalo vinaka Thank you - vinaka
How are you? - Ni sa bula? Well, thanks.   - An sa bula, vinaka
Yes - Io                    No - sega (sen-ga)
Excuse me - tulou No worries - sega na lega (senga na lenga)

Exploring Savusavu

We were anxious to take a walk to downtown Savusavu. The market is always a good place to start and we always welcomed freshies aboard. Main Street, Savusavu was alive with lots of little shops, groceries and the marketplace which was open 6 days a week. The fresh fruit was excellent and cheap. We especially liked the sweet, little pineapples and melons.

Road Trip to Labasa (Lahm-BAH-sa)

We needed a day off from boat work and rented a van with two other cruising couples. We drove north across Vanua Levu island to the largest Indian market town in Fiji, Labasa (pronounced Lahm-BAH-sa). From lush tropical rain forest in the south, we crossed over the high ridge of the island and found ourselves in the hot, dry north surrounded by sugar cane fields. With such a large Indian population, we were interested in viewing the Hindu temples in the area. After the temple visits, we shopped at the local grocery store. The obliging shopkeeper had our groceries delivered directly to the van … via wheelbarrow.

On the way back to Savusavu, we stopped at the Palmlea Eco-Lodge for a cold drink. Built and owned by Joe & Julie, ex-cruisers, we were warmly welcomed. This eco-lodge is absolutely gorgeous with several bures (burr-rays, i.e. thatched huts) as guest accommodations, spacious gardens, a
lap pool and a beautiful open-air restaurant. The views from Palmlea were stunning. They've built a long pier and the anchorage, protected by a reef, looked most inviting. We hoped to stop here on our way around the island.

Circumnavigating Vanua Levu

We have a penchant lately for going around things. We left Savusavu to head the 40nm east along the south coast of Vanua Levu to Fawn Harbour. We stayed about 2nm off the coast to avoid reefs, but could see dense foliage and wisps of wood smoke rising from the villages.

Fawn Harbour/ Bagasau - 16S43.48 / 179E43.64 - 35'

Vanua Levu translates to "Big Land" is the second largest island in Fiji. Calder's "A Yachtsman's Fiji" cruising guide proved most helpful. The guide provided an aerial photo of the entrance to Fawn Harbor Center showing the way through the reef opening. Coastal navigation and eyeballs ruled the day. Our chartplotter was definitely off which is not unusual when negotiating islands in this area. The "beacons" shown are really no more than large stakes rising out of the water, hard to spot, but definitely good markers once we spotted them. Note the village of Bagasau is written on the map as "Mbangasau", as it is pronounced.

The reef through which we entered was slowly being claimed by mangroves that fringe the entire bay. We anchored and then took the dinghy to shore. Thick mangroves nearly hid the entrance by the Pickering settlement. The water was murky and muddy.

Sevusevu

Fijian cultural tradition dictates that visitors present a gift of yaqona (also known as kava) to the village mayor or chief when first arriving in a village or inhabited island. Our Fijian Cruising Permit (written totally in Fijian) requires this compliance of yachties when visiting traditional villages. The presentation is 1/2 kg of unpounded kava root. A village man acts as the spokesperson for the villagers. The gift is set on the ground between the giver and the recipient. If it is picked up, then the sevusevu (gift) is accepted.

After accepting the sevusevu, the guest is invited into the chief's home to sit with the men of the village on the floor. Once the roots have been pounded, the master of ceremonies mixes the pounded Yaqona roots with water in a wooden bowl known as a tanoa. This ceremony is always performed in the middle of the room, the master of ceremonies facing the guest of honor. Speeches and thanks for the sevusevu are made after which a half coconut or bilo is filled with the mix and given by a bearer to the guest with outstretched hands. The guest is expected to accept the bilo with a clap of the hands and drink the contents in a continuous gulp. Having finished the bilo, he returns it to the bearer and claps his hands three times and says muca, expressing satisfaction. This same ritual is then performed in a strict hierarchical order until every person in the room has drunk. Sometimes the first bilo in the ceremonial round is poured outside. This is an ancient custom of offering the yaqona to the gods. Once this ceremonial round has been completed, the guest has formally been accepted into the village as an eternal friend. The chief welcomes the visitors to the village and offers his protection and reasonable assistance within the village boundaries. At this time, the visitors also ask permission to anchor, fish, swim, wander in the village, take photos or whatever they plan to do. It would be very disrespectful to anchor in the bay and not go into the village to make sevusevu. Like parking in someone's driveway overnight and not going into the house to ask permission or say hello!

We made our first sevusevu in Fiji in the village of Bagasau. Tai, the son's chief and spokesman for the village, welcomed us, chatted with us a bit, accepted our gift of kava and brought us to the chief's house to do the formal ceremony. but we did provide the kava root as dictated and we were granted permission to anchor.

Kava
According to Wikipedia “Kava or kava-kava (Piper methysticum - "piper": Latin for 'pepper'; methysticum: Latinized Greek for 'intoxicating') is a crop of the western Pacific. The name kava(-kava) is from Tongan and Marquesan. The roots of the plant are used to produce a drink with sedative and anesthetic properties. Kava is consumed throughout the Pacific Ocean cultures of Polynesia (including Hawaii), Vanuatu, Melanesia and some parts of Micronesia. It is sedating and primarily consumed to relax without disrupting mental clarity. Its active ingredients are called kavalactones.”

Unlike the present-day drink, only high priests and chiefs traditionally drank Yaqona as a mediator between the world of humans and spirits. The roots were chewed by young virgin women who brought purity to the drink and the resin was spat out into a special dish to be consumed in a highly ceremonious affair. Today, the roots are ground by mortar and pestle or you can buy powdered kava in the marketplace for casual drinking. A preferred method in our estimation.

Grog
Fijians commonly share a drink called grog made by pounding sun-dried kava root into a fine powder, straining and mixing it with cold water. Traditionally, grog is drunk from the shorn half-shell of a coconut, called a bilo. Grog is extremely popular in Fiji, especially among young men, and fosters storytelling, camaraderie and socializing.

Because the village of Bagasau was primarily a Seventh-Day Adventist village, neither the chief nor his son consumed kava. They accepted the gift as tradition, and though the rest of the ceremony was not performed, we were welcomed and granted permission to anchor.

A Walk in the Village

Once sevusevu was made, we were also free to roam around the village. It gave us a chance to check out island life a bit. On Saturday, the local schools participated in an intramural rugby tournament. People came from surrounding villages on early morning buses to watch the games. We sat on the bank above the field and watched while two games ran simultaneously. A total of 10+ teams competed ranging in age and size from little peewees to teens. Parents and relatives were keen to watch their kids compete and the party-like atmosphere was contagious. Boys played rugby; girls played net ball, a game with which we were not familiar.

Fijian Dress Code
Fijians, at least since the missionaries arrived, are very modest dressers. We were keen to follow the rules, so we paid particular attention to the way we dressed whenever we visited a village. No knees or shoulders must be visible. Women must wear either dresses or sulus (wraparound skirt). Men must wear long pants or sulus. Hats are not usually worn in the villages although at the game, it was allowed. Sunglasses must be removed when addressing someone.

Marcie had to keep adjusting her sulu to keep it in place… an acquired skill. David never quite got accustomed to wearing a skirt, but we always complied with local custom.

Buca Bay - 16S40.47 / 179E49.69 - 40'

From Fawn Harbour, we moved around the southeast corner of Vanua Levu, through theSomosomo Strait to a protected anchorage at Buca (Boo-tha) Bay just off the village of Loa. Our timing during the short trip had been excellent with an ebb tide giving us a push through the Straits and plenty of sunshine to read the waters en route. Our luck held as the rain started just as we finished anchoring and tidying up Cups for the night. A heavy morning mist shrouded the hills above Loa village and clung till mid-morning. Cups sat calmly in the anchorage and when the rain stopped and the mist began clearing, we ventured into the village.

Loa village is home to about 60 people. It's small, but extremely friendly and we met several people in our short stay. The town is simple with only a few basic amenities. Three buses per day run along the unpaved coast road for the 2-1/2 trip to Savusavu. The gas station had limited hours and offered diesel, gasoline and kerosene. Had we not been walking, we would have missed this 1924 gravestone of Charles Eyre nearly swallowed by the forest. We assumed Charles was a missionary, but no other information about him or his family was available.

We continued our walk. The next town of Natuvu was a Seventh-Day Adventist village, tidy and well-kept. There was a small mini-mart in Natuvu and we happily replenished our peanut supply, but there was little else available. A clever t-shirt design caught our attention, but when we moved the shirt to get a better look... we were somewhat surprised. I decided no on the t-shirt.

The unpaved coastal road offered lots to see although it was a bit slippery with mud after morning showers. Between huge palms in this grove, we could barely see fishermen working their nets in the bay. After we returned to Cups, Seine and her son and husband rowed out to the boat to bring us a huge supply of pawpaw (papaya) and bananas, asking nothing in return only wishing to welcome us to the village.

Katherine Bay, Rabi (Rahm-bee) Island - 16S31-64 / 179W59.44 - 42'

It would have been easy to stay in Buca Bay. We had numerous invitations for dinners and the people were gracious and interested in learning more about us and vice versa. But as always, time was an issue and we moved on. We had planned to go to Fiji's 3rd largest island, Taveuni, but the winds were inexplicably from the west making anchorage there inadvisable. Instead, we took a short trip past Kioa Island to Katherine Bay on Rabi Island. Rabi Island is home to a resettlement group of Banabans, formerly of the tiny Ocean Island (Banaba), a 6-sq km raised atoll in Kiribati (Keer-ah-bas) aka the Gilbert Islands. They were relocated in 1945 at the end of WWII  by the British because their island was being exploited for phosphate mining by the British Phosphate Commission.

The Banabans maintain many of their own traditions including the use of outrigger canoes for handline fishing. We saw several as we headed into the anchorage. Note the ubiquitous blue tarp sail. Most conspicuous when entering Katherine Bay is the huge church that dominates the hillside above the village. We headed to shore after anchoring to check out the village, beaching the dinghy on a sand beach near a large copra shed that is still in use.

The small village here is called Buakonikai. There was one main dirt road that ran through town, lined with small tin-roofed, cement-block houses. There was one tiny store that sold only the very basics. The magnificence of the Methodist church we saw upon arrival was much diminished on closer inspection. Built in the 1960s, it lost its roof and ceiling two years ago in a cyclone and the village has been working to repair it ever since. Tethered pigs could be heard grunting and snuffling before we spotted them. There seemed to be one oinker per family. A young girl, Maravea, became our hostess. She led us around and answered questions. She was later joined by her friend and little brother. Everyone greeted us with "Mauri", a Banaban greeting. Children sitting on doorsteps waved and shouted to us.

The flora was lush and abundant here. Huge hibiscus, red flowering flamboyant trees and beautiful orchids (spathoglottis pacifica), one of 170 species found in Fiji. The beach was teeming with small lemon-yellow fiddler crabs scuttling away from our footfalls.

Somosomo, Taveuni Island - 16S46.16 / 179W58.37 - 80'

Cups was all alone in the anchorage just off the Fijian village of Somosomo and the IndoFijian village of Naqara situated at the mouth of the Somosomo River. Our bow pulpit became an immediate magnet for Pacific swallows who loves congregating for bird chitchat and left a mess on the stainless, deck and caprails. Anchoring in deep water, we landed the dinghy on a black sand and gravel beach near a school. We watched the young boys dressed in sulus play a game of rugby.

At Waiyevo, a 3km walk south along the coast, we hunted for a well-hidden sign marking the 180°  meridian. It was a unique opportunity to stand in both the eastern and western hemispheres simultaneously and, more importantly, straddle yesterday and tomorrow with no chance of experiencing today.

Palmlea Farms Eco-Lodge, Yalava - 16S24.50 / 179E14.07 - 22'

An overnight trip brought us to the entrance of the Great Sea Reef by mid-morning. We'd never heard of the Great Sea Reef prior to checking out the charts for the area. This reef is the third longest continuous barrier reef in the world and recent exploration of the reef revealed an amazing biodiversity never before realized including several rare, threatened and newly recorded species in Fiji.

We had expected to be quite alone in this remote part of northern Vanua Levu, but there were three boats at anchor when we arrived. Word about good places to visit traveled quickly. Palmlea's 50' wooden pier made dinghy access easy. A well-worn path led from the pier to the lodge. We’d stopped here briefly on a road trip to Labasa, but arriving by boat is always a different experience.

The 10-minute walk up the path from the pier to the lodge was good for at least a few photos. Colorful dragonflies and butterflies flitted about. Fiji's only kingfisher species (collared kingfisher) sat in a palm tree. Mudskippers, a unique out-of-water fish species, wallowed in a puddle, and a huge yellow orb spider hovered a few feet above the pathway.

We could have stayed a Palmlea for weeks, but as usual it was time to move on. We took 4 days and just as many anchorages to make it back to Savusavu. Spinner dolphins gave us a show enroute. We passed lots of scenic little villages along the coast, but tended toward solitary anchorages. The reefs were all around us with colors ranging pale turquoise to nearly white. Sailor’s warnings: If it’s blue, sail through. If it’s green, the water’s lean. If it’s brown, you’ll go aground. We stuck to blue.

Suva - 18S07.37 / 178E25.32 - 45'

We returned to Savusavu for a couple of days to replenish the larder, do a few boat chores and bid adieu to our friends. Then it was off to Suva, Fiji’s capital and largest city. The 120-nm passage from Savusavu to Suva was a pleasant overnight sail. According to Lonely Planet, Suva offers lots to see and do and we were looking forward to it. Suva considered the most "cosmopolitan" of all the cities in Oceania. It's about the only place in Fiji where
you can find a building taller than a palm tree. A little trivia: The first ever commercial flight to Fiji was a Pan Am flying boat which landed in Suva Harbour in October 1941.

We anchored off the Royal Suva Yacht Club and used their dinghy dock for our daily forays into Suva town. The anchorage is shared by fishing boats, freighters, cruise ships and yachts. It’s a busy, crowded place.

Suva is pretty modern as South Pacific cities go with several multi-storied buildings, heavy traffic, noise and, after quiet island life, a sensory overload. Store windows display Fijian sulus and Bula shirts as well as beautiful saris and Muslim attire punctuating the interesting international, cultural and multiracial mix here. One fifth of Fiji's total population and half of its urban population resides in Suva.

We wandered around the city guided by Lonely Planet and word of mouth from other cruisers. We visited the Fiji Museum and though small, it was an interesting blend of Fiji's Polynesian/Melanesian, Indian and Asian heritage. There were several galleries on two floors and it was obvious that the museum had challenging budgetary restraints, but did the best they could with what they had. The Maritime Gallery showcased a huge double-hulled traditional canoe (drua) and the huge mastheads used on them. One gallery’s photo exhibit displayed a photo from the mid-1800's, when a dwarf priest and two Fijian warriors were sold to the Barnum & Bailey circus to swell the government coffers. Yet another gallery One gallery highlighted "masi" or tapa, a traditional barkcloth produced by beating the bark of the local mulberry tree into a compacted, non-woven fabric.

There was not much about early Fijian cannibalistic tendencies, however, we’d been looking for Reverend Baker's shoes. More about cannibals?

The Cannibal Islands... that's what early European explorers called Fiji and with justification. Fiji and neighboring Pacific islands like Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Solomons practiced cannibalism for centuries. Even the Maori in New Zealand were known to have folks for dinner... as the main course. According to Wikipedia, the word cannibal is derived from Caníbales, the Spanish name for the Caribs, a West Indies tribe for which the Caribbean Sea was named and formerly well known for their practice of eating humans.

According to some, Fijians were extremely hospitable to any strangers they didn't choose to eat. Shipwrecked sailors were eaten because they were considered cursed and abandoned by the gods. Special vegetable leaves were used to wrap the human meat and then they were cooked in a lovo (underground oven). One chief on the main island of Viti Levu supposedly had eaten more than 800 people and had a pile of stones erected to document his great feat.

The last "documented" cannibalistic event in Fiji took place in 1867 and stemmed from a grievous misunderstanding. When the ill-fated Reverend Thomas Baker and his group of eight Fijian missionary helpers made a laborious inland trek to the isolated village of Nabutautau to bring Christianity to the natives, he committed a major faux pas. Actually, the village folks made their visitors welcome, but when Baker tried to retrieve his hat from the chief's head, all hell broke loose. Touching the chief's head was tabu and, in fact, was a declaration of war. It didn't take much to overcome Baker and his small troop and before long, they were dinner. Nothing remained of Baker except his boots which were too tough to chew evidently. We did get to see them in the museum, bite marks and all.

This is the last "documented" event of cannibalism. Some locals claim that it still occurred well into the 20th century. David met an old Indian fellow at a machine shop in Labasa whose father had arrived in Fiji as an indentured laborer in 1920. As he and his fellow laborers disembarked from the ship, armed guards accompanied them, not to prevent them from escaping, but to protect them from the locals. It seems the prior shipload of laborers which had arrived in 1918 were totally consumed!

We read that tribal officials would bring out their best utensils for special people, not to serve them, but to eat them The cannibal fork, or iculanibokola, was used during ritual cannibal feasts held in the village spirit house. Since the chief's usual attendants were not allowed in the spirit house, chiefs and holy men had to feed themselves and used these special forks since it was tabu for their lips or fingers to touch food. We now have our own collection of flesh forks... dinner guests beware!

From the museum, we wandered along the oceanfront road past the Presidential Palace to observe a traditional Fijian sentry standing guard at the entrance. Spacious Albert Park had a backdrop of imposing government buildings overlooking a lawn used for rugby. Modern buildings along the Nubukalou Creek were interspersed with British colonial arcades accentuating Britain's former presence here .

A Visit to Kula Eco-Park

Before leaving Fiji, we decided to take a land trip along the southern coast of Viti Levu, known as the Coral Coast, enroute to Sigatoka (Sing-ah-TOH-ka) and the Kula Eco-Park. The enormous Sri Radha Krishna Temple sat high on the hillside overlooking the city. We made our way to the Kula Eco-Park which is home to several rare, endemic species of Fijian birds and iguanas as well as flying foxes, aka fruit bats, Fiji's only endemic mammal.

Bats or flying fox are Fiji’s only native mammal and we were entranced with them. We'd never seen them this close. At first they observed us carefully, moving to the front of their fine-meshed wire cage and seemingly making eye contact. They smelled musky, like a skunk. When they tired of us, they climbed to the top of their cages, hung by one foot, spread their wings and totally enveloped themselves, then yawned and took a nap.

After our excursion to Sigatoka, it was time to depart Fiji. Suva had one more little surprise in store for us before we left.

Read about a nightmare of a night in the Suva anchorage. Here’s an excerpt from Marcie’s blog of July 30, 2011…

“Throughout the day, the weather toyed with us. Bright, blazing sun alternated with vicious little squalls accompanied by torrents of rain and wind. We must have opened and closed the hatches and portholes twenty times throughout the day to let in the fresh air and then to keep out the rain. This wretched pattern continued throughout the evening hours. After a movie, we were in bed by 2200, but slept fitfully as the squalls seemed to increase in intensity and duration. Around 0200, the wind had increased so much that the wind generator was complaining. We checked...only about 30 kts of wind, but it seemed we had swung around in a direction that made us closer to a ship than we felt comfortable with. Did we really anchor that closely to such a large ship?

David decided he'd let out a bit more scope. Marcie turned on the spreader lights to illuminate the deck. In just the time it took David to walk forward and Marcie to go below to turn on the lights, it became dreadfully apparent the ship was not anchored at all. She was dragging and heading at an alarming rate right into us. The radio came alive with urgent hails. The ship "Moamoa" knew she was dragging, but was reluctant to start her engines and move without a pilot, since she knew she was midst yachts and fishing boats. Port Control urged the captain to start the engine and get control of the ship...NOW! Other yachts, frantic with their helplessness at the impending collision, now added their voices, loud and panicked,to the radio traffic. Closer and closer she came...within inches...we could look up, up, up at her rusting stern. There was no time to do anything. The chain was snubbed and more scope wouldn't have helped in the least.

At the last second, some miraculous gust of wind aided by David's feet actually pushing against the ship's stern, moved Cups' bow just out of Moamoa's path. We're not sure why she missed us or didn't snag our anchor chain or foul our anchor with her own as she passed, but we escaped with literally only a hair's breadth of room. David was soaked to the bone and shivering. We were both in shock over what had just occurred. We watched anxiously as Moamoa continued to drift perilously through the yacht anchorage, just missing another boat astern of us and another to port. Finally, we heard her engines come alive. Slowly she maneuvered forward, seemingly heading straight for us, but then steered between us and our neighbor with little room to spare and finally out of harm's way to the large ship's anchorage southeast of us.

The wind and rain continued and the adrenaline was pumping. The fetch from across the bay had increased and Cups was pitching and rolling, but undamaged and still afloat. There would be no sleeping the rest of the night, but it was comforting to know that Neptune was watching out for us as usual. Whew!”

We spent a day recuperating from our scare and planning our departure. With a good weather window, we were off and into the South Pacific.

Next port of call? Considered the most culturally diverse country in the South Pacific, we’re heading to the island of Aneityum in Vanuatu. Join us.