Vanua Levu - Viti Levu (Fiji)
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Vanua Levu
We start exploring Fiji in Savusavu on Vanua Levu, the second biggest island of Fiji. It’s an interesting cultural mix: half the people are Indian, half Fijian. Normally, the ‘Indians’ would be the local population – here they are people who have been brought from India to work as slaves on the sugar cane farms. Today they are mostly living in the town-areas running the shops and markets, whereas the Fijian are living on the country-side farming and working in the tourism industry.
Fiji farmer
Twice an Indian government has been elected and promptly ousted in coups by the Fijians. Nearly as ‘promptly’ as Lonely Planet describes the destiny of the first missionaries in Melanesia: “In 1839 he stepped ashore and was promptly eaten.” At the moment there’s not much unrest and many Indians, who are unhappy with the situation, emigrate to Australia or New Zealand.
Fiji lady
In Savusavu, a meeting point for cruisers, we are meeting Wayne again – it’s good to see old friends half way around the world! The three of us drive with a rental car over the surprisingly large island, climbing many lush and verdant hills before descending the dry lee-ward side to Lambasa. The island deserves its nickname ‘the friendly north’ – wherever we pass we are greeted like celebrities and get in contact with the local people whenever we stop.
Lush Vanua Levu landscape
The Indian manager of the market Lambasa explains us how Kava is planted and its root is harvested after 5-8 years. Wayne and I are buying a kilo each to offer Sevu Sevu – later more to this.
Lambasa market
Two short day-sails bring us to Makogai. Researcher guide us through the station, in which they are raising giant clams, and the nearby former lepra colony. Up to 5’000 people from all over the Pacific have been living here.
Makogai lepra colony
Levuka
Levuka is the former capital of Fji and is a small provincial town and the only World Heritage Site in the South Pacific. It has been continuously inhabited since 3000 B.C and no other town in the South Pacific spots so many well-preserved colonial town from the 1850-90. A small museum display objects and pictures from it glorious past time and the less positive ,Blackbirding‘: Melanesians from other have been recruited through trickery and kidnapping to work for 6 years on the sugar cane plantations in Fiji and Australia. They were paid 3 pounds a year and the mortality rate was in excess of 50%! I enjoy the continuous learning on my voyage very much and not less the offline version of Wikipedia, in which I find so much information without having internet access.
Historical Levuka
We are sailing via Naigani to Nananu-I-Ra, which is fully in the hand of a few expats. I would love to kite surf here, but I would equally like to exploit the wind to make the long daysail to the Yasawa Group. I have to refrain myself not to speed with full sails and 8-10kn through narrow reef passages. The charts are more or less accurate (the older raster charts more accurate than the newer vector charts!), but it’s an eerie feeling, if sharp reefs are lurking left and right of a half-mile wide passage and I can’t see anything, even with the binoculars.
Oldest Levuka building
Yasawa
The Yasawa Group consists of a good dozen islands and is ideal for cruising. None has motorized transport and the local transport is on foot or with aluminum boats and 40 HP outboards. Gone are the times of sailing canoes… We spend our first nights in Sawa-I-Lau and visit the partially traditionally built village: People sleep in modern houses (or huts) with stone walls and metal roofs, but without any other comfort. They stay in huts with straw walls during the day and cook in traditional with reed- or palm-thatched bures.
Keen photography subjects
The villagers do most work together – in stark contrast to the people in Fiji’s cities. Together they fish, sell it to the hotels or erect bures for the resorts. Together they go shopping by boat to Lautoka on the ‚mainland‘.
Sawa-I-Lau view
Interesting that Captain Cook observed already 250 years ago that life in the European cities is not necessarily superior to the life here. I have nothing to add and don’t think it got any better in Europe!!! But Europe is still my home and I would miss too many things to settle here… Most villages are family clans and the only non-family people have married into the family. Since they don’t meet many new people they often ask for marriage when they meet the first time. But they have divorces like everywhere in the world, too. How does one learn these things? The villagers are very hospitable, interested and open.
Kitchen house
I wonder how a whole nation is so welcoming and find the answer partially in the school system, which teaches surprising high values to the pupils – you can see an example for the 3rd grade: A US Peace Corp volunteer agreed to this, but remarked that the school system lacks otherwise pretty badly…
Values - already at school!
Our next stop is the Blue Lagoon, which is completely protected by three surrounding islands. The water is 20m deep – far too deep to be turquois green. Reefs come as on many beaches of Fiji nearly to the surface of the sea, which makes snorkeling beautiful and easy, but landing the dinghy in 1.2m tide quite difficult. We are welcome in all resorts run by locals; only by resorts run by expats we are not welcome. We spend some relaxed days next to the Nanuya Island Resort, where we meet a young Swiss couple on honeymoon.
She will be eaten on Sunday ...
Shopping is as good as impossible in the Yasawas and we are grateful for the small shop in a resort and a vegetable farm, where we are plucking beans, bananas, spring onion and tomatoes. A few miles further we anchor close the Manta Ray Resort, where everybody is snorkeling with manta rays. Only when I want to go snorkeling they can be nowhere seen.
Fiji drum
A bit further, we are anchoring at Namboro, where we bring Sevu Sevu – the traditional gift of kava roots – to the village with the request to use their island and waters. They are inviting us to share Kava with them in the evening. The root of the kava plant is pounded and mixed with water and is drunk from small bowl ‘bottom up’! It tastes earthy – bad tongues say muddy – and numbs the tip of the tongue and in bigger quantities the limbs. It is relaxing and makes you sleepy and thus a far more ideal drink than aggressive-making alcohol.
Namboro kava ceremony
We are spending the next few days in the village – everybody would like to talk to us and sail later around the corner to anchor behind Kuata. But the anchorage is not very quiet and we follow the invitation to anchor in front of the Waya LaiLai Resort.
Namboro's Raquel
The villagers of Namboro are running the Resort and we are meeting people with whom we shared Kava two nights ago. They are showing us the Resort and would like to see Blue Bie, too. We postpone the envisaged hike to the mountaintop, because a depression is arriving with rain. We are using the wind on the stern to find a better protected anchorage.
Waya Lai Lai
Mamannuca / Musket Cove
We anchor in Mana the norther-most island of the Mamanuca Group – and reach tourism-country. Tourists come in big flocks by boat and helicopter and the resorts dominate the islands. Cruisers are not really welcome except in Musket Cove, which is a cruiser hang-out and a famous start or end-point of cruising rallies. Over 30 boats are on anchor and mooring. Many boats stay here for months and the age average shoots up! A small shop offers everything – even some chandlery goods and one grills on the BBQ provided by the beach bar – including plates, cutlery and dishwashing service:-)
We are trying to anchor later off some other Mamanuca Islands, but are either sent straight away or barely tolerated, which makes it no fun to stay.
Beautiful resorts
Port Denerau
Port Denerau is the tourism hub of Fiji: All the boats to the resorts leave from here, but nothing prepares me for what I encounter: 20 restaurants and bars and even an original Hard Rock Café are housed in a mall, which could be somewhere in Florida. We baptize it Fiji-Land! Nevertheless I enjoy it here and I am celebrating my birthday in the company of Loly and Wayne. Soon it is time to say good-bye twice: Wayne is heading towards the Marshall Islands. It was great to see him this year so often and I hope to meet him again next year – it’s rare to have such a friend while sailing!
Port Denerau
Loly and I explore Viti Levu for a few days and take a bus to visit the sand dunes of Sigatoka. The wind blows really hard and it’s hard to imagine that people volunteer to settle here millennias ago. The sail through the Mamanuca Islands is a bit disappointing. The islands are tiny and very cute, but they cater exclusively for the resort guests and day tourists brought by the big charter catamarans. We are either sent straight away or barely tolerated, which makes it no fun to stay.
Sigatoka sand dunes
Too soon it’s getting time for Loly to continue her journey towards New Caledonia and to Paris. It’s no easy good-bye after sailing together for almost six months. Blue Bie and I feel quite empty and it takes some time to re-grow into single-handing.
Tiny Mamanuca island
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