Navire's blog

Fiji by land Aug 16, 2015 Janet I was still feeling elated about our rugby win as we set sail for Viti Levu from Musket Cove. We anchored at Sawene Bay, close to Nadi, in order to deliver Richard to catch his flight back to New Zealand. After our goodbyes we walked an hour to Vuda Point to check out the marina. There we met Raghu Reddy. Raghu is brother of Jai Ram Reddy, former leader of the Fijian opposition party for over 20 years, before and after first coup in 1987, and father-in-law of a lovely former student of mine, Kerry Reddy. We met Jai in Auckland back in January and he gave us his brother Raghu's contact details. Turns out Raghu runs one of Fiji's major gas plants and is based right next to Vuda Point Marina. You never know what you are going to get when you call up complete strangers. Well Raghu was just lovely. He seemed to be expecting to hear from us and immediately offered to show us around. After investigating the fuel jetty for our visit by boat the next day (its nice to have a visual on where we are going to be maneuvering in close quarters) we walked back along the sugar cane railway line to Sawene Bay. This area of Fiji is dominated by the sugar cane industry, one of Fiji's biggest exports, which has shaped Fiji's history for the last century or so. The British colonized Fiji in the 1870's. In 1879 they brought 160'000, if I remember correctly, indentured labourers (virtually slaves) in from India to work in the cane fields. At one stage the Indian population was grew to be larger than the Fijian, but is now less than half.
*** The next day we navigated the very tight channel into Vuda Point (we saw two boats run aground in the channel while we were there). I was very excited about being in a marina, with all the usual amenities, meeting other sailors, and the prospect of touring Western Viti Levu. But I immediately went down with a viciously painful strep throat. It laid me low for six days although I did drug myself up for the outing with Raghu. *** David Raghu collected us early Sunday morning and we drove to a resort at Volivoli Point, past Rakiraki, at the top of Viti Levu. On the way we stopped at Raghu's nephew's duck farm where Janet bought two frozen ducks, yum, and had tea with Bahkt, Tiani, and their two daughters. Then onto another brother's spread followed by morning tea at Raghu's home, overlooking the sea north of Lautoka. Raghu's wife, Kamla, joined us for a long drive inland to visit a Fijian village at Navala, retained in its original thatched state. Lunch was a spread of Indian foods, at a restaurant in Ba, for which he refused to let us pay. Then a quick drive past the Fiji Water plant, said to be the second most popular brand in the US. Lastly, afternoon tea at Volivoli Resort. All accompanied by Kamla and Raghu's take on life in Fiji. They are more optimistic under Bainimarama than at any time since the first coup in 1987, and approve of most of this government's policies. These include the abolition of the Great Council of Chiefs, which we learned was a creation of the colonial administration. Elsewhere, especially rural villages, this has been a divisive policy where we heard comments such as "I would give my life for our chief," and "the Council was created by God. Bainimarama has no jurisdiction there." Raghu and Kamla approved of the 'free education policy' replacing local community funding, which appears to have disadvantaged the Indian population. It seems local funding resulted in racially segregated schools. This, among many other social structures, has severely limited association between the two cultures, which in turn fosters suspicion and ignorance. Support also for the teaching of Hindi as a regular part of the curriculum. Our observations, limited of course, suggest a significant increase in cross-cultural contact and a sharp reduction in suspicion and hostility. Raghu and Kamla appear pleased with the language "We are all Fijians", and the dropping of the term Indo-Fijians. However, the term 'i Taukae' has been resurrected to refer to indigenous Fijians. We learned that the Indo-Fijian business acumen stems primarily from a second wave of migration referred to as Gujerati. Raghu argued that the descendants of the indentured labourers, of which he is one, are mostly an impoverished rural population who have no traditional background in small business. I got the impression that there is an undercurrent of resentment toward the Gujerati who dominate much of Fiji business ownership and constitute a kind of upper class.
There is also a deep suspicion of the increasing Chinese influence spearheaded by large aid projects such as hospitals and infrastructure. The facilities are appreciated but the Chinese presence is not. Many people we've spoken with perceive American presence as well intentioned and Chinese as not. Personally, and with just my own prejudices to go on, I doubt there's much difference. We were home at about 9pm. A long, rich day.
PS. The above is my record of what we gleaned from Raghu and Kamla. All misrepresentations and inaccuracies are mine.
*** Janet 'Cooking classes. 5pm. Wednesdays. Free,' was written up on the board outside the marina office. This was me all over. By Wednesday I'd recovered enough to walk around to the restaurant and join four other sailing women for a lesson in Fijian cuisine.
The chef, Nicholas Steven, ably demonstrated how to make Lumi Aspic with seaweed that you can buy at the markets here or gather at low tide on the reef. It's boiled in coconut cream and finished with tuna. It sets in a firm jelly. At the end of the demonstration he whipped out one already set, just like on TV. We savoured its sea flavours with crisply fried taro chips.

Image Kat and Seiorse Acrux Robinson Crusoe Island to Malolo Island, Fiji Note: Its six months later. We are in Majuro in January 2016. Back in Fiji I made the fatal mistake of getting behind in with a blog post or two then it was all over.
While we are settled in one place for a while I'm going to continue the story of our journey here for our own record. Feel free to read along or not.
Aug 28, 2015 Janet "Margarita Janet?" Need the man ask? This has been our evening ritual since Richard arrived in Fiji two weeks ago. To be honest my liver is struggling but I can't say no to tequila and fresh lime juice. There will be time to dry out once Richard gets on a plane back to Wellington.
*** Another day on the road found us rounding the coast to western Fiji. Through yet another reef we entered the Mamanucas (pronounced Mamanuthas). Finally, I thought, we would get the reputed lighter winds in this much vaunted yachting mecca. Not. We anchored in Musket Cove, home of marina, yacht club and resort, and bounced around all night in howling winds.
In the morning Richard and I bravely (or foolishly) took the dinghy to shore to shop and do laundry. Landing on the island was like being transported to another world. Gently waiving coconut palms greeted us as did friendly staff dressed in red and black. People wandered around in holiday mode and sipped on ice-cold beers at beach bars under thatched roofs.
First I tracked down the laundry. Having access to a washing machine for a halfway reasonable price is a rare treat in the tropics. We loaded up the machine and wandered off to the shop. It was surprisingly cheap for a resort and I stocked up on pawpaws, bananas and salad stuff including fresh basil and mint which is grown behind the resort. Bring on lunch I said to Richard.
Back in the dinghy the tropical mirage evaporated and we were at the mercy of the sea and her bad mood. The waves were huge for our tiny, now very laden, boat. The sea sloshed into the dinghy soaking us and our shopping. Back on board we quickly hauled anchor and began navigating the coral around to the lee side of Malolo.
As we rounded to corner to Likuliku Bay we breathed a sigh of relief. It was calm. And almost empty. We'd expected it to be full of other boats escaping the wind but no, there was only one other boat anchored there. A kiwi boat. A boat we'd heard on passage on our radio net. We became instant friends with Kat and Seiorse, two gorgeous 30 somethings off Acrux, sharing drinks, meals and computer files within moments of acquaintance. They were foodies too so we delighted in swapping recipes and ideas. Our boats were of a similar vintage and they were on a similar budget to us, although we were old enough to be their parents and at the other end of our economic lifetime with a few assets behind us. I love Kiwis, they are so down to earth, especially these two, and I enjoying speaking in a common lingo.
We'd anchored off a very exclusive resort and about three times a day a helicopter came in, plus ferries, runabouts, and sea-planes. We weren't allowed to go to shore, they didn't want yachtie riff-raff spoiling the place for their exclusive guests who were paying $3000 FJD a night for their over the water bungalows. We swam, we read, and we swam. What an indolent time. David and the Acrux crew went exploring a bay nearby finding local eggs and meeting a people who were making fibreglass longboats right there on the beach.
Many Fijians are entrepreneurial and are good at making do with what they have at hand.
*** Now we are back on the road and I'm glad of it. Heading back to the mainland to drop Richard off and restock, we stopped at Musket Cove to watch the Bledisloe Cup. This time anchoring in idyllic conditions.
The Navire crew had spent several days practicing the New Zealand national anthem in Maori. As the room seemed to fill with people with Australian accents I started worrying about the prospect of being lynched when we sang. On the big screen the teams ran on to the field. To our surprise the Aussies sat mutely through their anthem. Then most of the 50 strong crowd erupted into the New Zealand national anthem, in Maori. I was so proud to be a kiwi. To top it all off we thrashed the Aussies this time.

Robinson Crusoe Island to Malolo Island Aug 28 Janet "Margarita Janet?" Need the man ask? This has been our evening ritual since Richard arrived in Fiji two weeks ago. To be honest my liver is struggling but I can't say no. There will be time to dry out once Richard gets on a plane back to Wellington.
*** Another day on the road found us rounding the coast to western Fiji. Through yet another reef we entered the Mamanucas (pronounced Mamanuthas). Finally, I thought, we would get the reputed lighter winds in this yachting mecca. Not. We anchored in Musket Cove, home of marina, yacht club and resort, and bounced around all night in howling winds.
In the morning Richard and I bravely (or foolishly) took the dinghy to shore to shop and do laundry. Arriving on land was like being transported to another world. Gently waiving coconut palms, friendly staff dressed in red and black, people wandering around in holiday mode, and beach bars under thatched roofs.
Having access to a washing machine for a halfway reasonable price is a rare treat. The shop was surprisingly cheap for a resort and I stocked up on pawpaws, bananas and salad stuff including basil and mint which they grow behind the resort.
Scary trip back to the boat. I was driving and the waves were big for our tiny, now very laden, dinghy. We got absolutely soaked. Back on board we quickly hauled anchor and began navigating the coral around to the lee side of the Malolo. As we rounded to corner to Likuliku Bay we breathed a sigh of relief. It was calm. We'd expected it to be full of other boats escaping the wind but no, there was only one other boat anchored there. A kiwi boat. A boat we'd heard on passage on our radio net. We became instant friends with Kat and Seiorse, two gorgeous 30 somethings off Acrux, sharing drinks, meals and computer files within moments. They are foodies too so we delighted in swapping recipes and ideas.
We'd anchored off a very exclusive resort and about three times a day a helicopter came in, plus ferries, runabouts, and sea planes. We swam, we read, we swam. What an indolent time.
Now we are back on the road and I'm glad of it. Heading back to the mainland to drop Richard off and restock, we stopped at Musket Cove to watch the Bledisloe Cup. This time anchoring in idyllic conditions.
The Navire crew had spent several days practicing the New Zealand national anthem in Maori. As the room seemed to fill with people with Australian accents I started worrying about the prospect of being lynched when we sang. On the big screen the teams ran on to the field. To our surprise the Aussies sat mutely through their anthem. Then most of the 50 strong crowd erupted into the New Zealand national anthem, in Maori. I was so proud to be a kiwi. To top it all off we thrashed the Aussies this time.

Suva to Robinson Crusoe Island Aug 3 Janet "I was doing fish whispering last night," said Richard as he sipped his coffee.
"Let me hear some," said David.
Richard sits in the cockpit in silence for a minute.
"Can you hear it?" he asks.
Richard was trying to break our fish drought.
Mmmmm, I'll wait and see the evidence I thought, and went back to my coffee.
*** It's been over two weeks since that idyllic passage from Kadavu to Suva in my last post, and now I want to go, get the sails up again and head out away from the city. In Suva I shopped and shopped, and loaded up Navire with provisions to carry us through to who knows where. David's colon procedure was completed with no worrying findings. We caught up with old New Zealand friend Rita and her husband Ken, then Richard Moss from Wellington joined us for two weeks cruising.
*** Day 1 Suva to Beqa: We woke to mist draped over the bay like a lacy wedding veil. Was it to be another grey damp day, with poor coral spotting visibility, thwarting our plans to depart? I lay in bed dialing up the weather forecast on my phone, seeking assurance the sky was still going to clear. The marine forecast sites promised improving conditions. I jumped into action transforming our floating caravan back into an ocean going vessel.
That first day out gave our guest a taste of open-water sailing with two to three meter swells, rough seas, and 25 knots of wind. Four hours later we dropped the pick on the western side of Beqa, an island on the south coast of Viti Levu. It wasn't particularly sheltered in the anchorage and I was glad to weigh anchor at first light the next morning, after a less than ideal night's sleep.
*** Day 2 Beqa to Cuvu: The wind blew 30-40 knots but being behind the reef we had no swell or sea to contend with so we raced along skimming over the flat water. The sun was out. This always raises the spirits. After lunch the wind eased, and eased, and eventually went ahead, so we reluctantly started the motor. It soon became evident that there was a two-knot current against us and we had doubts about making our destination before dark. We started investigating breaks in the reef but the first two bays looked bleak and exposed, with surf crashing on the beach, a sure sign of a rolly anchorage. Seven hours later we sailed up to Cuvu Bay with Yanuca Island offering some shelter.
In we went, through the 200m wide pass, with surf breaking either side. Here we encountered our first resort of the trip. Tourist Fiji. Not just any resort but the one where David's parents used to hang out in the 60's. The Fijian. They ran charters on their 40' catamaran here. David used to come up there to visit sometimes in his school holidays.
What a contrast to the remote village Fiji life we'd seen till then. The now renamed Sahngri-La Resort (how Fijian is that?) stretched out over a long white sandy beach littered with umbrellas, kayaks and people, all white, and loud music pumped out over the water. A speed-boat zipped back and forwards past us towing para-gliders. One came so close he looked like he was going to catch his parachute on the mast.
As soon as the anchor was down we dived in. First swim in weeks. Bathwater temperture- yum. Finally I felt thoroughly sunbaked and salty, and relaxed.
*** Day 3 Cuvu to Robinson Crusoe Island.
We moved on early the next morning as the weather was due to go south and we didn't want to get caught on the south coast, a lee shore, with nothing between us and the Antarctic . Leaving Yanuca in light conditions the wind speed steadily increased. We made good time. It was gusty though, we kept heeling over and eventually reefed both sails. Then the wind headed so we pulled in the jib and motored again.
Into another surf-fringed pass to Robinson Crusoe Island. Boy has that tale endured. David was up the mast directing me, via our headphones, to keep away away from the coral in the pass. The wind was still north not due to go south yet so we anchored in northernmost part of bay. David and Richard made divine watermelon Margaritas, very sweet, and crisp. Highly recommended.
*** Day 3: Rough night. I woke at 2am to what I thought was a gust but after a while realised it was consistently windy. I got up and saw we were facing the opposite way to when we anchored. The expected front and ensuing southerly had come a day early and we were exposed to it. Not to the sea fortunately as we were inside the reef. I turned on the instruments and started recording the depth, our position, the wind speed and direction every 15 minutes. David got up for a while and we discussed whether to move or not, never an appealing prospect in the dead of night in a bay with scattered shallow patches, ringed by coral reefs. We voted to stay put and do an anchor watch. I took first shift. By the time it was David's turn the wind had eased and it was obvious we were not going to drag. I let him sleep and fell into bed.
As the sun was setting that evening we rowed in to Robinson Crusoe Island. It really did look like the one from the story, small and oval, with coconut palms, fringed with sandy beaches. We had a mediocre meal (hardly any local food content) and saw a touristy but very entertaining show. The Fijians love to dance and joke. First they showed the audience how a kava ceremony worked which of course we knew having participated in several of them by now. They invited the audience to come and drink with them, and I joined in, sitting next to a young absolute hunk, his oiled body wrapped in a green sulu. Turned out he was from Rotuma, an island 250 miles north of here, but still part of Fiji. When we leave here to go north we are thinking of going to Rotuma. Apparently not many yachts go there and those that do are made very welcome.
The show finished with spectacular fire-dancing. We then tried in vain to find somewhere to watch the rugby, the second Bledisloe Cup game but alas no Sky TV. David and Richard ended up listening to it on the radio via a cellphone. Isn't technology wonderful. Alas it was a fairly forgettable sort of game.