Category: Uncategorized

Originally posted on cruisingrunner

Our time so far in Fiji has been very special. We have had the opportunity to be in some wildly remote places where people still lead somewhat traditional lives, and the friendliness and hospitality of the Fijians never ceases to amaze me. It seems to me that their lives are at the proper pace, where neighbors are people, not blurs you barely notice as you rush around assuming your busy, self-important life. One Fijian tradition is that a visitor to any village offers “sevusevu,” and the ritual itself is quite simple. You offer to the village chief (or his spokesman if he’s not available) a bundle of Yaqona, which is dried pepper tree root. A short solemn ceremony in Fijian ensues, and after that it’s all smiles. You are now one of them. Part of their village. They welcome you into their community and into their homes, and if you’re lucky and your timing was right they will invite you immediately for a grog, that is the drinking of the kava, which is made from grinding up the yaqona. Each village we visited was different, but in each you still had that genuine sense of warmth and welcoming.

However, now we find ourselves in Bizarro Fiji where modest villages and friendly people have been replaced by mega resorts and parasailing. We are now in the islands west of the main island of Viti Levu, which is the dry, sunny side of Fiji. And where the sun always shines, you can bet that’s where the resorts will be. Our first stop was Musket Cove, a cruiser friendly resort that even has a small marina. For a small fee, cruisers can join their yacht club and then have full access to all resort amenities. Our first afternoon ashore while we were going about the business of joining the yacht club, I was observing all of the Fijian resort employees. They were all business and few smiles. The lady who runs the yacht club handed me some forms to fill out and then turned her back on me and went back to her business. I was reeling. I wanted everything to slow down, and I wanted to go back to Fiji. It was clear to me that this side of Fiji had been infected and I felt myself mourning that fact. But it was as if Tim read my thoughts, and he did the obvious thing, that is, he struck up a conversation with her. He gave her a big smile, asked how her day was going, and asked where she’s originally from in Fiji. It was as if everything came to a grinding halt and a switch was flipped, and she gave him a big smile back. Turns out she’s from Kadavu, one of the islands we’ve visited, so it gave us a little connection, and she was immensely friendlier to me after that moment. So, now I’m thinking that it’s not necessarily that the Fijians have been totally adopted our impersonal western ways, maybe it’s just that most of their western patrons are too busy to notice or care that there’s any other way. That there’s a Fijian way, and that it might be better.

In our current anchorage, it’s gotten even more bizarre. We are anchored in the small lagoon of the small island of Mana, just north of Musket Cove. I had read that there are two backpacker’s hostels, a luxury resort, and a village here but today is the first day we went ashore. We had arrived on Saturday late afternoon so without doing a sevusevu, we basically stayed on the boat until this morning. Sundays are important days to Fijians, and we think that it’s somewhat disrespectful to show up in their village for the first time on a Sunday. Anyway, we figured that the village was the spot on the beach where all the fishing boats were, but Tim got out the binoculars and was surprised to notice that the two backpacker hostels are basically on the beach right at the village. Basically, part of the village. And there were people in bikinis — on the beach — right there at the village. Shocking. We usually wear our traditional Fijian outfits when we go ashore for sevusevu, but Tim was questioning the need to do that here. Clearly, it won’t be expected or even appreciated is what he was thinking. For some reason I clung to it, though. For some reason I felt that here, more than anywhere else, it was important to demonstrate that we appreciate and respect their traditions. I wore my full chumba and proudly walked down the beach in it amongst all the other scantily clad tourists. I’m pretty sure that no fewer than four different Fijian women said to me, “Nice chumba!” We asked a woman just off the beach who was selling handicrafts where we could find the Toraga ni Koro of the village, who is like the appointed village headman. In some villages you do the sevusevu with him if the chief is unavailable and, in some villages, he will take you to the chief and be your spokesman. Today, the woman we asked was with a little boy of about 4 years old and she said, “This is the Toraga ni Koro’s son, so he’ll take you to him.” So, the little boy took us further down the beach to his house where we were warmly greeted by his father, Dan. We said our polite hellos and he thanked us for stopping by and told us we were welcome anywhere on the island. That’s when I pulled out the yaqona and told him we would like to present sevusevu. He was slightly surprised but didn’t hesitate. There was a little tidying up to be done inside and then we were welcomed in for a seat on the woven mat. During the short ceremony his son played with the yaqona bundle like it was a big truck, and you could tell he’s been through these before because he clapped at just the right moment. Afterwards we had a short chat, and Dan explained that the chief was in another village and that he himself is quite young to be a village headman. He is one of the younger generation, but he appreciates that we came and respected their traditions. I wish I could remember all of his exact words because it was quite heartfelt, and I was happy to hear all of it.

I told him in response that we have continually been touched by the warmth of the Fijians and therefore we have grown to appreciate these traditions for ourselves too. But the truth is that because we were here in the middle of all this tourism, we WERE tempted to skip the sevusevu altogether, and then we WERE tempted to just go ashore in shorts and t-shirts. We had already been numbed by the resort scene and had forgotten about the value of making personal connections. Today was a very nice wake-up call.

I don’t know how long we will stay on the Bizarro side of Fiji, but while we are here, we are going to try to make a point of seeking out the villages among all the resorts.

When we left the Mana lagoon, once again we weren’t sure where we’d end up for the night. Our first stop was a spot right at the barrier reef just to the northeast of Mana. Tim had scoped it out on the satellite imagery and thought it may be good for boogie boarding and spearfishing. It turned out to be not so good for boogie boarding, but they did come back with a coral trout. The conditions deteriorated while they were out there with 25+ kts of wind and a very lively swell. I had the binoculars out trying to find them and was very relieved when they made their way back to Exodus.

In these conditions we bashed back to the small island of Qalito. It was a very deep anchorage, and of course the wind died pretty much as soon as we dropped anchor. There wasn’t really anything special there at Qalito. The island has a resort called Castaway Resort, and I phoned them to see if we could come ashore for lunch, and surprisingly they told me no. They were booked full so they were not accepting any day visitors. That was disappointing, because I had read on another cruiser blog that they have good pizza there.

My only additional memory of Qalito is that I went out for a long paddle in the morning, and had my peace and tranquility interrupted by tourists on jet skis. Jet skis are not the cruiser’s friends.

Count them…1, 2, 3, 4, 5 jet skis coming to ruin my paddle board bliss

From the pile of sand, it was a quick excursion to The Mana Lagoon, so we headed that way. The pass wasn’t a straight one, and from our vantage point outside it was difficult to tell from the markers just where the turns were. And of course, our chart was worthless. Visibility was good, so we knew that once we were upon it, we’d be able to see well enough, but it would have been nice to have at least a rough idea going in. Well, luck smiled on us, and just as we were making an approach a ferry started on its way out, so we stood off and watched its path. After it was clear we made our move, and it was a narrow, crooked pass that got quite shallow near the end, but we didn’t have any trouble.

Almost immediately after we dropped anchor a boy in a kayak stopped by and asked us for fishing hooks and food, I remember that we obliged regarding the food and gave him a package of breakfast crackers, but I don’t recall about the fishhooks. Although we arrived on a Saturday, we didn’t go immediately to shore to do sevusevu. I think we were wavering as to whether it was really needed, given that the island had resorts on it. So, the next day being Sunday, we basically just spent the whole day on board Exodus doing projects.

By Monday morning we had resigned to go ahead and do sevusevu in the village. That’s what we had learned was the tradition, and we couldn’t convince ourselves that the presence of resorts *really* negated the need to follow the tradition.

Chillin after our sevusevu at Mana

Before we went to the village the boy in the kayak came back, and we learned that his name is Male and he’s 12 years old, although he was a very big boy for 12. He wanted to take Tim spearfishing, but we explained that we needed to go do our sevusevu first, so he said he would wait for us at the beach. He asked for some paper and a pencil so he could write us letters, and he wrote a letter to each one of us while we were gone. Here is what he wrote to Brenden: “The name of my best friend is Brenden every day we go to the school and listen to the teacher and after we go home back. Brenden is a very very good boy is the whole island take care my friend you a very very good boy. Have a nice day Brenden is 12 years old”

When we got back Tim, Brenden, and Male all went spearfishing, however it wasn’t a totally positive experience for Brenden because he was stuck in the dinghy most of the time. Tim had handed Male a mask to borrow while they were all still on Exodus but then Male forgot it when they piled in the dinghy. So, he shared with Brenden, but that mostly meant that Male used the mask while Brenden waited in the dinghy. Brenden could have been more assertive, but he decided not to be. He gets to spearfish with a good mask all the time, so he let Male use it this time. Later that evening Male came back on the kayak and asked Tim for a fishing hook to use, he even eyed the one he wanted, and at first Tim told him no, because it was a hook he needed for trolling behind Exodus, but Male insisted and Tim relented, telling Male he could borrow it, but he would need to bring it back. We never saw Male again.

One afternoon the boys and I went to the village to find some kids to play with after school. We went to the school and found out that the bigger kids were all in a study session because exams were coming up and the younger kids were doing chores, but soon the younger kids came around and they played some catch while I walked around the village.

We visited the school at Mana

We will be back to Mana.

The island next to Monu to the south is called Monuriki, and it was used for on location filming for the movie The Castaway. When we left Monu we did a drive by of Monuriki, but we didn’t see any great places to anchor out of the swell, and we had had our fill of rolling in the swell from our two nights at Monu. So, we snapped a few photos and were on our way.

Exodus selfie at the Castaway movie location.

On our way headed back south we really hadn’t decided yet where we would go for the night, but the wind calmed and we came upon a tiny island, not much more than a pile of sand, so we stopped for lunch and a swim. The funny thing was that while we were there, a tour boat actually stopped and people got off to snorkel around the pile of sand. The tour operator was named Eliza and he was Fijian, and he had never met cruisers before, and he was absolutely fascinated by our story. I was struck with surprise that with as many cruisers as there are in this area of Fiji that he hadn’t crossed paths with any yet. Anyway, he was a nice guy, but soon enough he rounded up his tourists and headed on to the next spot. We enjoyed our afternoon swimming and playing in the “surf” before moving on. By that point we had settled on heading to the island of Mana.

We anchored for the afternoon at this “pile of sand”

Sometimes you just have to marvel at how lucky you are. When arriving at the windy, bouncy anchorage at Yanuya we had one such lucky time. We had been fishing from the back of Exodus along the way, and in our haste and carelessness, we forgot to reel in the lines before firing up the engines, dropping the sails, and maneuvering for anchoring. This is really bad, because maneuvering to anchor inevitably involves putting engines in reverse, which is usually a sure way to foul your prop with any line trailing behind your boat. We didn’t even realize it until we were done anchoring and had shut down the engines. Amazingly, neither prop had been fouled! We were so lucky! If one, or worse both, engines had gotten fouled we would have had a hard time preventing Exodus from going up on the reef. It would have been a race to get a sail up into an orientation to move us in the right direction.

Anyway, that wasn’t the first time that has happened. I wouldn’t say often, but more than a few times we have forgotten the fishing lines when we are entering an anchorage. So, we decided we needed to alter our process in some way, because simply relying on one of us to remember surely isn’t working. So, mentally in our process I have tied checking the fishing lines to the moment in time when we need to start one or both engines in preparation of dropping sails or anchoring. Additionally, we have put the boys in charge of remembering. And finally, it’s happened more than once that I remember the lines too early, and Tim’s not ready to bring them in, and then we end up forgetting. So, now, even if I remember too early, we bring them in.

I’m happy to say that with the combination of these things, we have had zero occurrences of forgetting the fishing lines.

We left Musket cove on a blustery day, and en route we saw up to 28 kts. We wanted to go to the uninhabited island of Monu, and there was some confusion regarding if that was allowed, so we decided to stop at the village at the island of Yanuya to do sevusevu and ask permission to go to Monu. The anchorage at Yanuya was completely untenable as the only protection from the strong winds was a bit of reef and a lot of swell was coming through. We couldn’t take the dinghy to shore due to the reef and the tide level, so Tim and Alex hopped on paddle boards in the wind chop and took a bundle of Yaqona in a dry bag. They also took the head of the fish we caught on the way with them to give to the chief. According to Tim, they did sevusevu with a young guy who said he was the chief’s son. Or possibly we just gave the kava and the fish head to some kid in the village. Anyway, in return he gave us permission to anchor at Monu wherever we wanted, to go ashore, and to fish where we wanted. Hopefully his permission meant something, but we were never approached or challenged, so we’ll never know.

Tim and Alex paddling ashore to do sevusevu at Yanuya

The fish head? Well, it wasn’t just a head because we filleted the rest for ourselves, no… it was just a head because a shark took the rest of it before we reeled it in. It was pretty funny, the boys were reeling it in and I said, “what is it?” and Alex said, “It’s not a fish *pause for perfect comedic timing* It’s half a fish!” It was a smallish skipjack tuna that would have made a nice sushi afternoon snack, but instead it made a snack for a happy shark.

We caught half a fish! (You’re welcome, shark.)

So, we moved around to the north side of the island of Monu. It is an uninhabited island, but from what we’ve gathered it is owned or possibly just used by one of the resorts to bring honeymooners to a deserted island. The lady at the yacht club at Musket Cove said we couldn’t anchor here, which is why we went to the village to ask.

There was excellent protection from the wind chop but there were huge ocean swells coming in rocking us this way and that. Oh yeah, and we didn’t have internet. Oh well, at least we weren’t at musket cove!

Musket Cove is on the island of Malolo Lailai, which was once an uninhabited island. It is a large resort with a small marina and mooring field, and so it was a bit of a culture shock to arrive after our recent more remote adventures. Even the Fijians who work there seemed caught up in Western Ways, too busy for a smile and a conversation. The woman at the yacht club was all business and obviously Tim was also feeling my need to slow down because he smiled a big smile at her and asked where in Fiji she’s originally from. She smiled, and it was like a switch was flipped as she told us she was from Kadavu and we were able to tell her that we had been there, but not to her actual village though. So, maybe it’s not that the Fijians are too busy for a conversation it’s just that most of their western patrons are too busy to care.

Yacht Club. Apparently, the owner of the resort has a soft spot for yachties, and there is a “yacht” club that costs only $10 to join for life, and in order to join you had to arrive by boat in Fiji from a foreign port. Joining gave us access to basically ALL of the resort amenities. So, we took advantage our last day with the Bellinis and enjoyed an expensive lunch and expensive beers, but on the plus side we also enjoyed nice beaches, the pool, hot showers, and Robin even went to a basket weaving class. Overall, this was a really good deal.

Ice cream after lunch at Musket Cove

Ferry Service. There is a high-speed passenger ferry, The Malolo Cat, that runs several times a day between Musket Cove and Port Denarau on the mainland of Viti Levu. So, the Bellinis took that back rather than hauling up Exodus and motoring upwind for a few hours. Also, we used this ferry service when my mom arrived. Mom took a taxi from Nadi airport to Port Denarau, and I took the ferry from Musket Cove to meet her there. Then we both took the ferry back together. You get a pretty good discount on the Ferry being a Musket Cove Yacht Club member.

Malolo Cat ferry

Provisioning. Provisioning at Musket Cove was very, very limited. There is a small grocery store with limited produce and overpriced dried and canned goods. We were still pretty well stocked up from Suva, so we just topped up to have enough to get through the next couple weeks. They did have fresh bread and eggs, so that was nice for us.

One day when I was in the store with mom I was piling potatoes, really nice small golden ones, into a bag when behind me I hear a lady say, “well, I guess we won’t be having potatoes tonight.” My first thought was, “What a passive aggressive bitch!” but then I turned around and told her if she’d like some go ahead. But then she said, “No, no, go ahead, you take them all.” OK, I thought it again, “what a passive aggressive bitch!” but I didn’t take them all. She was obviously not a cruiser.

Laundry. There is a very small do-it-yourself laundry facility with two washers and two dryers. However, you don’t put coins or tokens into them yourself, rather you go to the store and pay for the laundry you want to do, and then at their convenence, someone from the store will come and start the washer or dryer for you. This was kind of a pain because sometimes you had to wait quite awhile for someone to come after you paid. I learned that with the dryers, if you unplugged them and then plugged them back in you could start them yourself, so I ended up taking advantage of this. Not that I skipped out on paying, I always paid for the laundry I did, but I just didn’t wait for them to come start it for me.

Trails and Running. My favorite part of musket cove was the circuit of trails they had all around the island, up and over hills, and flat around the periphery. We weren’t there long enough to get into any sort of routine, but I enjoyed the running opportunity a few times while we were.

Pools. My second favorite part of Musket Cove was the pool. Not that I spent any time in the water, it was just fun to relax resort style at a pool for a while. After a grueling haul-out at Vuda Point (a marina on the mainland) and working their butts off, our friends on Nautilus, who rarely slow down enough to just relax for a day, hung out with us by the pool one afternoon. Good times.

The Mamanucas are a group of small islands just off the west coast of the main Fijian island of Viti Levu. This side of Fiji is very different. Being on the leeward side of the big island, the land and air are both drier and it has much less of that tropical feel we had grown accustomed to, so we wouldn’t be going on any muddy hikes here. It’s kind of like the difference between the Hilo and Kona sides of the big island of Hawaii. The upside is that it is much, much sunnier, but the downside is that where you find the sun is where you will also find all of the resorts. These islands are the closest ones to the international airport so access for tourists is also much easier here than elsewhere around Fiji.

All of the islands are short day hops apart, so it was easy to move about quickly without much planning or preparation.

Overall, I’d say our visit to The Mamanucas was highlighted by the people we spent our time with rather than the destinations themselves, and as a cruising destination it’s mostly forgettable and you could easily skip it and not miss anything about the Fiji experience. Of course, the sunny weather was a nice change, although it did come with the trade off of being surrounded by tourists and resorts. We certainly don’t regret our decision to spend time here but we are mostly glad to have been able to spend the time with family and friends.

20 July — 15 Aug 2015

Route Recap

We departed 20 July from Yanuca, the small island inside the Beqa lagoon southwest of Suva, and our plan was to stop for the day and night at the small island of Namotu just inside the barrier reef. We did a drive by of Namotu and it was way too bouncy, so we diverted to Musket Cove and kicked it resort style for a couple days. Tim was a bit annoyed that I “squashed his fun,” but seriously, if we had stayed it would have been possibly the worst anchorage we’ve ever stayed in. After saying good-bye to the Bellinis, our boat guests of two weeks, we went on a circuit of the Mamanuca islands to kill time before my mom arrived for a visit. We wanted to go to the uninhabited island of Monu, so we first did a quick stop at Yanuya for sevusevu and to ask permission to go to Monu. Permission granted, we went to Monu, and it was rolly but we stuck it out for 2 nights before heading inside the protection of the Mana Lagoon. Mana was a beautiful lagoon, and the anchorage was flat, so we stayed a few days until it was time to make our way back to Musket Cove. On the way back, we stayed the night at Qalito, a small island with a resort, and then we hung out back at Musket Cove to prep for mom’s visit and reunite with some of our buddy kid boats.

Once mom arrived, we headed back to Mana for a couple days and then up to the uninhabited island of Navadra, which was a wonderful island paradise. But all too soon it was time to head to Port Denarau for mom to catch her flight back home. We stayed at the marina in Port Denarau for two hectic days running errands, doing boat projects, and catching up with friends. Then on Sat 15 Aug we left for the island of Waya in the Yasawa Island group, for a much-anticipated reunion with Lumbaz!

(Yanuca) –> Musket Cove –> Yanuya –> Monu –> Mana –> Qalito –> Musket Cove –> Mana –> Navadra –> Port Denarau –> (Waya)

Yanuca is a tiny island inside the Beqa lagoon, west of the larger island of Beqa. Our passage from Gau was a very nice, slow, downwind sail. On my watch our max speed was about 4 kts, but it was quiet, and no one was seasick, so there was certainly nothing to complain about. It was a clear, starry sky and I spent the first couple hours of my watch monitoring a large vessel visually and on radar. I’m not sure why they weren’t transmitting AIS. Anyway, they were stationary for a long time, and I was going to pass it about 2 miles away, but then, of course, it started moving right towards our track, probably on its way back to Suva. I changed course slightly to give it a little more room, and we passed about 0.75 miles away. They did not answer the radio.

The anchorage on the west side of Yanuca was beautiful, and we had a nice walk across the island to the village. We went up a hill through the woods, and as we came out of the woods were were at the school at the top of the hill overlooking the village and had a beautiful view of the Beqa lagoon. We talked to a couple of the teachers at the school, and they were pretty passionate in their support of our choices to homeschool. They didn’t have a very high opinion of government having so much control over education.

We made our way down through the village, one of the cleanest, and had a quick impersonal sevusevu and were sent on our way.

On our way sailing into the anchorage, we noticed a small islet nearby, and Tim decided to turn it into an adventure with the kids. He took them to the “deserted, desert island” for an afternoon, although Alex and I opted to stay behind for some peace and quiet on the boat.

A deserted island getaway

Fluenta and Nirvana arrived on our last day there, and the kids all had a great day together playing in the water. It was time for us to depart for the western side of Viti Levu in order for the Bellinis to catch their flight home. We departed Yanuca on Mon, 20 July for one last overnight passage with the Bellinis. This time we left before dark and enjoyed a lovely evening sail into the sunset.

How many cruising kids can fit on a kayak before it tips? Turns out to be 6.

Our last dinner aboard Exodus with The Bellinis (This photo was actually taken on passage from Yanuca to Musket Cove)

Sadly, this time, baby duck didn’t follow.