HELLO FIJI

 

As always it was fabulous to be back at sea and even more exciting was the fact that we were back on the move again after lockdown. We had great sailing winds, even though it was a little bumpy. Looking back at the log I described the conditions as similar to being in a washing machine. On day two we discovered that the autohelm wouldn’t disengage, which was a little disconcerting, but we weren’t going to mess around with it in the middle of the ocean. By day five the weather was starting to get warmer and we could start to put away some of our thermal gear.

The wind started to increase on day six and as we approached Fiji we were getting forty knot gusts. However once through the Maholo Passage and behind the reef the conditions were much calmer and we marvelled at the beautiful blue waters around the reefs as we made our way to the quarantine area outside Port Denarau.

Having reported our arrival to our agent we were soon visited by the Fijian Navy whose job was to make sure that we didn’t leave our vessel during the remaining seven days of our quarantine. We had been concerned about how welcome we would be arriving from another country but we were quickly reminded of the wonderful Fijian hospitality. The navy guys were charming and assured us that we were now part of their family and they would do whatever they could to look after us. In addition they said we were very welcome to swim off the back of the boat, it didn’t look like this was going to be too much of a hardship.

Waking up the next morning, after an uninterrupted night with no one shaking my leg in the early hours, I felt overwhelmed with joy to be back in the tropics. The warmth, sunshine and blue waters is for me a big part of what sailing around the world is all about! The seven days passed pretty quickly. The navy visited us several times a day, the medics came alongside fully masked and took our temperature most days and we spent our time doing chores so the boat was in tip top condition. Andrew even polished the kettle!  The locals whizzing past in their boats seemed thrilled to see us, waving madly with big grins on their faces. The Fijian government had been very brave in opening up the Blues Lanes to yachts but I could see that actually it had been very clever as our presence marked the beginning of a return to normality and gave hope in a country struggling from a lack of tourism.

Once we had had a negative Covid test we were allowed into Port Denarau to check in. We had had no option in engaging an agent but I have to say it was worth every penny and really speeded up the whole process, so much easier than the year before. Bio security confiscated my honey and frozen prawns but otherwise it was plain sailing and we were free to cruise the waters of Fiji. Lucky us!

Stepping ashore we weren’t surprised to find that many of the shops and restaurants were closed. When we were here last year Port Denarau had been overrun with tourists but now it was actually a much nicer place to be. We were thrilled to see the Rhum bar had a live band that evening and we spent our first evening out of quarantine there eating Pizza there. Sitting in the  cockpit later listening to music coming from the shore it came home to me that lovely as New Zealand is the one thing it is missing is nightlife and I am partial to a bit of that!

We met the lovely Tom, a taxi driver, in the port and he took us into Nadi to do some shopping. This was the beginning of a lovely relationship, such a charming man with an infectious giggle we were to use him every time we came into town. Arriving at the vegetable market full of an array of colourful produce we were greeted by everyone with much enthusiasm, clearly pleased to see westerners and wanting to know our story. We thanked them for letting us back into their wonderful country and told them what a fantastic job their Navy had done looking after us.  They beamed with pride and thanked us profusely for coming back to Fiji. We sampled the Indian at Indigos that evening which was delicious and I was thrilled to find it was open Thursday to Sunday. There was also Cardos which was open every night, we weren’t going to struggle being back in Fiji.

Fully provisioned we headed out to Musket Cove and put our hook down among a handful of yachts, a stark contrast to the year before when we had struggled to find enough room in the anchorage. We enjoyed a few days of relaxing in the sun, so happy to have made the somewhat brave decision to leave NZ and come back to the tropics in these unsettled times. We had left all our Pacific friends behind so were feeling rather Billy no mates but heading into the beach bar at Musket Cove resort we met the crew of Yoco and the making of new friends began. The resort itself was pretty much closed, which was sad to see.  The small supermarket was open, the Cafe served Breakfast and lunch until 2 pm each day  and the beach bar would light a BBQ for you in the evenings and was open from 4pm.

Keen to go cruising we headed up the Yasawa Islands. With no other boats in sight it was a surreal experience and one we were going to get used to. We imagined we were experiencing cruising in Fiji in the 1950’s. We stopped for a night outside the Octopus resort where we had spent a fun couple of days with our girls the year before, but despite a few lights ashore it was firmly shut. The water was crystal clear though and we had a fabulous swim. 

Next stop was the Blue Lagoon and we were delighted to find that the resort there was open and arranged for dinner on our second night. We went for a walk the next morning across to Mo’s cafe and discovered that we were only her second guest since March. She was thrilled to see us and happy to chat. She recounted how life had been over the last few months, how awful it had been for them as a community as they were banned from drinking Kava together which is such a large part of their culture. We bought some home made lemonade and I purchased two shells. I only had a $20 note with me and our bill amounted to $14. She was very embarrassed as she had no change at all, in fact she told us no one had any money on the island at all due to Covid and the lack of tourists. Obviously $6 (£2) is very little and we were there to spread the love. It is difficult though for the Fijians to accept charity and the happy acceptance of extra money told its own story.

The bay started to fill with other boats and an evening of Fire dancing was arranged for the following night. We had a very nice dinner with three other boats and very much enjoyed the show, their first performance since March. Ivan the resort owner and a big supporter of the locals was thrilled to be able to have arranged the event for them as much as us. Keen to help the locals out ourselves we set off in our dinghy the next day into the far bay to find the local farmer and buy some vegetables. Due to the lack of boats this year they had planted very little but we bought what we could. We encountered the same problem with the lack of change but whereas in the past, particularly in the Caribbean, we would have felt cheated in the current climate we were just happy to help.

After another hike across the bay it was time for us to move on and we sailed up to Sawa I Lau to visit the famous caves. Arriving in the bay we moored outside the entrance and in due course set off to give Sevusevu to the village on the opposite shore. We were greeted with much enthusiasm and after our Kava had been accepted by the elderly chief we were introduced to a family and invited into their hut. It was apparent that this was not a wealthy village but this did not seem to stop the inhabitants from being incredibly cheerful in true Fijian style. Sitting on the floor of their hut on a rush mat, which also served as their bed, trying not to swat the numerous flies away and breathing in the acrid fumes from the indoor cooking fire we chatted with the family for a good half an hour. 

The husband was the religious leader of the village, very well read and was most interested in our story and any news that we could give him from the outside world. His brother was very keen that Andrew might be able to mend his old plastic kayak and we left promising to return the next morning with some glue, although we were not very optimistic of the outcome. We had been given some children’s clothes to bring to Fiji for the locals from some charity shops in New Zealand and I also promised to bring some clothes with me for their little grand daughter.  We left the proud owners of a bread fruit for our dinner.

Returning at the appointed time we found several of the villagers helping to re thatch the roof on their hut. We were ushered in to make the repair on the kayak and once the workers had retired for the day, it was now about 9.30 am, they shared their breakfast with us of coconut rice which was delicious.  After Andrew had bodged the kayak he was taken out to inspect another Kayak disaster, this one beyond repair, and I was left to chat to the lady of the house. Lying down on the mat with her head on her pillow, which was in-fact a glass jar, she very nicely asked me if there were certain items that I may have on the boat that I might be able to give to her. Nothing too much just colouring books and pencils etc. for her grandchildren which I was happy to deliver later that afternoon. We left great friends having been issued an invitation for Christmas Day if we couldn’t get home to our own families.

We had been told by our new friends that it was not their village that owned the caves but the one we had passed at the entrance to the bay. However they said it was not necessary to make Sevusevu there they just wanted paying our entrance fee to the cave. We set out across the bay by dinghy for a few miles and found a very different village on our arrival. They were clearly much more wealthy, with brick houses and we even saw a couple of horses, but the atmosphere was not very friendly at all. We were taken to meet the chief and were severely told off for not doing  Sevusevu and ordered back to the boat to get some Kava. When we returned and made our offering they were still not very friendly, begrudgingly accepting our apology for the misunderstanding and greedily putting out their hands for the $100 entrance fee to the caves. We didn’t feel that their wealth, garnered from ownership of a piece of prime real estate, had done much for their general well being!! 

 We were then given a guide armed with a large torch, and we set back across the bay to visit the caves. He was actually very nice, clearly not related to the elders, and we had a fun hour swimming in and out of the two caves whilst he told us lots of tales. We were extremely fortunate he said to be visiting on our own as pre covid  there would be at least fifty people in their at any one time. Of course we had to return him to his village, which meant three long return trips in the dinghy so we didn’t really feel like we had got our monies worth. After all we had seen equally impressive caves before for free. Still box ticked and the anchorage itself was extremely beautiful!

It was time to head back to town to re provision, and once again there was not a sailing boat in sight. Arriving at Manta Ray bay we did however find Archer and Poahuna and joined them for a drink in the back packers hotel. The owners were busy selling Pizzas and using up their alcohol supplies, unsure like everyone what the future might hold. The next morning we went to see the manta rays at their cleaning station. We had been there with the girls when you could hardly move for swimmers but this time it was just us and a boat of locals with two Manta ray scientists. So like everything in Fiji post covid we had a much more personalised experience, and like last time they took our breath away.

Tied up in Port Denarau we went shopping with Tom and pigged out on Indian crab in Indigos one night and Lobster Thermidor in Cardos the next! This did not bode well for the supposed continued weight loss. We headed back out to Musket cove where there were now several boats and had a fabulous ten days making lots of new mates. The resort held a great and very boozy brunch, which overspilled into the beach bar. I went paddle boarding with the lovely Corrine and Andrew flew on a foil board under Ronnie’s instruction behind our dinghy and came back with the biggest grin plastered all over his face. We swam lots, went for several walks and spent quite a lot of time socialising, it was hard to believe that the rest of the world were all social distancing and wearing face masks. Maybe not a good idea to send too many, if any, pictures home!

Back to Denarau to restock and a very enjoyable evening with Martin and Anna off Pandora onboard the good ship Hullabaloo. We then set off up the west coast of Viti Levu for some cruising. Weaving our way in and out of the reefs we were grateful to have all the waypoints on our chart supplied by Curly the previous year. It was very windy and at one point we had to turn back for the night to find some shelter. We moored in Volivoli for a couple of days and had lunch in the resort that was open for the weekend. 

It was becoming obvious that if we were going to have to spend the summer in Fiji that we would need a sport to keep us busy. Having flown on a foil board the next step was to go Wing foiling which is the new alternative to Kite boarding.  We felt it was likely to severely damage us!  It is also much easier to set up and you are supposed to be able to do it in broader conditions. With time on our hands Andrew spent hours researching the equipment needed and ordered a foil board and wing from New Zealand. Now we just had to wait five weeks for it to arrive! 

Moving on we set off to see the Black Christ in Vitu Levu Bay but sadly the weather was agin us and we couldn’t safely get ashore. Venturing further afield and after a very bumpy motor with the wind attached firmly to the nose, as it is sometimes wont to do,  we anchored off Naigani Island. A beautiful picture post card tropical beach but sadly once again, although the bay offered good protection from the wind, the weather was not good enough to go ashore. Woken by our anchor alarm at 4.30am due to a severe wind shift and now on a lee reef shore we spent a few anxious hours waiting for daylight so that we could move swiftly on. It started to pour with rain and we limped towards Ovalau island part of the Lomaiviti islands with the help of our radar. We dropped our hook outside Levuka which was the old capital of Fiji. It has an Old Colonial feel to it and was recognised as a World Heritage site in 2013. We went ashore for a wander and visited the site where Prince Charles handed over independence to Fiji in 1970. Since the installation of a canning plant by the Pacific Fishing Company the town has become somewhat run down and having to moor downwind of this plant made it a one stop wonder.

Leaving early the next morning, gratefully breathing in the fresh sea air, we hoisted the Yankee and with the sun finally shining we made our way to the island of Makogai which had been a Leper colony to the British colonies of the South Pacific and New Zealand until the early 1960’s. It was now run by the department of Fisheries whose remit there was to protect and cultivate Giant Clams. We dropped the anchor in the beautiful bay and went in to present Sevusevu. We were met by some very friendly and enthusiastic local children who escorted us into the village were we were greeted by what we thought was the chief. Our offering was accepted and we arranged to come back the next morning to visit the school. Our enthusiastic new young friends were very keen that we should bring them some lollipops so we made a quick round trip to deliver some.  Arriving back on the boat we were thrilled to see Filizi arriving in the bay with the lovely George and Karina onboard, whom we had not seen since last year. So we had a good catch up on Hullabaloo.

Arriving ashore the next morning we were again met by all our new friends and taken to see the Giant Clams. We had with us by prior arrangement some children’s clothes for our guide’s family  but he didn’t seem to want to take them from us in front of the other people around. This time we had bought a huge bag of lollipops with us which created a major scrum amongst the children and we needed our guide’s help to restore order. 

Walking to the other side of the island, carrying our bag of goodies with us, it soon became apparent that our friend was not the Chief just a Fisheries employee and that there wasn’t a chief as such just a manager who we had yet to meet. We were both astonished when our friend recounted that the Covid pandemic was a result of the 5G masts that have been installed worldwide.  You read about such theories but to actually meet someone who believes such hype was something else. Of course we just nodded and continued our long walk whilst he pointed out the remains of the Leper colony and also gave graphic descriptions of the damage to the island during Cyclone Winston which had been a category five. It had blown his whole house over a mile away and all his possessions into the sea. We arrived in the other village and gave our goodies to his wife and then we were given a tour of the school by the Headmaster. Devastated by Winston it had been rebuilt by the help of Sea Mercy and many visiting yachtsmen a few years previously.

Filizi had been invited to dinner at Lucia’s house and they suggested that we came with them. We were a little embarrassed to turn up uninvited but they assured us it would be fine. The custom is that one family entertains you and you then help them out with food supplies and other items. We needn’t have worried as we were warmly welcomed and our offerings went down very well, particularly the chicken noodles which are Fiji’s answer to junk food. She had caught some local fish which was delicious and we spent a very jolly couple of hours talking to her and her three children.

Apparently she had two younger children that she was in the process of giving to her barren sister and husband who lived in New Zealand. They were at present with her parents as Covid had prevented them travelling to NZ. We thought this a very generous thing to do but we later learnt this is quite a common occurrence in Fiji. We were politely asked if we could help with any food items and agreed to return the next day.  The men of the village have a little Cyclone proof hut in the middle of the new Cyclone proof houses where they all drink Kava. Andrew had been chatting with them and as we got into our dinghies the manager asked us to join them for Church and Sunday lunch the next day.

We arrived with some gifts for Lucia, among them spices and a snorkel and mask for her kids  which went down a storm.  We then had an extraordinary lunch with the whole village sitting crossed legged on the wooden platform under the mango tree.  Everyone was dressed in their Sunday best, the men wearing sulus and the little girls in the cutest dresses. They had dug a Lomo and collected mud crabs and wrapped cassava in leaves and coconut milk. Eating with our hands we had a fantastic and very memorable feast.

When we had finished eating we asked if we could take all the children out to the boats, as they had never been invited before. So we set of in the two dinghies amid much squealing and everyone clambered aboard Hullabaloo. We had a little ice cream in the freezer, only enough for a spoonful each, but it went down very well. They all gathered down below eyes wide at such opulence, I don’t think they could quite believe what they were seeing. At Karina’s request they sung us some of their traditional songs, what a thrill that was listening to their beautiful young voices belting out tunes as only Fijians can.

We had plenty of children’s clothes onboard and Andrew decided it would be nice to let them have some of them. So we got the bags out and allowed them all to pick what they would like. More squeals, lots of laughter and big smiles they left with several items each. One little girl solemnly thanked me for such generosity she said it was like going on a massive shopping trip and I was reminded of the shopping trips I took my daughter’s on when they were of a similar age and we came home with lots of shiny new things and not second hand clothes. We stopped by on Filizi for juice and biscuits and then delivered them all back to their parents totally hyped and full of sugar. Luckily Filizi had a rugby ball to give them and some energy was worn off playing tag. Exhausted I returned to the boat for some peace and quiet leaving himself with the men and the kava. He returned a little while later without his flip flops, which were never to be seen again.

We went ashore to say goodby the next day and John one of the younger men, gave us a tour of the Leper’s graveyard and the old cinema building. His father had been the head man on the island when he was a young boy so he made an excellent tour guide.  He showed us the incinerator where, if the lepers did not want to live anymore because they were in so much pain, they could throw themselves in to put an end to their misery. That or someone would shoot them. After our tour he cut us down a couple of coconuts and we sat under a palm tree sheltering from the sun hearing more tales from the past. It had been an amazing and unforgettable few days and one neither of us will forget.

There was some strong winds forecast so we decided to head to Savusavu and after a night spent at Point Reef, at the entrance to the bay, we motored to the Copra Shed marina and tied up.  We spent a few days there provisioning and visiting our favourite restaurants, which we were pleased to see were all open.  The wonderful Sea Lovers deli was still there and I got a big hug on arrival and spent a happy half an hour finding lots of goodies that I had not seen for a while. We bought some more local cotton shirts and even got Andrew a sulu, we were going native! And we had drinks and met Optimist of London and Blue Spirit, more new friends to play with.

Before returning to Denarau we sailed down to the Paradise Resort on the South of Taveuni and picked up a mooring ball. We were very excited to learn there was a dinner and band that evening. The owners keen to make some money and keep the place open had put on this evening and all the locals were made welcome. We met a couple more boats and had a great time dancing to a local band. One upside of the lack of tourism is that some of the locals are getting to use facilities which in the past would have not been available to them. We managed a long walk the next day in the rain and then had a lovely massage, such a treat and so cheap. But it just kept raining and we were reminded how much wetter this side of Fiji can be, time to sail to back to Viti Levu.

New Zealand were not going to let us back in for Cyclone season unless we committed to spend $50,000 on the boat. This seemed a little elitist and as they are unlikely to open their borders until 2022 a backwards step. Australia was at that time not letting foreign nationals in and so it looked like we had no choice but to stay in Fiji for the summer. So it was time to start operation find a safe cyclone hole!  We had already enquired about a Cyclone mooring in Savusavu but were yet to receive an answer. Another option is to tie up in the mangroves and we had read that Bau Bay on the South Western end of Vanua Levu was a good spot, so we went to have a look and anchored for the night. It certainly had good holding but is an enormous bay surrounded by coral and we couldn’t see how we could get any shelter at all.  It was clearly more suited to ships.

We sailed across to Yadua island catching a blue fin tuna on our line, happy days! We dropped our anchor in Cokuvou harbour and enjoyed three nights in complete solitude before yomping across Bligh Water and dropping our hook outside Lautoka. A lot of boats when a Cyclone is due go up the Denarau river but Geoff the manager of the marina had already told us that we were too big. The commercial boats go up the Lautoka river so we decided to swing a lead and see how deep it was. The disappointing answer was not deep enough! We could only find 1.1 meters on the bar which would mean we would need a high tide of 1.3m to get in and we were also worried that if there was a storm surge that we might get caught the wrong side of the bar for sometime in the mangroves with the mosquitoes!

So off we trotted to Vuda Marina for a few days to discuss a Cyclone mooring with Adam. Arriving in the marina for the first time that year we had a traditional greeting with all the staff gathered on the grass singing a welcome song, it was very moving. We didn’t like the idea of lifting her into a Cyclone pit as the only ones available were on newly reclaimed land. Vuda is however a well known cyclone marina, well protected from the elements with a central mooring that all the boats attach their anchor chains to. We had been hoping that Musket cove might give us a berth but that didn’t seem to be forthcoming so we signed up for a six month berth to guarantee us a refuge and breathed a huge sigh of relief that the decision had been made.

Time to set our minds to more pressing matters, the Musket Cove Regatta! We arrived a few days early to secure our spot fully provisioned and ready for the festivities to begin and we were not disappointed. The anchorage quickly filled up with lots of boats, most of which we knew. Ronnie gave me a lesson on the foiling board and I flew, only for a few seconds but it was easy to see how exhilarating it would be. 

 We entered the Hobie Cat race but were knocked out in the first round, it is possible that the foredeck crew didn’t perform very well in the light winds..... We performed equally badly in the paddle board race but at least we had a go! We didn’t want to race the country cottage in the yacht racing and were very happy to be asked onboard NV by Jo and Timo. She is an old IMOCA 60 that they had recently bought and sailed up from New Zealand. We were even more happy when Andrew was asked to be the crew boss and I was given the Jib to trim. We didn’t have a fully sized main so didn’t win any races but the boat was full of some great people and we had a whale of a time! Add to that dancing most evenings and it was hard to believe that there was a world pandemic. The final day of the regatta was the fiftieth anniversary of Independence in Fiji and a traditional flag hanging service was performed followed by some Fijian singing and a speech from the Attorney General. We rounded up the event on the last night dancing in the pool, Andrew went first, then Martin, then me and soon everyone was in. A proper party and a truly great event, made better I was told by the smaller than normal numbers.

We gave Ronnie a lift back to Vuda, as he was going to deliver a motor boat to the USA, and tied up for a couple of days to re-group. We had a great dinner with Martin & Anna and then the next night had Timo, Jo, Ronnie and his crew mate Graham onboard Hullabaloo for supper. Our wing foil and board was due to be delivered but as usual there were frustrating delays. So we hovered between Musket and Denarau, socialising in the first with a Pizza night and then a 60th birthday party for Karen and attending a very informative talk on Cyclones in the latter.  Our new weather guru, Neville Cook, informed us that as it was a La Niña year so we could expect up to six cyclones in the coming months, food for thought. He told us about the Madden Julien Oscillation an eastward moving pulse of cloud and rainfall that typically occurs every 30 to 60 days and assured us that although it’s presence didn’t guarantee a Cyclone one wouldn’t form unless it was in the vicinity. This would mean that between waves we would be able to safely do some cruising.  $180 seemed a small price to pay for daily forecasts over the summer from a local expert and we were quick to sign up.

We were missing the girl’s dreadfully, thank goodness for WhatsApp which allowed me to be in contact with them almost every day. Emma had got herself a puppy and we really enjoyed receiving pictures of them all together. Andrew said as I had a Grand dog now that made me a Grand Bitch and seemed to think that was really funny! He also thought the dog looked a bit like me!

We had a very worrying couple of weeks after Andrew’s father had a stroke and were suddenly feeling a long way from home. Happily he was home in a couple of days and on the mend. Again we were grateful for good telecommunications enabling us to keep in touch.

Finally our new toy was released from customs and we took it over to Musket which was fast starting to feel like home. Andrew screwed it all together and we were ready to learn our new sport. He had spent hours watching You Tube videos on how to learn and the advice was to first  foil behind a dinghy

Hoping that history wasn’t about to repeat itself,he persuaded me to learn how to snow board on one leg with interesting consequences, we launched our new toy and learnt how to fly! The board has minimal reserve buoyancy and when I first started I thought I was never going to be able to stand on this thing but with perseverance and lots of practice we just got better and better and it was lots of fun! Good for the weight loss too which had reached a stalemate.

The next two weeks were spent enjoying the good weather and playing and socialising with all our mates. We traveled back to Vuda to help NV haul out for the Cyclone season. With a draught of 4.3 meters it was touch and go as to wether she would get into the basin but with the use of a large flotation balloon to keel her over and several dinghies gently pushing her we slowly edged our way in. The relief showed on Jo and Timo’s faces as she was lifted out of the water the keel only just clearing the ground, I am not sure what plan B would have been.

There were a lot of Kiwi boats that had come up from NZ in the blue lanes and they were all headed home for the cyclone season which runs from November to May. They had all been waiting for the correct weather window and mid November it arrived. We had made some lovely friends and were really going to miss them when they were gone. Alison organised a pot luck BBQ at the beach bar in Musket so that we could all say our goodbyes. As they all left it brought home to us that we really were going to be in Fiji for the cyclone season.  Hopefully the meteorologists didn’t know what they were taking about and there wouldn’t be any cyclones. We could only cross our fingers and hope......