Nordlys

NORDLYS
David and Annette Ridout
Sun 1 Aug 2004 04:05
The Cruising Life in Fiji
 
 
Cokuvou anchorage, Yadua Island, just west of Vanua Levu
2nd August 2004

So how do we spend all these days.  Well, it varies of course, some days we
are passage making, some we move from anchorage to anchorage which in Fiji
necessitates some careful navigation - see picture of reef passage.  Some we
are cowering down below, water catchers out, fans on wondering why we are
here and how it is possible for so much water to fall from the heavens.
 
As we approached this from the South East only the brown was above water
the reefs were however visible due to colour and breakers.  The current was westerly at about three
knots!


Yesterday was a magic day - it dawned with a blue sky and finished with the
same, hardly a cloud all day, believe me, this is quite rare.  As we had
quite a lot of rain water in cans and the water tanks were full, I decided to do
some clothes washing, a bit of cleaning and sorting out of my store
cupboard.  David tackled another window, replacing the rubber seal.  There
were a couple of rope ends to be tidied up and a few emails to send and
receive.  Then off  for a snorkel round one of the headlands.  It never
ceases to amaze me how there can be so much to see round one headland and very much
less around another.  Anyway, we snorkelled along the reef edge with David
free diving up and down like a dolphin.  The coral is wonderful, some with
blue spikes, some bright orange, some purple with tiny turquoise fish
darting in and out and so on through the whole colour spectrum.  Fish in the
thousands, mostly small to medium but the odd large impressive parrot fish
grinned at us and disappeared back into a crevice.  A spectacular black and
yellow sweetlips (wonderful name) came out but then dived for cover.  The
bright light above made you feel you were suspended in an aquarium of large
proportions.

On our way back we met up with Peter, he checks on boats in this anchorage
and keeps an eye on the nearby little island where no-one is allowed, it is
a green iguana reserve. A fairly simple local man he is however proud of his
official environmental job and the big launch with its two outboards that goes with it.  Not very
different from those who drool ever their company cars.  He came onboard with his two young sons and a
nephew and the young finished our supply of coke and Peter sat back and enjoyed his
beers - having checked our cruising permit.  He asked if we had a newspaper
and we had one Fiji Sun so he was soon  into the sport pages.  They were
charming and polite and stayed for about an hour before heading back to their village
the other side of the island.  It was lunch time and then David cleaned the
winch on the mast while I cleared up. By now there was a lovely breeze
blowing and both solar panels and wind generator were working well.
We had at some point earlier this cruise thought of putting up a sign saying
'for sale - solar panels and water maker' as the endless rain sorely tested
us. The tide had now come in enough for us take the dinghy across the reef  so
we could go for a walk to the beach on the windward side.  A nice young
local chap, Jack showed us the way along the beach and then up and over the
small steep hill, made from black lava.  It was a lovely deserted beach with coconuts
washed up but sadly also a fair few plastic bottles and other non biodegradable bits.
Luckily Peter had said we were not allowed to start bonfires or D. would have been back
with matches!! We got ourselves back to the ridge but could not find the path down to the
beach so we scrambled down through the very dense greenery, not far thank goodness.
Then back onboard for a nice shower before a drink on the only other boat in the
anchorage, a very good looking NZ boat called Watea.  The sun set and a full moon rose behind the island -
very reminiscent of our Norwegian cruise in Born Free.  Finally supper back on 'Noodles' and after
the 'stress of the day' the pleasure of our bunk. You can see the cruising life can be good.
 
The Kava ceremony.
 
This is known as 'sevusevu' and is an important part in Fijian culture.  Casual visits between friends in Fiji are usually accompanied by the offering of gifts of yaqona or 'kava'.  For us, visiting yachtsmen it is essential to go ashore when in a bay off a village, seek out the chief and offer a gift of this root.  The villages in Fiji own the land, the beach and the surrounding waters.  At the ceremony one is supposed to inform the chief of any activities, swimming, snorkelling etc that one wants to do .  We have only done this twice so far and have not had to actually drink the stuff.  We are told that it tastes like dishwater without the soap suds.  It also apparently makes the lips numb.  In reality, and I am not being cynical when I say 'the exercise is really the Fijian equivalent of mooring fees'.  Who are we to grumble as many yachties do.  After all for many many years the dropping of the hook in any West Country port has meant paying harbour dues.  There are all sorts of bits of etiquette which go with this gift.  Trousers to be worn.  Sit on the floor but not with ones feet pointing at the chief, sun glasses not to be worn, etc etc.  Again in reality we are told by others the chief himself is usually wearing sun glasses these days.  For our two experiences he was not.  There is some difficulty for those of us who need glasses and they are self tinting.  So far no trouble.  Usually and this has been true for us the root is not prepared then but accepted as a gift.
 
One by-product of this is the lovely wooden bowls that the woodworkers carve for the ceremony.  We have bought ourselves one that will not be used to serve friends anything to drink but will make an excellent fruit bowl.
 
 
Kava bowl and unprepared kava roots taken in Nordlys's pilot berth.
Cook Island fan in the background.  The memories are mounting up!
 
The Yasawa group whence we are next bound have many villages in little bays and our experience of this ceremony will no doubt mount.  We will report further.
 
Meanwhile may we wish all the best to our readers whoever they are.
 
David and Annette