NORDLYS - Wallis and on to Fiji

Wallis and on to Fiji

NORDLYS

David and Annette Ridout

Sat 24 Jul 2004 04:34

Wallis and on to Fiji

Savu Savu

24th July 2004

July the 13th dawned hot and sunny and perhaps more remarkably our restauranteur friend was there to meet us when we came ashore at 1100hrs. Nine kilometres of winding through this lovely island and we were once again in the 'capital' Mata-Utu. The Gendarme was happy to check us out for Fiji so that we could leave early the following day. A stroll and lunch, slow and alcoholic in French style was followed with the information that no one new exactly if and when the dancing would start! Our Anglo Saxon approach to life found this incomprehensible but in reality a few grass skirts started to appear amongst the locals massing on the lawn in front of the palace. This gave us hope and by four thirty there were lots of different performing groups and many spectators all seated in order round a quadrangle of grass.

The local TV was there and we met again the cameraman who had given us a lift a few days previously. The performing started and we were shown a spectacle of great dignity and some style but nothing like the suggestive motions and rhythm of the more Eastern Polynesian dancing. Staccato movements of the hands and to a lesser extent the body were the order of the day. More elderly persons were participating. Alas the gyrating hips of the more traditional south sea islands type girl were missing. The ladies in the groups were what we have come to call 'of traditional build'.

Getting back to the boats proved to be a problem as our restrauranteur had vanished along with his car. His wife had no idea where he was. Some French sailors from a visiting naval ship did their best to persuade the gendarme in his Landrover to take us. To no avail. Then they cornered a local Frenchman who had been visiting the ship and he, bless him, happily did the eighteen kilometre round trip back to our bay. Our visit to this island was noticeable for the friendliness of both the locals and the ex-pat French. Altogether a very different atmosphere than we encountered in either the Marquesas or the Society Islands. The other feature of Wallis is their stunning churches. Architecturally they are impressive, if not perhaps to our taste, and inside the simplicity and in many cases the paintings on the walls are very evocative. This island has few if any tourists and yet with the French money pouring in is far from poor. Contentment and reasonable affluence by local standards seems to be the order of the day.. Having now visited Tonga, Samoa, Wallis and some of Fiji. All islands run under differing political systems it is very apparent that the dictatorship of the Tongan Royalty is not to the benefit of its peoples.

The 14th dawned wet and windy but determined to get going we prepared insome depth and up anchored about 0800hrs. By now we are used to going in and out of reef passes in such conditions. In fact Annette and I wonder if it is ever nice and sunny with fifteen knots blowing when one does such things!

A hard sail ensued with big seas and about 25 knots of true wind some sixty degrees apparent off the bows. Two reefs and many rolls and Nordlys bit her teeth and charged off. So successfully in fact that it was twenty six hours before Duet who was three and a half miles behind to start with caught us up. By this time we had both put over two hundred miles under our keels. The next twenty four hours were blissful. Beam reaching in fifteen to twenty knots of wind over a blue sea was followed by a starlit night. Alas it did not last and we were back to rain and strong winds and a black night as we made our way carefully north of the reef where our Danish friends in Tico Tico had come to grief a few weeks earlier. (See an earlier diary episode). Passage making with a nearly full moon is so much more restful but the silver orb was on this date a mere slither in the sky when visible through the scudding clouds. We sailed slowly through the night as we wanted to have the sun up before tackling the narrow entrance to Savu Savu Bay. Rounding the reef in the usual wind and rain we then enjoyed a calm sail over a flat sea the five miles to Savu Savu, a small town a mile up a creek. As we tied to a buoy it was exactly forty eight hours since we had up anchored three hundred and eighty miles away. Great going but boy are we looking forward to a nice run before force four or five!

During the last week this northern island of Fiji has shown itself and its peoples to be quite delightful. The scenery is if not breathtaking then always beautiful and interesting. The peoples both Fijian and Indian of origin are quite delightful. We have 4WD to the end of tracks to villages that are if not cut off then quite isolated and beyond even the local bus routes. We have done the Sevu Sevu with the local village chiefs. Seen petroglyphs from bygone eras and picnicked in the most stunning scenery. We have above all enjoyed being at rest for some days with no rain and the sunshine doing its work on the solar panels. The complete lack of grasping or any signs of greed from the locals both young and old is a delight. Blow up a balloon for a local child and the others watch on. If they get one then well and good but no signs of 'give me..give me' are displayed. Annette uses the local market and particularly the stalls in the back where she encounters men and women who have little and still ask very cheap prices even of us palangai, or white men. Fiji has without doubt many political problems with its mix of Polynesian and Indian peoples but there is little sign of this on Vanua Levu. I have also been diving off the reef drop off and seen shoals of Barracuda and beautiful 'fields' of coral.

I am writing this on Saturday afternoon and our cruising permit has come through. This allows us to go almost everywhere except the Lao group which we may well tackle next year. Our plan is to leave here next Tuesday and sail back east for some twenty miles to visit a few anchorages behind Rainbow reef where the snorkelling and diving is supposed to be excellent and the villages are very remote from any other populations so sound interesting to visit. Our American friends who we originally met in the Society Islands and I did much diving with are presently in the Lao and have arranged to meet us in a given anchorage on Tuesday evening. Let us hope the weather gods are reasonable and this arrangement works. They are excellent company, very keen divers and have a compressor onboard their sixty foot ketch.

We hear stories from Lymington of cold strong winds and beating across Lyme Bay. For all our readers, both sailors and non we hope this changes and that the summer finishes in the way that it started which we understand was lovely.

My late father often quoted the Dutch winner of the 1934 Fastnet who when winding up his speech of thanks ended with. 'May your vind always come from your behind'. We know what he meant and if we say the same you know what we intend to get over.

Happy times

David and Annette