Nordlys
NORDLYS
David and Annette Ridout
Sun 1 Aug 2004 04:05
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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
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