Soggy Suva
Quartermoon
Mike Share & Sammy Byron
Thu 2 Sep 2010 20:49
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Bula Bula (Hello, Hello in Fijian!)
Well it has been pouring down since
we arrived here, in fact non-stop torrential downpours. We watched the
rain clouds roll in about 2 miles ahead of us and here they have
stayed! The Locals are pretty happy about it as it's their first
rain in a month; we can't really complain as it's the first real rain we
have seen in a very long time. Besides it's a good excuse to spend some time
ashore in the markets, shops, bars and night-clubs.
We are anchored in a small bay
outside the Royal Suva Yacht Club in the port of Suva. As Suva is Fiji's
capital, it is a huge shipping terminal with lots of commercial shipping
and the whole port is full of semi-sunk and rusting old hulks
of boats. Many have been driven up on the mud banks and left to rot,
some are just barely above the water and totally unmarked. They are quite handy
for local fishing boats to tie up to and save them anchoring! It's not the
niceset of anchorages and although the cruising guides say you can enter at
night, I wouldn't like to - far too many unlit hazards!. The Royal
Suva Yacht Club is also right opposite the Suva Prision so we really were at the
right end of town...not the prettiest place we have been.
 Suva itself is an
eclectic mix of Asia and the Pacific with a lot of colour and
character. It has to be the most friendly city we have ever been too. Everyone
greets you with 'Bula Bula', huge smiles and always want to start conversations
and help you. The market is wonderful, in fact the best we have seen on our
travels. It is massive and full of every fruit and vegetable you can find and so
cheap ($0.50USD for 5 pineapples or 10 tomatoes etc). After visiting the islands
of French Polynesia and Niue where fruit and veg is extortionate and/or
non-existent, it's like being a kid in a sweet shop. I never thought I
could get so excited over buying some lettuce and cucumber!. Mike and Mads
(Norwegian friend) obviously had to find the Cava market which was an
experience in itself. A whole market dedicated to cava! Cava is the local drink
and they make it from roots of some plant. So you can buy Cava
in powder form and add water or buy the root, pound it down and then
add water. I have tasted it once before in Vanuatu and to be honest it tastes
how I imagine cement water to taste. You drink it from half coconut shells and
it makes your mouth go numb and is slightly narcotic. It finally stops
tasting bad, a bit like aniseed, and then you get a slight high from it. We
will have to go back and by some of the root bundles as you must take them
with you and present them to the chief of the village as a sign of respect.
(like "bring-a-bottle" only Islander style)
  
 Our experience with
Customs/Immigration/Health was okay in the end. We had heard from
friends who had checked in here the week before that they got stuck on
their boat waiting 48 hrs for the officials to visit. So we thought
we'd deal with it our way - if we are quarantined on the boat for 2 days,
presumably we can visit other quarantined boats? 9 of us had a BBQ on
"Small Nest" attempting to finish all the tuna, Mahi-Mahi and booze we could lay
our hands on (so as to appease Customs/Quarantine only you understand...) Of
course, they visited us at 10:30am the next day, which was a bit of a rude
awakening. It's a strange process here: 4 officials all come out to the
boats, give you some forms to fill out and then you have to go to
3 different offices in the city to pay for various different things and
collect stamps. Anyhow, it's all done now so we only have to check in
and out at every port :-)
Unfortunately I have picked up a
nasty tummy bug so I have not been feeling the best but the $2.00 DVDs have
helped keep me entertained whilst Mike has explored Suva every night with the men from the other boats. They
are all a bad influence on each other, one of them fell down our stairs into
the galley at 5:30 the other morning and when I came out to
investigate, you'd swear it had never happened!
Another day of exploring today and
sorting ourselves out before we head to the island of Bega for a night then
around to Nadi to meet Jez. Hopefully the rain will
stop!
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