Fiji - Naigani
Questionable Logic
Ewan Briggs
Wed 19 Aug 2009 05:43
Position: 17:24.66S
178:40.17E
Our second stop on
Fiji - no different but equally spectacular. We've gone a bit off piste and
decided to explore anchoring possibilities off this small island, which looked
on the chart like it had a couple of bays that might be good. We set off last
night from Savusavu, using our chart track to get out safely, and then made our
way across the Koro Sea to get here early in the morning. It turns out that both
the bays are good - although the southern one smaller and better protected.
Kirsten and I took the dingy around the other side of the island to find the
village. Eventually we did - lots of coral head navigation and quite a bit of
carrying the dinghy over slippery coral to get to the village at low tide. The
villagers were very friendly, and before long we were in one of the main huts
with the chief and a couple of the other elders. We presented our cava which
appeared to do the trick. They didn't go to the trouble of pounding it and
making it into a drink there, but did some chanting and clapping and welcomed us
officially to the island/village/anchorage. We had a brief chat about where we
were from and going to, and about the island before we were back at the dingy
and dodging more coral on our way back to the boat. A surreal and great
experience. The Fijians have been very friendly without exception so far - we've
all been very impressed. And now that we've found our own little bay in
paradise, the sun has come out and the wind has dropped we're all revelling in
the stunning scenery - this is what we signed up
for!