Of course we also just HAD to take some time to lounge by the resorts' pool and enjoy the tasty theme night dinners they offered. On Nat’s last night with us we were able to take part in a social (ie non-formal) kava ceremony (Sevu Sevu) and drank the kava and shared stories. Kava (which is a powder that comes from pounding the Kava roots) is a narcotic which, when taken everyday can affect your senses and make you feel drunk. Since this was our first time drinking it, it did not affect us, only made our tongues feel mildly numb the staff at Paradise resort then sang a moving traditional Fijian farewell song for Nathalie as we all wished her a safe journey home.
Coming up: We will explore the world reknown Rainbow Reef and continue to explore the coastline nearby Taveuni Island. We hope to have a chance to visit many villages and meet as many of the lovely Fijian people as we can in the next month and a half, before we start to plan for our next big destination : New Zealand! As always, we are sending you lots of love from all of us on board,
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Meghan On Amelie (written in November 2015)
FIJI
I know that I haven't posted a blog in practically two months but since we have just been in Fijj since I last wrote, I decided to combine both months together to make one, long post about all our amazing experiences in Fiji!
I was super excited to finally visit Fiji because it was only the second place on this entire trip that I had heard of for many years (Peru being the first)!
Savu Savu (Vanua Levu)
Our first stop in Fiji (arrived in about mid September). This town is a place which I often confuse with Suva (a city on another Fijian island) and Sevu Sevu (a ceremony which I will explain later in this blog)!
The town is quite cute and actually very culturally diverse. When you walk on the sidewalks, you pass by native Fijians, caucasians, and lots of East Indians. Even in the markets, you see Indians at their own stands, and in the stores, there are lots of Asian spices and products.
After re-provisioning over a course of four days, we picked up our friend, Nathalie who stayed on board with us for ten days.
Vanua Balavu (Lau Group)
Since before we even got to Fiji, we have heard endless raving about the Lau Group (east side of Fiji). Some parts of the Lau Group are out of this world remote (especially the southern islands). I'm talking about people who rarely see outsiders. Unfortunately, those islands are not permitted to cruisers yet but we were lucky enough to be able to see the Lau Group at all because until a few years ago all the islands were very difficult for cruisers to visit. In fact, it is said that the islands may close up again in a few years from now so if you want to see these enchanted islands, GO NOW!
In the small villages of Fiji (and other islands in the South Pacific like Vanuatu), there is a strict dress code and a ceremony called Sevu Sevu which you must follow. Women are not allowed to show their shoulders or knees and everyone (including the men) must wear a sarong.
As for the ceremony, a cruiser must present a dried kava root to the chief of the village. Kava is a plant grown in the South Pacific islands which the islanders have been making sacred drinks of for hundreds of years. We first must buy the kava (we bought some at the market in Savu Savu) and present it to the chief as a way to ask permission to visit his village. Also, because these people can't really get any international news, the dried kava root must be wrapped in the latest newspaper articles. In some villages, after they accept our kava, they prepare the drink. They put the roots in a cheesecloth over a big, wooden bowl (the traditional kava bowl). Then, they pour some water over the kava and the kava-tasting liquid will fall into the bowl. After that, the chief fills half a coconut and passes it to the nearest person. That person first has to clap once, then drinks all of the kava (it is offending if you don't drink it all), then, when the person is done, everybody claps three times.
At Vanua Balavu, we did the first part of the ceremony but they didn't make us drink the kava but there was a Fiji night at a restaurant and we did an informal Sevu Sevu where we got to drink the kava. It did not taste good (like muddy water) but I can now say that I've drank kava.
Also, on Vanua Balavu, we did another puppet show (our third one this year) at the local school and I think it was our best one yet. The kids were all different ages (from ages 3-15 probably) and none of them had ever seen puppets before! Nathalie took pictures and we were so happy to see that even the 15 year old boys were smiling and laughing.
Bay of Islands
Everybody always says "You have to go see the island Taveuni, it's beautiful and it has great snorkelling!". Sure, I agree, Taveuni (which we did go see) is absolutely beautiful but also go down to the Bay of Islands, it's just as wonderful and it is less crowded (we were all by ourselves).
Just a couple of hours away from Vanua Balavu, the Bay of Islands' breathtaking views are right there at the top of the ranks with Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas! It's name is perfect as well, the place is actually a whole bunch of bays with little islands in them (kind of reminded me of pictures I've seen of Thailand). I think it's pretty much a paddle boarder's paradise!
When we were coming through the bays, I looked up and said, "Wow! That sure is a lot of birds!"But then, I looked a bit closer at their wings and I corrected myself, "Hang on a sec, those aren't birds! They are hundreds of fruit BATS!"
It turned out that just a five minute dinghy ride away was a whole colony of them! It was SO cool, coming from someone who's never really (until now) taken a great interest in bats. Since it was daytime, most of them were just hanging in the trees. Some babies were happily snoozing inside their moms' wings, others were unsuccessfully trying to sleep, trying to cover their face from the light (I don't really blame them, I'm sometimes uncomfortable in my bed, I can't imagine sleeping upside down!), at times a few would break into a little quarrel ! Others, that decided they would try to sleep later, were flying around. The coolest part was when they would land in the trees because, in mere seconds, they would grasp the tree with their feet, fall upside down and tuck in their wings!
A few days later, we went to another part of the Bay of Islands where there was a hike up to a coconut plantation/farm. There were 15 flights of stairs to get up to the farm and the record to beat was 56 seconds to get to the top. We all made it in about five times that amount! The farm was really big and, well everything you usually see on a farm (lots of cows, horses, bulls, plants) with, of course, a little bit of Fiji added to it (kava plants, breadfruit trees). Some of the farmers led us up to a viewpoint where you could see the whole Bay of Islands, of course with the sun high so the water was that stunning turquoise it was one of the best viewpoints I have ever seen!
Taveuni (tav-ee-oo-nee)
What I said before about Taveuni may have made it sound not too good but that is not what I meant, where we stayed in Taveuni was spectacular. We stayed in front of a very pretty resort called "Paradise" and that name suits it well. Even though we weren't even guests in the little huts, we were treated like gold! All the employees were going out of their way to be nice to us and they remembered everyone's name. Plus, they absolutely adored Matthew (a little jealous to be saying this ;) !
We went on three tours with them. The first one was a waterfall tour (my favourite kind of hike!).The second one was a village tour where we toured around one of the Taveuni villages and learned about the rules and the history of it. The third one, only my dad and I went on, was a dive tour up to the famous Rainbow Reef, making it to two of the dive sites: Dakuniba and the favoured Purple Corner. I must say the guidebooks are not lying when they say Fiji is the soft coral capital of the world. Later from another anchorage in Taveuni, we went to a natural waterslide. It was basically a stream of many waterfalls but some were smooth rock and made great waterslides. The tricky part was telling the difference between the ones that would flow smoothly and the ones that didn't give you a nice landing.
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