Meghan On Amelie-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).  

Town of Vanua Balavu

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.  

The men with their sarongs and kava

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.  

The kids brushing their teeth at the stream after lunch

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... those are hundreds of fruit BATS!".  It turned out that just a five minute dinghy ride away was the whole colony of them!  It was SO cool, coming from someone who has never really (until now) taken a great interest in bats.  Since it was daytime, most of them were just hanging in the trees.  There were some little babies were snoozing happily inside their moms' wings, some were unsuccessfully trying to sleep, always 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!), and some would sometimes break out in a little quarrel!  The 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 a second or two, 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!). 

A completely suspended bridge we crossed on the
way to the waterfalls

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 school kids all wanted to pose for their picture!

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. 

Qamea (ka-may-ah) 

Another one of those paddle boarder's paradise destinations.  Inside the mangroves is another world.  The path of still water lined with trees and the sound of all types of birds (including the giant pigeon who sounds just like a howler monkey back in Panama!).  The mangroves are also the best parking lot for your boat in case of a cyclone because of their mighty strong roots that dig deep into the mud.  Boats have been known to survive cyclones in this bay!

There is a village as well where we got to do Sevu Sevu and meet some very nice people!  The only problem was, our guidebook was too old and told us that there was only one way into the village and that way involved us walking for 15 minutes in almost knee deep, wet mud as the villagers just watched us, probably shaking their heads saying something cheesy like, "Pff, tourists!".  We get to the village dripping with mud and the man, who later led us around, told us that we actually could have just gone around to the beach and walk from there.  We had made it so far that we weren't going to trudge back into the mud to get back to the dinghy to get to the beach.  The man was kind enough to let us use the water spigot to rinse our feet off and then gave us a tour of the three lovely villages. 

Budd Reef

Anchored in waters almost as clear as Bora Bora (and that is saying a lot) and Budd Reef is now one of my favourite spots in Fiji.  But, the water was just a minor addition in the beauty of this place, the island and the people of Yanuca village were the most special parts.  Our friends SV Seabbatical told us that this was the island we had to come to and I am glad we did.

 First of all, it's a lovely walk into the town.  I almost felt like "Dora The Explorer" with the "First, we cross the rocks and coral. Then, we cross the long, pretty beach. Lastly, we climb up the hill and then we get to the village".  The people informed us that on the weekend, it was going to be Fiji Day and that we could come and join them for the activities. 

They told us that the flag raising was at 8:00 am and having been to the Caribbean where events always happen at least 15 minutes later than they say, we arrived at around 8:20.  It turns out that these people were very prompt because we got there and they had already raised the flag and were almost ready for the kava ceremony.  Everyone was beautifully dressed as you would on Canada Day in red or white but of course, they were dressed in blue like the Fijian flag.  Everyone was sitting down on a tapa mat under a tarp listening to the chief who said some prayers in Fijian.  The chief was all dressed in black and had some festive ribbons hanging off his shoulders.

Later, I went up to him and offered him some toothbrushes to give away to the children of the village.  I was thinking about Canada Day when I did this: thousands of people on the hill dressed in red and white, stands all over the city selling light up maple leafs and hats, beaver mascots walking by taking pictures with everyone, the prime minister coming out of his car to make a speech on the big stage, and police officers on every street corner making sure everyone is safe.  And then, there's Fiji Day on a little island where: some thirty people, who all know each other's names, are cherishing their country all together while the kids are running and playing in the field right outside (there aren't even any cars on this island).  It's just so.... simple.

They had a few activities planned for the kids later which turned out to be hysterically fun!  The first one was that classical "Apple on a string" game where you can't use your hands but you have to eat the apple hanging from a string (except it was a bread bun instead of an apple).  I couldn't believe how much fun I had!  All the kids and adults were laughing so hard and I could even hear some Fijians cheering, "Go Chicago!," , apparently our team's name, since Mark and Conrad (from SV Perry) had told the Fijians they were from Chicago!  There was also an egg and spoon race and a tug of war after this.  

We came back later that afternoon for the dance show.  It was nothing spectacular compared to what we saw in French Polynesia but it was a nice mellow dance (which they invited us to join into) and it was fun.  After the dancing, some of the kids were playing volleyball and so I joined them.  They spoke very little English (about as much as I spoke Fijian) but every time the ball would accidentally hit someone in the head (not hard), we would all laugh so I felt a connection to these kids when we shared that moment.  Laughter is the universal language. 

The day after Thanksgiving, Willie, the island health director who offered us a tour, took us to the volcanic island (the small island way in the distance in the picture).  The island forms a "U" around the middle which used to be a caldera (just like the Sierra Negra we went to see in Galapagos).  Anyways, it was a pleasant walk around the island.  At the end, we saw a sea snake actually on shore!  Sea snakes are just what they sound like: snakes that swim.  If they bite you though, they are 20 times more venomous than any land snake but their mouths are so small, they wouldn't even be able to bite your pinky finger probably.  They are very swift in water but thankfully, quite sluggish on land.

Later, because of the rain, Willie ended up staying at our boat for dinner.  He was very interested in my dad's mini electric guitar and played very well too.  He told us many stories about his life and pointed out some places on our world map which he wishes to go to.

Rabi (rambi)

Rabi is supposedly a very beautiful snorkelling stop but sadly, from the day we arrived there until four days later when we left, it rained and rained and..... rained again.  I think over that course of four days, the longest gap between showers was two hours maybe.  Anyways, when we got back to Savu Savu four days later, we found out that that had actually been the edge of a tropical depression (sometimes the start of a cyclone but not in this case) and everyone all over Fiji had been really worried about it for days. Maybe ignorance did help us in this case... oh well!  Other than rain and a bit more wind than usual, we didn't notice anything very surprising. 

Namena

After spending a couple of weeks back in Savu Savu to work on the boat (steering disfunction which we got the spare part for), as well as meeting a couple of boats with teenagers on them, we left with SV Perry for Namena Reef which we had really been hoping we'd be able to go to since not all of us had had a chance to see the Rainbow Reef. 

Right off our boat, on the island, there was a huge booby bird colony.  We were especially surprised to see red footed boobies since when we had seen them in Galapagos, we had been told that they only existed on two islands in the world (both of which were in Galapagos).  Yet, here they were and it says in the Fiji guidebook that they are common throughout Fiji.  Anyways, again as I said in my Galapagos blog, red footed boobies are my favourite types of boobies because they really have a character.  They stare at you and squawk really loudly if you do something funny and when you're in the dinghy, they fly right over your head (just half a metre) and one even landed on mom's back when she was bent over!

We went snorkelling and diving as well on the reef.  The Rainbow Reef is famous because it has amazing soft coral but Namena should be just as famous because I actually liked it a bit better than Rainbow Reef because it had LOTS of fish as well as nice coral (not as much soft coral though). 

We are now at Vuda Point, near the Nadi airport, on the main island of Fiji.  On the 12th, Matthew, my mom, and I are going to fly to Auckland.  My uncle and three of my dad's friends are coming here and will help him sail the boat down to New Zealand where we will meet him in Opua. 

The reason we are flying down is because this trip is known to be rougher with more sailing into the wind and it's just not practical to do school in those conditions.

At first when my mom mentioned the idea, I said, "No way! I'm not going to back down or shy away from sailing even if it's a little harder sail. I am not going to be a wuss!".  Then, I thought about it and I realized that I crossed the Pacific ocean, it wouldn't be so unreasonable if I said I said I didn't want to do school in 35 knot winds.  Plus, flights to New Zealand from Fiji are quite cheap and this way, we get to explore Auckland a bit early so we know what to do when we sail there. 

For those of you who don't know, we have been talking about spending cyclone season (November-April)  in New Zealand for almost a year so it feels very surreal to be so close to it now.  As I write about all these little islands though, it makes me a bit sad that I don't know when I will see remote islands like them again. "When one door closes, another opens" they always say though so stay tuned for November's blog: all about a new place, New Zealand: Adventure Capital of the World!