Second dive was shallower, on a reef out in the Somosomo Straits, known as the "Fish Factory". Also a terrific dive, with heaps of fish and a great variety of corals.
We'll continue diving here in the Somosomo Straits for the next several days.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Some Terrific Diving around Viani Bay
With friends from s/y "Maunie" and s/y "Interlude", we made a couple of great dives today just outside Viani Bay. Went with the good folks at Dolphin Bay Dive Resort. First, the "Great White Wall", always shows up in magazines as one of the worlds top 10 dives. Truly spectacular, it lived up to the hype, as we dropped through a couple of tunnels to emerge at the top of the wall at about 95 feet, where a myriad of white and colored corals drop off into the depths. Other hard and soft corals everywhere, with great variety of fish. I think we'll have to dive this one again!!!
Second dive was shallower, on a reef out in the Somosomo Straits, known as the "Fish Factory". Also a terrific dive, with heaps of fish and a great variety of corals.
We'll continue diving here in the Somosomo Straits for the next several days.
Second dive was shallower, on a reef out in the Somosomo Straits, known as the "Fish Factory". Also a terrific dive, with heaps of fish and a great variety of corals.
We'll continue diving here in the Somosomo Straits for the next several days.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Fulanga Chronicles - Post 2
One of the great things about Fulaga is it's
relative inaccessibility. As we wrote earlier, the island was largely
closed to visitors until just a couple of years ago, and today only
visiting yachties have the privilege of visiting. So visitors are still
somewhat of a novelty (though this is clearly changing with the influx
of yachts....this year, so far, over 30 have anchored here). Both kids
and adults couldn't be friendlier or more open.
Fulaga Island has 3 villages, Muanaicake, Muanaira and Naividamu. The largest, Muanaicake, is the place we spent most of our time, visiting almost daily with hosts Meri and Jon-e and others, participating in daily village life, and generally hanging out and drinking kava. (a LOT of that goes on in Fulaga!!!). The village, though simple, is extremely clean. Paths are raked daily, and all of the houses are neat.
Here are a few miscellaneous shots from around the village to get the general idea:
One day we took a hike with friends Graham and Diane of s/y Maunie, along with Mele and Bis. Hiked to a high overlook, with spectacular views of the whole island.
One of our first days in the village was also the going away party for two other boats, our friends m/y Mystic Moon and s/y Spruce. An amazing party it was, with lots of music, dancing and, oh yeah, kava. Typical crowd of around 40 villagers and perhaps 10 or so cruisers.....everyone has a great time playing together.
We'll end this post here. There is much more to the "Fulaga Chronicles" yet to come. But we have very sadly now left the island. (notice the photos??? We now have internet for the first time in over a month). It was extremely difficult to tear away from our new friends in Fulaga. But we've left the Lau Group entirely, with a fantastic overnight downwind sail north 170 miles to the island of Taveuni in northern Fiji. After 2 nights there, we've moved today to Viani Bay, where we'll spend the next several days diving the spectacular reefs there. More posts on our Viani adventures will be interspersed with additional editions of the "Fulaga Chronicles". Sorry for the somewhat disjointed approach, hope you hang with us!!!
Fulaga Island has 3 villages, Muanaicake, Muanaira and Naividamu. The largest, Muanaicake, is the place we spent most of our time, visiting almost daily with hosts Meri and Jon-e and others, participating in daily village life, and generally hanging out and drinking kava. (a LOT of that goes on in Fulaga!!!). The village, though simple, is extremely clean. Paths are raked daily, and all of the houses are neat.
Here are a few miscellaneous shots from around the village to get the general idea:
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| Post office. Now, with cell phones (have to climb up to the overlook for any chance of service) they only handle an average of 8 (yes, that's EIGHT) letters on the supply boat each month. The only phone on the island is in the little box on the right next to the front door. It is a satellite phone, so quite expensive. |
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| Rugby played by the "boarders" after school. The boarders are the kids from the other two villages on the island who spend Monday through Friday in Muanaicake, the only village with a school. The school is only for kids up to age 12. After that they are sent away to school in Suva for their final 5 years of compulsory public school. Strange to have no teenagers living on the island. |
One day we took a hike with friends Graham and Diane of s/y Maunie, along with Mele and Bis. Hiked to a high overlook, with spectacular views of the whole island.
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| BRAVO is the lower boat of the two toward the left |
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| The path to enter the lagoon is easy to see from here!!! (Not nearly so easy on cloudy days at high tide!) |
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| Mele, Graham and Diane, Bis, and Cindi |
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| Cindi and host Meri on the right. Moses on the left, a great guy behind a typically dour facade! |
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| Tara and Bob (s/y Charisma) cut the mat |
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| Tai, always the perfect host, escorts the guys for a pee break in the banana plantation |
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| Pounding the kava roots to a powder before putting in a cloth to soak in the kava bowl. |
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| Standing room only |
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| All parties typically end in a feast. Here we have fish, crab, curries, eggplant and taro leaves, most things cooked in coconut milk, and all very good. But it is a very starchy diet, with yams, sweet potatoes, and casava playing a major part, and few green vegetables grown on the island. Silverware is typically just for serving, and everyone eats with their fingers. |
We'll end this post here. There is much more to the "Fulaga Chronicles" yet to come. But we have very sadly now left the island. (notice the photos??? We now have internet for the first time in over a month). It was extremely difficult to tear away from our new friends in Fulaga. But we've left the Lau Group entirely, with a fantastic overnight downwind sail north 170 miles to the island of Taveuni in northern Fiji. After 2 nights there, we've moved today to Viani Bay, where we'll spend the next several days diving the spectacular reefs there. More posts on our Viani adventures will be interspersed with additional editions of the "Fulaga Chronicles". Sorry for the somewhat disjointed approach, hope you hang with us!!!
Monday, August 11, 2014
Fulaga Fiji......a magical experience (part 1)
Fulaga, Lau group, an island lagoon in the remote southeast corner of Fiji. The words "Lau Group", and Fulaga in particular, pull at deep emotional strings in all yachties plying the waters of the south pacific. We've dreamed of sailing here for years.
We've now been here for 3 weeks, and apologize for the lack of blog activity. The truth is, we're so far off the grid that it's difficult to focus on life outside of this isolated world. And likewise, we apologize for the lack of photos. There is no internet here, and this blog update is coming via ham radio, and can pass text only. The pix will come when we reach internet in a couple of weeks.
We arrived in Fulaga on an overcast day, after a nice though a bit squally overnight passage from Savusavu. Although we had been warned about travel within the islands of Fiji without high, bright sun, we had several sets of clear (and agreeing) waypoints entered into our chart plotters. Several boats were already in the lagoon, and, via radio, advised on the currents and confirmed our approach. With that, we decided to give the narrow passage into the lagoon a try. With Cindi on the bow to spot coral, we gingerly entered the pass. Water was 20' depth, then 18, 16…..no worries. All of a sudden it was 12'…8'…CRUNCH!!!!! Happened so very quickly…. Try full reverse, no go. We were stuck, with the tide running out. Not good. Not good at all. We've heard of 5 or 6 boats that are lost to the coral heads of Fiji each year, and this was foremost in our minds as we called out to the anchored boats that we were hard aground. We were determined not to be one of this years casualty list, and quickly rigged a tow line and a masthead halyard to heel Bravo over with another boat to attempt to pull her free. But then, as the wind blew, Bravo pivoted slowly on her keel. Quickly donning a swim mask, Adam jumped over the side and joy of joys, saw the rudder / prop was now hanging over on the deep side of the vertical coral wall!!!! Jumping back aboard, we could now give her full reverse power without worrying about damaging the gear. As a small armada of dinghies began to assemble around us prepared to assist, we finally scraped free on our own power, into the relative comfort of the narrow but 15' deep pass!!! Whew, we made it, shaken but intact, and with that, were escorted to the first safe anchorage at the sandpit of the lagoon. There an underwater recon showed minimal damage on the leading edge of the keel, with some deeper scraping into the trailing edge where we first tried to back out. Some torn fiberglass off of the glass encapsulated lead keel. Nothing structural, and all will be readily repaired when we haul out on our return to New Zealand in November. Bravo is one tough boat, and continues to look after us wonderfully.
So, what is it that makes Fulaga so special? Why do yachts sail over 100 miles, typically upwind into the prevailing trade winds to visit this remote island? Paraphrasing one boat: "If you took the best of Polynesia, Niue, Tonga and Fiji, and put it all in one place, that would be Fulaga." The island lagoon, with its hundreds of tiny islets and white sandy beaches is certainly beautiful. The dense tropical forests ringed by fringing barrier reef provide shelter for many beautiful bird species, and the diving in the clear water on the outside of the reef wall is fantastic. But with all that, it's quite simply her warm, friendly, welcoming people that make Fulaga so special, and so unique. Although yachts have occasionally visited the island over the years, the southern Lau group was essentially closed to visitors until just a couple of years ago. There is no development here, no internet, no TV (except one satellite dish and one set at the school that seems to only be used to watch rugby matches!!!). The people here live as they have for many years, relying on a monthly supply boat for essentials that cannot be grown or caught on the island or in her waters.
The morning after our rather inauspicious entry, it was time for our first foray into the village to present our offering of kava to the chief in a very formal sevusevu ceremony. Both of us dressed appropriately (Cindi in a long skirt, Adam in a black sulu, a man's skirt worn throughout Fiji) and proceeded up the 20 minute trail to the village, joined by Sandie and Brian from s/y Persephone, who had arrived just after us the previous day. As we neared the village, we were greeted by people on the trail with wide smiles, waves, and loud "BULA"'s. A very friendly guy, Tai, called us over to his house as we walked through the village, and offered to escort us to see the chief. Tai worked in Musket Cove, a resort area in western Fiji for 15 years before returning to his village long ago, and speaks excellent English. He is also very yacht savvy, and knows what our concerns and apprehensions are, and made us feel immediately at ease. With Tai at our sides, we entered the chief's house. Tai presented us and our kava (along with a requested donation of $50 fjd per boat) to the chief and his #2 man, and much chanting and discussion in Fijian took place. We hear the words "Bravo", "Adam", and "Cindi" thrown about a few times, but have no idea what is said. Finally, after about 5 minutes, the 87 year old chief receives our kava, and with a warm smile and firm handshake welcomes us to his village. (there are 3 villages on the island, but sevusevu is only required to be offered at this one…..more about this later). He promises that the people will assist and protect us during our stay, however long we wish that to be, and offers that we are free to explore, fish, dive, and make ourselves at home throughout the lagoon.
We are then assigned to a family in the village to serve as our host during our stay on the island. This is an amazing, unique program, based on Fijian traditions, that the Fulagans adopted toward the end of last year. Each visiting yacht is assigned a host family who we will get to know well, spending much time together, as we get intimately acquainted with village life in the days and weeks ahead. Our host is Meri, the local kindergarten teacher, and her husband Jon-e. Meri speaks excellent English, and we spend a fantastic first afternoon with them and their next door neighbors George (the school teacher for older kids, ages 12-14) his wife Mah, and their 2 kids. Lunch before a tour of the village, followed by a kava circle at George and Mah's. Kava is a BIG part of Fijian life, certainly here in Fulaga, and it seems that most of the village partakes nearly daily.
Here we'll end this first Fulaga post, as the radio uploads are very slow. We'll post more in the next few days to describe our life here in the village. The magic of Fulaga is how we are included in the peoples daily lives, including eating together, fishing, weaving, gathering crabs, helping to fix things where we can (spare parts and any technological know how are nearly non existent here) and exploring the island by trail or boat. The past 3 weeks have flown by, as we have gotten to know many of the adults and kids fairly well. We've visited caves housing piles of human bones from the old days when cannibalism was commonly practiced, helped the village nurse with his health screening program, and attended church together on Sundays.
In closing…..a few days ago I was talking to a wise older man Simon, about the apparent calm, happy attitudes of his people. The sea provides fish, octopus, clams and crabs, the land provides crops, and they really don't seem bothered by much. When they run out of things, they simply do without, at least until the next monthly supply ship. I asked him for the Fijian words for "worry" or "stress". At this he just smiled and said….."Atama (Fijian for "Adam")…..there is no such word"…..Fulaga, a special place indeed. Stay tuned!
We've now been here for 3 weeks, and apologize for the lack of blog activity. The truth is, we're so far off the grid that it's difficult to focus on life outside of this isolated world. And likewise, we apologize for the lack of photos. There is no internet here, and this blog update is coming via ham radio, and can pass text only. The pix will come when we reach internet in a couple of weeks.
We arrived in Fulaga on an overcast day, after a nice though a bit squally overnight passage from Savusavu. Although we had been warned about travel within the islands of Fiji without high, bright sun, we had several sets of clear (and agreeing) waypoints entered into our chart plotters. Several boats were already in the lagoon, and, via radio, advised on the currents and confirmed our approach. With that, we decided to give the narrow passage into the lagoon a try. With Cindi on the bow to spot coral, we gingerly entered the pass. Water was 20' depth, then 18, 16…..no worries. All of a sudden it was 12'…8'…CRUNCH!!!!! Happened so very quickly…. Try full reverse, no go. We were stuck, with the tide running out. Not good. Not good at all. We've heard of 5 or 6 boats that are lost to the coral heads of Fiji each year, and this was foremost in our minds as we called out to the anchored boats that we were hard aground. We were determined not to be one of this years casualty list, and quickly rigged a tow line and a masthead halyard to heel Bravo over with another boat to attempt to pull her free. But then, as the wind blew, Bravo pivoted slowly on her keel. Quickly donning a swim mask, Adam jumped over the side and joy of joys, saw the rudder / prop was now hanging over on the deep side of the vertical coral wall!!!! Jumping back aboard, we could now give her full reverse power without worrying about damaging the gear. As a small armada of dinghies began to assemble around us prepared to assist, we finally scraped free on our own power, into the relative comfort of the narrow but 15' deep pass!!! Whew, we made it, shaken but intact, and with that, were escorted to the first safe anchorage at the sandpit of the lagoon. There an underwater recon showed minimal damage on the leading edge of the keel, with some deeper scraping into the trailing edge where we first tried to back out. Some torn fiberglass off of the glass encapsulated lead keel. Nothing structural, and all will be readily repaired when we haul out on our return to New Zealand in November. Bravo is one tough boat, and continues to look after us wonderfully.
So, what is it that makes Fulaga so special? Why do yachts sail over 100 miles, typically upwind into the prevailing trade winds to visit this remote island? Paraphrasing one boat: "If you took the best of Polynesia, Niue, Tonga and Fiji, and put it all in one place, that would be Fulaga." The island lagoon, with its hundreds of tiny islets and white sandy beaches is certainly beautiful. The dense tropical forests ringed by fringing barrier reef provide shelter for many beautiful bird species, and the diving in the clear water on the outside of the reef wall is fantastic. But with all that, it's quite simply her warm, friendly, welcoming people that make Fulaga so special, and so unique. Although yachts have occasionally visited the island over the years, the southern Lau group was essentially closed to visitors until just a couple of years ago. There is no development here, no internet, no TV (except one satellite dish and one set at the school that seems to only be used to watch rugby matches!!!). The people here live as they have for many years, relying on a monthly supply boat for essentials that cannot be grown or caught on the island or in her waters.
The morning after our rather inauspicious entry, it was time for our first foray into the village to present our offering of kava to the chief in a very formal sevusevu ceremony. Both of us dressed appropriately (Cindi in a long skirt, Adam in a black sulu, a man's skirt worn throughout Fiji) and proceeded up the 20 minute trail to the village, joined by Sandie and Brian from s/y Persephone, who had arrived just after us the previous day. As we neared the village, we were greeted by people on the trail with wide smiles, waves, and loud "BULA"'s. A very friendly guy, Tai, called us over to his house as we walked through the village, and offered to escort us to see the chief. Tai worked in Musket Cove, a resort area in western Fiji for 15 years before returning to his village long ago, and speaks excellent English. He is also very yacht savvy, and knows what our concerns and apprehensions are, and made us feel immediately at ease. With Tai at our sides, we entered the chief's house. Tai presented us and our kava (along with a requested donation of $50 fjd per boat) to the chief and his #2 man, and much chanting and discussion in Fijian took place. We hear the words "Bravo", "Adam", and "Cindi" thrown about a few times, but have no idea what is said. Finally, after about 5 minutes, the 87 year old chief receives our kava, and with a warm smile and firm handshake welcomes us to his village. (there are 3 villages on the island, but sevusevu is only required to be offered at this one…..more about this later). He promises that the people will assist and protect us during our stay, however long we wish that to be, and offers that we are free to explore, fish, dive, and make ourselves at home throughout the lagoon.
We are then assigned to a family in the village to serve as our host during our stay on the island. This is an amazing, unique program, based on Fijian traditions, that the Fulagans adopted toward the end of last year. Each visiting yacht is assigned a host family who we will get to know well, spending much time together, as we get intimately acquainted with village life in the days and weeks ahead. Our host is Meri, the local kindergarten teacher, and her husband Jon-e. Meri speaks excellent English, and we spend a fantastic first afternoon with them and their next door neighbors George (the school teacher for older kids, ages 12-14) his wife Mah, and their 2 kids. Lunch before a tour of the village, followed by a kava circle at George and Mah's. Kava is a BIG part of Fijian life, certainly here in Fulaga, and it seems that most of the village partakes nearly daily.
Here we'll end this first Fulaga post, as the radio uploads are very slow. We'll post more in the next few days to describe our life here in the village. The magic of Fulaga is how we are included in the peoples daily lives, including eating together, fishing, weaving, gathering crabs, helping to fix things where we can (spare parts and any technological know how are nearly non existent here) and exploring the island by trail or boat. The past 3 weeks have flown by, as we have gotten to know many of the adults and kids fairly well. We've visited caves housing piles of human bones from the old days when cannibalism was commonly practiced, helped the village nurse with his health screening program, and attended church together on Sundays.
In closing…..a few days ago I was talking to a wise older man Simon, about the apparent calm, happy attitudes of his people. The sea provides fish, octopus, clams and crabs, the land provides crops, and they really don't seem bothered by much. When they run out of things, they simply do without, at least until the next monthly supply ship. I asked him for the Fijian words for "worry" or "stress". At this he just smiled and said….."Atama (Fijian for "Adam")…..there is no such word"…..Fulaga, a special place indeed. Stay tuned!
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Savusavu.....a wonderful welcome to Fiji!!!
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| Marina gangplank gets a bit steep at low tide!!! |
BULA!!!
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| Local DHL office became a regular hangout waiting for parts deliveries |
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| Downtown Savusavu....see the steam vents at low tide? Hot springs all around |
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| Local raft. Owner has to pay $5 Fijian (about $3 US) per year registration fee!!! |
So we'll start off with the project update, then move on to more of the fun stuff!
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| Ready for the motor-ectomy....60hz on left, 50hz on the right..... |
Radar: The "malfunction" turned out to be simply that the AGC (Automatic Gain Control) had been turned off, to "manual" mode, and it was set to zero.....about the same thing as turning the volume to zero on your iPod and thinking the thing is broken!!! Took a couple of hours to finally find it, but the "repair" took 2 seconds!!! Sweet as, the happy dance began in earnest!!!
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| This is Otto's brain..... |
Hydrovane wind vane: Found a big block of "Starboard" plastic down in the bilge and shaped a new block to replace the lower bracket ship which fell into the briny deep when the bolts vibrated loose on the passage from NZ. A few hours of grunting and swearing, and the rascal looks better than new!!!
SSB radio: Per the last post, the old one was truly toast due to the water leak. We ordered a new Icom 802 from the US. It arrived yesterday, and was on the air with great signal reports 3 hours later. Still have to hook it up for email capability, but good to go for now.
Underwater strobe: While getting the camera gear ready for a snorkel, we found that leaking batteries had fried the unit. What??? Here in the land of some of the most spectacular diving on the planet????? Grrrrrrr........no worries, again thanks to DHL, a new one arrived from Oz yesterday.
We've also been busy caulking deck leaks (remember that ruined radio???), and Cindi's sewn some cool hatch covers that will allow us to keep our hatches open for breeze when it rains!
We brought our kava (yaquona) as an offering for the chief, in order to be accepted by the villagers. So the first order of business was that four of us were selected by an elder of the village to go for the presentation. After about 5 or 10 somewhat tense minutes of chanting and rapid discussion in Fijian, along with lots of gestures with our kava root, the 84 year old chief smiled a huge warm smile, and said "welcome to our village.....you are part of our family now". Whew!!!
With that, we were free to wander around the village, speaking with both kids and adults, who were mostly eager to welcome us. The kids especially were terrific, even interupting their afternoon rugby games to join us.
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| opening the oven |
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| Cindi powers down another "low tide" |
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| Epeli mixing up the next batch of kava...."tsunami over here, please!!!" |
A really wonderful evening with Epeli and the village. Vinaka Vakelevu......thank you very much.
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| Outrigger canoes stored outside the WaiTui marina |
Cindi has gone out paddling with a group of locals for a couple of evening training sessions. A good workout and great social event, paddling the tippy outriggers has been a lot of fun. Not sure if one is in Bravo's future.....we still enjoy our inflatable kayaks.
So what's next for Bravo, projects newly completed (knock on teak!!!), and her crew? Well, it looks like we have a somewhat unusual period of calm weather, with the typical SE tradewinds "in remission" for a few days. When the trades are blowing, it can be quite a bitch to sail to the southern Lau group of islands, about 185 miles to the SE. It looks like we'll need to motor most of the way, but that's heaps better than a long bash to windward.
The Lau group is the most remote part of Fiji, just recently opened up to any tourists. The villages still observe traditional Fijian ways, and offer a rare opportunity to participate in the village culture.
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| Grocery shopping in the public market |
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| Prasad and his wife wrap up our yaquona. |
Stay tuned!
Oh, one final story in this already too long blog post.....the other day, I was speaking with JoLynn, the wonderful woman who runs the DHL outpost here. She is of Maori and Samoan descent, and grew up in New Zealand. She's married to a local Fijian man, Sanjay, the village ace mechanic. She told me that last year, the family took its first trip to visit her family in NZ. Sanjay had never been out of Fiji, and has only rarely left this island. As he walked around NZ with his eyes wide open, Sanjay's biggest amazement, among many like elevators and escalators, was seeing that "palangis" (white people) actually work for a living!!! In his 40 or so years living in Savusavu, the only palangis he'd ever seen were either tourists or yachties, and he never saw a white person who worked!!! Then she told me about her 6 year old son, Caleb, who couldn't wait to get to NZ. When they finally got to the main Fijian airport waiting to catch the flight to NZ, he was in awe. Looking at all the glass and glitter, in an air conditioned airport terminal building, he said, "Mom, I love New Zealand.....can we live here????"
Ahhhhh, Fiji, ya gotta love it.......
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| Amazing sunsets off our rear deck (pre photoshop) |
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