X-Pat's XPloits: Friendly Fiji

After a burst of activity early on, it has been a pretty chilled out week. We left Buca Bay on Sunday, motoring out through the reef into the Somo Somo Strait heading for Vanua Balavu at the northern end of the Lau Group. Winds were light on the west side of Tavenui and so we ended up motoring for much of the day down to Vuna Point, just south of Paradise resort, where we stopped on the way up. The weather was pretty average with drizzly rain and stormy skies.

Stormy skies as we left Taveuni, but we did have this magnificent rainbow

We left Vuna Point at about 1600hrs with a plan to sail overnight. Whilst we knew we were going to be close hauled and bashing into the SE trade winds, we hadn’t expected the winds to be so strong (forecast wrong again!) or for the sea state to be so bad. We ended up at a terrible angle, tacking backwards and forwards and not making much progress towards our destination. There were strong squalls coming through which meant we had to keep the sails reefed down and progress was very slow. Debi was horribly seasick which also added to the unpleasantness of the whole trip. By 0300hrs we were both feeling pretty miserable and beginning to fear that wouldn’t actually arrive before sunset that day so we made the decision to put the engine on and attempt to motor directly to our destination. It was still very slow and uncomfortable but at least we were going in the right direction. We arrived at our anchorage off Daliconi village at about 1530, grateful to be there at last.

Frigate birds soar high above our anchorage searching for fish

On Monday we went ashore to Daliconi village to offer Sevusevu. This is a traditional ceremony in Fiji for visitors to seek acceptance into a Fijian village. We took along some small gifts of Kava root, stationary for kids and a few toiletries. After a couple of enquiries we found the village headman known as the Turaga ni Koro, who took us to the chief of the village and guided us through what was a pretty simple ceremony. Once accepted, we were free to roam around the village and to stay and swim, snorkel and fish in the bay.

Chief of the Daliconi Village

The lower part of Daliconi Village

At anchor off Daliconi Village

Daliconi village was fascinating. There were two parts to the village. The first was a group of houses built around the beach and on the slopes facing out to the bay. Most of these were simple houses, some wooden and some of concrete block construction. Cyclone Winston, which passed through Fiji 3 years ago, had destroyed parts of the village and the remaining houses were the strong ones or had been rebuilt. The second part of the village was up over the hill and included more houses, the school and the diesel generation station. There was also quite a lot of taro being grown.

The school

We had a nice walk around the area and on the way back got chatting with a retired policeman called Isreli. He invited us into his house, fed us delicious bananas and explained to us how his family is one of five “clans” who live in the village. Each clan is allocated land on which to build and where they can plant. Isreli used to work in Suva, but returned to Daliconi on retirement with his wife and they built their house. Their children are living in other parts of Fiji or overseas but do visit and some have desires to return to the village one day.

Isreli and his wife

Life in the village is pretty simple. Each clan has an area of land where they grow vegetables and fruit. Some people fish in the bay and they look after each other. Isreli said that the only bill he has to pay is for electricity from the diesel generator. That’s just as well, as his government pension is somewhere in the region of $150 a month. Some houses have supplementary solar but a lot of houses seemed reliant on the diesel generator.

On Tuesday we topped up our water supplies. It’s always good to do this when we are anchored in beautiful pristine water. We then headed north for about five miles to the Bay of Islands area. We threw out the fishing line as we left and twenty minutes later were rewarded with a 4kg tuna! Pandemonium ensued as Debi tried to steer us off the reef while not looking at Pat landing the fish which he had to do right next to her. When we got to the Bay of islands, we anchored once again alongside Blithe Spirit and had sashimi with soy sauce and wasabi and fresh baked bread for lunch. It’s tough, this cruising game.

Food for the next few days

At anchor in the Bay of Islands

For the last few days we have been anchored here in the Bay of Islands and have no plans to leave anytime soon! This really is paradise. The bay is completely protected and is littered with little volcanic islands that have been undercut by the sea, creating beautifully wooded mushroom shaped islands, with lots of caves and inlets. We did a sundowner trip with Blithe Spirit in their dinghy around to an isolated inlet where there is a massive fruit bat roost. They were all just beginning to wake and the sky was filled with massive fruit bats.

Undercut volcanic islands

Heading to see the bats at sundown with Sally and Stuart

Fruit bats at sundown

The snorkelling at the Bay of Islands is the best that we have seen so far in Fiji, with coral fringing the many islands and the occasional isolated bommie. It will be hard to leave here.