Hi
from Clare, 9-2018 Fulaga,
Southern Lau Group, Fiji Wednesday 31/10/2018
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| Tonight's dinner |
On
7th
October we sailed 120
miles overnight from Vanua
Balavu Northern Lau Group, to Fulaga in the Southern Lau Group of
Islands on the east side of Fiji. It was a dream trip with a warm
gentle wind on our aft quarter in flat water. To top it off we
caught a Mahi Mahi leaving Vanua Balavu and another one on arrival at
Fulaga. We had enough to share with our friends on ‘Mazu’
‘Meccatroy’ and ‘White Hawk’ and
three large pieces went in Mazu’s freezer for us to eat in the
coming weeks.
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| Offering Sevusevu to the Chief with Lynette and John from White Hawk |
A
TRADITIONAL VILLAGE
The
following morning we walked into the Village of
Fulaga to perform the Sevusevu
(welcome) ceremony with the village Chief. We
were the ninetieth visiting cruising yacht to arrive this season. The
Chief charges each visiting yacht $50 to have access to their village
and waters. Each cruising yacht also presents the Chief with a gift
of Kava (grog) for the community. We were allocated a Host family
who looked
after us during our stay.
Fulaga
is a traditional village and
the seventy five families living there are divided into Clans who
work together and help each other. There is a strict dress code
once entering the village. Knees and shoulders must be covered and
no hats or sunglasses to be worn.
Previously
our host family lived and
worked in Suva for thirty four
years. Joe was born in Fulaga
and whilst living in Suva always dreamed of returning to the village.
Tara’s first experience of
village life was when they retired
and moved to Fulaga ten years
ago. Although very happy now
Tara said her first impression was that the place looked like a
prison. We can’t imagine
what the village was like ten years ago because today it is still
very basic. The houses mostly consist of one room with a curtain
separating the sleeping
area. The floor of the hut is
earth covered by woven mat made from dried reeds. There
is very little furniture, no
chairs and they sleep on a
mattress on the ground, the
women cook on an open fire in a detached kitchen. There
are a few toilets scattered around but with no fencing it is hard to
work out how many families share the same facility.
On
a brighter note the school
does have a generator and a fridge/freezer. They
also have Internet and telephone connection. The Headmaster’s
house has a satellite dish and the community gathers there on
Saturday afternoon’s to watch the rugby.
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| Tara with morning tea for us |
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| Making mats |
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| Washing Day |
BIG
CELEBRATIONS
We
arrived in Fulaga in time to celebrate Fiji Day with the local
community. By then there were
eight cruising boats at Fulaga.
The cruisers sat
with our respective Clans
(on the ground from
9am to 4pm) my back was killing me. We watched
the school sports and enjoyed
the kids enthusiasm
and competitive spirit;
they had a ball. We
then had lunch and enjoyed some singing from each of the clans. The
villagers drank Kava all day and well into the early hours of the
morning. By 4pm we
were happy to leave them to it.
 |
| The sack race |
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| Tug of War |
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| Clan singing |
THE
MAIN ATTRACTION
Away
from the village, the lagoon where the Cruisers anchor is simply
gorgeous with sparkling aqua water and white sandy beaches. The main
attraction is to snorkel the
pass which is a narrow gap in
the reef about 50 metres wide and a quarter of a mile long.
Unfortunately my underwater
camera died so I couldn’t
take photos. We hung
on to the dingy and floated
with the incoming tide.
Both the hard
and soft coral and the variety of colourful tropical fish are just
beautiful. So we were
out there at every opportunity
along with all the other cruisers here, it is quite a social
gathering. One of the
cruisers, Umberto, on his
Dutch catamaran ‘El Holandes Errante’ (The Wandering Dutchman)
lives permanently on board with his 92 year old mother Tilly.
Umberto has installed a crane
to lift Tilly from the dinghy to the catamaran. He takes her ashore
with her walker for exercise. The walker has spikes on the wheels so
she can use it on the beach. Tilly says she doesn’t want to live on
land again. Unfortunately she
doesn’t speak English, but
she has a lovely face, bright and mischievous eyes, I think if we
communicate she would prove to be quite a character. She certainly
is an inspiration to all.
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| The supply ship |
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| Wood carvers |
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| Kava bowl gift from Joe and Tara |
BIG
DAY OUT
We
were waiting for the supply ship to visit the island as we were
running out of fresh produce having not seen a shop since 2nd
September. The supply ship was due to arrive on
17th
October but by then we were experiencing strong S/E winds. I had
ordered some fruits and vege which were
packed on the ship but
delayed in Suva harbour. To come to Fulaga the supply ship would be
experiencing 25-35knots head winds and 3 metre seas. I must admit I
thought a ship should handle this. However when the
supply ship did arrive a week
later on 24th
it was such an old tub and listing badly to one side we marvelled at
how it ever arrived at all. Needless to say some of the produce was
rotten but we did manage to get
some much needed fruit and some root vegetables. The
biggest causality was
my beans which arrived as has beans. The
arrival of the supply ship was quite an event. All the village
people came down to the waterfront. The
women sat on the beach for
hours shelling clams for
transport while the men loaded the ship with other goods for sale in
Suva. Then the delivered supplies had to be carried up over the hill
and down into the village. The supplies were much needed as the
village was out of flour, sugar, rice but more alarmingly they were
out of Kava. The Kava party started that afternoon and probably
continued until they all dropped off to sleep. Before
leaving, our host family Jo and Tara presented us with a lovely Kava
bowl that Joe made. It
was a most unexpected gift and will make a lovely fruit bowl.
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| View from Dick's Place, Musket Cove |
So
we left on 25th
October and headed for Viti Levu, the largest
and south western
island of Fiji. The
sail was pretty good although we had rain and very threatening
black clouds all around for
part of the two day trip. I think we were pretty lucky as
it could have been a lot worse.
Andrew contributed to the
larder by catching another very large and delicious Mahi Mahi. My
contribution was putting the fishing line out and of course cooking
the fish:)
We
are now on the west and more
touristy side of Fiji. We are anchored in Musket Cove and enjoying
the hospitality of the Musket Cove Yacht Club. For a small fee we
are now life members of the Club which gives us access to all the
facilities. There is a terrific beach bar where we cook a BBQ for
dinner each night. The Club supplies
the BBQs, plates, cutlery
and serviettes. The facility is by the beach with plenty of tables
and chairs and sliding shade/wind screens. The bar has reasonable
prices and the staff and very welcoming. The Yacht club also has hot
showers, a pool, restaurants,
gift shops,
a supermarket, laundry and many lovely walks. We are very much
enjoying civilisation and a Cappuccino in the morning on the
restaurant verandah overlooking the very pretty bay. There is also
good snorkelling
here but as yet we haven’t ventured out. We are here with ‘Mazu’
‘Four Seasons’ and ‘Mezza Luna’ while they are waiting for a
weather window to sail to NZ.
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| Peter and Sandra from Mazu II with Andrew |
SO
WHAT’S NEXT
We
think we will enjoy this area for a few more days before heading
over to Vuda Marina where we will leave Eye Candy in a cyclone pit
for the summer. We haven’t booked a flight home yet but we will
let you all know the details as soon as we do.
Love
Candy xx
