Fiji 2007

It takes a little while to acclimatize to Fiji, not just to the lovely warm weather. You feel the warmth of the people beginning with the happy band that greets you when you disembark from an overnight flight. Smiles are contagious and the "bulas" (hello, welcome) never end. Bulas come in many forms including bula songs and bula shirts. Big guys with flowery shirts, wearing skirts are the norm. It's also contagious; Glenn bought a bula shirt but drew the line with he skirt (they don't travel especially well).

 Our first mission was to pick up a few essentials and that was enough of an excuse to hop on an open-air bus to the sugar city of Lautoka. The bus rides are charming; the stop request is a pull string that sounds a bicycle bell. Our mission was easily accomplished as we purchased a marine chart of the Yasawa Island group (Carpenter's Marine), kava (a mild narcotic to present to village headmen), food supplies and we filled our bellies at an Indian restaurant.

We took the Yasawa Flyer (daily ferry service) with our folding sea kayaks (still no charges for over weight/sized luggage) halfway up the Yasawa Island group to Naviti Island. We paddled from one island to another visiting heaps of lovely beaches. We stayed mostly at smaller resorts and guesthouses and north of the touristic islands, we camped at beaches and broke tabu in a village stay. We learnt that on of the basic taboos is that you should not wear a hat in a village under a blazing hot tropical sun.

 One of our paddling highlights was camping on a small deserted island and enjoying some sublime snorkeling. Later we discovered that we should have paddled many miles into a strong wind and dangerous water conditions to a distant village to gain permission to camp there (er, sorry about that mate). Everyone in Fiji, seemed to know where we have been ("I saw you in the village two days ago..."), but we some how managed to slip below the tribal radar screen that time.

The greatest challenge that we faced while paddling in the Yasawa islands was the wind: it was often blowing in excess of 20 knots. That is good for yachting but not for paddling. We had a few days when were pinned down by wind and had to stay on at yet another tropical beach resort. It was quite a hardship.

Next on our itinerary was the "garden island" of Taveuni. A bargain airfare enticed us to fly Pacific Sun on a very experienced Twin Otter aircraft. The awesome bird's eye view of Fiji's coral reefs heightened our anticipation of our next initiative, diving the Rainbow Reef. 

We boated across the Somosomo channel for a week at Dolphin bay Diver's retreat on Vanua Levu to explore one of the world's premier dive destinations and arguably the best soft coral gardens in the world. The Great Wall, Rainbow Passage, Yellow Tunnel, Annie's Bommies, etc. were all mind-boggling dive experiences. The strong currents that provide the ideal soft coral environment were mitigated by diving at the correct tidal times with Swiss precision. On shore, the resort was run with Swiss efficiency and we settled into a defacto routine on the resort's own time zone; breakfast, dive 1, coffee break on shore, dive 2, lunch, rest, snorkel, happy hour, hermit crab races, dinner and sleep. Not a bad routine at all! 

The dive vacation ended and it was back to Taveuni. We stocked up at the tiny market and took the bus to the end of the road to Levena, on the eastern side of Taveuni Island. Lavena is a traditional, agriculture based village with a tiny shop, ubiquitous church, a generator that produces electricity from 6:15pm to 10:00pm of varying levels of intensity and an active kava kulture. The region also draws some tourist dollars from visitors to the number of knock-out waterfalls. Sharing kava in a village in a village home with the village rugby match going on outside the door was equally memorable to the waterfall visits. The 180 degree meridian cuts through the middle of Taveuni, so it attracted plenty of dateline nerds on the dawn of the new millennium. Apparently, a number of tourists awaited the first sunrise of 2000 in Levena. As January is in the wet and hurricane season, the revellers werre fortunate to see the sun at all, albeit by 8:00am. The Lavena folks were somewhat mystified by all the attention, but enjoyed the party nonetheless.

Taveuni is the sort of place where nothing really happens and you sort of lose track of time. If we had sent an email at that time, it would have read: "lost in the South Pacific, please don't send help". From Taveuni, we caught the small passenger ferry ("Amazing Grace") over to Vanua Levu. The boat stopped to pull in fish caught on a trolling line and dolphins rode the bow. We had barely enough time to pick up a few food items (home made cake, roti parcels and fresh pineapple juice) at a the landing before the waiting bus lurched along a gravel track ("Hibiscus Highway"). We rumbled through rain forest, small-scale copra plantations and lagoon views to reach our first real town (Savusavu) in a couple of weeks.

Savusavu is blessed with more than an exotic sounding name; the gorgeous harbour attracts yachties. There are a few interesting waterside bars, but we preferred the atmospheric Planters Club - the beer mugs were frosty. Our super clean hotel ("Hidden Paradise Guest House") served a filling fish curry meal but the cold showers did not provide the desired cooling effect. the water pipes are warmed by geo-thermal forces below the building!

Over at Labasa, the sugar cane trucks rumbled along the main street and the temperature and humidity rose to uncomfortable levels. We were thankful that our hotel did not have geo-thermal cold showers.

The "Spirit of Harmony" car ferry brought across the Bligh Water to Levuka. The ferry was formerly used in Japan and it featured useful tourist information such as a map of a Japanese subway system. The on-deck binoculars accepted 100 yen coins while the on-board TV played American and South African gospel.

Time is suspended in the historic old capital of Levuka. Nothing much happens or changes there including in the 22 years since our last visit there.The sound of Diana Ross and the Supremes wafts in the air while bob Marley's latest release is also heard and may seem a little old fashioned compared to the music coming out of Suva like Pink Floyd and the hip Pet Shop Boys. Levuka has a "Jesse James visits the South Pacific" feel. The weathered wild west colonial buildings face out to sea with steep, lush hills as a backdrop. We stayed in the Honeymoon Suite at the atmospheric Royal Hotel which was only just recently rebuilt in 1903. Halloween was quiet; even the ghosts slept peacefully at the Royal Hotel.

Returning to beaches, especially 22 years later, can be disappointing but Caqalai Island was a definite exception to the rule. The low-key community-run resort has basic bures (traditional bures) a few metres from the high tide mark, falling coconuts, hammocks, open to-the-sky showers, blowing of conch shell to announce meals, Fijian hospitality, evening guitar music, kava, kerosene lanterns and a traveller's comraderie. Snorkeling was excellent with sharks, eagle rays, lion fish, scorpion fish, trevally, soft corals and a myriad of colourful fish all nearby. It seems that Caqalai has kept its unspoiled status because few tourists can pronounce Caqalai. It is pronounced Thangalai, but please don't tell anyone. Incidently, Nadi is said Nandi. Labasa is pronounced Lambasa, while bula is spoken bula and always with a smile.

Suva was all about the buzz of upcoming Diwali and the mad shopping mood that precedes the Indian festival of lights. We enjoyed the buzz of Indian food followed by spicey ginger masala tea at the hole in the wall Curry House.

FOR THE RECORD

2007 Tent Nights: 120

Fiji Banana index: 9 for 1 USD (who cares with so many paw paw, pineapple and mango options?)

Number of days that we wore shoes while in Fiji: nil