FURTHER AFIELD IN FIJI

Pat and Mike Pocock

(Flying Fish 1991/2 saw Blackjack on passage down the west coast of the United States and Mexico, and thence out to French Polynesia. After spending the hurricane season in New Zealand Pat and Mike headed back into the Pacific to continue their explorations.)

When May came and the winter was not far away (we have great difficulty adjusting to such a regime), it was time for us to leave New Zealand and the hospitable Kiwis and head north again to warmer climes.

We might have revisited Tonga to explore the Ha'apai group more thoroughly but the draw was just not strong enough. It was however with little hesitation that we pointed the bows back towards Fiji to continue our affair with these fascinating islands and delightful people.

Fiji is not a part of the beaten track. All three of the ports of entry are towards the leeward end of the group so that, unlike the Societies or Tonga, it cannot be cruised in the process of passing through. Combined with the fact that almost all the tourist activity is concentrated to the north-west of Viti Levu close to the international airport at Nandi, this means that the great majority of this vast archipelago is an unspoiled natural cruising ground.

Fiji's weather pattern is pretty mixed but during the southern winter the daytime temperatures are comfortably in the low eighties and the nights can be pleasantly cool. Wall to wall blue is not the norm and there can be many days of total overcast. Winds are generally between east and south-east and frequently quite fresh, while rainfall on the windward side of the two big islands is generous. The north sides of the two big islands have much clearer skies and these are the great sugarcane growing lands that provide Fiji with valuable export revenue.

By and large the cyclone season is over by the beginning of May and Suva begins to fill up with migrating Kiwi, British, American, Canadian, German and Scandinavian yachts who have spent the southern summer in New Zealand, as we did, and with expiring visas and oncoming winter are seeking a change of climate. A fair percentage will go back to New Zealand in November while others, including ourselves, will move on to Australia. It is a migrating pattern that not a few crews find habit forming, and understandably so.

The Royal Suva Yacht Club deserves a mention, for without their facilities Suva would not be the gathering place that it is today. The club makes a charge of F$20 per boat (F$10 for singlehanders) per week for temporary membership, for which one enjoys a secure dinghy dock (the only one in Suva), showers, and eats and drinks at affordable prices. The club premises and lawns are large enough for the younger members of the family crew to rush around without causing too much hassle and the office staff handle mail and faxes with a smile. We can recommend the Royal Suva Yacht Club, PO Box 335, Suva, Fiji, as a first class mail drop. (Fax No: 679-304433).

The most immediate cruising ground close to Suva is Kandavu Island and the Great Astrolabe reef. The villagers are very welcoming and draw yacht crews into the life ashore. The snorkelling is good on the reef and the diving in the passes, for which local guides are available, is by all accounts superb. It is possible to cruise around Kandavu and back to Suva in just over two weeks, and evidently equally possible to be so taken by the first anchorage that two weeks have passed before one moves on at all!

To cruise to the north-east from Suva is much more of an undertaking because the early stopovers are not so obvious and making mileage to the north-east will inevitably involve some windward sailing. It should be appreciated that the days are not long. By 1630 one's most efficient navigation instrument, the number one eyeball, is rapidly losing efficiency due to the failing light. Arrivals after 1700 are just not wise in most anchorages.

In 1991 we sailed out to the islands of Ngau and Nairai in the Lomaiviti group and found them charming and relatively seldom visited. Richard Masterton-Smith's very eloquent piece on village rituals in Flying Fish 1991/2 entitled Kava Cruising is very apt.

From there we sailed to Levuka which is the old capital of Fiji on the island of Ovalau. Levuka is in fact one of the three ports of entry and has a reputation for being as simple and straightforward in its bureaucracy as Suva is frustrating and obtuse!

An easy sail from Levuka takes one to Makongai where there are no village rituals but an experimental government sheep rearing unit based on the site of an old leper colony. It is here that most people anchor and find the old buildings interesting. On the two occasions that we called at Makongai we anchored in a very attractive but deserted bay on the north side of the island. There is a good trail over the hill and one could easily walk to the Government station.

From Makongai one is faced with the decision of either calling at Koro Island, which we did in 1991 but did not feel like repeating, or spending the night at sea and heading for either the south coast of Vanua Levu or Taveuni. The third direction in which one might head is into the Lau group, but special permission is needed for cruising there and in 1992 it was "indefinitely prohibited" on account of a recent very serious drugs-related incident.

In 1991 we got no further than Taveuni and Rambi, of which more later, and then cruised the south coast of Vanua Levu calling at Savu Savu which is becoming an increasingly popular gathering place. It was from here that we took a very memorable bus ride, six hours return, over the mountains to Lambasa. From the island of Yandua off the west coast of Vanua Levu we sailed for the north end of the Yasawa group, and then down to Lautoka, the third port of entry, from which we departed for New Zealand.

This year, 1992, we had more time, so explored the islands to the east of Taveuni, where the snorkelling was first class, and then headed north to Budd Reef. Three tiny islands, Yavu, Yanutha and Manggewa, lie in the middle of a large deep lagoon surrounded by a reef of variable prominence. What a place - crystal clear water, exquisite coral and, we have no doubt, far far more had we been able to stay longer. Our second night in what had been the most delightful cove became rather less than delightful, and when daylight came we were glad to move out. We tried to find an alternative hole but the wind was rising to 30 or 35 knots and had swung to the east. We put up small sails and had an exciting time reef dodging at 7 1/2 knots as we shot off to leeward heading for Katherine Bay on Rambi. It is worth knowing that this bay provides excellent shelter in most conditions with good holding on a mud bottom.

Our anchor went down at around 1230 and, after a disturbed night and a very exciting and demanding morning, we were prepared to switch off and relax. However this was not to be. While we were still coiling down and getting shipshape an outrigger canoe arrived alongside and a well-dressed person came aboard. Not a Fijian but a Banaban. Rambi was the island purchased by the British authorities to relocate the Banabans whose real home, Ocean Island, had been decimated by phosphate mining. The well-dressed individual, in not very good English, explained to us that there was a wedding feast about to begin in the village and would we please make haste because it could not start without us!

Hastily gathering what presents we thought suitable and donning our better clothes we went ashore, in torrential rain, and joined the feast. We were ushered into the very large meeting hall in the lower story of the very large church and there was the feast all laid out on mats on the floor. Two places were reserved for us on the `top table', and we soon realised that the `lower tables' were remaining empty until we had taken our place. As soon as we were seated the hall filled up and we estimated that there were about 180 people seated and the rest of the village milling around in the outfield.

There were two couples - the brides, we were told, were cousins - and of course there were speeches. The first was a long and intense harangue in Banaban by an obviously senior member of society which sadly failed to raise any reaction from the assembly at all. He was followed by a very modern young lady dressed in a brilliant, mainly yellow, flamboyant kaftan whose powers of communication were without parallel. In a very few words she had the whole crowd with her and rousing cheers for the happy couples. She, we were told, was the deaconess!

The feast was lavish, particularly by their standards and, by tradition, there was more than any of us could eat. However when we rose from the floor and straightened our tortured knees, a second sitting seemed about to descend on the remains. The following day was Sunday and after morning service we were visited on board Blackjack by some of the younger people of the village.

We would have liked to visit Yngglelevu, the most north-easterly village in Fiji, but sadly the weather remained much too boisterous and after an early morning departure we abandoned the idea and bore away to round Cape Undu and discover the north coast of Vanua Levu. This part of Fiji is seldom reached by cruising yachts and is not covered by Michael Calder's Yachtsman's Fiji - at least, not yet. Further round we met him in his yacht Eureka going the other way, and we gathered, from talking to him on VHF, that he was seeking material for a new and expanded edition of his book.

In our experience the climate to the north of Vanua Levu is very like that to the north of Viti Levu and, once round Cape Undu, we saw very little rain while the `natter club' on the SSB channels spoke of little else.

We watched enormous manta rays in Langi Bay, followed by a superb day's sailing downwind outside the Great Sea Reef. At Malau, where there is a sugar loading terminal, we were able to get on a bus into Lambasa (only 30 minutes each way) to replenish our supplies. The fruit and vegetable market is one of the best in Fiji and we rode home heavily laden. The bus ride took us at an easy pace through the sugar country where teams of oxen could be seen working in the fields of cane. Lambasa is a predominantly Indian community and served by a river which could probably be penetrated by less deep draft yachts than ourselves. The Admiralty Pilot speaks of a least depth of 0.6 metres on the bar, and with an average spring tide giving a rise of around 1.5 metres the margins are obviously minimal. Each day's sail along this coast is an easy downwind ride past a fascinating landscape. However due to the outflow of the rivers the water is not clear, so that snorkelling is less exciting than in the rest of Fiji.

The windiest patch in the whole of Fiji seems to be in the eastern entrance to Bligh Water where the tradewinds are perhaps accelerated between the two big islands. Each time we have visited Yandua it has been too rough to approach the anchorage on the east side close to the village, and each time we have lain in Strahan Harbour, a well-protected but deserted bay on the west side. On this occasion proceedings were delayed here by an outbreak of virtue in the form of three days' keen varnishing, albeit long overdue.

From Yandua we had yet another fast and exciting sail across open water to find, or rather to miss, the Charybdis Reef and take the Nukurauvula Pass into the reef passages westward along the north coast of Viti Levu, reaching Lautoka after one night on the way.

Lautoka would be a great place if it wasn't for the prolific sooty fallout from burning cane fields and the sugar mill. One or the other deposits a continuous black layer upon one's decks that grows before one's very eyes. Neisau Marina is the centre of all cruising activity, including providing a dinghy dock for those lying out at anchor. The organisation is remarkably efficient and helpful. There is a travel-lift said to be 63 tonne capacity, and though charges for lifting are not cheaper than New Zealand, labour is very cheap. We would suggest that Neisau Marina's haul-out facilities are probably the best in the South Pacific outside New Zealand and Australia. There is a pleasant atmosphere in the marina and for us it was a renewal of social contact after three weeks with barely a sight of another yacht. The marina office has a fax service (679-663807) and for those wanting a secure mail drop their address is PO Box 3831, Lautoka.

We can highly recommend the anchorage at Navandra in the Mamanuthas within a day's sail of Lautoka and, on Thursday nights, the pig roast at the Musket Cove Yacht Club on Malolo Lailai is good value and very popular.

Fiji is a place to relax from a social point of view. The Fijians are a delightful, easy going people with a simple sense of humour that is easily shared, and have the most infectious grins that have greeted us wherever we have been. Although constantly in the position of being the only visitors for miles around, it never crosses our minds to be nervous, far from it.

Time has stood still to a very great extent in the smaller islands, except for the introduction of big dories with powerful motors, mostly manufactured by Yamaha. The islands may have villages but very often no roads between them. There will however be a good school, and it is this education of the young which is going to increase the demand for the `benefits' of more sophisticated living. The Fijians speak English very well, much better than the Tongans and sometimes better than the Indians who dominate the towns and own all the businesses.

Fiji is not a place to relax from a navigational and pilotage point of view. There is surprisingly good chart coverage considering the remoteness of some of the waters, but beware - not all the reefs are to be taken literally in their detail, and the indication of a beacon on the chart only shows that there was one once! The Admiralty Pilot is the only comprehensive guide, though Michael Calder's book, which does not claim to be comprehensive, is very useful where applicable with excellent chartlets. As a retired hydrographer he is a well qualified guide.

For those approaching Fiji, a word or two about the spelling of place names could save a few worries. Is the airport Nandi or Nadi? In Fijian it is spelt Nadi and pronounced Nandi. This is further complicated by the British Admiralty charts which spell all place names phonetically, the only course open to the officers of HMS Alacrity and Renyard in 1880-82 and HMS Waterwitch in 1895. If the local chief told them the name of his island was Mbengga that is how they wrote it on the chart, and if you say Mbengga to a Fijian he will know exactly where you mean even though he spells it Beqa. This situation can lead to some confusion but it does help one to learn Fijian pronunciation.

For the gregarious there are a number of well frequented gathering places where it would be difficult to be lonely. Outside of these is a vast cruising ground where, if one has that desire, one can get conveniently lost amongst unspoiled, unexploited and very beautiful islands. Long may it stay that way.

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