Bula Family & Friends,

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Day 8 on Taveuni, we awoke to a beautiful sunrise and calmness, after 8-10 hours overnight of 50 mph winds and pelting rain. Packing up and paying our bill for food, beverages and some clothing (587 FJD), adding 100 FJD to the Coconut Grove Christmas fund, our hostess calling it out to her staff, they, yelling back a resounding “Thank you”! Babbu had arrived to take us to our next journey leg, the Tui Tai, but had to wait for our goodbyes and Lagi and Petro singing a ‘good bye’ song to us, bringing tears to our eyes. Babbu then whisked us away to the marina, retracing part of our trek to Lavena, driving over the flooded concrete river passage, requiring him to put his vehicle in 4-wheel drive and take a run at it to avoid being swept away by the current rushing to the sea. On the way we saw the Tui Tai crew members and the other 5 passengers riding bicycles to Buoma National Heritage Park. We were the first to be transported by inflatable boat to the 3-masted Tui Tai schooner, getting set up in the Luxury room on the top deck, directly behind the Captain’s wheelhouse. Our window opened to the sea, unlike the Mystique Princess, a refreshing perk. Maggie and I dined on chicken and curry roti at a dining table for 2 serviced by Aggie, our bartender extraordinaire, another nice perk on this romantic adventure segment. After the other guests came aboard, having already eaten in Buomo, we readied for snorkeling, getting to know each other, e.g.,  a couple from Cornwall, England on a 4 month around-the-world sojourn after selling a business, Peter, a recent retiree from Hamburg, Germany, and a couple from San Francisco who were between professional consultant jobs.

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The snorkeling was productive with lots of colorful coral until a huge squall passed over us, pelting our heads and backs, impeding our vision, to the point where we could hardly see our ship through our masks. Resting aboard after our struggle back, we went ashore to the village of Togo on the island of Qamea, just off the NE coast of Taveuni. According to our guide, Alice, Qamea has 5 villages and a population of 2,000 (compared to 19, 000 on Taveuni). It supports other islands needs for schooling within their educational system. Alice took us through the school rooms, explaining their system, grading, testing and the needs required for supporting it. The tour ended at dusk with a meke, a traditional spiritual folk dance. The 4 males of our group were seated next to George, the village chief, with the pouring of Kava, hand clapping and then the singing began. We were regaled by spear dancing performed by the village youth wearing pink and white, grass-like skirts. The 4 village women singing in front of the 7 of us played out stories with their arms and hands, followed by 4 village males doing the same with hard pounding on the floor. One by one, we were dragged out on the floor by the villagers to join in the festivities, everyone laughing, especially the kids who had been mimicking the elders while the elders were singing/pounding/swaying/storytelling. To help the village, we purchased a tapa cloth with the image of a Kava bowl.

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Our excursion back to the Tui Tai was quite the adventure since it was pitch black. Our zodiac was pushed by one of the crew, while another used a flashlight to navigate the shallows and guide us to the narrow opening in the reef and into deep waters where we could start up the outboard motor. The skies were clear, revealing a myriad of stars which highlighted our dinner topside, under the masts…BBQ topped off with ice cream and brownies! This idyllic moment did not foretell the stormy night ahead and attendant wave action which resulted in things falling off our cabin table and off the wall pegs where our clothing hung, leading to weighing anchor at 4 AM and moving on. Topside at breakfast revealed vestiges of a beautiful day starting with our coconut pancakes and fresh cut mango and papaya served up by Villi, our chief cook.  The weather allowed us to take the launch to Raranitingga Island, part of the Ringgold isles NE of Taveuni, for a landing on its white sand beach. We caught the trail to the island’s apex where Fijian warriors would go to seek refuge from their enemies. Hiking through thick foliage for half an hour we reached a 20 foot vertical wall which we had to climb to reach our goal. We had to shed our shoes to effectively traverse the mass of tangled roots, requiring upper body strength to pull ourselves up, while using our toes to anchor ourselves, lest we fall to the ground. The depth of the roots to the rock face was only 1-2 inches. All 7 of us made it (not without exhaustion and aching arms and toes), applauding ourselves at the top, thanking our guide, Tete, who was cheerleading us in this effort. He shared the history of this island which has no potable water source, taking us to the burial site of one of the chiefs, then circling the perimeter of the top with breath-taking views of the blue-green-turquoise ocean waters and the coral patterns beneath the surface and, in the distance, our own Tui Tai at anchor. One of our gang espied some movement out of the corner of his eye, which turned out to be a 6 inch diameter Hermit Crab in the rainwater-filled hollow of a tree stump! Descending via the root ‘ladder’ turned out to be easier than we had anticipated, thankfully.

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Back at our beach landing site, we motored to the other side of the island where we snorkeled, espying a gray, and 4 foot long reef shark several meters below us. As we came ashore back to our launch, we crossed paths with some small Picasso fish, half the size of those at Taveuni’s Cocounut Grove beach (bigger island, bigger fish?). It was a busy day for our launch, taking us back to the schooner to clean up before returning back to the beach where lunch was set up…taro cakes, small fish fried in a light batter, plus beer. We had a pretty full day in the sun and felt it by late afternoon. However, we were not complaining after all the stormy weather we had encountered already! We were in a semi-circle of white plastic chairs, being schooled in Fijian history by Linga, the ‘mess boy’, his name translating to ‘helping hand’, an apt name for his role aboard ship. Once we returned to our vessel, we weighed anchor and motored to the island of Cobia, another of the Ringgold Isles Archipelago, anchoring, taking the launch ashore to get into our sea kayaks to hug the shoreline around the point and to circumnavigate the crater formed eons ago. Apparently this island is owned by a District chieftain and populated with bats and goats. It is deeply forested, emanating a sense of primeval life, very quiet, except for the bat squeaks and the waves washing ashore. On the way back to the Tui Tai, we surfed in our kayaks which was an exhilarating experience! Our meal that night was Italian-based, missing only red wine and Andrea Boccelli!

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Well, guess what, rain came again! It resulted in having us breakfasting below deck plus a complete revision in plans!!! The Captain had not moved us down to Koro Island during the night due to stormy seas. He told us the week before the guests had voted to go despite the weather and half way into the 6-8 hour voyage, they had to go back!! So our day started at the private island of Laucola, formerly owned by American billionaire Malcom Forbes and now by the Austrian billionaire owner of Red Bull. For the second day in a row, the sea kayaks were used, this time navigating the coastline of Laucola. The worst thing that happened was a flying fish that had been skimming near us slammed into Maggie’s kayak, which was a bit startling! This isle conjured up the primeval feeling of Cobia, with bird sounds, surf actions against the coral, relaxing and instilling the awe of nature untouched. Affixing the kayaks to our launch, ropes linking each kayak together, we were ferried across the channel between Laucola and Qamea Islands, setting up on Qamea, donning our gear and snorkeling from the beach following the coral cliffs for over an hour. Our viewing included more colorful coral and fish, a 2 foot suckerfish coming straight at us with its shark-like face, and not knowing it wasn’t a shark! An amusing scene took place when we espied a small suckerfish (2-3 inches) attached to our guide Fili’s belly while snorkeling, unbeknownst to him. It peeled off and followed the 3 of us for some time afterwards!  We were transfixed at the last coral cliff, treading water, mesmerized by all the activity, fish of all sizes and colors, feeding off the myriad of coral types and colors.

 

Motoring back to our ship, with all the kayaks in tow, Fili had us laughing with his goofiness. Following lunch aboard the Tui Tai, we took the launch to the wharf on Laucola, our launching point for a bike ride along the coast and up to the private airfield built by Forbes. At one point, I had to lag behind with heartburn from the curry at lunch hitting me. These were some extreme hills to bike up. I finally caught up with Maggie, her sharing about a mongoose slinking across the road while waiting for me. Later we learned that this bike experience was nothing compared to theirs on Taveuni!! Made me feel like a wimp! We also had been told there was only one ‘small’ hill. Ha!! Must be another Fiji measure exaggeration along with those concerning “Fiji time”.

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Weather again intervened, moving our Lovo dinner from the island to our boat, all of us eating at the ‘nook’ by the ship’s bar, reveling over the taro, pork and our dessert…plantain in coconut milk, which was out of this world. Just prior to our meal we had an ad hoc trip into the village, via pickup truck with ‘the boys’, hauling 8 of us in the truck’s bed, to hunt for land crabs in the dark. We were attired in bright yellow slickers, carrying flashlights. At least 2 dozen crabs were captured. Several of us tried unsuccessfully to pick up a crab and put it in a gunny sack. Maggie was representing the 2 of us!!! Quite a bit of laughter over the failed efforts.

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Our schooner set off later in the evening for the 9 hour venture to Savusavu on Vanua Levu where we would say our good byes and move on to our final destination, the eco resort Papageno on Kadavu Island to celebrate our 30 year union on October 3. That last night began with calm waters and starry skies. Maggie and I were up at the pilot house until midnight, marveling at the magnificence of it all. Once we were back in our cabin, all hell broke loose, with massive swells, winds, rocking us from side-to-side, slamming ourselves against each other and into the wall of our quarters feeling like rolling pins, flattening out dough. Shockingly, we were neither injured nor seasick and we laughed hysterically…a night we shall never forget!!!  Our Captain had warned us to “fill up your stomachs and have your big eyes open all night”!!! We took that advice that seriously, because it was spot on! We arrived safely at Savusavu Harbor, tying up at 6 AM. After breakfast, the crew sang to us, very touching and sad, sharing personal contact information with guests and crew. Mala, one of the crew, and I gave each other a big hug and then we were on our own, whiling away the time until our ride to the airport and on to Papageno.

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Until the final chapter of Fiji, Bula,

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Stan & Maggie