Fuluga - Isolated Paradise

On 3 July we arrived at Fuluga in the southern end of the Lau Group after an overnight sail from Vanua Balavu. A 120 Nm (220Km) trip on which we were rewarded with our first mahimahi caught just after dawn. A beautiful eating fish that we had many different ways plus we smoked about a third of it.

Fuluga is a large lagoon about 9km wide with a 50m wide entrance through fringing reef. It has one large island with 3 villages on it plus hundreds of small limestone islands and out crops. There are white sandy beaches and coconut palms. The typical picture of an island paradise. It was a bright sunny day with light winds when we arrived, perfect conditions to show the place off. It was seriously stunningly beautiful and isolated even with 18 rally boats arriving that morning.

The following morning all the rally participants headed to the main village to do sevusevu with the chief. The anchorage near the village isn't big enough for all the rally boats so 4 of the rally catamarans were used to take everyone to the village anchorage, Lettin Go being one of the ferrying cats. Sevusevu is a formal ceremony where as visitors we present the chief with a gift of kava and if accepted we are welcomed into the village with all the rights of the village residents. In Fiji traditional ownership of the land extends to the waters so visiting yachts need to do sevusevu to get permission to cruise, fish and dive in the local waters. The village at Fuluga is very organised to maximise the benefits from the small number of visiting yachts. A picnic was organised for last Friday with everyone bringing something to contribute to the communal meal. A small market was set up selling local produce, (bananas) and stunning carvings for which this island is famous. After lunch there were dances and songs from the children and we visitors dusted off the Ukeleles and sang a few Kiwi and nautical songs which our hosts enjoyed.

Every yacht crew is allocated to a local host family who provide an insight into the everyday life on these remote islands. Our hosts, David and his wife Mary and their four children lived in the school compound David is a teacher and looks after years 6 & 7. He and his wife were born in Suva where they met and married and lived there until he graduated. His family comes from the Fuluga islands. He has taught at three different islands over the past 9 years and will probably be transferred again in the future. We were invited to the Sunday church service, beautiful singing especially the children. Loud and proud! After the service we enjoyed a traditional Sunday Lunch with David and his extended family in their home.

There are a couple of boats from the USA in the rally so a sunset beach party was organised to celebrate the 4th of July complete with a bonfire and fireworks in the form of expired safety flares. The chief's permission was obtained for the "fireworks" display. A good night was had by all including friends from yachts that weren't part of the rally.

The best coral at Fuluga is on the edge of the pass into the lagoon where the walls of the pass are in parts vertical and others taper down to the bottom of the channel which is 6 to 8 metres deep. Due to the strong currents in the pass the best way to snorkle it is start on last of the out going tide and drift out along one side of the pass and when the tide turns cross over and drift back in on the other side. Sounds easy but the reality is you dealing with strong current so you are drifting very fast and the slack water when the tide changes is only 5 - 10 minutes. Start too early and you get washed out to the open sea which is breaking on the reef, start too late and it's a oneway trip only going in on the tide. We did 2 reef pass dives, the first we timed right and the second we were late due to commitments at the village and had an express ride in where the current was that strong it was difficult just to swim across it. But the experience was well worth the effort. The variety of coral types and colours was stunning. Heaps of fish and several reef sharks and the occasional larger shark at the bottom of the channel. A great experience...!

The rally fleet has started to break up into smaller groups here as people go off to explore different islands or have commitments with incoming visitors. The bulk of the fleet will meet up again next week in the Astrolabe Reef area. We left Fuluga yesterday in company with 2 other yachts to a lagoon 20km north, the Yasaba Cluster. A small hop but again a great location. More of this location in the next post.

Vanua Balavu, Fiji

20 June to July 2

The passage across from Tonga was downwind sailing with strong winds, a good angle for catarmans, very uncomfortable for monohulls!  Consequently there were some unhappy crew who were very glad to enter the calmer waters of Fiji, once we had cleared the main entrance passage.  We then had to navigate through a reef to arrive at our first anchorage on Vanua Balavu for the night.  The Sail East Fiji Guide had all the waypoints for us to do this with radio assistance from fellow rally members.  Fiji waters are mostly uncharted and it is important for a person (Ann) to stand on the coachroof to keep a look out for reefs and isolated bommies.

Customs clearance is certainly a different experience.  There is there very formal process with customs and quarantine officials with many forms to fill in, passports to be checked and sailing permits to be issued.  This process took two days to complete (30 + boats) with officials either arriving at your boat by dingy or on day two because of heavy showers the officials were hosted on one of the larger catamarans, Winds of Change, and we went to them in many varied craft.  Yes that is a pink flamingo.

Daliconi, the village we anchored off hosted our first Fijian Feast with a Sevusevu ceremony, a speech from the Pastor, singing and cultural dances by the children and young women.  A special covered shelter was erected with colourful fabrics strung around the outsides and bush foliage and flowers entwined around the structural supports.  Lots of palm fronds and sprouting coconuts complete the scene.  This was our first experience of the Kava ceremony and we both were surprised at the peppery taste, having been told it can taste like dishwater.

Our next destination, a hour to the north is The Bay of Islands, a group of limestone islets and islands with dense green foliage somehow growing out of the volcanic and limestone rock.  At the waters edge they are undercut by the constant  flow of the tide and caves have been formed over many thousands of years.  Some of these we were able to swim into through holes at sea level.  They have high cathedral ceilings, the home of either small bats or swallows.

While in the Bay of Islands Cran celebrated a very significant birthday (65) along with Russ a fellow sailor from Vivacious.  Russ’s wife Jane baked a beautiful chocolate mud cake (GF) with lashings of chocolate ganache.  Happy Birthday Cran, a very special place to enjoy your birthday.

A few days later we sailed around the top of Vanua Balavu to Mbavatu Harbour, a deep anchorage with high cliffs.  The walk to the village at the top of the plateau involved a steep staircase - a challenge when one has been sitting on a boat for a few weeks!  As well the coconut plantation mostly wiped out by Cyclone Winston, cattle and sheep are farmed here.  We visited The Sometime Store in the village to sign the visitors book and the woman from the village guided us on a walk to a cliff top lookout which provided us with beautiful vistas over the Bay of Islands where we had anchored a few days before.

Today, Sunday July 2 we are anchored off the island of Susui at the southern end of Vanua Balavu. 

We are enjoying a coffee and writing this blog then we will be getting the boat ready for a sail south overnight to Falangu. Quite a remote part of Fiji with small villages, the most prominent buildings being the church and school. This area was badly damaged by Cyclone Winston and families are living in damaged buildings with tarps on the roof and walls. 

The village put on a feast for us on Friday night. Then Sevusevu ceremony here was a little more serious and formal, with the men of the village sitting in a separate area to drink the Kava.  We were all invited to share in the Kava, as honoured guests.  The feast included many interesting local treats including land crabs, raw fish in coconut milk, baked whole fish, small lime green fish roe in coconut milk, bread fruit, cassava, taro and a small roast pig. A fire was built on the beach and the women were cooking large Pacific Oysters then shelling them and placing them in a bowl of fresh local lime juice - delicious.  There were platters of fresh pawpaw and banana and coconuts for drinking. A different cultural experience with special dances performed by the children and much singing and dancing.  This village is not visited very often and the feast was the first one that had been celebrated with a sailing group, we feel very privileged. 

Yesterday after a trip around the bay we visited the village to purchase bananas and pawpaw and some fresh limes.  While there Girt from Winds of Change arrived at the school with two soccer balls for the children.  He organised them into two teams and acted as goalie, lots of laughs and surprising ball skills from all involved.