One last dive the next morning, then we returned to civilization in the form of the buoy off the Aquarium Café. We had lunch on board, but as soon as we got back we launched the dinghy and went to Lisa's for a cappuccino and ice-cream with chocolate sauce. Our final evening together on Tonga was spent at Lisa's café where we had a large tapas dinner. Her home-made crab cakes were, as usual, the best dish on the menu; the samosas followed close. We had an Australian red wine that we had come to like with dinner. The following day we breakfasted together. Then a taxi arrived to drive the children to the airport. They were flying back to Nuku’alofa to spend their final three days in Tonga at a resort called Fafa.
We waved goodbye to the kids and went back to Yaghan to wash, clean and tidy up. Once we had finished cleaning and provisioning we would clear out and continue to Fiji. It dawned on me that we would not meet again until Christmas, which seemed like a long time away. It felt empty on board after they had left us. I missed them desperately when suddenly Lisa's husband Ben called us on the VHF to tell us that he was on his way out to Yaghan with Patrik on board. When the children arrived at the airport they discovered that their seats had been sold. Their tickets had been booked and paid for months ago, but there was no room on the Nuku’alofa flight. Someone had died in the capital, and the mourners from Neiafu were booked on their flight. After some argument they managed to retrieve three of their four tickets. The airport staff promised to reserve a seat for Patrik on the last flight out that day, at 1700h. Hanne, Daniel and Maria had boarded the plane, leaving Patrik behind, and he had taken a taxi back to the Aquarium Café.
So, when I missed them the most I was able to borrow one for a few hours! Patrik lay in the sun reading while we cleaned the boat. We had lunch together at Lisa's before I followed Patrik to the airport to be on the safe side. There was no reservation as promised, but we were first in the queue, so Patrik got on the plane to Nuku’alofa.
Our last few days on Neiafu were quite busy. We were ready on Tuesday August 28 and went over to the main harbour to officially check out of Tonga. We met the Perfect Storm man who hoped that we had enjoyed our stay at Vava’u and that we would be coming back sometime in the future. We officially had to sail straight out on international waters, but we only went around the corner and dropped anchor at Port Maurelle. Once we had left Neiafu bay we could not be seen from the harbour. The customs would never know. According to our original plan we were going to stay one day, but when Arne started to analyse the weather it did not look good enough for a crossing to Fiji.
We stayed for two days. The weather was nice and sunny. We picked up our weather reports twice a day and studied them closely. It did not look promising; there were going to be strong winds and high seas. We swam, read and generally enjoyed life, well aware of the fact that these were the last few days we would ever spend in this wonderful archipelago, Vava’u in the Kingdom of Tonga, a paradise for humpbacked whales and us.
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Fiji and New Zealand
(Arne)
We left Neiafu on Vava’u, Tonga, on August 30 at ten in the morning to sail the 409 nautical miles to Savusavu on Fiji. You always need to stop off at a port of entry on entering a new country. Savusavu has become a popular port of entry since it is a small place where the authorities have a reputation for being a little easier to deal with. It is the second largest town on the second largest island, Vanau Levu. The alternative would have been to go to Suva, the capital of Fiji, on the largest island, Viti Levu. But it is a dirty and noisy town that we, like many other sailors, have no desire to visit.
The crossing only took two days. During the second day the wind speed reached 30–40 knots; it was worst off Lau Islands. Lau Islands and Yasawa Islands are considered the most beautiful groups of islands. We tried to get permission to stay in Lau when we were passing through, but, not surprisingly, we did not get it. You always need to check into the country first. Even if you do, it is highly unlikely that you get permission to visit these islands. People there do not want visitors; several former prime ministers live there. The latest, who was overthrown in the coup of 2006, was in house arrest there at the time.
We planned to spend about a month in Fiji, the second half of it in a resort on Yasawa called the Yasawa Island Resort, which we had booked beforehand. So far we had not slept ashore one single night. This was the first time. We would be spending two weeks ashore. Contrary to Tonga, there are many nice resorts in Fiji. Before staying at the resort we were going to tour the islands for a couple of weeks to get an idea of what the country was like.
The Land is Owned by the Indigenous People
Fiji is a comparatively large country for this part of the world. It has a population of one million. It is made up of over three hundred islands, a hundred of which are inhabited. The country became independent from Britain as late as in 1970. During independence there have been four military coups, the first three on account of antagonism between Melanesians and Indians that are two equally large groups. The Melanesians are indigenous and the Indians were brought to Fiji by the British since the Melanesians refused to work on the plantations. Indians dominate the trade and were well on their way to gaining political influence too, but this was interrupted by the coups. The latest coup occurred on December 5, 2006, during our circumnavigation. It was caused by internal fighting among the Melanesian native population and had nothing to do with the Indians. Naturally, because of all these coups, there is no way you could describe Fiji as a stable democracy, or even a stable nation.
Land ownership in Fiji is unusual. The British made an effort not to push out the natives, which occurred in so many other parts of the world. Eighty per cent of the land is owned collectively by individual tribes. When you moor in a natural harbour you need to visit the local chief and ask permission to stay in waters that belong to his tribe. It is considered polite to hand over a kava root. Kava is a Fijian mild and very popular intoxicant. If the chief accepts, you are invited to a ceremony during which you drink kava with the him. It looks like dirty water. All you feel is a slight numbness of the lips and a sense of calm.
The fact that the native population controls the land probably explains why the Fijian's enjoy a different status compared to other aboriginal populations. The negative aspect is of course that there is racism towards the Indian population, which, through their hard work, has been successful and has acquired some status. The Melanesians, like the Polynesians and other ethnic populations in the South Pacific, find it hard to make it in business, which probably has a cultural explanation. In the South Pacific you never used to have to work for your food. There was plenty of food everywhere.
Savusavu
We reached Savusavu on Saturday September 1 and anchored at a buoy off Copra Shed Marina. Practically all the moorings are in the form of buoys in the river outside the marina. Customs clearance was swift and easy, no problem at all. South America appeared more and more Byzantine to us. The customs officer told us that Bamsen had been there earlier with “he who builds those boats”. Bamsen is Christoph Rassy's Hallberg-Rassy 62. It was Christoph who built up the business. In 2005–2007 he participated in one of the two-year circumnavigation rallies that go via the Panama and Suez canals.
We spent a few days at Savusavu, a community of about ten thousand people. It is always exciting to arrive in a country and try to discover what it is like. The very first day we arrived we found an absolutely wonderful Indian restaurant with wonderful, very reasonably priced food. It was probably one of the best Indian restaurants we have ever been to. The weather was bad, it rained a lot every day, but we did not mind, we enjoyed it. Our first impression of Fiji was positive. We went to the Indian restaurant every day, both for lunch and for dinner. We soon became regulars.
On September 5, after five days at Savusavu, we continued to the largest island, Viti Levu, where we wanted to find a good harbour for Yaghan while we were staying at the Yasawa Island Resort – the only resort on north Yasawa. We were boo
ked from September 17 to Otober 4 since we were convinced that north Yasawa was the finest part of Fiji. We had ten days in which to find a suitable harbour for Yaghan. We also wanted to explore the Mamanuca Islands north of Denarau, with the famous Musket Cove. Denarau, at least on paper, seemed to be the best and safest harbour. The only alternative in the area was Voda Point Marina, but it did not look attractive. We decided on Denarau, providing it met our standards.
The first day we went south to an atoll where there had been a leprosy hospital. The island is called Makogai; it had the only natural harbour we could find within a day's sailing from Savusavu, and we anchored there for the night. There was a village on the shore, but we never went ashore. The next morning we continued to the north coast of Viti Levu, a coast that is often visited by sailors. We went inside the reef on the northern tip of Viti Levu and sailed west, then south along the north and east coast of Viti Levu. The north coast looks a little like the Canary Islands. It is a landscape with few trees and appears to be arid.
Denarau
We arrived on Denarau already on September 8. It was bogland until an Australian rented it and developed it by building five-star hotels, golf courses and beautiful villas. Today, it is Fiji's largest cluster of five-star hotels and villas. There is also a marina with room for large boats. But you need to enter at high tide, since the entrance is long and rather shallow. We entered at high tide, and it was over four metres deep all the way. We spent a couple of days on Denarau to see with our own eyes whether the standard was high enough and, above all, to check out the level of security. After a few days we had established that Denarau was as good as it can get at Fiji, We booked a mooring for the entire period we were to stay at the resort. We were relieved to have found a place for Yaghan during our absence. We managed to get the very mooring we had set our eyes on, which we considered to be the safest in the entire marina. Then it was time to spend a few days looking around the Mamanuca Islands west of Denarau. We both brought kava roots so we would be prepared when we anchored in bays controlled by tribes. Each root cost about ten Fiji dollars.
Mamanuca and Musket Cove
Our first destination was Malolo Island and Malolo Lailai Island, one day's sailing away. The first night we anchored off a resort on Qualito Island. The next day we went to Musket Cove, a resort specializing in sailing boats. They organise a major annual regatta, which was due to take place the coming weekend. We wanted to leave before the weekend so we could look around, and we wanted to avoid the regatta. The harbour turned out to be too small for us, so we dropped anchor in the roadstead and went ashore in the dinghy. We were not impressed. There are large shallows outside the harbour and at low tide the view from the resort is really quite ugly. The general quality was all right, but nothing special. We stayed overnight and had dinner in the restaurant. The owner must be good at marketing to have managed to make the place that famous.
The next day we continued through the archipelago. We sailed north to where Mamanuca borders with Yasawa. One night we anchored at the desert island of Navadra. It was nice but rather choppy. We were a little fed up with the Fiji islands. We were convinced that Yasawa was the best of all, and we longed to go there. On September 15 we returned to Denarau to prepare Yaghan before we left her for the first time in one and a half years. We wanted to make sure that she would be well looked after before we left.
Back on Denarau
One Indian restaurant on Denarau got their customers back. The food was really first class there too, and we both like Indian food. A long time ago, when Heléne was working in export credits, she travelled a lot to India, and she developed a great love for everything Indian and India as a country. The wonderful Indian restaurants were our most positive experience of Fiji so far.
Shortly after we arrived, Api came past. He ran a boat service firm in Denarau harbour. We agreed that he should clean the boat while we were away, and he would make sure that nothing happened to her. We also gave him our telephone number at the resort. Api turned out to be a great support. He cleaned her beautifully, and he called as soon as something came up. There is one good serviceman in almost every harbour, but it is not always easy to find out who this person is. There are usually a few less competent people too; that is why you always have to rely on other people's advice.
We cleaned everything below deck and packed everything we were going to need at the resort. We were travelling in a small plane, and it was absolutely forbidden to carry more than fifteen kilos per person. After we had packed all our books, computers, cables etc. that we wanted to take there was not much room left for clothes. We knew from experience that you do not need that many clothes in Fiji this time of year, and you can always wash.
Yasawa Island Resort
On the Monday we went to Nadi Airport. It felt strange to leave Yaghan, but we had done all we could to make sure she would be safe during our absence.
We flew in a tiny plane, courtesy of the resort. All guests need to be flown in by air. It is situated sixty nautical miles from Denarau, so the flight takes half an hour. We could see the immensely beautiful north Yasawa Islands from the air as we arrived. The landing strip was covered in grass. When it is very windy they use a seaplane and land it on the water on the leeward side.
Yasawa is made up of two elongated, narrow islands, North Yasawa and South Yasawa. There are many tourists and several resorts on South Yasawa as well as a daily boat service from Denarau that caters for backpackers. North Yasawa, on the other hand, was almost untouched.
Yasawa Island Resort consisted of only eighteen bungalows or bures. We lived in a 150 square metre bure in leafy surroundings by the water. The resort caters for forty guests served by one hundred staff. Since this is the only resort on North Yasawa, all the villagers are very keen to make sure it makes a profit. Nearly all the staff live in the three villages, which means that the resort is very much integrated into the local community. It was built about twenty years ago on a ninety-nine year lease from the tribes that own the land. The first owner ran into financial difficulties, and it was acquired by the present owner, Gareth Downy. He is a real estate developer from Australia, married to a Fijian girl. Today, it would cost about fifteen million dollars to build a new first-class resort in Fiji.
When you are sailing around the world there is a lot of servicing and maintenance that needs to be done all the time. You never really have any time off. It was wonderful to do nothing for the first time in one and a half years, but just to be waited on by the competent staff. We relished sitting down at table every day, not even having to make our own beds.
Moreover, the diving was absolutely wonderful. All in all we made twelve dives during our seventeen days at the resort. The boats were large and of a high standard, and we were often alone. There was a crew of two people, not counting the diving leader. It means you can glide along on the currents and be picked up wherever you surface. We do not like to use firms that do not work with a separate driver. It is a question of comfort and safety.
During this period we logged our hundredth dive since the beginning of our diving career in 2001. We worked with a number of diving leaders, but Atu was the one with whom we spent the most time. He was treated with more respect than usual by the others. When Atu spoke, the other Fijians became silent. When we asked a question the others would wait and see whether Atu was going to answer. This was unusual; the Fijians are normally very forward. Atu was forward too, and easy going, so at first we did not understand what it was all about. After a while it turned out that Atu was the son of the chief of the northernmost village on north Yasawa, a village of three hundred people. Atu was between thirty and forty years old, and one day he would be made chief of this village. We were not so sure that he was looking forward to it; he seemed to be happy with what he was doing at the moment. The other's reverence did show, however, chiefs are still very important people in Fijian society.
The best thing about Yasawa Island Resort was the beaches. The resort rented five
remote beaches on west North Yasawa from the tribes. South of the resort were Paradise Beach 1, 2 and 3. To the north were Lover's Beach 1 and 2. On picnic day you were transported by boat to a suitable beach at ten o’clock in the morning together with sun chairs and a lunch basket, and you would be picked up at three. The hours in between we were completely alone on one of these wonderful beaches. Our favourites were Lover's Beach 1 and 2. You could pick whatever you wanted for the lunch basket. We often chose spring rolls as a starter and Yasawa lobster as a main course. On some days we would drink a good rosé. In our experience, beaches that are as wonderful as these are completely unique. We cannot be certain that access to these remote beaches will exist forever. Naturally, there are people who have tried to get permission from the villagers to build more resorts on north Yasawa. A New Zealander has been trying to build one for six years. Apparently he is rather close to succeeding. The number of resorts is sure to increase on North Yasawa.
This is also where you find the famous Blue Lagoon caves where the film Blue Lagoon featuring Brooke Shields was shot in the eighties. We went to have a look, but we did not dive to reach the innermost cave. We are not very fond of diving in caves.
One Sunday we went to church in the second largest village, Bukama. Nearly the whole village was there, including the chief. All churches in Tonga are run by the Methodists.
The food at the resort was good, but not of a standard that motivated the price. However, during our final week a celebrity chef came over from Australia. It raised the standard of the food to the same high level as everything else at the resort – top international standard.
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