46 www.oystermarine.com Fiji, Land of Friendy People and Beautiful Cruising Grounds By Donna Hill, <strong>Oyster</strong> 56 Baccalieu III
We had our first experience drinking kava shortly after arriving in Fiji. We joined a local man sitting on a woven pandama mat, crossed our legs yoga style in front of a four legged wooden kava bowl and threw back a coconut shell filled with a muddy looking mixture that immediately numbed our tongues and throat. Not many years ago the kava would have been drunk from the skull of an enemy and the roots of the kava pepper plant chewed by young women who spat the grounded root into a wooden bowl for the consumption of male village elders. We had arrived in Fiji a few days before with the Blue Water Rally whom we had joined in Panama. We tied to a mooring at the Copra Shed Marina on the island of Vanu Levu, the more remote of the two larger Fijian islands. There are fewer tourists on Vanua Levu than on Viti Levu and the streets of Savu Savu were busy with local activity. Indo Fijians are the foundation of the country’s economy, operating small businesses and stores, growing produce and offering it for sale in a large covered market where we purchased the customary gift of kava root to offer to the chiefs of villages that we planned to visit. Fijian natives on the other hand prefer to live in villages along the coast independent of others except for the purchase of basic staples and every day the sidewalk outside the bus stop would include an array of colourful ankle length dresses as native women waited to be transported back to their villages. A former secluded village located 20 km outside Suva Suva had recently decided to experiment in the tourist trade with guided tours to one of their most sacred of sacred commodities, the Red Prawns. Red Prawns are one of Fiji’s endemic species, a rare shrimp that appear pink in colour before cooking. They are found in two locations in Fiji and have probably survived throughout the centuries due to the fact that native Fijians declare them sacred and claim those who attempt to remove them will fall prey to the evils of the sea. A hike over aging bridges, through mango swamps, salt water pools, overgrown vegetation and a 500 metre salt water channel, mid calf deep with low tide, lead us to an islet. We lowered ourselves down a shallow rock face to a small cave where the red prawns often take refuse until a gifted member of the Narwani clan sings a solemn calling song summoning them into the open lava rock pool. Traditionally, gifted natives call for sea turtles, sharks and other sea life during practiced rituals. We left Suva Suva to join our Blue Water Rally friends on Malolo Leilei Island located in the Mamanuca Islands about 15 km west of the large island of Viti Levu. The group of twenty islands, mostly of volcanic origin and now blanketed in greenery amidst crystal turquoise waters, sit on the North Western limit of Fiji and are exposed to open sea allowing a north swell to ruin a night’s sleep if you do not tuck into a protected bay. Musket Cove, located inside the barrier reef, is one of the safest and most sheltered bays in the Mamanuca’s and sits amongst several smaller reefs lying incognito like land mines in an unsuspecting field. In the approach to Malolo Island, we sailed within close proximity of several surrounding islands watching waves break over an assortment of reefs while our charts indicated there were far more coral impediments than what we could visualize. Amongst the small islands there are few international navigational markers and we found only current mangled, windblown naked sticks lying at an assortment of angles, some adorned with bundles of upright branches with a sort of army brush-cut appearance. We learned later, the upside down bristle broom look were taboo markers erected by natives indicating areas of native fishing rights. There’s not much chance anyone would try to approach Musket Cove after sunset, not even the Malolo ferry runs after dark, but if you did attempt it, using the present navigational leading lights you would find yourself high and dry on the sandy extremity of Malolo Leilei Island, as the lights were reportedly never installed in proper alignment. Well I guess all would not be for lost, as you would be beached only metres from the Four Dollar Bar. Moorings are available outside Musket Cove as an alternative to tying to dock inside the cove or hanging out for the arrival of high tide in order to navigate > LEFT: Anchored alongside a fellow <strong>Oyster</strong> in Musket Cove ABOVE: One of the village children, Namara OWNER REPORT www.oystermarine.com 47
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