Fiji: Lau Group

By far the most remote region of Fiji, the eastern archipelago called the Lau Group (57 islands scattered over 150 nautical miles, visible along the top side of the cyclone photo in the Vanua Levu blog entry) was only legally open to cruising boats in the last few years. Lying far upwind from any Customs check-in locations, they are notoriously hard to get to--yet because they possess dramatic beauty and are untouched by tourism, about two dozen cruising boats now make the trek every season.

Vanua Balavu

The passage was every bit as difficult as we expected: it took us 22 hours to tack the last 35 (of 90) nautical miles. Let's just say it was not fun. But our feeling underway--"this place had better be worth it!"--was amply rewarded.

Anchored in shallow water over sand,
we felt like we were in a swimming pool

Vanua Balavu's Bay of Islands (no relation to New Zealand's bay of the same name) is studded with small muffin-shaped islets sprinkled throughout clear azure water; there couldn't be a more beautiful anchorage anywhere. We kayaked among the narrow channels, swam into underwater caves, snorkeled over several coral reefs: it was as idyllic as could be.

No photos of swimming into a cave, but we kayaked into this one

Komo

The passage to Komo was almost as challenging as the one to Vanua Balavu, and the rewards just as deep--this time for cultural reasons. Our knack for arriving in new locations at special times was epic at Komo: we were invited to join them as over 50 people crammed into a small room to watch the Olympic rugby finals on the village's only television. (Each of the 63 households pays $1/month for satellite service.) Fiji routed the UK to win not just the Gold medal, but their first Olympic medal ever; what a thrill! When the sports announcer talked about proud Fijians in small villages watching a single TV together in their bare feet, there we were...

Immediately afterward was the weekly village cricket match, which they take very seriously; then the kaipalangis (that's us) took to the field with a frisbee. The kids had never seen one, so at first it just attracted the young ones--but once the older kids saw Art do some tricks with it, they joined in the free-for-all. Adults and children alike seemed to find it amusing that old folks like us would play like kids!

Tash & Jase walking with Sei, our guide, through the village

We were joined in these adventures by Kiwi couple Jase and Tash from S/V Dreamalong. Our similar "wish lists" ended up taking us to the same four Lau Group islands, and we've enjoyed sharing these remarkable experiences together. (And thanks go to Jase & Tash for sharing some of their photos with us!)

Many of the homes are corrugated metal versions
of the traditional bure...

...though others are this style, usually painted.
This one looked particularly nice;
I found out later it was the chief's house!

School grounds, with classrooms and housing
for 3 teachers. Most village schools are adorned
with strands of pop bottles painted in primary colors

We left some supplies for the school

The school has its own lali,
also painted in primary colors

The village's lali drums--
two sizes for two alternating pitches,
gracually increasing in tempo

Sea slugs, drying for export
(the name beche de mer makes them sound more appetizing,
but probably doesn't make them taste better)

A basket of garden veggies,
which did taste good

The primary source of income at Komo is the weaving of magimagi--strong twine made of coconut fibers.
This man is pounding the fibers into small separated strands

The next step is to twist individual strands into thicker segments (boy on left),
then braid and splice the segments into 25-meter lengths of twine (man on right).
Everyone in the village participates; hands are never idle, always twisting or braiding...

Of course we accepted the village's invitation to the evening event: a raffle of baked goods to send their cricket team to the national finals in Suva. While the Women's Club (their term) was putting final touches on the goodies, the men brought out the kava bowl--and to our pleasant surprise, Tash and I were welcome to participate (customarily women are not included in kava sessions). None of our tickets won anything--we'd scored in the "amazingly fun day" lottery, not the baked goods one--but we were given a plate of fish pizza anyway.

 And when we finally had to hike back over the hill and take the dinghy back to our boats, we were spontaneously serenaded by Isa Lei,  the beautiful Farewell Song.  Darkness masked the tears in our eyes...

Fish Pizza:
whole cooked fish--3 in this case--on a bed of ramen noodles,
topped with tomato sauce and onions
(you may prefer pepperoni)

Komo anchorage, as seen from the trail to the village

The village elder says we are now Komo People.

To quote Paul Simon, it was a time of miracles and wonders.

Namuka

We stopped at Namuka as a protected anchorage between our destinations of Komo and Fulaga, but it was a worthwhile visit in itself. Each island village has many similarities, but differences as well.

So far the village stores have been tiny kiosks that will be opened upon request. Though this village wasn't much larger, Namuka's stores were bigger and open all the time--and lo and behold, one of them had ice cream!

The 4 of us easily consumed a tub of ice cream--with tiny wooden spoons!

Komo's economy is based on magimagi; Namuka's is based on copra (coconut). To assist with transporting heavy loads of coconuts through the forested hills, some people used horses--small ones, but the first we'd seen in the tropics since the Marquesas. Without horses, people carry the husks in a basket hooked on a pole over their shoulder: hard work!

Namuka's other source of income is tapa: intricate designs on bark cloth. As we wandered around, sounds of pounding could be heard throughout the village.

This mother and daughter are pounding the bark into cloth,
then connecting sheets together with a "gluey" type of potato

These women dye the cloth with stenciled patterns, and add color with dye from a reddish clay soil

The finished product will be enormous and magnificent!

The meeting hall, where we presented our sevusevu to the chief;
note the mats on the floor, and the banners of tapa hanging at the ceiling

Another typical bure; laundry on the line, curtains in the windows, dog outside--
every home has these

Art playing  ball with kids on the beach
(we always leave the toys we bring with the kids)

A little girl with one of the balloons we brought
(balloons are a simple and fun way to keep lots of kids happy!)

The 90-minute hike to the village from the anchorage went through thick forest

This supply ship stops at the outer islands twice a month;
it briings basic food supplies and mail, takes products to Suva for sale,
and serves as a passenger ferry 

Fulaga

Fulaga has it all: the stunning beauty of mushroom-shaped islets in turquoise water combined with intense village experiences. Fortunately we'd planned to stay a week (some cruisers stay a month!); first rain then strong winds kept us there even longer.

The view from our anchorage;
when exploring the beach on the left, we found...

...a fruit bat,

and a large turtle shell

Exploring the lagoon by dinghy

Morning tea on the deck;
yes, it's as windy as it looks

Sundowners with S/V Blinder and S/V Dreamalong;
we enjoy having anchorages to ourselves, but social times are
 enjoyable and appreciated

Because of its extraordinary setting, Fulaga expects visitors, and developed a system whereby each cruising boat is connected to a host family. Not that it's crowded--there was a maximum of 4 vessels in the entire large lagoon while we were there--but the village is small, and it wouldn't be fair for one family to have all the burdens and all the benefits (food and gifts are exchanged from both sides). Another unique feature is that 15 years ago the men of Moana-i-cake, the main village, voted to allow women to drink kava; women in the other two villages on Fulaga (or indeed, anywhere) may not. The women here are clearly more emancipated; they do the same domestic tasks, but they are much more extroverted than in the other small villages we visited.

An overview of village life:

By now the metal bures may be looking almost as familiar to you as they do to us!
This photo is the only one I have with someone carrying a load on his back in a basket on a pole
(hope you can enlarge your view!)

All villages we visited had a postal agency like this
(though the paint on this one is fresher than some!)

Outdoor cooking station;
Cooking can be done in a separate small building or outdoors,
but cooking and sleeping/living are not done in the same structure

The village has a kayak and this outrigger
(which can be poled or sailed), both for communal use
and both used for fishing

Net fishing is also common;
the string dangling from this islet gets attached to a net
which is stretched & tied to another islet nearby;
at high tide, fish swim in and get caught

We arrived--surprise surprise--on a special day: Competition Day, held once every 3 months. Children's choirs from each village competed in a singing festival, and women had a "home show" (judged by two men, ahem). The first prize was a fishing net (!), second prize a thermal carafe, third prize a wall clock, fourth prize a set of large plastic tubs. After the prizes were awarded, they broke out the kava bowl and the fun began. Kava flowed; a couple of women--bear in mind these are older, hefty women--got up and danced provocatively, which everyone found hilarious; more kava; more women drifted in; more kava; music got plugged in, using solar power; more dancing--this time Salote ("the village clown", their term) pulled Art up to dance with her, since he'd been teasing her earlier in the day; more hilarity; more kava; some men started drifting in; more kava; after that I can't remember...

(Just kidding; kava is slightly numbing to the lips and is reputedly relaxing, but doesn't affect us at all--though it sure was a fun party!)

For the competition, all the mats had to be newly woven;
special bedding was arranged, and the mosquito nets were decorated 

Another example, in a larger home;
the floor mats aren't as intricate, but the bed has a beautiful mat
and the rafters are decorated (usually with family photos and/or tapa cloth).
These features were evident in all of the houses.

The beginning of our first kava party on Fulaga.
Kava root + water are mixed with the hands--sometimes in large wooden bowls, but often in plastic tubs like these.
It looks like dirty water and tastes like...dirty water.
(Actually, we grew to like the flavor; but we suspect the water was what made 4 out of 6 cruisers--
Art escaped, Nancie did not--get briefly ill after a kava session a few days later.)

Throughout our time in Fulaga we had some meals with our host family (always fish and root vegetables, made tastier on Sundays by smoking them in an underground pit), explored the stunning scenery by dinghy, and snorkeled. In one of our best swims ever, we got to watch an octopus ooze around the seabed just below us; we got to see it morph through an amazing array of shapes and colors! We also snorkeled the pass a couple of times, which involved taking the dinghy as far out the reef pass as the swells will allow, then slipping into the water--holding onto the dinghy painter (rope)--and flowing through the pass with the incoming tide. Passes have the most abundant underwater life, both fish and coral; timed right, it's an exhilarating ride!

                            

Saving the best for last, here are photos of some of our personal interactions:

 

The children wore lovely outfits for the choir competition.
(Balloons compliments of the Balloon Master, a.k.a. Art)

After the competition, students from the other two villages were given lunch (fish in lolo, mentioned earlier).
As always, a cloth was put on the floor mat and plates placed on top of the cloth;
everyone was seated in rows on the floor, and ate with their fingers.
When in Fiji, we did as the Fijians did; the food was very good, though we missed having a sink nearby...

Fulaga's economy is based on woodcarving; most kava bowls and other carved items
in the Suva markets are from Fulaga.
When we saw Alfredi working on a kava bowl, we asked him to make one for us...

...and it turned out like this,
even more striking than we expected.

When he found out it was our anniversary,
he carved a special tribute on the side:
a pair of seahorses, that mate for life;
and his name and island, so we would remember
him always (not that we could ever forget!)

 

Tui (right) was our main guide
and took us to a burial cave
up in the hills overlooking the village

No one knows how old the bones are,
or who they were;
some guess they were cannibal victims,
but given the intent to bury,
it's more likely they were ancestors related to Tongans

View overlooking the village

A farewell party in our honor, complete with tea,
sandwiches, baked goods--and of course, kava!
Our last kava session, our last Isa Lei...

Johni learning to pound kava root.
An incarnation of "it takes a village to raise a child",
Johni will plop down in any lap; men, women
and older children will all hold him affectionately

                                                        

As beautiful as the surroundings were, we were profoundly moved by the connections we made with the village. We were there long enough to get to know people, everyone called us by name and made us feel very much at home. We got very choked up when we had to say goodbye. 

It was truly the Grand Finale of our Lau experience; we came away forever changed...

Our host family:
Koro, her daughter Lele and brother Tui (who is also the choirmaster and an excellent teacher);
Johni is in the doorway.
They gave us gifts of food and lovely handicrafts--a woven purse and a carved clamshell--when we departed