Exploring Ono Island on Foot

Whether you are anchored at Nabouwalu Bay or off Naqara Village, there are wonderful hiking opportunities on Ono Island.  Trails connect the villages and lead to plantations in the interior of the island.

No, they do no play soccer with breadfruit!

Colourful laundry, Naqara village

A couple of days ago, we walked up to the Vodafone telephone tower on Qilai Mountain, starting from Naqara Village. Qilai Mountain is the second highest peak on Ono Island, the tallest being Madre Mountain, and people lived there in the last century.  We had moved the boat to Naqara on the evening before as the west wind had made the anchorage untenable at Nabouwalu Bay.

View of Ladybug anchored at Naqara Bay - if you look closely through the pine trees

The trail was easy to follow and we had the tower in sight most of the way. The downhill path from the pine forest on the ridge was very dry and the rust coloured  needles on the ground made it a little slippery in places. However, the steep climb to the tower proved to be easier than it looked. The wind kept us cool most of the way and we enjoyed listening to the rustle of swaying pine trees. The familiar sweet scent of pine brought back memories of hikes in the Cowichan Valley in British Columbia.

In my tropical hiking dress!

Only two small hills to go!

The view from the top provides a wonderful panorama of Ono, the reefs to its north, east and west coasts and the islands of Dravuni, Buliya and Namara. To the south lie the mountains of Kandavu.

Panorama to the north and east

25metre high Vodafone telephone tower with its 57 solar panels

Tall  grass towers over Rani as she starts her descent

On the return trek, we smelled a sweet fragrance and then saw the wild orchids - clusters of pink flowers with butter yellow centres atop a proud stem standing tall amidst the grass and scrub. They seemed out of context in the surrounding pines.

Deliciously fragrant orchid

Orchids in the wild

Great Expectations

I suppose in any exchange between people there are expectations on both sides. This is certainly true when 'kevalangi' (foreigners) arrive by yacht at a village in Fiji. We are usually looking for a novel experience - the more 'authentic' the better. We hope for a glimpse into native culture - a partial understanding of how other people live. The villagers, beginning with the chief, have their own expectations of us. This seems to vary by how much tourist traffic they receive and is no doubt influenced by their previous experiences with yachties.

On a hike across Ono to the village of Naqara, we met Asaeli who showed us his taro plantation.

On our return from Naqara, Aesali climbed one of his palms and brought down a dozen coconuts to share with us for lunch.

The first expectation is that we will perform sevusevu by bringing a bundle of yanqona (kava) to the chief. This is expected of any visitors to a village who plan to spend time in the area under the chief's control, anchoring, fishing, walking, and swimming. Further expectations fall into two broad areas - providing things that are hard to obtain locally but apparently easily available to yachties and providing services that require expertise not found in the village. Some examples from our recent visit to Ono include requests for wine bottles in which to store coconut oil, vegetable seeds, snorkeling gear, fish hooks and lead sinkers, glue and fiberglass to repair boats, cigarettes, and a tent. Services we have heard requested range from repairing broken machete (sele) handles to help repairing boats and assistance in fixing solar systems.

Cutting up drinking nuts for their sweet meat after we have drunk the water. Aesali  told us he is looking for a tent so that he can stay overnight in his plantation and save the walk back to the village. He asked us to put out the word in case someone coming to Ono has one they can part with.

Aesali  also gave us some local cabbage and bok choy that he grows among the taro. He showed us how he keeps some cabbage plants for seed and then broadcasts these seeds among the taro when he replants his crop.

The little children are not exempt from all this and while in most places they are just happy and curious to see strange people, we sometimes get requests for lollies (candy) and balloonies (balloons). In Naturu village on Ono, a group of toddlers ran up to us with delighted smiles yelling 'kevalangi, kevalangi, ballooni, ballooni!. This is likely the result of visiting yachties who came before us bringing small presents for the children. Of course we did our part to uphold the tradition and brought balloons on our next visit :)

In Naturu village, Sera and Iowana strip the inner stem of coconut palm leaves to make brooms. The yellow broom straws are visible at the far right.

Rani has a good attitude about all these expectations. She calls the exchanges we make gift giving and gift receiving, for when we do provide something for a villager we are often given some fruit or vegetables to thank us. And through these exchanges and the time we spend with people we help, we receive what we are looking for - small glimpses into the lives of the people of Fiji.

Alacrity Rocks and Ono Island

Ladybug in Nabouwalu Bay

Ono island lies just north of the large island of Kadavu within the Great Astrolabe reef. We are anchored off the village of Nabouwalu on the west coast of Ono. The winds have swung into the southwest and a very uncomfortable swell is currently rolling into the bay making us wish we had left this afternoon for a safe anchorage at the north end of Ono. Instead we went snorkeling on the Alacrity Rocks after rowing a little over a mile out to the reef in our dinghy.

Soft corals were not common at the Alacrity Rocks

Colorful hard corals and small fish abound

The visibility at Alacrity Rocks was quite good - I would estimate it at well over 15 meters - and the rocks are covered in hectares of colorful hard corals. There were only a few larger fish on the outside of the rocks, perhaps because the tide was still ebbing during our swim. We saw a white tipped shark cruising below us about 10 meters down, a large barracuda-like fish about a meter long, and a baby giant wrasse of perhaps half a meter. I was surprised to see few soft corals, but there were some colorful patches of these on the seaward side of a couple of the rocks.

Anemone fish 

Closeup of Anemone Fish and shy friend (behind)

Rani checks out a spectacular formation

There are fissures and tunnels in several places and I swam down through one of the tunnels a few times filming a video on my second and third attempts. I will try to post one of these when I can access a fast computer to process them.

Vagabond Butterfly Fish

There were large schools of small fish on the seaward side of several rocks

Rani swims over while I dive to photograph a school of fish

We have been enjoying getting to know the villagers, who are friendly to yachties. Today the chief's wife and daughter served us a 'porridge' from pumpkin, pawpaw  (papaya), and coconut milk. The first 2 ingredients are cooked together and the result is of the texture of porridge with (predictably) a sweet pumpkin taste. We also tried making cassava pancakes yesterday but did not get the same results as the locals do. It has been quite interesting trying to eat more the way the locals do, although I cannot see myself consuming the large amounts of taro, cassava, and other starchy roots that make up the typical diet here.

After a 2.5 mile row and a couple of hours of snorkeling we went for a walk on the beach and put in some bouldering on the craggy volcanic rocks.

Nice beach with a few good shells. The beach is just north of Nabouwalu Bay and can be reached from the village. The island marks the north side of Nabouwalu Bay

Aisea sketches the villages of Ono island  on a map for us.

Sunday - Desert Island Day

Last night the wind blew 20 Knots from the southeast as we sat at anchor off Namara Island. We are in fairly shallow water here (18ft) with only 50 feet of chain out, trying to avoid wrapping around the bommies nearby. As the wind came whistling over the low hills of the island and Ladybug pirouetted around her anchor, the chain began to growl over the rocks and we had to abandon our v-berth bed for the salon settees. We managed to sleep soundly despite the scraping and moaning.

We awoke to a leaden sky and the wind continued wailing. Hot porridge and a nice chat with our friend Rich on s/v Legacy on the single sideband started the day right. However, I started feeling restless by mid-morning despite my best attempt at sudoku and a novel. So we rowed ashore armed with machete, matches, foil-wrapped yams, a couple of coconuts and a coconut grater.

I forgot to mention that yesterday there was a foul smell was emanating from the veggie larder and I had drowned a couple of yams which had little bugs crawling on them. BUT, the smell was worse this morning and we discovered the real culprit - a broken egg. Parts of it were stuck to the box, so that's when we had the briliant idea of a fire on the beach - to get rid of the smelly cardboard box.

Anyway, back on the beach, we gathered some old coconut husks, bamboo sticks and palm fronds and Chris worked very hard to get the fire going. Later, he placed the yams and half a coconut to roast on the hot embers while I sat on a tree trunk grating the rest of the coconuts. It felt like we were truly on a desert island. Ladybug has been the only boat here for the last two days and we had the beach all to ourselves. While the yams were still cooking, we beachcombed for shells and chomped on chunks of hot smoky coconut meat. It tasted absolutely delicious! We thought of our friends on Rabi Island who had given them to us six weeks ago.

Back on the boat, we decided to swim and snorkel to get rid  of the smoke smell clinging to our bodies and clothing. Despite the chilly wind, Chris jumped in wearing only his undies. I put on my shorty wetsuit; after all it is barely above 70 degrees Fahrenheit!
The visibility was pretty good even in the choppy conditions and there were lots of little fish and bright corals. I stayed in a little longer and saw a small white tip shark, inevitable really, as I am afraid of them!!

For supper, Chris squeezed the grated coconut wrapped in a thin napkin to make "lolo", thick coconut cream, which we later used as a dip for the yam and, for Chris, chunky tuna. Dessert was a tropical fruit plate of banana, papaya and pineapple drizzled with lolo and sprinkled with shredded coconut. We felt Fijian but real Fijians would have picked the coconuts, grown the yams and caught the fish!

These blue green chromis fish are always delightful to watch - popping out of the coral like flower petals opening

Not sure if this is some type of trumpet fish

Dravuni to Namara

Dravuni island was the first remote island we have visited where the economy is not mainly based on subsistence farming and fishing with a little copra thrown in. While there are plantations here and we met one boat load of fishermen, the majority of motorized long boats appear to be used mainly for transport.

Strumming in the cockpit

A cruise ship visits here once a month and disgorges 1300 people. You can imagine how this must change the life in a small village of maybe 200 souls. There are washrooms set up near the shore and what look like a series of stands presumably to sell crafts on the big day. There is also a substantial wharf under construction. The pilings are in place and a great stack of aluminum sections and floats await being pieced to together. I presume this will allow the cruise ship launches to land more easily at what would otherwise be a steep and surfy beach landing. The men are also busy working to build a resort at Yaukuvelevu, an island a few miles away that is under the domain of Dravuni. We were treated with courtesy when we did our sevusevu, but I got the feeling that visitors from far away are no longer a novelty here, at least to the adults. Children (as on every island we have visited here) seem happy to see new faces and were curious about us.

Ladybug anchored off Namara Island

However, we enjoyed our brief stay at Dravuni. The walk up the hill gives lovely views and we also crossed the island and walked back along the beaches around the north half of the island. But, we were looking for some privacy and our anchorage off the village was rolly and the water a little cloudy for snorkeling. So we sailed a couple of miles across the lagoon to Namara.

Wrasse on the reef off Namara

Namara is a small island under the control of the villagers at Dravuni. The anchorage is sandy, but full of scattered coral heads. I think there may have been a village here once or at least a fishing camp, for there is ample flat land on the leeward side of the island, with a nice beach to pull up your sailing canoes. Fruit bats squeal in the trees and there are a couple of small islands almost attached to the main one, which make for delightful snorkeling. The water is quite clear and there are plenty of hard corals and small fish.

Sailing back from Alacrity Pass in the dinghy

Alacrity Pass is 1.5 miles away and a few days ago with light wind and a small chop, we sailed across the lagoon in our dinghy. We anchored north of the pass and snorkeled around the walls and canyons that lead to the pass itself. In addition to large number of colorful hard corals and smaller fish, there were several schools of parrot and surgeon fish. Rani brought her shark stick (a broom handle) with her but we saw only one small black tipped reef shark, which high-tailed it out of our way as soon as it saw us.

Moray eel at Alacrity Pass - the head is almost a foot from top to bottom and don't you love those blue eyes!

The highlight of our snorkel was a large moray eel in a crevice very close to where we anchored our dinghy. Visibility was good except where quantities of what looked like eggs were drifting in dense clouds, almost like pollen in the air.

Sea slug or Beche de mer  caused a sort of  'gold rush' here in the 1830's when it was discovered that the Chinese would pay fabulous sums for these creatures when smoked and dried . They are still harvested for the Chinese market.

On our return trip we landed on the small island to the north of Namara and Rani gathered some shells from the beach. This little island looks like what you would imagine a cast-away's desert island should look, with a few coconut palms overlooking a white sand beach.

Our dinghy with sail brailed on the little island north Namara

At the little island north of Namara

Dravuni Island

After more than a week in Suva, we sailed from our anchorage near Lami at 5 am yesterday. Getting out of the anchorage was a little tricky in the dark, but we followed a series of GPS waypoints from when we arrived that took us between two small islands and the fringing reefs. The wreck of a fishing boat on the reef to our starboard was visible in the light of my headlamp - a reminder that careful navigation is required in these waters.

Rani walks up the hill on Dravuni. Ladybug is anchored halfway between Rani and the small island.

We had waited an extra day for the winds to swing more into the east because the course to the Great Astrolabe Reef is just slightly east of south. The prevailing SE trades would have made this almost dead to windward. We had to motor to clear the wind shadow and rain squalls that seem to prevail off Suva, but about 6 miles out we started to feel a wind, which filled in and came from well to the east of south. We were able to lay a course for the Herald Pass, close reaching into 8 to 10 knots of wind.

An interesting variegated leaf - red at the base.

The big island of Kadavu and numerous smaller islands including Ono and our destination of Dravuni are protected by one of the world's largest barrier reefs. The Great Astrolabe Reef (not to be confused with the Astrolabe Reef in New Zealand) was named by the French explorer Dumont dUrville for his vessel Astrolabe. This is an area famous for clear water and good diving and snorkeling.

On Dravuni there is a path just inside the jungle that runs between the beach and a series of plantations.

We plan to spend a couple of weeks here, working our way south, visiting Ono and Kadavu, and snorkeling some passes and reefs.

Hindu Fire Walking in Suva

Indians have been in Fiji since the mid-nineteenth century when they were brought over as indentured workers for the sugarcane plantations owned by the British settlers. With them came the centuries old Hindu religion and associated rituals.

Classic Indian dancing and music preceded the fire walking

We were privileged to attend one of the most interesting and unique festivals here in Suva, dedicated to the Goddess Durga. We watched about a dozen men with multiple body piercings march across a hot bed of charcoal at the Raj Maha Mariamman Temple.

While much of the Mariamman temple is of simple design, this dome stood out for its remarkable decorations.

Purified women await the entry of the fire walkers and priests

The Goddess Durga represents the active side of the energy ("shakti") of Lord Shiva and is usually portrayed carrying weapons in her many arms. She is the protector of the righteous and destroyer of the evil.

Priest making an offering to the goddess.

Musicians lead in the fire walkers

Kali, or the dark goddess, is the fearful and ferocious form of the mother goddess Durga.

In southern India, the celebration usually takes place in the pre-monsoon season and poojadaris (worshipers) pray for rain.  In Fiji, where there is plenty of rain, the celebrants give thanks to the mother Goddess for blessings received and as a vow pledged for some special request. They eat only vegetarian food in the preceding ten days, pray morning and night, and fast for 24 hours.

The fire walkers arrive

On Sunday morning, the celebrants had their bodies skewered with foot long sharp metal tridents, commonly through the ears, lips, arms, chest and back, bathed in the sea, and walked/danced two miles to the temple on Howell Road.

The fire walkers pass across the pit of coals several times.

Some walk a well-trodden center path, but others stride through the ashes

After the priests blessed them at the gates, they walked clockwise around the temple and crossed the fire pit. This was repeated at least three times. The musicians played a haunting melody beside the pit and some of the participants seemed to be in a trance.

Piercings and markings

A particularly fine set of piercings. These tridents are removed immediately after the circuits of the temple.

During the circuits of the temple, the purified anointed themselves with sindoor, which is supposed to ward off evil 

How do these men suffer body piercing and walk across fire? The devotees say they feel no pain as they are totally focused on their devotions to the Goddess and have achieved a state of "grace" through the purification process.

Durga is carried around the temple behind the fire walkers

Close-up of  mother Goddess Durga

Kali  carries a bloody trident - an instrument of war.

Kali also carried a whip

Studies as early as the 1930's have shown that ordinary people can walk across coals. This is possible because wood in general and charcoal in particular are poor thermal conductors and a layer of ash further insulates the feet from the heat. Furthermore, the feet are only in contact with the hot coals for a second or so over a typical fire-walking bed (24 feet). As long as people walk reasonably quickly but not run, there will not be enough time for their feet to heat up to the point where they will suffer burns (although some walkers may suffer blistering in the arches of their feet or between their toes). We did see one young boy grimace in pain and abort his attempt after taking two or three steps, but the remainder of the fire walkers were not visibly harmed.

This man with his remarkable piercings walked serenely across the coals and appeared to be in a trance.

Fire walkers dancing as they approach the pit.

At this temple, women are not permitted to walk across the fire, but many take part in the purification and make circuits of the temple.