Robinson Crusoe Fire Dancing

Approaching the Coral Coast 

We made a last minute decision to leave Kadavu two days ago and sailed directly for the Coral Coast of Viti Levu. While we regretted leaving the Astrolabe reef a day or two before strictly necessary, we had a very favourable ENE wind and better conditions than we would see for many days. The overnight sail was a primarily downwind with a 1-2 meter swell once we cleared the Astrolabe reef. We were just able to sail on a broad reach for most of the trip, resorting to a poled-out jib, wing and wing, when the wind swung into the east in the early hours.


We arrived around 7 am and stood off to let the sun rise higher to give us some visibility while transiting the pass. However, a river flows into this bay and the waters were impenetrable with brown run-off, so we could see little even around 9 am. We stayed in mid-channel and in water that only shallowed up to under 30 meters as we approached the island.

Chief of ceremonies for the lovo and entertainment.

Bula! We met the leader of welcoming committee for the tourist boats arriving at the resort.

We entered the pass at Likuri Harbour and anchored off Likuri Island and the Robinson Crusoe Resort. We called the resort on the VHF and booked our attendance at the lovo and dancing later that night. The food was very good and plentiful - although predictably heavy on the meat side. 

The evening began with a kava ceremony in which we were invited to partake.

They then opened the lovo (oven exposing coals. A few men walked around on the coals.

The dancing was a combination of Polynesian and Melanesian - with recorded music and dance moves similar to what we had seen in Tahiti and fire dancing that they borrowed from the Samoans (with permission of a Samoan chief). There were few people staying at the resort, but around dusk another 100+ tourists arrived by boat from other resorts on the mainland.

There were a half dozen women dancers and about twice as many men

Some dances told a story - this is a lover's dance put on for honeymooning tourists.

This fellow reminded Rani of the Tahitian dancers we saw last year

The women danced in a more subdued, elegant manner than the men for the most part.

They know that tourists love fire. Here a dancer blows fire from his mouth.

They twirl lit batons 

And form human pyramids. These guys are in great shape!

There was little light, so all these scenes are mainly lit by the whirling torches. Our little point and shoot was barely up to the job.

Great patterns.

The performances were of high quality for the most part with only a few slips by the fire and machete jugglers. Highly recommended if you are in the area.

Kadavu Below Sea Level

We have had two good snorkels in the area of Naigoro Pass. Click on any picture for a slide show.

Large puffer fish - about 45 cms

Coral cascade

Soft corals

I think these are a type of worm that looks like a feather

We motored Ladybug to a sand shelf inside the pass yesterday and anchored in 10 feet of sand falling back off the shelf into 40 feet. The holding was marginal in a sand and coral debris bottom, so I dived and set a second Danforth style anchor in line with the main one to ensure we would not drag off the shelf. We then rowed our dinghy out toward the pass over a field of coral about 2 feet below us at lowish tide. We anchored in a big patch of emerald water over sand a few hundred meters from the pass and swam the rest of the way, entering the pass from the side, well inside the actual entrance. The current was flooding, but was very light for most of the swim. Only in a few places did we have to struggle to stay in place. Of course these were where the best soft corals were to be seen (soft corals seem to love good current).

Rani pointed out the orange brain coral.

Hawksbill turtle

And another shot. Note the hooked nose and overlapping shell plates.

The rowing dinghy works well when trying to get close to the pass across a large shallow coral field.

Rani enjoys the crystal clear water. Vatulutu island is in the background.

Visibility was excellent and highlights included two good sightings of Hawksbill turtles, dozens of large parrot fish, and even a giant wrasse - a bit under a meter long.

These little bottom fish were all over the sand near Vatalutu island. They look a bit like tiny crocodiles.

Hard coral panorama

Nice formations on the edge of the drop-off.

Butterfly fish duo

 The swell began to roll in as the tide rose, so we returned to our snug anchorage off Matasawalevu village, where holding is excellent in mud about 8-12 feet below the keel.

Sea serpent

Detail - note the small head relative to a land snake.

This snake launched itself towards me passing only a few inches from my mask on the way to the surface.

Large cabbage like coral

After our hike at Vatalutu island we snorkeled the reef off this island. Visibility was not as good as in the pass, but we had some good sightings of sea snakes and smaller fish, including some very colourful wrasses.

Bird wrasse

Colourful wrasse - Rani's best fish shot to date, I think.

Mushroom coral

More cabbage-like leafy coral with worms reaching from its center.

I love the different textures and colours in such a small area

Crown of thorns starfish. This eats corals, leaving the skeleton bleached white. 

Kadavu Above Sea Level

Our anchorage at Kadavu Island

A few days ago we sailed from Ono to Kadavu (pronounced Kandavu) Island, passing through the reef-strewn Ono Passage under jib, with 20 minutes of motoring to dodge upwind around a couple of tightly spaced coral patches. The heavens opened shortly after we anchored off Matasawalevu village on the northeast side of Kadavu Island. It was a real tropical deluge - enough to fill our water tanks and to do a bucket-load of laundry.

Along the path to the village

The next day we rowed into a deep-water landing near the village, the main wharf being high and dry, defended by a hundred meters of thick sticky mud. The path into the village passed through plantations on one side and a mangrove swamp on the other. We presented our sevusevu to the chief's representative and visited the small, recently opened store. At the store we met Dolo who retired here about 10 years ago after a career as a medical technician in Suva. She does an awful lot for a retiree! In addition to the store, which she runs to pay for feed for her pigs, she is helping organize construction of the new wharf built using Australian direct aid money. She also runs the piggery, with her brother-in-law, sits on the village women's committee, and has set up a professionally run kindergarten. After chatting with her for half an hour, we bought a dozen eggs and then hiked over the hill to Lagalevu, a settlement on the north side of Kadavu.

Bruce shows me his drying kava

Typical rural Fijian civil engineering

In Lagalevu, we met Bruce and his mother, Marianne, who have a lovely property on the water. Bruce showed us the kava he was drying and answered some questions I had about this crop. He told me that the older plants produce better grog and take at least 18 months for a harvest, but the roots he was drying were 3.5 years old and the product is better if you wait even longer. The roots sell for $35 Fiji (about $20 Canadian) for a kilo and the stems are also harvested, selling for only $5-$10 per kilo. Marianne showed Rani a basket of beche de mer (sea slugs) that she had smoked and dried for sale through a friend in Suva to Chinese purchasers. The family also grows tobacco as well as the usual food crops of taro and cassava.

Dried sea slugs - yumm

Tobacco plants

Today we went for another walk along the shore and into the hills of Vatulutu Island, which lies at the entrance of the bay. The island is small but varied, with sandy white beaches set against a jet black rocky shoreline, pandanus forests, mape (chestnut) trees, and stunning views out over the fringing Astrolabe reef. Parrots were calling in the trees where we began our climb to a look-off rock and we had a couple of good sightings despite leaving the binoculars on the boat. We believe these birds were the red and green Kadavu Musk Parrots. They have a scarlet head and breast, bright green back, green wing and tail feathers with indigo margins. They have an un-melodious and very distinctive nasal 'Eahhn' call, a bit like a baby might make if you squeezed it too hard.

Lookoff at Vatulutu Island

A view south from Vatulutu Island. Note the twisty navigation required on the way to the Lion Pool

Beach on Vatulutu

We found this lovely but very fragile urchin on the beach.

North end of Vatulutu. There were the remains of a homestead here.

Book Recommendations

A few notes on some books I have read recently (all are available as e-books).

"Life in Feejee" by Mary Wallace

Written around 1850, this is the diary of the wife of a sea captain and beche de mer (sea slug) trader. Tribal warfare, bloodshed, deceit, horrific violence, and cannibalism. What's not to like? Makes me glad we are visiting Fiji in the early 21st century when our chances of survival are somewhat better. Available as a free e-book from the US Library of Congress website.

"The First American - The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin" by H.W. Brands

This life of Franklin makes fascinating reading. I had some inkling of Franklin's reputation as a polymath - his experiments and inquiries into nature and human nature, but I had little knowledge of his many other achievements. This work - just shy of 800 pages - provides a decent summary of his life - both achievements and foibles.

Franklin was an accomplished writer and publisher, a brilliant satirist, a clever and pragmatic scientist, and a man admired throughout Europe beyond any other American both before and after the war of independence. In his later life, he devoted many years as an agent for the American colonies, living for years at a time in England and later in France. Initially an ardent British patriot, he worked tirelessly to keep the colonies within the British Empire. He abandoned this stance only when it became clear that no compromise was possible between the British who refused to relinquish control over legislation and taxation and Americans colonies who felt that their own elected bodies should have this control. One things that stands out is Franklin's remarkable patience during endless political machinations.

Franklin was not particularly successful in his family life - his son William sided with the British during the revolution and was estranged and he spent years at a time away from his wife, failing to return to her even after she suffered a stroke. Nor was he a great orator - his pen was far more effective than his speech. Despite these and other failings, he stands out as one of the greatest men of his time.

"At Home - A Short History of Private Life" by Bill Bryson

If you liked his "A Short History of Nearly Everything" you will enjoy these musings on domestic life. Bryson organizes this work around the rooms of his house - an English  Victorian parson's home. Do not expect a thorough or complete exposé of domestic history. Bryson goes off on tangents at the slightest provocation (whenever an interesting story or fascinating character comes into sight) and focuses much of his investigation on 19th century Britain. Despite this, I enjoyed the book and learned a few things, too. For example - did you know that the first café in London was opened in 1652 by a Sicilian in a shed in a London churchyard? The proprietor promoted coffee for its health benefits. To quote Bryson, he claimed it cured "wind, gout, scurvy, miscarriages, sore eyes, and much else".

"Neither Here Nor There" by Bill Bryson

Describes a trip through Europe. I enjoy Bryson's travel writing because his sometimes biting humour is almost always offset by an essentially positive outlook. He tells a good story in an often self-deprecating style and with colorful descriptions of events and people.

"Postwar - A history of Europe Since 1945" by Tony Judt

Not sure if I have mentioned this book in the blog before, but well worth a read even if you have lived through much of the events described. A bit long-winded at times, but very helpful if you want to understand how Europe reached its current state. Each country is considered separately during different periods and the interplay of nations is also explored. Begins with a good discussion of the immediate post-war era in the Eastern Bloc and Western Europe. The book then examines the great social experiments that followed the war as well as the gradual amalgamation of European commerce and policy that resulted in the European Union. The history of the nations of Eastern Europe and the Soviets is described in parallel until the collapse of communism and the re-unification of eastern and western Europe.

Snorkeling south of Nabouwalu

Chris rows into a sea cave.

After helping Isaak fix a leak in his long boat, we left Nabouwalu Bay and have spent the last two days anchored in a small coral filled bay a little over a mile south, but still on Ono island. The bay has a sand beach and the ruins of a house. There are coconut trees and the remains of a farm - cassava plants and even a tangerine tree - in the hills behind the beach. It is mostly overgrown with vines and appears to not have been cultivated in years. If you plan to visit here and anchor, be warned that there is very little sand between heavy coral formations. To avoid destroying these, we are on short scope with two anchors lodged under coral and a float to hold the chain up above the other corals.

Parrot fish - about 30 cms long.

We have had a couple of good snorkeling trips to the rock that blocks the middle of the bay and today along the cliffs running north to Nabouwalu. There are sea caves about three quarters of a mile north of the anchorage and we rowed the dinghy to them and swam most of the way back, pulling the dinghy. These pictures were taken on this swim.

Brilliant blue corals like this were spread across large areas of rock. This patch is a meter across.

Unicorn fish

There were areas in the rock where dozens of urchins filled every crevice.

Giant clam - love that wild lipstick! This is about 15-20 cms wide

Pink/purple corals are quite common throughout Fiji.

This area has a large number of green corals. I do not know why in one area, the algae can be so many different colours?!

Panorama of hard corals

There were a few large patches of soft corals. This one is several meters across.

This little flat worm has similar patterning to the giant clams. It is about 10 cms long

Box fish

Box fish - side profile