LETTER FROM ATLANTIA JULY 2010

'Bula' , that means 'Hello' in Fijian, and we hear it everywhere we go here. For those of you concerned for our safety, the population of Fiji gave up eating other people about 150 years ago. Nowadays you could not find a friendlier or more helpful group any where between here and Britain. Fiji is almost exactly 180 degrees around the world from London and Fijians are amongst the first to greet every new day. (12 hours ahead of the resident British.).

We set sail from the cold weather of New Zealand in mid May and encountered winds from every direction on our voyage. About four days out of Opua we were kindly informed by Sea Rover, a beautiful Oyster 46, that there was to be a bit of a blow on the nose. Consequently we made for and then anchored inside Minerva reef for two days to ride out the storm. It is a very weird experience, anchoring in the middle of the ocean in ten meters of water with a virtually flat calm sea all around, and protected from the big rolling breakers by a coral reef. Minerva Reef is of course the top of a defunct volcano and is the beginning of a coral atoll. The only difference is that there is no dry land there at present, only drying reefs of coral.

John and Nicole from 'Gannet' , who are now living permanently in Opua, gave us great assistance as our 'shore base' and sent a weather forecast to our iridium phone every day. It is of great comfort to know what weather is coming, even if it is to be strong winds,so that the necessary preparations can be made. This time for us, anchoring in mid ocean!!

We had a wonderful sail after the storm for a further three days to Savusavu in Vanua Levu which is the second largest island in the Fiji group. Fiji is composed of over 300 islands with only about a third of them populated. Although Fiji is a dictatorship politically there is little doubt that the administration is generally benevolent and also good for the country. The population is extremely diverse and sees most of the indigenous Fijians, who are micronesian, melanesisan and polynesian, living in the larger towns or more organised villages, and the Indian Fijian population living in the countryside and tending to the farms and commerce.

The islands were ceded to the British in the mid nineteenth century mostly as a ploy to avoid a spurious debt to the USA, but almost certainly to protect it against the predatory attentions of the Americans the Russians and the French. The Indians were brought to Fiji as indentured labourers to work the sugar cane industry and this is still the premier earner of foreign currency in Fiji although tourism and gold mining are catching up fast.

The indentured labourers were supposed to return to their home land after five years but many decided to stay and are fifth generation Fijians although at present without landowning rights. Hindi Fijian is an official language here as well as Fijian and English. There are a number of other languages and dialects spoken as well. The population also includes Europeans, Americans, Chinese and the odd New Zealander and Australian. There are probably others as well. As can be imagined it will be difficult to please all the people all the time and there is no doubt that that a benevolent dictatorship is probably the right answer for Fiji, despite the bleating of the the Commonwealth. Making the country into a true democracy would most certainly change it drastically and it would possibly just become a suburb of India, something not anticipated with relish by the Fijians whose land it is and who were here before the British/Australians came to farm sugar! In return for the political difficulties that Britain left behind, when it pulled out in 1970 after 96 years of colonial rule, it also left Christianity (in a big way) and a good agricultural and administrative base. Perhaps most importantly Fijians no longer eat one another.

The islands of Fiji are volcanic and tropical , in most areas are scrupulously clean and with very little sign of the European trend towards graffiti. Many of the Fijians live in villages ruled by a chief who is often hereditary, although they also seem to have a village mayor. We were fortunate enough to visit the bure, or house, of a very well heeled chief who had entertained the British Royal family there. We were able to present our portion of kava root as a present for the chief and this is accompanied by a small Sevu Sevu ceremony which was attended by his teenage grandson. In return we were able to view the house and grounds and take photographs.

The house is made entirely of pine trunks tied together with string made from coconut husks (copra) and is thatched with reeds and coconut leaf weaving. The walls are made from split bamboo and the whole is raised above the ground on a dais of rocks and earth. There is no metal in the house at all. The posts are well set into the ground and the roof is composed of large round purlin timbers between two central columns supporting cantilevered purlins which in turn support thinner rafters, some in truss form, and thereafter the thatch. It is re-thatched every two years which probably explains why there are so few traditional bures left.

Will considered the structure to be over complicated as well, which is probably another reason for their demise. Very pretty though.

Kava seems to be drunk by almost everyone who cares to. The kava root is pounded into powder and soaked with water to create a mildly narcotic drink. It is probably addictive as well, judging by the way the mechanics were knocking it back when we took our starter motor in for repair in Lautoka. As in Tonga, kava, or grog as it is sometimes called here, is just muddy water that makes your lips go numb!!

We were greeted in Savusavu at Waitui marina by Asseri in his chase boat and were quickly and efficiently hooked up to a mooring.

Mike and Kendra who look after the moorings, then arranged for the departments of Health, Customs and Immigration to come out to the boat and clear us in. There was much form filling and talk of rugby union, at which of course the Fijians are particularly good, especially seven aside. It is probably the most hassle free entry into a country that we have ever experienced.

Savusavu is a little dusty but they all gave us a very warm welcome. Bula everywhere! We took a bus ride over the island to its administrative centre, Labasa. The bus had no windows and struggled to get up the hills.

Nevertheless we made it through the most enchanting volcanic mountains and over plains of sugar cane. Labasa like almost every town of any size in Fiji, has a wonderful covered market where the ladies sell their local produce from their husbands farms. They seem to especially sell kava root for high days and feast days, and it would appear, anyday!!There are very few bananas here at present since the trees were blown down in a cyclone a few months ago.

Regrettably a number of yachts were caught out by the cyclone as well, and landed up on the shore.

Every Fijian island is surrounded by coral reefs making it difficult to navigate by day and almost impossible by night. The electronic chart plotter can be out by up to half a mile in some places, although not in the main harbours. At one time we entered a lagoon through an unmarked reef showing a beautiful course on the chart plotter, only to find that we were about 100 metres from the stated position and crossing over the reef. We always have a good pair of eyes peeled for just such occasions however and managed to avoid the really shallow bits.

We took some books and nets along the south coast of Vanua Levu for Mike and Kendra for delivery at Fawn harbour. They also have a factory at Fawn Harbour where they make LED lights. LED lights are a wonderful invention for yachts since a single light takes only one hundredth of the power needed for the same illumination as a conventional bulb. An extraordinary advance in technology. Regrettably they are a little expensive at present so we only have four sets on board. We hope to replace the other bulbs with LEDs as the conventional ones wear out.

Fawn Harbour is the home to Lima and her son Tony who were the recipients of the books and nets. The way to reach the houses is through the mangrove trees but only near high water, since the mud prevents access at other times.

Lima was delightful, and made us drop scones and talked about her family. She is a great grandmother and still looks after the wee ones before they go to school, wherever their family may be at the time.

We continued westwards in company with Sea Rover. We had met up with Mike and Devala when Tony took us up to the hot pool above Fawn harbour the previous day. The springs were hot enough for a bath, but not as hot as the steaming hot springs at Savusavu. They can actually cook their food in those springs and no doubt they used them in the mid nineteenth century to cook the odd missionary as well!

Sea Rover led us through Benauiwai Narrows which is the difficult way inside the reefs to Viani Bay. Needless to say we were motoring rather than sailing. If motoring there is always a chance to back off a reef. If sailing, one is rather committed to going forwards!

At Viani bay we were able to sample some of the delights of underwater Fiji. There is little doubt that we have seen a greater variety of corals, sponges and fish than anywhere else on our travels. If you like diving then Fiji is the place for you. Personally we have not felt the need for diving since the snorkelling is so good and it is a lot cheaper too. ( free instead of £50 a swim!!) In addition to moorish idols and many coloured butterfly fish we have seen a considerable number of anemone clown fish, or Nemos to most of us. In fact almost all Nemo's friends from the film can be found in Fiji, including the turtles which seem to be very large around these islands. Fortunately we didn't encounter many jelly fish.

The south side of Vanua Levu is also the home to hundreds of fruit bats with wing spans of over one meter. They fly out in the evening from their roosting trees in search of fruit to devour overnight. Regrettably the recent cyclone has depleted their stocks of food although those that have survived will be getting well fed again now. They call them flying foxes in Fiji and although they looked like birds of prey or vultures as they flew towards us, when they reached us we could make out the mammalian features quite clearly.

From Viani bay we sailed past rocks and a pearl farm and through a narrow straight to reach a completely uninhabited bay on the north west side of the island of Kioa.

Kioa is an island inhabited by people from the coral atoll of Vaitupu in Tuvalu just north of Fiji. They purchased Kioa in 1947 from the British administration due to the overcrowding of their own island. Kioa now has a population of 600 with their own schools and culture. They were recently given Fiji citizenship and are very proud of it. We befriended the only local person we saw in the north of the island, and he was fishing in his dugout outrigger canoe in our deserted bay. He came on board Atlantia and we discovered that he and his wife existed by fishing from his canoe and by farming pigs coconuts and cassava. We exchanged some sugar and tea for two small fish, which were delicious, and Sapelli invited us to visit his farm, set deep amongst the forest and coconut palms, on the following day.

Sapelli was indeed a charming fellow and he met us on the path in the middle of the forest as we were trying to find his house. When we met he was armed with a fish spear and paddle and looked quite fearsome. He accompanied us back to his farm and we were a little alarmed when he shouted something in his own language to his wife down in the valley. It didn't sound exactly like ' put the fire on here comes lunch' but it was similar.

Our fears were allayed however on reaching the house and we were offered sweet tea and cassava root with sugar by his charming wife Yokapeta. The house was new but only half built since the previous house had been blown down in the cyclone some months before. Sapelli had been loaned a chain saw by the government at rather a large cost, and was required to cut all the wood for the structure from the surrounding forest. He had made a remarkably good job of it to date with floor boards about a foot wide of the most beautiful wood. He and Yokapeta were living in a tent however, within the structure, since the wall coverings were still to be installed. The tin roof had been donated by the government and certainly kept off the majority of the tropical downpours. Their sops to the twenty first, or even twentieth centuries ; a battery operated radio and a mobile phone!!

On leaving their house we were given beautiful nautilus and other shells as presents.

Our next port of call was at Katherine bay on Rabi. The bay was dominated by a very large church on the hill. Although a two storey , steel framed structure, it too had been ravaged by the cyclone, and its roof was only half on. The villagers, most of whom were playing volleyball, with great enthusiasm, told us that the roof would be replaced when the government supplied the new wriggly tin profiles. Very soon they said.

We went for a walk along the shoreline of the village, Buakonikai, and were greeted by pigs at the end of the strand

and a beautiful collared lory, one of about five species of parrot that fly about the forests here.

We were also greeted by the local councillor who was most agreeable and polite. We told her we were going to Nuka (the administrative centre 10 miles away) the following day to let the policeman know of our presence. She must have telephoned the council of chiefs administrative centre since we were met by three chiefs and the magistrate when we arrived on our bus the following day. This bus was in fact a lorry open fore and aft but with a plastic tarpaulin over the top and wooden benches stretching along either side. It felt as it must have for early twentieth century visitors arriving as honoured colonial guests of the island.

After a walk around the offices and the court rooms and a quick look at the single room gaol within the police station, and a lengthy explanation about Kirribati by the magistrate, we were entertained to sweet tea and corned beef biscuit sandwiches. This was following a very sincere grace. The corned beef biscuits were no doubt introduced by the British. The islanders on Rabi came from Ocean Island in Kiribati (Ex Gilbert Islands) which was taken over by Europeans in the early twentieth century for phosphate mining. They are micronesian Banabans and are very hospitable people. Also on that day we saw numerous islanders moving their bed rolls and other possessions to relatives who had houses on higher ground. A religious minister from the capital, Suva, had predicted that on that day there would be a tsunami that would flood all the lower islands. This religious prediction was taken very seriously by many of the locals and a considerable number did not turn up for work that day. The minister responsible was put into prison awaiting the tsunami. Since the tidal wave did not occur the religious minister will probably stay in prison for some time for troublemaking!!

From Vanua Levu we sailed to the Yasawa group of islands in the very west of the archipelago. We were very pleased to be invited to a Sunday service with Watty and his family in Somosomo, Naviti island. The service, all in Fijian, lasted two hours but the singing was absolutely delightful . There was a lot of clapping and a fair number of hallelujahs, and the congregation was very genuine in its worship at this methodist church service. We were invited to Sunday lunch afterwards and we joined the family on their large mats under the sun awning. We were given a table and chairs however and also spoons and forks whilst the others sat on the ground.

We enjoyed a fish dish together with yukka root and chicken with noodles. We were also given another dish gathered from the bounty of the sea which was delicious and had been much taken by European seamen before the twentieth century.

Mentioning the 'Bounty', Captain Bligh passed this way after the famous mutiny on his ship by Fletcher Christian. Captain Bligh and a few of his crew sailed an open boat 3000 miles before setting foot in what is now Indonesia. He passed through Fiji waters in between the main islands but declined to stop for fear of being eaten. He heard the war drums (now used as church bells) sending messages on ahead and was nearly intercepted by a large canoe full of hungry islanders. He jettisoned a cabinet overboard as a diversion (although what he was doing with a cabinet on a survival voyage is anybody's guess!!) and the islanders stopped to pick it up. Captain Bligh and his crew rowed on to safety. A substantial area of water between the islands in Fiji is called Bligh Water and the ferry line is known by the same name. Thus is Captain Bligh remembered in Fiji.

The Yasawa islands and the Lower Mamanuca islands are beautiful in a tropical volcanic coconut palm way. They have many discrete resorts and beaches and have been used by tourists for over half a century. The resorts do not appear to have spoiled the area however and the traditional fishing for the Beche de mer, or Sea cucumber, is still carried on. This is sold to Japan as a culinary delicacy at at substantial price. Regrettably the supply is dwindling, probably due to overfishing. We haven't told anyone about the Beche de Mer we have seen whilst snorkelling, but we have certainly talked about the beautiful blue starfish we have spied.

We visited some caves on Savu-i-Lau in the most northern of the Yasawas with friends from the yacht Northern Wind. We had to duck under water to enter the furthest cave so it was quite exciting, although it was very warm and refreshing after a rather rough ride there in a local boat.

We have visited an orchid garden started by the actor Raymond Burr who played Ironside.

We have sampled the resort of Musket Cove in the south

and have been to the fairly large sugar town of Lautoka, a substantial port on the west side of the the main island of Viti Levu.

Atlantia has sailed beautifully, although we had to refurbish the starter motor in Lautoka and have now even purchased a spare one at a very reasonable price. We are off to Robinson Crusoe island tomorrow to see a fire dance show. We hope you like the pics

Love Atlantia