Calypso's Journal: Island Dreamin'

Our outboard is back! The faulty CDI unit (the electronic gizmo that is sort of the brains of the system) was imported from Japan as none were to be found in either New Zealand or Australia. Cooee went on ahead of us as they got a decent wind to head south east and we had to wait around for the unit to arrive. However, once it did, we headed off to join them and there are no prizes for guessing which direction the wind was coming from when it came to our turn to set off! It took Cooee 24 hours to get there. Us, 48! Tacking back and forth dodging sea mounts, islands and reefs straight into the wind over two nights – fun and games.

The Lau Group of islands lie on the eastern side of Fiji and consists of hundreds of islands and atolls running north to south. Until recently, special permission had to be obtained to cruise these atolls, however, even though they are now open to visitors, cruisers don’t necessarily find them freely available as many of them are charging rather exorbitant fees to simply drop anchor, something which is not considered ‘the Fijian way’ in the remainder of the country.

In the more popular atolls, amounts were levied simply to anchor along with daily charges and fees to swim, snorkel, dive and fish. With all this in mind, we chose not to visit these but to rather find some of the smaller islands where the villagers were welcoming without charging. Hence we landed at Oneata fairly far down on the southern reaches of the group.

Oneata is a single island within an atoll and has two small villages on the eastern shores. By the time we got there almost a week later, Bronte and Helmke had met the entire two villages due to a big festival on the day of their arrival. There was real excitement for the villagers who don’t see many yachts. They were immediately drawn into all the festivities that included a feast, dancing, fund-raising and crowning Miss Oneata.

Upon our arrival, things were back to normal but no less welcoming. We took Calypso around to the east side just so we could do the ceremonial sevusevu with the chief and meet the folks but returned to the western side that same day as it was a better anchorage in the prevailing winds.

Doing sevusevu with the Chief

The following day, B & H took us to the other village to introduce us. We were able to walk there from our anchorage through the tropical vegetation to the other side. Again, what a welcome. As a whole, we have always found the Pacific islanders to be incredibly open, friendly and welcoming and these people were certainly no exception.

The islanders live as most Pacific islanders do, fishing and growing many root crops and a few vegetables. Money is earned through the dried copra and for allowing divers to collect bệche de mer (sea cucumbers) (pictured left) from their waters. In addition, the women spend hours noisily hammering away at tapas which are then decorated in the Fijian style and sent to Suva to sell.

Grating coconuts

Wandering around, we watched them grating coconuts in preparation for making milk and oil which are both used extensively in their cooking. The bệche de mer were drying on racks in the sun and everyone seemed to be busy doing something. Early mornings are spent in the plantations where they grow their root crops and whenever we visited, the ladies were busy cooking and preparing meals. The only means of getting to and from Oneata or receiving goods and supplies is a monthly supply ship that visits them and other nearby islands so they are very reliant on producing most of their own foodstuff.

It is customary (and polite) to follow Fijian customs when visiting the village especially on special days and Sundays. This means that we must all, men & women, wear sulus (sarongs), the women must cover their shoulders and it is not polite to wear a hat, something that was never really explained. For casual visits, the guys were allowed to forego the sarongs but H & I wore either sarongs or long skirts every time.

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