Matuku, and back to ‘Civilisation’

Three days of almost continuous rain in Fulaga was enough for us - we decided it was time to head back to the main Fiji island of Viti Levu, despite breaking the journey with a stop in Matuku, we still had to do an overnight sail to ensure we left one island and arrived at the next in daylight.

Our anchorage in Matuku - we took the dinghy ashore to the village of Lomati to  introduce ourselves and present the Kava for the Sevusevu.  Unfortunately we went at low tide - there is only a tidal range of about 1.2metres, but this exposed a good 250 metres of deep sticky mud.  Access to the village is only really advised at mid to high tide!

Lomati Village, bundles of Pandanus leaves dry out on a line prior to being woven into mats.

The population of Matuku is approximately 800, spread out over 7 villages.  Although still a very remote island and lacking internet, cars  and mains electricity, a supply ship visits two or three times a month enabling the locals to visit and trade with the main town of Suva on Viti Levu.   The village Ladies kept busy weaving mats, and many of the families  also grew Kava  and other produce to sell in Suva. There was a small shop in the village, tiny, but compared to Fulaga it was very well stocked with basic foodstuffs, cleaning materials and interestingly lots of black hair dye.  They do not sell any fresh produce as everyone grows their own but they were very generous and our Host Family kept giving us bananas, papaya, cooked fish and cassava roots.  

Everywhere we’ve been in the islands the locals have used fibreglass longboats for fishing and travel.  Our host family were making a quick visit to the main village of Yaroi and offered to take us with them.

Yaroi is the main village on Matuku, and the first place in Fiji to ever have a hospital.  Interestingly, after a period of 15 years with only a nurse they have just appointed a Doctor at the clinic.  We arrived in Yaroi at the end of the school day, at the local primary school the children were formally lowering the Fijian flag,  after which they turned round and gave us an official welcome.

At the time of our visit there were several other yachts visiting Matuku and we arranged for a local to guide us up to the top of a mountain overlooking the bay.  

It was incredibly steep - our guides had brought a rope with them and without it (and them) I really don’t think we would have made it up to the top or even back down again.

The wind blowing my hair on end as we clamber up to the top of the rocky hill.

It was a cloudy day so the view is not as dramatic as it could have been, we’re anchored in the large bay in the centre of the photo.

These are Kava plants - we were asked to walk round them carefully, they take about 5 years to grow to maturity and each plant yields about ½ kg of Kava which sells for FJ$120/kg (£40/kg).

At the end of our walk one of the guides literally ran up a coconut palm and threw down a load of coconuts - they chopped them open for us with the ever present machettes they carry at all times.

We left Matuku late afternoon for yet another night sail to the next island of Kadavu, it was high tide, when the surf in the pass is at it’s most dramatic - several of the other yachties had gone there for the surfing, but with the unforgiving coral reef just below the surface it certainly is not a place for the novice!

The view out of the cockpit as we head for the pass on our way out of Matuku.

The surf breaking on the edge of the pass - you do not want to get this wrong!

We had planned on spending a few days in Kadavu Island, walking and diving the Great Astrolabe Reefs - it’s an area we’d visited last year, but this time the weather was against us.  After 3 days of rain and strong winds we gave up and headed on to Suva, the Capital City of Fiji, and the largest city in the South Pacific.  We anchored in the very shallow muddy water just off the Royal Suva Yacht Club, now rather scruffy but a large framed photo of The Queen and Prince Philip hangs in the doorway, a momento of their Royal Visit back in 1954.  We joined the Yacht Club as temporary members and enjoyed a few cocktails and cold beers - back in the modern world after our time in the islands.

We spent a few days re-provisioning the yacht, wandered the shopping mall and bought as much fresh produce as we could manage before heading south west to the island of Beqa - the home of firewalking!

Our anchorage in Suva - the large object in the water is the rusting remains of one of the many wrecks in the waters around Suva.

Another ship that came to grief on the reef.

Our route through the Islands of Fiji.

Fulaga - An Island Paradise

Moon rise, our first evening in Fulaga.

The final and most southerly of the Lau group of islands is Fulaga - we had heard so much about how wonderful is was, we were keen to see if it could possibly live up to it’s reputation!  We arrived after an overnight sail from Vanua Balavu, finally sailing with the light from a full moon.  Unlike Vanua Balavu, Fulaga is a a low lying limestone island surrounded by a coral reef - erosion has caused the formation of wonderful mushroom shaped islets throughout the lagoon.

Google Earth image of Fulaga, showing the land and surrounding reef.  The second picture shows the outline of the land and islands from our chartplotters - yet again, relying solely on the chart would not be a good idea!  The purple line is our track - first into the anchorage nearest the village, then across the lagoon near to the pass.

In the traditional communities on Fiji, the first thing a visitor must do is head ashore and find the Chief or Village Headman to present Sevusevu (Cava) and be formally welcomed to the village.  On this occasion we were allocated a host Family - in our case the Chief himself.  He invited us to walk round the village and prepared a coconut for us to drink.  He also explained that due to the porous limestone ground although they can grow bananas, papaya and various other fruit and veg, the crop that grows exceptionally well is the coconut - the average yield for a coconut palm is 35 coconuts per year, in optimum conditions you could get 70 - in Fulaga not only are they  huge, but there must have been 100 on one tree alone.

Birgit and I enjoying coconut - first you drink the juice, then use part of the shell as a spoon to eat the soft young coconut inside.

A treat enjoyed by the children as well.

The village is very tidy, but also basic - the houses are all corrugated tin, although many do have bottled gas for cooking, they use this as a back up, preferring to cook on open wood fires in one end of the house with a well ventilated, raised domed roof serving as a chimney.

Fulaga is the only island we have visited where cruisers are asked for a FJ$50 (approx £20) donation per yacht for community projects - although very remote, they do get about 90 yachts visiting per year.  Apart from this contribution, they support themselves with wood carving, a male only preserve, and mat weaving for the women.  

The carvers all work sitting on the floor, using very rudimentary tools - held together with fishing line.  

We wanted a Nautilus shell carved into one of the bowls - the one we’d chosen had been made in the next village - Ian was wearing a t-shirt with our boat logo on, the carver wanted to copy it - so borrowed the shirt, and loaned one of his own to Ian so we could walk round the village while he worked., sitting cross legged on the floor surrounded by evidence of his wife’s mat weaving activities.  Apparently this South African Springbok shirt was one of his favourites. 

The Village Shop - flour, yeast, Chinese noodles, tinned fish and very little else for sale.  The cargo ship comes once a month and clearly hasn’t been for a while!

The Medical Centre, but no Doctor.  Follow the advice:  Drink well, Think well, Breathe well, Eat well, Exercise well, Rest well and finally Reproduce well!  The island only has a primary school, those who chose to go on to secondary school have to go to Suva on the main island - many stay there to work and don’t return to the island.  They may be following the advise, but they’re doing it elsewhere - the island population is still falling.

There are no cars on Fulaga, the villagers usually use fibreglass ‘longboats’ with 40 hp outboards to fish and visit the other villages but there are a few very overgrown walking tracks hidden in the hills.  A young local guided us up to the high spots for a view over the lagoon.

There is no way we would have found the ‘track’ without him.

Our walk took us past this small cave, which contained human bones and skulls - our guide told us they were the bones of the ancestors but later we asked the Chief about them and he said the bones were the remains of cannibal feasts.  

The view from the top of the hill - you can see the surf breaking all round the island on the outer reef and the shallow turquoise water in the lagoon.  The village is down there near the beach.

Looking down into the lagoon, we are one of 4 yachts at anchor and you can see anchored amongst the islets.

From the top of the hill you can’t appreciate the wonder of the limestone islets in the lagoon - they are just fantastic.

There are literally hundreds of these islets of all shapes and sizes, eroded away by the sea.  It is amazing how the palm trees and other greenery manage to survive on what seems to be bare rock.

Of course we managed to do a few dives on the edge of the fringing coral reef by the pass - twice Birgit from the Yacht Rebell came with us and looked after our dinghy, but otherwise we just tow it along with us.  That way we can be sure of finding it at the end of the dive, regardless of current and wind.

Diving from our dinghy - we each have a line on a reel to make sure it’s still with us at the end of the dive.



Looking up through 20 metres of water - Birgit with the dinghy.

Scuba diving - A few photos of the reef.

Nautilus anchored in the lagoon.

You don’t get all that lush vegetation on land without a lot of rain - and it certainly did rain while we were in Fulaga, in fact it rained at some stage almost every day but that is what made it a tropical paradise!

Making our way towards the main Fiji island of Viti Levu our next stop will be Matuku, the last of the really remote islands that we plan to visit this year.