I look out at the crystal clear blue water stretching from the shore out to the vast Pacific Ocean, at the beautiful islands surrounding us, and at all the gear on the beach ready to be packed into our Nautiraid Expedition Double folding kayak. Behind us is a "back-packers" resort. There are only a few sheds here with some bunks for our sleeping sheets, free entrance for the many bugs, and a small kitchen where meals are served. Here in Fiji anything can be called a "resort". But the people running it are as friendly and smiling as all the islanders we meet. The rest of the guests are either reading a book in their dark bunk bed or sun-bathing outside. Only one woman is interested in what we are doing and helps us prepare for departure on the beach.
My wife Surain and I had left a gloomy Seattle with record rainfall only 26 hours earlier, on November 5, 1998. We had planned and prepared to kayak in the famous Fijian islands for a couple of months. With us we had everything we thought we'd need for two weeks of paddling. This morning we filled our containers with 40 liters of water (10+ gallons). The Yasawa islands, where we were about to paddle, have no water to spare. At this time of the year, before the rainy season, even the villagers have to fetch their water from the mainland.
We used to wonder if all our gear would fit into this small double kayak (16'5"), but experience has proven that it will. It can be very tight with all this water. We squeezed into our seats and pushed off. It is always exciting to start paddling in unknown areas. Though there are outfitters who lead kayaking trips here, we had no information from people who had done it on their own. Organized tours don’t come after the beginning of November when rain and high winds start. But it had fit our schedule to leave at this time.
The Yasawa islands are just northwest of the main island, Viti Levu. Our kayak effortlessly glided south and we passed several backpackers resorts on Waya, the island where we had spent the night before, but no villages and no other boats. Waya is a fairly large island with high cliffs and lots of forests. It is also one of the few places where there is water year round. Just south is little Wayaseva, a rocky island with steep cliffs but no inhabitants. At even tinier Kuata island we had lunch and tried the snorkeling. Fiji is famous for its underwater life, but this was not one of the many great places.
Since this is the southern tip of the Yasawas we headed north on the eastern side. Here there were villages, boats, and many coconut trees. There were several beautiful Fijians waving at us. But we didn’t stop until we reached a large village at the northern end of Waya island. We had had enough of paddling this first day, and wanted to find a nice beach for the night. In Fiji there is a strong sense of ownership. Everything is owned by somebody. Even if you find a deserted island, it is still owned by somebody and you need to get permission before you can use it. Ignoring this is going straight against local customs and is frowned upon. Even if tourists may get away with it, it can cause ill-feeling towards westerners. So we went ashore at the village and asked to see the Chief, who is the only one who could grant us permission to stay on beaches owned by the village.
We donned a sarong (wrap around skirt) to look more presentable. Several people followed us through the village, which was bigger than we had thought. The houses looked sturdy and we saw friendly people everywhere, chatting with us as we passed. It was hard not to fall in love with a place like this! We were certainly enjoying our trip already. After a short wait we stepped into the Chief’s house. It was quite impressive considering the conditions of a rural village without electricity. We were served tea and biscuits - fortunately no kava. Kava is a national drink prepared in several South Pacific countries from the shrubs of Piper methysticam, making it slightly alcoholic. We had tried it before but not liked it. The Chief spoke good English, was 82 years old, and seemed in very good health. He was married and had 10 kids from a previous marriage, two living in Australia.
The Chief followed us down to our boat. We paddled a short ways to a nearby beach. Rocky but good with no sand. Though sand is nice and soft, we typically prefer slightly rocky beaches for camping, becuse it makes it easier to keep clean. Several children watched us land and pitch our tent and asked many questions. It was already 6:30, but we went for a quick snorkel. Though small, the corals were quite nice and we saw a turtle. There were also several black and white herons standing on a rock just above the water.
Locals arrived early the next morning while we had breakfast. They were pleased to be helpful in carrying the kayak down to the water. It was very smooth and there were no other boats to be seen on the horizon as we made the 4-mile crossing to the next islands north of Waya. From there we continued north on the outside along the western shore, eventually following Naviti island, the next large island north of Waya. There were reefs everywhere, like in almost all islands in Fiji. It is at these reefs that the beautiful corals grow. Most of the time we paddled along the reefs near the shore. Usually there was a second reef further from the shore. It was this second reef that broke the powerful surf of the Pacific Ocean. But we found that the tide had a big impact, too.
There were some swells and we had to maneuver the kayak carefully to land without getting wet. On the beach there were hermit crabs everywhere. We found good snorkeling at a nearby point and saw quite a few fish and shellfish there. The swells were much smaller when we returned to our beach, since the tide was much lower and the outer reef was now providing more of a barrier against the Pacific surf.
Dinner - with wonderful eggplant we had found in the mainland market two days before - was spent while watching a magical sky, the sunset in an array of oranges and reds. As usual we made coffee when darkness set in. The tide was now coming back in, and the waves were crashing onto the beach. We pulled up the kayak as much as possible under the dense forest and tied it well with ropes. Though I felt certain that the kayak was safe, I still slept a bit uneasily and went down to check the boat a few times during the night. Listening to the powerful surf I was glad that we didn’t have to land in these waves.
It was calm again the next morning as the tide was low. We saw lots of corals from the boat as we followed the extensive reefs. Three women quite a bit out from the shore attracted our attention, so we paddled out there. These extremely friendly women were standing on the shallow reef. They showed us what they were fishing. They had walked here from their village on the eastern side - in fact there were no villages here on the western side. And they were thrilled to have their picture taken.
We made the 4.5-mile crossing - via a narrow point - north to Yanggeta Levu island, where we followed the eastern shore. On this crossing we also saw our first cruise ship. Several villages were scattered on the island, and we wondered why all the villages were on the eastern side. One was particularly inviting, so we got out of the kayak to talk with the friendly people for a while and were served tea and water. Two of them spoke fairly good English (like many did). Matathawa Levu island further north was very shallow. In the north part there was a nice beach with corals, so we stopped there and went snorkeling - not bad once we found the drop-off to deeper water.
Since there was a trail we followed it to ask for permission to stay here for the night. The trail was longer than expected. A friendly woman invited us to sit down while she put on tea. She said that her son just arrived. The "tea" turned out to be hot chocolate, and we also got Fijian-style pancakes with butter melting in the heat. Her son, Sova, spoke good English. He ate his dinner and also offered us a strange banana, which was quite good. They grew everything there including a strange, long, narrow vegetable from Israel. They fetched 16 liters of water a week from the mainland. We were glad to be able to decline the water offered. He was at first a bit hesitant when we asked for permission to stay, but soon warmed up.
Back at the kayak we pitched our tent and had dinner. Sova returned from the village and had coffee with us. He told us about the upscale resort on Turtle island across the water. It used to be owned by his village. We could hear music at times. They grow all their vegetables there (his father was in charge of this). His brother was a builder and he had two sisters who served food and tended bar. They all lived over there. Sova drove the resort’s boat but slept at home with his mother and was picked up every morning.
The wind was stiff the next morning and directly against us, the first day of strong winds. We saw several cruise ships anchored as we paddled to nearby Tavewa, a lovely island. There were no villages on this small island and, unlike most of the land in Fiji, it does not have an “owner”. There are, however, several backpackers resorts here. This was where we planned to come back to a few days later to get a ride back to the mainland.
The wind picked up even more and was close to 20 knots against us. But since we had been warned against strong winds we shouldn’t have been surprised. As we continued to Nathula island north of us, we headed for the western side to try to avoid some of the wind. But it was a hard struggle to reach the island about two miles away. We used the spray skirt for the first time and feathered the paddles (we only feather in strong head-winds). A little island near shore beckoned to us to take a break. There were no people here, just a few goats wandering precariously on the cliffs. It looked wonderful, and we learned later that it was called "honeymoon island".
The wind whipped against our faces and felt like more than 20 knots as we paddled towards the main village on Nathula island. A friendly guy welcomed us. When we asked to see the Chief, he wondered if we had kava with us. We said that we had $10 instead. He said that would be fine - money talks everywhere in the world. We donned the sarongs and walked with him, not far. We then entered a nice community building. He took the sevu-sevu (the $10) and told the 4-5 people sitting there (in beautiful Fijian language) that we wanted to stay three nights on a beach. Several times they clapped their hands. The money was passed around before it reached the Chief. We shook his hand and then left. Though some parts of this ritual seemed pretty genuine, it also seemed that money from tourists had influenced it a bit.
We paddled north for about an hour in the lee of the island and then pulled in at a nice beach. Three woman had walked there from the village and now waded out to the reef. From here they would follow the reef all the way to their village, catching fish along the way. A bit later a large cruise ship went by far away from shore. The sun sank from another glorious day.
Rain! It rained during the night, and it rained on and off during the morning. And the wind was gusting. Yes, we knew that this was the beginning of the rainy season, but it had been so beautiful. We had to wait for a couple of hours to get out, since the tide was too low. In this area there was no outer reef protecting us, so the waves were big - we loved it! We had heard that the little island Sawa-I-Lau had interesting caves to explore. Fighting a strong gusting wind of at least 20 knots we struggled hard to reach it on the eastern side. A small boat with tourists pulled in and landed, so we figured that was where the caves were and headed there. Simi from the village yesterday recognized us and said that they had to wait to get the key from the village. He said that we could go with this group.
The little boat with the key returned. We had to walk up some steps and then down into the cave, which was fairly large with a shaft of light at the end. We swam in the cave and into some narrow caverns, while some of the Fijians dove in from high up on the steep slopes. The water was deep but there were a few rocks to sit on. The sides were high cliffs up to the cealing, and there were only a few narrow ledges for the intrepid divers. This was a wonderful setting, one of these marvels of the earth, and swimming in fresh water made it even better! It rained on and off all the time. We gave Simi some fish hooks as sevu-sevu as we left.
The strong wind from behind pushed us back to the north end of Nathula island. It continued to rain on and off and even got a bit chilly, but then there was the water to warm up in. We took advantage of a break in the rain and pitched our tent and stretched our large tarp between the top of the tent and two poles. Thus we could sit outside the tent but have protection from the rain. A man came walking along the beach. He was Amena and he was very interesting, though his English was fair only. The rain came back and it poured down, so we all sat down under the tarp and made tea. We also realized that we needed to update our equipment list with sugar for guests! There was one advantage with heavy rain – we could collect rainwater for drinking!
The rain finally stopped and we followed Amena to where he cultivated plants. Near the beach there were lots of coconut trees. Then he showed us watermelons growing, still rather small, and cassava, papaya, and Fiji potato. He proudly showed us his plantation, where he grew two kinds of mango, one larger and one smaller. He gave us some and we ate the small ones immediately.
Back at our tent we saw a Fijian coming paddling in a sit-on-top kayak. He saw us and talked with us for a while, but he was shaking of cold and soon left. Later the clouds moved away, and we could make out what I believed to be Canopus (2nd brightest star in the sky) and the larger and smaller Magellanic clouds (separate galaxies; only visible in the southern hemisphere).
The sun was back and the weather was gorgeous the next morning. We paddled out to the reef and quickly slipped into the water to snorkel, as usual towing the kayak behind us. Wow! The corals and the fish life were incredible, we had finally found what we had hoped to find here in Fiji. We found lots of use for the underwater camera.
We paddled across to a nearby small island, and made camp early, hidden on the far side of the island. Definitely our shortest paddle, only about one mile! But here we could enjoy life, reading, snorkeling, eating … is there anything else? Well, yes, the rain was back, so we moved everything into the pre-pitched tent. As I read Jack London describe a hurricane where every house was lost and people climbed trees that were later knocked down, I listened to the incoming tide and the louder surf, and wondered if there would be any beach left at high tide.
When the rain finally stopped a few hours later, the tide was still high but we would survive. I noticed a cruise ship anchored to the west just letting out a dingy to the village in Nathula island. The next time I looked at it I could see the dingy coming our way, and all the guests went ashore on the other side of our little island. In fact, one of them walked across to our side and probably got his life's shock seeing our tent. He retreated quickly.
There was not a cloud in the sky the next morning. The cruise ship brought their guests ashore again, and a few of them ventured over to our side. But they left soon and the ship headed back to Lautoka on the mainland. A little later we returned to the reef where we had snorkeled the day before to enjoy it once more. The underwater sea life at "our island" where the cruise ship passengers snorkeled was pretty good, but not nearly as exciting as at this reef. Without a boat you would have to swim from shore and that was probably too far for most people.
A little further south we saw two women swimming and diving along the reefs. As we came closer we saw that they had caught two large octopi. Proudly they held them up for us to take a picture. This day was very hot and we took the opportunity to cool off in the water. Nathula island had a couple of villages on this side, and we stopped at Nasisili at the southern end. A few men and lots of kids came up to us to check us out, check out the kayak, swim with us, and pose for our pictures. We gave the camera to one of them to get a picture with both of us with people posing around us and the kayak in the background.
The final stretch to Tavewa island was long and the wind picked up to about 8 knots in our face. There seemed to be some current as well, but we finally made it. We were back at David's Place and got the last bure (little house) that had not been rented. It was nice not to have to cook that night, and to listen to music and watch dancing.
November 8: Waya island 9 November 9: Waya -> Naviti islands 13 November 10: Naviti -> Matathawa Levu islands 12.5 November 11: Nathula island 9 November 12: Nathula -> Sawa-I-Lauisland -> Nathula 5 5 November 13: Nathula -> nameless rock 1 November 14: nameless rock -> Nathula -> Tavewa island 9 November 15: around Tavewa island 6Total: 65 nautical miles (75 statute miles)
We left the kayak in a hotel in Suva, the capital, and traveled to Taveuni island in the north for around a week. Then we flew to Kandavu island south of Viti Levu to do more paddling.
A truck picked us up at the airport and drove us across to the other side, where it took an hour by a small motorboat to reach Matava resort, easily our best accommodations so far. This resort was run by three Australians. There were even towels and solar-powered 24-volt lights. Dinner was excellent and there was even wine to be ordered. Not a bad place for us to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary! The chef even made a cake in our honor.
We spent two nights there. An American couple told us about an excellent snorkeling place. So the next morning we paddled 4 miles west to reach it. The famous Astrolabe reef (the second or third longest barrier reef in the world) forms a barrier to the Pacific Ocean around most of Kandavu island. But right here there is a narrow cut in the reef. Waves from the ocean roll through this cut making it quite rough. We slipped into the water and found that towing the kayak behind us was harder than normal. But who cared - the snorkeling was magnificent, maybe the best we had ever done. It was some twenty feet deep at the reef opening and a bit more than five at the shallower part. Large fish swam at the bottom, we saw a large school of blue parrot fish, cabbage corals and coral pinnacles, and other large and small fish everywhere. We drifted with the current for about 45 minutes, and then finally got chilled. We climbed back into the kayak and then struggled against the wind to get back to the resort and lunch.
In the afternoon we took a walk with a group of people from the resort. We followed a trail through the lush vegetation. Closer to a village there were lots of kids greeting us with bula (hello), and we replied likewise. We walked through the village to some incredible waterfalls. There were more kids swimming here. On a ledge a little bit higher we dove into the crystal clear water. It was nice to swim in fresh water for a change.
We paddled east the next morning and then followed the island as it swung to the north. It was surprising that there were hardly any beaches here, and very few villages. It would have been possible to camp at a few spots, but you would have had to hunt for them. At the end of Kandavu island there was another break in the Astrolabe reef and we did some more snorkeling.
We crossed over to the southern end of Ono island, a good 4 miles away. But this was inside the reef and it was quite calm. We spent the night at another backpackers resort, this one run by Fijians. Though this resort wasn’t as nice as the previous one, we enjoyed the tremendous view over the ocean here. We also appreciated having more Fijian style food rather than western style. The people working here were very nice, especially Lendua and Jonas.
Lendua had told us that we had to visit Taito who lived by himself in the northwestern part of the island. So we struck out in a westerly direction and then following the island as it bent around to the north and then northeast. We were first in the lee of the island and didn’t feel the wind too much. But as we started turning around we gradually got more exposed to the wind and noticed that it was very strong that day and - needless to say - against us. Where possible we tried to hide behind some cliffs. At one of those there were lots of crabs and blue herons and we even saw a white heron. We paddled passed several caves, and explored one of them and could see that it was full of other sea birds.
We turned a little point and immediately felt the fury of the head wind. But then we spotted a lone fisherman. Rather than struggling against the wind and waves, we coasted down to him where he was spear fishing near the shore. He got very excited when he saw us and immediately offered us papaya and invited us to lunch and told us that we could stay for ever. We had met Taito.
Taito was definitely an exciting person to meet. He owned one third of this island and lived alone at this end, though he often got visitors. As he started cooking the fish for lunch, Lendua from yesterday and a few of her guests arrive in a small powerboat. A feast was prepared with fish in the lovo oven and coconut sauce, and we found it fascinating to watch them prepare the meal. After the scrumptious lunch had been consumed we relaxed on the beach and went swimming. The others left when the big shining circle started dropping from the sky.
Lendua had wondered how Taito could live with all the bugs and in fact this was the only place in Fiji where bugs were a real problem. Taito was married but had left his job as a tax accountant two years ago and gone to live by himself to be closer to nature. He built the bure (the house) himself and grew all vegetables and fruit right here. His son ran his business in Suva selling eggs and chicken. He was quite talkative and we had a very enjoyable evening. We cooked dinner that couldn’t match the lunch but we were glad to see that Taito enjoyed the coffee that hadn’t been served for lunch.
It rained for a while the next morning before the sun came out. The wind started building early and we had to fight against it to reach the little uninhabited Yabu island north of us. We had heard that this was a great bird island. As we paddled in to the island we found nice corals but what really impressed us were the huge numbers of red-footed boobies. We marveled for a while, then paddled around the island. On the other side we saw lot of brown-footed boobies that flew away as soon as we came near (the red didn't move). We just wish that it had been feeding time. Seeing boobies diving for fish (we had watched blue-footed ones do this in the Galapagos Islands) is a true spectacle. They dive incredibly fast and very deep, and then pop up to the surface like large corks.
We paddled across to Buliya island and landed at the one village there. Olita, a Fijian woman, greeted us and invited us to dinner. As her uncle was the Chief (the elder), we walked towards him to ask for permission to stay. He wasn’t ready, but took the introductory letter from Taito. We drank tea in Olita’s house with her and her friend Frances. Eventually the Chief arrived and said we could stay. He had only three teeth and was quite friendly. He saod thet he was only the smaller Chief, the big one was in Dravuni, the next island. He accepted the kava, our sevu-sevu, thankfully with a phrase and three claps. For dinner Olita served parrot fish and cassava. We had seen parrot fish many times when snorkeling but this was the first time we had eaen it and were very impressed with the taste. She was a good cook and had removed all the bones.
Frances took over and showed us around the village. The villagers collected rainwater from the roofs and had enough most of the time. They were baking cassava in a lovo oven - which reminded me of a Hawaii style oven. About 10 boys showed up back at the tent and entertained us for at least an hour. Some of the older boys spoke quite good English. They sang many songs. Mosquitoes weren’t nearly as bad here as the day before at Taito's place but there were many no-see-ums - little black things. Their bite doesn’t hurt, but irritates. The next day we had lots of red marks.
The next morning Frances showed up with some of the earth-baked cassava. We ate it with tea and really liked it - the first time we had had good cassava. We paddled away to the next two islands. The wind was picking up a little (8-10 knots) and was from behind, so we hoisted the sail and enjoyed sailing for a while. When we reached the small, uninhabited Namara islands we pulled ashore at low tide.
We had lunch and went snorkeling when the tide started coming back in. It was first a bit disappointing, but then I spotted a giant clam about six feet down. I swam back and fetched the underwater camera and took a picture. Looking a bit closer near the bottom I suddenly saw a big turtle, almost two feet long. It sat absolutely still for a while, allowing me to dive down and take a picture. Then it moved a little and dashed off. Then Surain found a second giant clam. We swam back but the rising tide chased us off the island.
About an hour's paddle took us to Dravuni island, the last large island in the Kandavu group. Several kids met us at the beach. A little boy showed us the way to the Chief. The Chief spoke hardly any English but he read Taito’s introductory letter and accepted the kava with a fanfare.
We parked our kayak just a bit south in a nice shady area. This was definitely the best campground we had had with great views, shade and hardly any bugs. When we swam with the kids they looked surprised when I floated motionless in the water. They had never tried this before, but it didn’t take much instruction to show them how to do it. This being a Sunday we went to church in the afternoon. Christian missionaries have spent much time in the South Pacific and there are many different kinds of denominations represented. In the past we had been enchanted by the singing in churches in Tonga, but this church was not as interesting. Later a nice man brought us rock cod to add to our dinner.
We thoroughly enjoyed the stay here and wished that the weekly ferry to Suva would give us more than one day here. But as it was we had to pack the kayak and all our things to make it back to the airport in time. But first we gave away all the food and most of the clothes we had brought. The boys brought us coconuts to drink. When the juice was consumed they cut open the nut and handed us the refreshing meat to eat. Yes, we would miss Fiji. In the distance the ferry could be seen approaching. Sadly we walked on board to be shuttled back to Suva.
November 25: Matatava -> snorkeling -> Matava resort 8 November 26: Kandavu -> S end of Onu island 11 November 27: S end of Onu -> NW end of Onu island 6 November 28: NW end of Onu -> S end of Nuliya island 5 November 29: S end of Buliya -> W end of Dravuni island 8Total: 38 nautical miles (44 statute miles)
