26th of August to 7th of September
Savusavu – Back at Savusavu to give the boat a big clean,
get 8 loads of washing done (we hadn’t washed since New Zealand!!) and picking
Bo and Tina up from the airport to join us for a couple of weeks on Havachat.
After that, provisioning again, a few nice meals and then off we went on the 28th
to the little island of Makogai. Poor Tina didn’t feel the best on the way
over… It was a bit rough.
So, Makogai… it is different from other Fijian islands.
It
is a government run island and has a Marine Conservation centre, run by the
fisheries. There is a giant clam farming program happening. They used to breed
turtles as well, but Cyclone Winston from 2016 destroyed everything on the
island, which they are slowly building back up. So hopefully soon they are
expecting to breed turtles again as well. The young clams get sent all
throughout Fiji to build up the stock again, which had been decimated by people
eating them all. They had really big ones in the water, which were over 100
years old. They only grow about 3 centimeters in a couple of years. The island
was pretty much a construction site of new buildings and only the construction
workers, the fisheries people and their children lived there. They even had a
little school, which was very well equipped. But Makogai also has a very
interesting past. Makogai used to have the first leprosy hospital in the
pacific. From 1911 any person with leprosy from anywhere in the pacific was
send to this island. And not just people from Fiji, also from Tonga, Samoa,
Vanuatu, anywhere in the pacific. 5000 people ended up living there. A very big
community. A boarding school for the children, a cinema, churches, football
field, a massive big graveyard with 1500 people in it. The boys there where
happy to show us around and explain all to us. I must say, it was very creepy
seeing all the old buildings or what was left of them and the forest had taken
re-possession of most of it. Just imaging all these sick people living here
until they died. So sad. A cure for leprosy was found in 1969 and everybody
left the island.
The next day we explored the clams under water, snorkelling
and in the afternoon Tin and I went for a 6.8km walk to the school of the
island.
Next stop… Levuka on Ovalau island. Levuka is the old
capital of Fiji and has quite a wild past back in the whaling times. Also a
very different looking Fijian island, with all these old colonial buildings. In
its wild days, Levuka had 52 hotels!! Now there is only the Royal Hotel left,
the oldest pub in the pacific! Of course we had to have a drink there. And lunch
in the oldest bank building. Very nice. With an easy walk around town all the
historical sites can be visited easily. The old town has only a couple of draw
backs… the smell of a tuna factory right on the wharf and the noise of the town’s
generator which goes on 24/7 right in the centre of town! So needless to say,
we only stayed for one night and rather made our way to a little island close
by, Leleuvia Island Resort. Cute little eco resort and we lucked it as we got
there on a Saturday and for dinner was a Lovo (all the food cooked in the
ground)!! Yumm. So when we made our way over for dinner the television was on
and Pete was so happy to be able to see the last Knights game for the season!
So all around a nice night: Football, a few nice drinks, great dinner and we
even had desert! And back home, Jack’s Soccer team won the grand Final! Go
Seaham!
On our plan to visit next was the island Gau, south east
from Levuka. When we got up in the morning the winds were not happy for us to
go there and we almost didn’t go, as we had to motor there… We hate turning the
engines on! But we were all so glad we made the effort. Gau is quite big (I
think the fourth biggest Fijian island), with 15 little villages. No tourism,
no resorts, actually we even were the only yacht here. So untouched. We
anchored in a little bay in front of Somosomo village. Another gorgeous village
with beautiful friendly people. As we arrived on a Sunday, and we could tell
they had a busy day with lots of people leaving in the long boats, we did not
think they wanted to do Sevusevu on that day, but we thought we should still go
in and at least say hello. Which we did. And of course straight away some Kava
drinking. The next day we did our Sevusevu and joined the village people for
another Kava session (they were still going from the day before. As they had a
busy day with hosting 5 villages for lunch after church, they decided they
needed a rest day with drinking Kava again) and had a look around the village
with Tom happily showing us around. Actually he said, he was glad to get away
from the Kava, he had enough. He came with us after that on our boat and we all
went out snorkelling together in the hope to find some Manta Rays. Gau is
famous for Mantas… But I don’t know, I think the Mantas don’t want to see us.
We try every year in Fiji and we never see them! The ladies said to us this
morning, last week they were every day in the bay we are anchored!!! Typical!!!
Today, Tuesday we went exploring into the hills behind the village and rested for
the afternoon. It was time to say goodbye to the lovely people of Somosomo and
Tom, our new friend, who came back onto the boat for a couple of beers. Another wonderful experience with wonderful
friendly people. Fijians are just the
friendliest and most welcoming people we have ever met. When they say, that
after the Sevusevu you are part of the village, they mean it. They are not just
words, they genuinely make you feel like being at home.
Wednesday, 6am, and off we sail towards Vuda Point. Poor
Tina is sick with gastro, including a fever… Poor lady
