16 26.7S 179 56.3W 30 June 2007

Dear friends,

Minds are buzzing with new experiences and impressions after visits to two remote villages in Fiji. After arriving in Savu Savu, Vanua Levu, following a final day sailing from New Zealand with winds gusting to 40 knots. Our last letter said we had reached lovely Trade Wind conditions and the evening forecast was for "the same again next day". Well, that night it blew 40 knots again, and our wind steering vane broke on some steep, short waves. 24 hours later at 0200 in the morning, Jan woke Dave for the watch change and told him the wind had died, we were just off a reef and the engine oil was milky white with sea water. So preoccupied with minor concerns, it was not until much later that Dave read the midnight entry in Harmonica's log "Happy Birthday Jan". Strange how the mind can forget these things! We then spent 2 weeks catching up on sleep and boat jobs in SavuSavu the last home of Somerset Maugham.

To visit the first village, We rented a small 4WD for 2 days and drove round the South West end of Vanua Levu, the second largest island in Fiji, on very rough unsealed roads with a NZ couple also cruising on a KP44. No buses come along this route. Our contact was made through Angie, a Fijian woman working in the local bank in Savu Savu. We were to stay with her "Aunty Tima" who lives with her family in Cogea (pronounced Thongea). We had vague directions which left us searching after 5 hours bumping along before finding the village at the confluence of 2 rivers. Aunty Tima made us most welcome. We presented our Sevusevu...500g of Kava roots. The Fijian custom is to grind it up and it is drunk socially. It comes from a type of pepper plant that looks like and tastes like muddy water. It is said to numb the mouth and fur the tongue after a few cups drunk communally out of a coconut shell dipped into a large wooden four legged bowl, clapping once on receiving your shell and 3 times after drinking it....large quantities send you to sleep so they say. We were able to tactfully withdraw after 2 cups and left a room full of villagers drinking kava and watching the one TV in the village. Each village has a hereditary chief and land is divided amongst the villagers who eke out a living growing coconuts, kava, taro, and cassava. Their main source of protein is small fish caught from the river. They have cows, horses, chickens and a village pig but only kill a cow to celebrate a wedding or funeral and do not seem to milk them. We presented Aunty Tima with loaves of bread and margerine, a treat for them as most of their cooking is done over an open fire and they do not have flour. We slept, fitfully, on pandanus mats on the front room floor listening to the sounds of geckos; chickens; dogs; crying child; late comers slurping food and gargling from the tap outside the door; and 4am prayer drums. An early morning tour of the village woke us up and people came out of their huts to greet and talk to us. We were able to see the extremely hot, natural, pools we had tried to sit in the evening before in the dark. Most villagers spoke fairly good English as well as Fijian. The children are taught in English at school. Most villages have a church and some an elementary school. Shirley and Jan had been instructed to wear Sulu's (long skirt) and no hats to be worn in the village. Women eat after the men (this did not include us) but it was hard to see Aunty Tima sitting on the floor in the corner of the kitchen while we all ate at the table. We find all the Fijians are friendly with big smiles that spread across their faces when we approach even if some do look intimidating when met in the jungle with a large machete in hand and we remember reading the gory details of their cannibalistic past!

Our second remote village can only be reached by boat on an island, Kioa, with no roads and one village. No ferry to this island. There was no information on suitable anchorages in our guide books and our charting software is not accurate for Fiji. We approached with caution and found a suitable, though deep, place to anchor in 20 metres of water. The villagers moved to this island in 1947 from one of the Tuvalu group of islands after their coral atoll became too crowded and suffered from poor soil. The people are Polynesian and have kept their customs and traditions. Again we were given a warm welcome by one of the elected elders as the elected chairman was away. Quite different from the hereditary chiefs in Fijian villages. We presented our Sevusevu but did not have to join in the drinking of it. We were welcomed to the village and allowed to wander around the area. No cows or horses here...only the village pig, chickens, and a pet turtle in a tank. Fishing is done from small, wooden outrigger canoes unlike anywhere else in Fiji. A small sail is used to return in the evening. The local women brought their handicrafts of woven baskets and mats to the communal hall for us to view and we bought some beautiful souvenirs. They have a small health centre with a nurse, church and elementary school. We saw men helping with food preparation and women joining in the evening volley ball game unlike the Fijian villages. Many of the huts were made of woven pandanus and thatch roofs some with no walls but newer homes were being built of wood and corrugated iron roofs. This village seemed more proactive with plans for making bio diesel from coconuts and hoping to get internet to the village.

The villages are given aid from the Fiji government which right now could be in jeopardy due to the recent coup and the even more recent expulsion of the New Zealand High Commissioner. Both villages had a telephone service and a generator for use for a few hours each evening. Every home and garden was neatly kept with beautiful flowering shrubs and trees. In both villages the older children go away to distant towns for schooling and further education and many do not return. We try to return hospitality by taking gifts of tea, rice, canned food, clothes, fish hooks, etc.

Between these village visits we are cruising along the South coast of Vanua Levu stopping in remote anchorages. We have been accompanied by 49yr old Marjetka from Slovenia who is single handing a 28ft boat with her dog, Cherie. She did have 2 dogs and a cat at one stage. She has a sore back and her dinghy is heavy to get off the boat so she has sailed with us and we ferry Marjetka and Cherie around in our dinghy. Cherie hangs dangerously off the front of the dinghy peering down into the sea looking for fish and leaps with confidence from boat to dinghy. She happily romped around on a large reef as we trod carefully across it. Cherie will swim long distances with Marjetka and loves to chase fish....she is just a mutt but one with character.

Jan is mastering the art of wearing a sulu. Just enough material to wind around 1 1/2 times and tie around the waist. Not at all elegant climbing on and off the boat and impossible to wear when raining and the material clings to the legs leaving one hobbling along with tiny steps at which stage the easiest thing is to hoick it up to knee level. Men also commonly wear sulus in traditional Fijian villages so Dave bought one too. He wore it in the village of Congea, but at the Kava-drinking in the evening, he tried to follow etiquette, walk behind other guests not in front of them, tripped on his sulu, and pulled the plug out of the wall turning off the television. He has not worn the sulu since.

Dave continues with the piano practise usually using the headphones. He will run out of sheet music by the end of the year, but hopes to resume lessons over Christmas in Calgary.

Love from Dave Jan & Harmonica

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