RTW Leg 17: Sailing Glorious Fiji

The staff of Vuda Marina are singing their hearts out and waving us goodbye. The captain and the 1st mate stand arm in arm on the bow of Broadsword as we tearfully wave our thanks and goodbyes. We have now been in Fiji since August and our friends Jamie and Ailsa from Italy joining us on 14th October for a week of island hoping before leaving for New Zealand on 24th October.

Lucy: "Another fine mess you've got me in"

Neptune must have been a wee bit angry that we had neglected his seas for so long. In fact, I reckon he must have been pretty fe**ing furious with us. No sooner had we left the safety of the Fiji’s reefs. He let his anger be known… We knew our weather window was tight and were running out of time, we had to get going. We were under no illusion that it was going to be a rough passage and the seas hit us and with a combination of tummy bugs and colds the crew was not in great feckle. In fact, our feckle was to be mightily tested at 5 am the following morning when the heads (loo) decided to explode. Oh dear lord! it was like a scene from a Hieronymus Bosch painting. The Captain has requested that he fill you in with the grisly details, so I will leave that one with him. Suffice to say that the following day, the 1st mate relayed to the captain that she was wishing she was sitting by a pool (preferably with Gerard Butler) and staying in a room with clean crisp sheets that some else had washed and ironed, not continuing her way round the world in a floating caravan which she couldn’t actually get off! The captain reminded her that if it was easy…..everyone would be doing it! So…… Here I am, I have heaved myself off my pity pot and I am reflecting on why we utterly fell in love with Fiji and why, when all things go a bit Pete Tong. There is a reason and you value what you have a lot more.

Broadsword under the overhang on Somosomo in the Yasawa Islands

We had returned to Fiji at the end of September after a much-needed trip back to the UK to catch up with family and friends, but before we knew it, we were back to an extremely hot Fiji. The boat had been looked after while we were away, but that was on the inside. The birds had had fun redecorating the outside and local fires meant that there was a thick layer of ash all over the boat. We did, however have lovely new neighbors. Shannon and Bucko who were from NZ. We had a great evening with them and hope to catch up with them when we travel round New Zealand.

Soon back into the groove of tidying and general boat life, we decided to do a recce of the islands to see which would be the nicest to visit for when Jamie and Ailsa arrived. One thing we had to get before going was Kava. Kava is a mildly narcotic root plant which is boiled down and drunk as part of a ceremony. If you wish to visit, anchor, swim, explore any islands, you must bring them this gift which is part of a ceremony called Sevusevu. You land on a given island, ask to see the “chief” and then sit with the island leader and present them with the Kava. They then chant and clap a welcome which in turn invites you to spend time with them. With kava bought, provisioning done, we set off to explore first the Mamamuca Islands and then the Yasawa Islands, both to the west of Fiji.

The 1st Mate was at her most excited. Our first island would be Monuriki. Known more locally as Tom Hanks Island. Yes, it was the island where most of Cast Away was filmed. Happy days. We sailed into the bay accompanied by a huge pod of dolphins. All very magical, but alas, we were pipped to the post by a big tour boat. So, we decided to leave it until we came back with J & A. We did however bump into (not literally) another boat called Great Circle, who we had not seen since Aruba! So had a catch up and coffee with them instead.

Monuriki Island, location for Castaway. Lucy finds joy identifying the scenes!

We then went onto a beautiful island called Navadra where we decided to anchor for the night. We were immediately circled by Lemon Sharks so the 1st mate refused to let the captain go into the sea to scrub the hull given they were circling the boat in menacing shark like manner.

Kuata Island from where we went Bull Shark Diving.

The next morning we headed out for Sawa, where there were caves which you could swim in and explore. But first, you needed to do Sevusevu at the neighboring island. We had met another boat, Sauce Sea, which had a young American couple, Wes and Susan. They very kindly offered take us to our first Sevusevu ceremony and then we all went to the caves together. They were down a long channel and then you had to swim under an underwater archway into another cave! All very out with the comfort zone of the 1st mate but really amazing once she forgot all about the eels that were apparently swimming below them.

Lucy with her brave pants on, diving under and through a submerged arch in the pitch dark.

A friend has recently been long listed for the Morley prize for unpublished authors. His book ‘The Lightning and the Few’ is about a WW2 pilot from Scotland. With this in mind 1st mate and Captain thought it would be pretty amazing to go in search of the wreckage of a WW2 plane which had crashed off the island of Somu Somu. Well! After a two hour trek through the jungle and then another one hour swim in pretty big waves and wind, we had to admit defeat. Sun burn, exhaustion and the threat of mahoosive golden orb spiders were all too much for the crew of the good ship Broadsword. It was an epic and only slightly marred by the fact that Wes and Susan from the other boat found it within half an hour……because they had asked someone the way!!

The Golden Orb: The Guide book says "if you get one of these in your face, you will never live to tell the tale".

The next island was Namara. Now, this was such a special time. We arrived and did Sevusevu and met Jim and Jerry the island elders. As we were being shown round the island by Jim’s wee granddaughters Spunky(!) and Sharon and various other gorgeous children from the village. Jim invited us to supper in his house. It was such a honour to meet his family and spend time with him. We decided then that we would definitely be back with J & A. Jim told us that his son Illi worked in the hotel on neighbouring Kuata Island, which is where we were going to go to dive with Bull sharks the next day, and we should say hi to him.

Spunky and Jim to Lucy's left. Spunky mastering the art of non verbal communication.

We set off early the next morning and went to the dive centre. John was to be our dive instructor and his lovely smile and serious instructions made us feel we were in safe hands. We set of to the dive sight in a fast boat. Lots of chat and meeting the other divers in our group. Suddenly we heard the captain of our speed boat shouting and struggling to haul John the instructor to a safe place on the boat. He was rigid and in the middle of a huge epileptic fit. Sadly, the rest of the staff were at a loss as to what first aid they should apply. The Captain and 1st mate made moves to help but, thankfully, a huge bear of a man called Andy intervened. A South African dive master instructor (on his holidays!) who also has a son who is an epileptic, knew exactly what to do and took charge. The boat was turned around and straight back to get John to hospital. It doesn’t bare thinking about if we twenty meters down when the fit gripped him. The Bull Sharks would have to wait. John made a full recovery but is working in the dive centre and not at sea for the time being. We had bonded with Andy and his partner Lee over this horrible situation and had decided to have supper with them in the hotel. When we arrived for supper, they asked if we were famous or something. Our table was already set, with more flowers and candles than the other tables and looking very glamorous. Illi, Jim’s son, had seen our booking and made sure we felt like royalty!

John our Dive Master Instructor, shortly to take a turn for the worse

A few days later, back at Vuda, our crew arrived! Jamie & Ailsa who had come all the way from Italy via Australia, but sadly, one bag had decided not to accompany them which was, of course, the one with all their hot clothes and other essentials for a tropical country. Not the best way to start a big journey but a quick shopping trip to grab swim wear, shorts and ‘T’ shirts helped to soften the blow until their bag was recovered to them five days later.

After a gorgeous few days going round the islands again with J & A. Getting onto Cast Away island. Seeing Jim and his family again. And eventually experiencing the Bull Sharks.

Bull Sharks: One down from the Great White in the category of man eating terrorisers.

We arrived again at the dive centre. Very much keeping ‘mum’ about what had happened on our previous visit. But we were so glad to see John again, in much better shape than we had seen him the week before. It was all a wee bit emotional for all of us.

We had another instructor talk us through the dive. We all had an instructor and a protector. Yes! You heard right…a protector! The way that the dive was organised was this. You got to the dive spot and dived down to an area where we were protected from behind by the reef wall and in front of us was a small man-made wall which we had to kneel behind. Then there was a guy who was bringing out tuna heads from a large metal box and he had his own body guard. It has to be said that the 1st mate was worried that she would get so terrified that she would hyperventilate but it was such a slick organised dive that there was no time to get scared. Suddenly you were down, kneeling down behind a wall and there they were….huge Bull Sharks. Every time they got a wee bit too close they were gently pushed away by long poles by our protectors behind us. It was absolutely awesome. An incredible experience.

This monster glides right over our heads

So, as the 1st mate finds herself lamenting over being in a floating caravan for a year now while not a single one of the super yachts she’s seen on the horizon has Gerard Butler at the helm coming to rescue her, she is nevertheless very grateful for this beautiful big floating caravan and her captain. Broadsword is a fantastic, safe boat, who gets admired at every marina and anchorage we stop at. She and the captain have got us safely, half way round the world now. The experiences she is allowing us to enjoy have been simply incredible and an utter privilege.

That and the fact that the Captain and 1st mate are still married is a huge achievement too!

Another fabulous sunset. Never dull, always a joy.

Some 1st Mate musings

This is Eric the cat. Eric lives on a boat in Vuda marina. Eric likes to visit other boats to say hello and hang out with new friends. Eric has a GPS tracker on his collar because Eric once ended on the island of Samoa on someone else’s boat!

On a chart and you see the sign and words ‘Submarine Power Cable. This is an underwater cable …not a cable for Submarines to re charge their batteries.

Eric