the not-too- distant past.
A much less threatening
custom that is still widely
practiced is the ceremony
known as sevusevu, wherein
the powdered root of the
yagona pepper plant is mixed
with water to become kava,
a drink that’s shared com-
munally while drinkers sit in
a circle. Kava is consumed
almost daily by many Fijians
in a ritual that’s an important
part of the traditional Fijian
culture and lifestyle. Before
leaving the town of Savusavu,
we stocked up on the yagona
root to use for gaining intro-
duction to the village chiefs
of the various islands we
intended to visit.
While in Vanua
Levu, we rented a car and set
of on land adventures. To
the south we discovered ver-
dant lowlands with winding
rivers, while the semiarid
northern plains were fi lled
with extensive sugar cane
plantations. The scenery was
breathtaking. Looking out
across the fi elds and seeing
large groups of men and women using machetes to
harvest the cane, we felt as if we were back in the 19th
century. Narrow-gauge railway trains are still used
to harvest sugar cane, one of Fiji’s most important
crops. The tracks meandered across the rolling hills
and wound along and over slow-moving rivers where
children swam and cows bathed. Men sat on bridges
smoking as the long trains moved across a landscape
that was romantic and exotic.
Traveling farther east, the roads deteriorated but
led to some remote coves and headlands that revealed
pristine reefs with a huge diversity of coral. The
mind-boggling proliferation of marine life we saw
while snorkeling was quite a contrast
to some of the fi shed-out places we’d
observed in the eastern Pacifi c.
Fishing is so good in Fiji that when we
made our initial landfall, we put out a
line and immediately caught a 23-pound
yellowfi n tuna. Our luck held nearly
every time we fi shed thereafter, with
almost instant success landing mahimahi
or tuna. We began to wonder if even a
bare hook might produce results while
trolling in the deep channels between
the islands.
Leaving Vanua Levu, we made a
relatively short passage to the nearby
island of Namena, where my fi ancée,
Gayle, her daughter, Sarah, and her
friend Adrian, who were crewing for
us, wanted to do some scuba diving.
Although the island was
enclosed within a barrier
reef system that gave the
impression that it could
of er some protection from
northeast winds, we spent
a very uncomfortable night
bouncing about in a 4-foot
chop. The island was nearly
deserted and quite beautiful,
and by the next morning the
winds had eased and clocked
to the southeast. This made
for a leisurely but fairly long
daysail down to the well-
protected harbor of the
island of Makogai.
Makogai is one of the
largest of the outlying
islands of of Viti Levu’s east
coast. The site of a leper
colony for almost a hundred
years, the once-deserted
ruins are gradually being
brought back to usefulness
as the headquarters for a
sea turtle nursery and giant
clam sanctuary. We were the
only boat in the anchorage,
so we went ashore to ask the
village chief for permission
to stay there.
Because Fiji is a former
British colony, most of
the locals speak English well. We were soon met
by a young man who called himself the village
spokesman, and he agreed to introduce us to the
village chief. Our gift of yagona root was accepted,
and so, having been granted full access to the village,
we spent the next couple of days hiking around the
nearby hills and climbing through the leper colony’s
ruins. A long dinghy ride and snorkeling expedition
took us to one of the smaller nearby islands; once
again, the rich sea life was incredible. Giant clams
were virtually everywhere in the deeper water. Some
were as large as bold Sarah, who dived down, swam
right up to their open jaws, and peered inside.
With the continuing spell of calm
weather, we took the opportunity to
motorsail over to the old, frontierlike
seaport of Levuka, on the island of
Ovalau, a day’s sail across the Koro Sea.
Situated on the windward side of the
island with only an awash barrier reef to
protect it from the easterly wave trains,
the port was initially chosen for this
site because square riggers could sail
in, fi nd a reasonable anchorage of the
town, and then escape by sailing either
north or south a couple of miles to large
gaps in the reef. This allowed the ships
to make their way of the lee shore of
the big island of Viti Levu, to the west.
Ovalau, because it is a good distance
of Viti Levu, also of ered a level of
protection from raiding parties in thoseCruising boats
rarely visit
northern Vanua
Levu (top).
During a sevu-
sevu ceremony,
the ladies from
Small World
II dance with
the chief and
his brother
(above).40° S30° S20° S10° S170° ENEW
ZEALAND180° E 170° W 16 0° W0 500 1000Nautical MilesNe w
CaledoniaVANUATU
To nga IslandsSamoa
Islands
FIJI ISLANDSSOUTH PACIFIC OCEANKORO SEASOUTH
PACIFIC
OCEANVITI
LEVUSuva178º E 180º E18º SBligh Water
LautokaFIJI ISLANDS0 25 50Nautical MilesVANUA
LEVU
SavuSavu BaySavusavuOvalau
BeqaMakogaiGAYLE SUHICH; MAP BY SHANNON CAIN TUMINO