Experiencing the Southern Lau group
by Minke Lohrengel, Island Cruising & DUR 6 Jul 2024 18:26 PDT
Experiencing the Southern Lau group © Island Cruising NZ
Eastern Stream sets sail from French Polynesia for a passage of 1,700 nautical miles towards Fiji. The first Fijian islands Jaap and Minke pass by are the Lau Group Islands.
Making landfall in this remote area before clearance is not allowed and a visit to the most remote islands is a sail of a few days against the trade winds. After the clearance procedure they have to wait for a good weather window to visit the southern Lau Islands Fulanga and Ongea.
"Bula Bula" is the cheerful greeting the fishermen give us after we drop our anchor in the protected bay of Fulanga. The weather window for a non-stop sail from Savusavu to the far south of the Lau group is one from the booklet. Close hauled, with a calm breeze and a fairly flat sea, it takes us a little more than a day and a half to cover the 180 nautical miles. In the early morning we arrive at the volcanic atoll and at almost low tide the entrance through the reef looks quite calm. With a current of a couple of knots against us we sail into the lagoon, while the depth goes from several thousands of meters to a maximum depth of 13 meters. We arrived at Fulanga in the southern Lau group of Fiji and I am curious how people live here. At least our arrival starts with a warm welcome.
Authentic island life
On every island in Fiji you have to ask permission to anchor in their waters. So after breakfast we launch our dinghy to go to shore and walk to the main village of the island, Muanaithake. We enter a completely different world, with small houses built from metal plates. In the houses a living and sleeping area, wherein the furnishing mainly consists of woven mats. Next to the house is a small building where the kitchen is and where they still cook on a fire. The only couches you see in the village are the wooden benches at the church. There is no internet connection and an old fashion phone is, in case of an emergency, the only connection with the outside world. The most modern machines I can see are some old freezers and everything on the island goes by foot. Which means barefoot for some of the villagers.
Sevusevu
"You are the first boat of the season" tells Soki, while he shows us the way to the house of the Turaga, the village chief. We are on our way to present our Sevusevu and ask permission to stay in Fulanga for a while. The Turaga sits on a beautiful woven mat and we have to sit in front of him. Soki offers our Kava as a gift to the chief, while they are talking in the Fijian language. Now and then one of them talks to us and in the end the Turaga accepts our sevusevu. We are welcome in the village, we are allowed to anchor in the bay and fish in their waters. The Turaga explains the rules on the island to us, with the most important rule that Sunday is for god and they expect a total rest day in the village and on the island.
Maybe the sevusevu sounds like bringing some flowers when you visit someone in The Netherlands, but it felt much more serious than that. To be honest, it was quite a relief that the chief excepted our kava and that we are allowed to stay.
We decide to stay near the village for the first week to learn more about the island and Fijian island culture. I am impressed by what I see. It is an extraordinary life, where - especially the women - work hard to keep the household running and get food on the table.
Once a month, weather permitting, a supply ship brings goods from the main island. The ship brings certain orders, but mostly staples such as flour, sugar and rice. "We actually don't want to depend on the boat and mainly eat what the sea has to offer us in terms of cockles and fish." Explains Ba. This combined with what is grown in their gardens makes their daily meal. So people here eat mostly fish with cassava and so do we.
Several days during the week are set aside for communal village activities. The men build a new house for the school, while the women work together on a weaving project. One family gets to contribute a weaving project for this week's activity and as a woman I am invited to join. We stretch the boiled leaves with a shell and lay them in the sun to dry. This bleaches them to the desired white color. Meanwhile, the older ladies weave with three persons a time on a new mat, whereas the family for whom the weaving is being done prepares a community lunch. Charlotte tries to learn me the basics of the weaving, an important job on this remote island as most equipment they use, as baskets and mats, are woven on their own island from pandanus or palm leaves. It's a special and educational morning, with lots of laughs.
Exploring the atoll of Fulanga
The Fulanga lagoon looks like a nice cruising area and after this intense week in the village we decide it is time for some rest and exploring. We sail between small rocky islands using satellite charts to make our way between coral heads and shallows and drop our anchor among mushroom-shaped rocks and islands. This is a stunning place. Protected by the islands and reefs with room for one boat, what a calm and relaxing surrounding.
We explore the area by dinghy and let the current take us through the pass while we admire the colorful underwater world again and again and again. You can spend quite some time in the solitude of the atoll. From white sandy beaches, to shallows that dry up at low tide and connect several small islands. We stroll from island to island in search of coconuts for water and coconut milk and just simply explore.
After a few days a father and son arrive in our anchorage, paddling their banana boat alongside. The engine has stopped working and they have seen that Jaap has made several repairs to solar panels and generators in the village. "Could he maybe take a look at their outboard engine?" A boat is as a car or bicycle and important here. People use it not only for transport in the lagoon or to other islands. These boats are also used for fishing at sea and bringing goods from the supply ship at sea to the village. It's a pretty big repair job, but after a few hours the engine is running again and they can go out to catch some fish.
We end the afternoon with a sundowner and look at each other smiling. We went to this very place to distance ourselves and process all the impressions of last period and are a little surprised that the locals still know where to find us. Nothing goes unseen here...
Our hosting family
On arrival in Fulanga, the chief assigns you a host family. Not only can you go to this family with all your questions about life on the island or activities to join, but they will also invite you to attend Sunday church service with them. We hardly ever attend church services, but in Fiji religion forms a key part of the social structure. Sunday is typically a day of rest for the Fijians, and their main activity of the day is their visit to the church and have a family lunch. So we both put on our neatest Zulu and visit the
church service with Soki and Ba, our host family.
The choir is sitting in the front and men and woman both have their own place in the church. The woman wear beautiful colorful dresses, while the man attend service in their traditional dark zulu with a blouse and sometimes even a tie. For me it looks like a combination of their own traditional cloths and the blouse and tie from the former British colonists. The church service is totally in Fijian and we do not understand a word of it. Stil it is impressive to be present and listen to the singing accompanied by the shrill rhythm of a triangle. After church we have a traditional Fijian lunch at the family house.
While we are eating and chatting Soki tells us he would love to have a light in their little shop, so it is easier to sell kava and other stuff in the evening. This is something you should not tell Jaap. He collected some fishing buoys, that had washed up on the beach. Those buoys have solar, batteries and some other stuff to help the fishermen. Time for a recycle project and make some light as it is nice to do something in return for their hospitality and friendliness. It is difficult to do something in return though as we immediately get invited to do a traditional lovo (cooking pig and vegetables in the traditional ground oven) for our departure.
The lovo is a great experience and a beautiful way to say goodbye to each other. We spent more than three weeks in this special place. A place where you can do some nice short sailing, surfing and foiling, enjoy the beaches and the protected anchorages. For us the sailing was not why we went here, it was experiencing island life and Fijian culture what we loved most.