Fabulous Falaga
20 September 2016 | Falaga, Southen Lau, Fiji
Pam
Falaga - Southern Lau
Until recently, it was difficult for cruisers to get permission to visit the Lau Group. Due to the remoteness of these islands from the rest of Fiji and the upwind sail to get there, the islands remain isolated and still do not receive many visiting yachts. Yachts currently must check-in to Fiji at ports which are well west of the Group, and it is a minimum of an overnight sail to reach the closest islands. In special situations, for example this year when the Sea Mercy boats arrived to help the Northern Lau after Cyclone Winston, a temporary check-in has been set up in Vanua Balavu. Cruisers hope that in the future a permanent port of entry will be set up there.
Islanders in the Lau want to preserve their way of life; and, so far, there has been little commercial development. Life is changing slowly though, and some homes now have solar panels and there is limited wifi on a few of the islands. The Fiji government offers programs to assist with the solar power, but the islanders must still pay a portion. Their only source of income is copra and wood carvings. Kava is grown as a cash crop on many islands in Fiji; however, the islands of the Lau are composed of limestone rather than being volcanic, and kava won't grow. This proves to be an issue and the islands often run out of cash. All the money earned from the carvings is used to purchase food on their behalf and sent out on the next supply ship. The supply ships come infrequently, and only when there is cargo for the return trip; but the islanders do not have much to sell - a vicious circle. The lack of cash severely restricts much in the way of improvements to their lifestyle. Falaga does collect a $50 fee from each boat, one of their few sources of cash income.
On Falaga, each yacht is hosted by a local family, who shares their way of life with the "yachties". We were looking forward to this unique opportunity to interact with Fijians and to experience the "real" Fiji.
Falaga is truly an island paradise. Like Vanua Balavu, the island is composed of karst limestone, surrounded by islets with eroded bases that look like mushrooms dotted around the lagoon in the bluest turquoise water you can imagine. The trip through the pass and on into the lagoon to the village anchorage had been a tortuous path of dodging coral head bommies; but thank goodness we had the sun behind us - the best possible situation for spotting. We had good waypoints to follow from the Fiji Atlas and from our friends on Chara, but you still need to keep a good lookout from the bow. Our new Sena Bluetooth headsets have proven invaluable for communication when negotiating tight passes, bommies, anchoring and jobs on the foredeck and up the mast. We anchored in front of the path which goes across the island to the main village of Muana-I-Cake. There are two other villages on the island; one of which can be seen when you enter the pass. Tai called us on VHF to tell us that it was Constitution Day and most of the village had gone over to the Sandspit anchorage for a party. He asked us to come for sevusevu the following morning at 10 am. This suited us as we were tired from the overnight passage down from Vanua Balavu. The three boats that had been in Falaga departed the morning we arrived, including our friends Chuck and Lauri on Free Spirit, so we were the only "yachties" on the island.
Next morning we headed for shore, with our presentation kava in hand. When we arrived on the beach, we were met by Soki (the head man), Tai, Tui and a couple of the other village men. The men were on their way to work at one of the community gardens. Gardens are dotted around the islands in the few locations where it is flat and with enough soil to grow. The karst limestone is so sharp and jagged that walking is almost impossible unless a path has been made. Soki told us to take the path to the village, about a 20 minute brisk walk, and that someone would meet us there. It was a lovely walk over the saddle to the other side of the island. As we neared the village the boys donned their sulus (Fijian skirts) and Jan and I put on our colourful wraps. Two men were waiting for us at the entrance to the village; one was Sikeli, the husband of the nurse, Sera, and the other was a tall, handsome Fijian named Joe (they often adopt English names). Joe described points of interest about the village as we walked to the chief's house. We were surprised to see how tidy and neatly organized it was - obviously the villagers have a lot of pride. When we reached the chief's house, Joe approached the door to do a small chant, telling the chief of our intentions and gifts. The chief then invited us into his house, where we sat on woven mats at his feet. The chief is quite old and uses a cane. He has a young man from the village to assist him. Once all were seated the ritual chants began, first with the cobo - three sharp cupped hand claps, which signify "thank you, I am about to speak, thank you for listening". After each chant which Joe spoke on our behalf, the chief nodded and said "Vanaka", which means "thank you or I agree". Once the formalities with the kava presentation were over, I presented some fresh baked cookies to the chief and he was very pleased. We were now considered honorary Fulagans and given permission to travel freely anywhere on the island. Then the chief asked for "the book" and assigned our host families. Sequoia was assigned to George and Ma. George is the head school teacher and has been the hosts of several of our friends, including Whistler and Code Blue. We were assigned to Joanna and Bis, a lovely young couple, both with Business degrees from University of the South Pacific in Suva! The assigning of host families is taken very seriously here. Those families that want to participate do so on a regular rotation that goes up one side of the village and back down the other. We were told that more families would like to participate, but language is a barrier. All Fijians learn English in school, but here on the remote islands, most have little opportunity to use it. Luckily for us, we were the only cruisers here, so we received lots of village attention during our visit. Additionally, our host families were good friends, and they had planned a number of joint activities, so the four couples got to know each other well. An interesting aside - the chief's daughter lives in Albequerque, New Mexico, which is where Lauri on Free Spirit was headed when she flies home in a couple of weeks time. She is taking gifts from the chief to his daughter, including a recorded greeting - how cool is that!
After the ceremony, Joe continued our tour of the village and took us to visit the wood carvers. We admired their work and told them we would return later. Then we continued on to meet our host families, and were invited into their respective homes for tea/lunch. Bis offered to take the four of us on a hike to the top of the island the following day. We, in turn, invited them to join us for supper on our boat the following evening.
We were told that the supply boat was not expected for at least another two weeks, the store had no supplies left and that the village was short on many things, as the boat had only brought a partial order of supplies on it's last trip. We offered to give our hosts whatever they needed in supplies, as we had come prepared with staples. It was obvious that they needed things, but felt uncomfortable asking us. Next day, we brought in a load of staples, several bags of clothing, children's books for the school and a few school supplies. George was thrilled with the books and we also made a generous donation to the school. We had also brought some soccer balls, which George said he would give as prizes at the end of term. Joana organized the clothing and invited the women of the village to come and select clothing for their children. It was fun to see kids proudly wearing some of their new clothes when we visited the village.
Next day, the four of us set off with Bis on our hike to the top of the island. From the village path, the trail climbed steeply up along a poorly defined track and then became a scramble up through razor sharp rocks and roots, where we had to watch every step and hand hold, so as not to fall or cut ourselves; however, the view was spectacular from the top. We could see the whole island, the three villages, the surrounding reef enclosing all the little islets and the beautiful shades of blue water, as well as the nearby islands of Ogea, Vagasa and Namuka. Many thanks to Bis for taking us up there.
Our host families came to our respective boats for dinner that evening. I had made lasagna and Joanna brought tuna roti - very cross-cultural, but delicious. We spent a most interesting evening discussing village life, traditions and politics, as well as sharing some of our adventures. Bis and Joana have a unique perspective - being University educated and having experienced both big-city life in Suva and growing up in the Lau, they can see the advantages and disadvantages of both ways of life. Their main concern is with the education of the children, to prepare them for life off the islands. There is extremely limited wifi anywhere in the Lau, yet without computer skills, the children are so far behind their peers on the main islands and the rest of the world. We were interested in future development within the islands. Bis described the very democratic method used in the Lau to make decisions on any matter which affects the community, beginning with discussions and proposals at the village level, then on to the rest of the island, the Lau Group and then the final presentation to central government. He is such a knowledgeable and caring person, capable of seeing the big picture, that we hope he goes into politics; he would be a great asset to the country. Bis and Joana returned to Falaga to live several years ago, following the death of Joana's parents. They admit that they have enjoyed island life, but there is no opportunity for them to make a living here and we have the impression that they will move on in the near future. Having international cruisers come to visit Falaga is certainly a highlight for them. We spent a most enjoyable and interesting evening with them.
On Saturday, the four couples headed out to the islets to go clamming. Clams are not gathered using the shovel and pail method we are familiar with, but instead we went snorkel clamming. One floats along in waist deep water, with a table knife in hand. When you spot a tiny slit in the sand you plunge the knife in, the clam clamps down on it and you pull it out...presto! We gathered a huge basket of clams and shelled them on the beach. Joana and Ma used sturdy pieces of metal (bed brackets?) to crack the shells at the hinge and then the rest of us removed the clams from their shells and washed them in seawater. Joana wove a basket from a palm frond and we filled it to the top with shelled clams! They gave us a large container of clams and the rest were to be served at the birthday feast next day. I made a beautiful clam chowder for supper and the rest went into a Paella the next day as I had some chicken and chorizo sausage....delicious.
We attended church on Sunday. It was a simple service, all in Fijian, with lovely singing by the congregation and the young people. We were told afterwards that we had been thanked for coming to Falaga. Bis and Joana apologized for not serving us lunch at their home, which is traditionally done after church; but said we would be attending a birthday party instead. The father of one of the villagers was turning 70. Much to our surprise, however, we discovered that he was in Suva...nevertheless, as he had family here, the villagers were going to celebrate his birthday on Fulaga! Well...any opportunity for a village feast and feast it was. The feast was held in an open shed; we sat on mats with a colourful tablecloth laid out full length with the most glorious array of Fijian dishes you can imagine - grilled mullet steaks, many kinds of sweet potato and cassava, spinach and fish, pork stew, grilled papayas, grated cassava and coconut balls, and the delicious clams we had gathered. Many things had been cooked in the lovo (a pit in the ground using hot rocks to cook the meat and root crops which are wrapped in leaves). We really felt it was an honour to be included in these celebrations. It is the Fijian custom for the men to eat first, then the women join the table after the men have their first helpings. Children are fed first and separately. As guests, we were allowed to eat first with the men.
On Monday, Ma and Joanna had arranged to give us weaving lessons, so Jan and I walked to the village around noon. The pre-preparation of the pandanus leaves requires days of work, but fortunately this seems to be an ongoing process, so they had the leaves ready for us to weave. We were joined by Solate, whom Joe had introduced to us as "his girl". She is quite a character with a real sense of humour. It was a real "sisterhood" bonding experience. We wove mats, shared stories and jokes and laughed a lot. The mats would be finished by Ma and Solate for Jan and I and presented at our farewell party. Ma and Joana made us a delicious lunch of their staple foods - pumpkin, spinach and fish. Maggi Ramen noodle soup is added to many dishes to give them flavour. Jan and I had been puzzled when we observed Fijians buying huge quantities of Maggi soup in the stores in Savusavu - now we understood!
On Tuesday, we moved over to the Sandspit anchorage. It was a challenge moving through all the reefs and bommies, but worth it for this lovely bay dotted with mushroom islets and multiple white sand beaches. Thank goodness for the Google Earth images we had downloaded and the Waypoints. The trade winds were blowing at full strength, averaging over 15 kt with regular gusts into the mid-20's; however, we were well anchored in sand in only 20 feet of water. Our wind generator had the batteries at 100% most of the time with help from the solar panels! A big improvement over their condition in Savusavu with all the clouds there. We attempted to go snorkelling in the pass, but the winds and currents were too strong, so we explored the islets by dinghy instead. There are several breaks in the island chain that surrounds the bay and the sea rushes through these channels. We thought there might be good snorkelling there. Next day, we headed out at low tide and walked across the sand spit to the channels. The currents were very strong, even at low tide, but the water was crystal clear and there were lots of fish and sharks....yikes!! We saw some interesting corals, different from what we have seen to date. For four days, we explored the islets by dinghy, walked the beaches looking for shells, snorkelled and swam in the beautiful clear turquoise water and just enjoyed being in such a beautiful location with Sequoia.
Having been out in the Lau for almost a month now - we were out of wine, had only a few beer left and just cabbage, carrots, potatoes and onions left in the veggie larder, so it was time to return to civilization. There was a weather window to head for Suva on Sunday, so on Saturday we headed back to the village. We needed to thank our hosts and say goodbye and they planned to have a farewell party for us. Our host families were disappointed that we were leaving so soon. They did not have time to prepare a feast, but insisted that we must join them in a bowl of kava. In short order, the Tanoa (the bowl in which kava is prepared and served, made from a single piece of Vesi wood) was set out and Bis presided over the preparation of the kava. Fortunately, a few days earlier, some of the men had made a special trip to the nearby island of Ogea to purchase kava, because the village had run out. Friends soon started drifting in - George and Kinni arrived once school was out, Tui, Joe, Salote and others. As this was the first time we had tasted kava, Bis explained the whole procedure to us (see photo gallery). We enjoyed sharing this time of camaraderie with our new friends. We will never forget our experience in Falaga and the wonderful friends we have made there. Our visit to the Lau has certainly been the highlight of our cruising season.