Bula Bubble Announced! Fiji is Open??II
25 June 2020 | Port Denarau, Fiji
Diane Brown | Sunny afternoon storms
Fiji Prime Minister announces Fiji OPENING!
Bula Bubble
19 June 2020
We had sailed out to Cloud Nine to fish and just see how the boat performed but knowing all along we would have to go back to Port Denarau to pick up parts and get our Immigration extension for two months by end of June. We have been back already four months (since our February visit back to the States) and the next logical extension in Fiji is for an additional two months; pretty much guaranteed (you think) since we have no way to leave!
Friday is usually the day the Fijian Government does major press releases so when nothing happened on Friday we stayed to enjoy the weekend re-opening of Musket Cove Resort and support their efforts to bring local Fijians out on family socially distanced short holidays. The maximum head count allowed was, I think, 20 at the outside palapa harbor bar with mezzo plates served. They needed reservations (not normal in Fiji) so Tabu Soro, and the other foreign flagged quarantined vessels based in Musket Cove at Malolo Island, signed up and reserved three picnic tables knowing our wandering clan would come and go over the afternoon. It was terrific having face to face conversations, rather than texting or SUP paddling up to a boat and doing morse code type communications. I found myself feeling rather out of body (may have been the local rum mojitos as well) talking in three different languages to real live people….
So surprised when on a Sunday morning (Fathers Day) we had a FaceBook notification that Fijian Government Group had a live YouTube about the Care Fiji app. We had rumors that this would signal the beginning of cruising again so I checked in with the live stream and listened to a well prepared speech by Prime Minister B. about re-opening ALL of Fiji in the Fijian Bula Bubble! We knew Fiji was working with Australia and New Zealand on a travel bubble n— but with the recent new cases in NZ and AU were pretty discouraged; so Fiji just decided to do their own Bubble. Lots of rules about pre-quarantines and Covid testing within 48 hours of travel but Super Yacht wise a very real opening. WE, however, are not a super yacht so what did it mean?
Monday morning we sailed back to Port Denarau as planned to visit Immigrations and hopefully find out what cruising again would look like as any newly arrived Super Yachts must stay within defined “Blue Lanes”. “Fiji time” is everywhere so we were not surprised when none of the Customs Officers, Navy or local Harbor Patrols knew what next steps would be to release the foreign flagged vessels to travel to outer islands again with Cruising Permits. They are all waiting on instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office to clarify the new process. Normally the ports that are certified for check-in to Fiji (about six) all handle the paperwork for cruising permits- moving the paperwork through the iTutaki Local Boards to Customs then to cruisers. The new rules only allow check-in at Port Denarau and require each boat (super yacht or cruiser) to have a local agent who certifies compliance. But nobody had time to put process in place. So we checked in with Customs who by now know us as Tabu Soro (“never give up” in Fijian) and they asked for time to check in with the PM’s office. The next day they asked us to turn in paperwork for a new or extension of our old cruising permit with Denarau and be patient as they iTaukei Indigenous Affairs Board come up to speed. John’s Mom and Dad cruised the outer island on Dianne and Warwicks boat, Seax of Legra, in the 90’s when only 13 boats were allowed a year. So we appreciate that the iTaukei board has an important mission over the last 30 years to insure foreigners arriving via boats do not infect or impact adversely the small remote populations or offend their customs.
Happily, Immigrations was easy and or paperwork in order so we are now legal to be in Fiji until end of August. After that there is an additional special permit for six months we can apply for; or if feasible, we can sail to a neighboring country like Fortuna or Vanuatu and check in and out and return to Fiji for an additional six months (18 months for the boat) which would get us through the next 2021 cyclone season.
Apologies for the soap-opera which is our lives. We realize it is much simpler than what you are all experiencing in the States right now.