SUVA TO BEQA

July 6, 2013

After 19 days in Suva, it's time to move on to the outlying islands and participate in the rural life of Fijian villagers.  Many of the transits are weather dependent as they involve sailing close hauled into the wind.  It is amazing how the highs and lows that are coming off Australia and New Zealand affect the Fijian weather pattern.  Also, the weather to the North of Fiji has a great influence. All this produces heavy rain and strong wind on the Eastern side of the island.  We try to pick weather windows for comfortable sailing.

Our first choice for venturing outside of Suva was Beqa.  This island is about 30 nm to the South of Suva and is home to the famous Beqa Fire Walkers.  They inhabitants are members of the Sawau tribe and can walk bare foot across blazing hot rocks!  How and Why is steeped in legend: an encounter with a spirit god by one of their great ancestors saw the exchange of the captured god's freedom for the power over fire.  Today these fire walkers participate in religious ceremonies that have become tourist attractions.  One of the most famous fire walking ceremonies takes place in Suva sometime at the end of July or August and lasts 10 days.  Unfortunately, we will not be in the area for this event.  We never did see or inquire about fire walking ceremonies on Beqa since they are a staged tourist attraction.

We left Suva at 0900 hrs on July 6 and arrived in Vaga Bay, Beqa (18-24' S; 178-06' E) at 1500 hrs.  This is a small community of several hundred people who are very friendly and accommodating.  We made our "sevusevu" (presentation of Kava) to the local chief and wondered around the village.  We were taken into one of the homes and invited to attend their church the following morning which was Sunday.   Approximately 85% of Fijians are Methodist; 12% Catholic; the rest Hindu and Muslim.  There are no cars or roads on Beqa:  It's all done by boat or foot.  The children are taken to school in a boat or walk if it's not too far.  We went to the village on the following morning but the church services were scheduled in another village so we didn't have a chance to hear the wonderful music that all these islanders create with their voices and instruments.  Our hosts provided us with a typical Fijian meal of fish, rice, cassava, noodles and mango juice:  very well prepared and delicious.  In the villages Fijians eat with their hands but we were given the opportunity to follow suit or use forks.  A finger bowl was provided for washing the hands after the meal.

The host family was invited to visit our yacht later on in the day and we arranged to pick them up at 1500 hrs. We have been sailing with another vessel named "Catharpin Blue".  They too participated in the meal and entertainment for the host family.  We would have stayed longer in the village and  anchorage but it was plagued by katabatic winds that rush off the high mountains and hit the boat with force causing it veer and swing around in circles.  The holding was good but we were close to reefs and didn't feel secure enough to stay on and take hikes into the mountains and other villages.

On June 8th we weighed anchor at 1335 hrs and decided to circle the island counterclockwise to Malumu Bay in the Northern part of the island.  The guides we had consulted indicated a beautiful bay with safe anchorage and sapphire waters.  It is a long narrow entrance into an extinct volcano crater and quite stunning in scenery and surrounding mountains.  We dropped anchor at 1630 hrs in position (18-23' S; 178-09' E).  Unfortunately, it, too, is plagued with violent katabatic winds that come in gusts boxing the compass.  Once again, the holding is great in volcanic sand and mud but the gusts are continuous and disconcerting.  There were no villages in Malumu Bay; only some kind of tourist resort called Lalati.  The heavy rains turned the bay into a muddy brown but eventually cleared to a jade green.  It wasn't enticing enough to go swimming.  Two days of this was enough to consider another part of Fiji so on July 11th we heaved up anchor and set sail for Gau with the option of going to Leleuvia Is.   In the end we opted for Leleuvia Island (18-48.5' S; 178-43' E).  The wind and seas were in the right sector for making passage:  SE 12-15 kts; seas 4'.

We are trying to take snap-shot pictures of the charts and anchor positions to make it easier to locate where we are but the best thing would be to download Google Earth and zoom in to the positions given.  All one has to do is put the positions in Google Earth and it will take you right there.   I use snap-shots of Google Earth to confirm that the charts are accurate and offset any errors.  Google Earth is an amazing tool.  The world is at your finger tips!