Commodore
June 26, 2024

Thursday 27 June – Visit to a waterfall in the emerald jungle

We were hardly off the boat yesterday, so we were determined to get out and about today. Rowan went to pick up our new navigation sim card and I went to check out the markets. When we go to the remote Lau group of Fijian ialands, we have to take a present to the chief to get permission to anchor. The acceptable present is Kava roots, which they make a mildly hallucinogenic drink from. One whole section of the market is dedicated to it. The fresh produce market was great, with a small handicraft section which was sadly mainly Chinese tat. But a lovely friendly atmosphere, with no pestering.

Kava roots in the market

Kava bundled up, we bought 7 bundles to take to the Lau group of islands

Aubergine for sale everywhere, strangely they call it egg plant like the Americans, you would have thought with their rich Indian culture they might call it brinjal!

The market emptying out over lunch

Rowan’s card had arrived which was good news, ordered from the main land and delivered by DHL. We decided to catch a taxi to a town about 10 miles away with a waterfall and a good place for a swim. It was lovely to drive through the lush velvety green interior for a while, all in misty drizzle. To get to the falls we had to go and pay the village elders first and then visit. Sadly the rain and grey skies put us off swimming. It was a lovely but treacherously slippery 500m walk to the waterfall.

The emerald creeper covered jungle

Beautiful garden path leading to the falls

Looking down the river away from the waterfall – lovely clean waterway and thick jungle!

Rowan loves a good waterfall (the kids will appreciate that!)

We decided to go for a late lunch at the Planter’s Club which had been recommended to us by Vicki who runs the Pacific Rally we joined. It was a real time warp, the club is an old institution with a few rather decrepit expat members around. They have a pool table with the usual long list of rules about attire. Some great old photos were on display, real faded glory. We did have a very good lunch, the kitchen staffed by Indians produced my delicious fish curry.

We got back to the boat and poor Rowan was devastated to find the sim card still didn’t work! The evening sped by, Rowan had discovered a guy called Marty who has very good local knowledge, and wanted to pick his brains about good anchorages and the route we should take to the Lau group. Marty looked a real old salty sea dog, with very itchy dreadlocks! Turns out he was born in South Africa, to Hungarian and German parents, they returned to Germany when he was 7, so has little memory of South Africa but has the wanderlust as he has travelled extensively. He has a part time job as a boat broker, delivery skipper, runs people’s islands and a lot more. Amazingly he is living aboard a boat called Pec who was briefly on the World Arc with us, we met Pec in the Galapagos, it was a crew of 5 Polish guys, who between them could not speak much English at all, they were very hard to communicate with. They sold the boat when they got to Tahiti, Marty sold it on and agreed to sail the boat with the new owner, to Tonga. The passage put the new owner off so much, that he put Pec back up for sale, she is sitting in the marina here waiting for a new owner.