August 15, 2000-More Cruising in Fiji

Albert Cove, Rambi Island

Anchored. Stillness all around, 360 degrees of nothing moving, nothing seen. Flat calm and featureless gray low cloud sky. We are in a different bay, a hidden one on Kioa Island. This bay is on the chart but not in the guide book. Doesn't even have a name. A big sea turtle lives here, plus quite a few herons. The shoreline is all mangrove. No people or sign of them. The main island is a gray mass 10 miles off. A solitary piling stands in the distance, a Fijian navigation aid, marking a reef. Why this one reef when so many others hide unmarked? There is open ocean just outside this bay, and it is usually rough but today it sleeps, WINGS hardly moves. It was rainy last night and we dropped the hook just before the mist closed in. Today the rain had stopped and we went ashore to burn trash. A pig family came to visit, 12 of them surprised us by wandering unannounced out of the bush. Judy ran to the shore, prepared to head out in the dingy in case they were unfriendly but they just snorted and plopped down in the sand around our fire. We figured they liked our company; we liked theirs.

The next day the wind came back up. Outside our little bay the world was turbulent. We had shelter but it was tenuous, the wind whistled overhead and we looked worriedly at the weather fax. When the wind swirled overhead WINGS drifted around, pulling the anchor chain over rocks and coral. For two nights we listened to the rumbling of the chain. Finally we had enough and headed for Albert Cove, on Rambi Island, 13 miles away. We waved goodbye to the pigs and sailed out into the windstorm, into the rain, into the whiteout. With a reefed main and no jib we still did 7.5 knots. One of us was on deck and one was below watching the GPS and charting our position every few moments, threading WINGS through the reef system. Stress...cusswords...but we made it, one more gamble beaten. Now the wind whistles in a new place; Judy liked the last one better; they call this cruising?

A Week Later

Albert Cove is another remote spot on another remote island but there are six yachts anchored here. A few families live in Albert Cove, living off the land mostly. At midnight I go on deck. Nearby I see a fisherman. He is in a small canoe, he works a hand line with the light of a Coleman lantern...I can see the mantle glowing. He is hunched over and works his line silently, the light of the lantern lets me see his face: cragged and dark. He is wearing a heavy hooded coat. I hear his cough and I wonder if he can hear my stereo. Surely he can. Maybe that is why he fishes so close to my boat. Then a shadow passes between us, a second fisherman. They must be sharing the light.

We spent over a week at Rambi Island, in various anchorages. This island is rugged and jungle covered, the people are not Fijians but Banabans from the island of Bananba, in the Gilberts. The British resettled them on Rambi after the war. Their own island had been ravaged by years of phosphate mining was no longer a suitable home for the Banabans. Or maybe the British just felt it was going to be easier to get the rest of the phosphate without the people being in the way. The Banabans got a pretty nice place for a new home however, at least we thought it was beautiful, and they seem to have adjusted to it OK. None of the Banabans we talked to had much interest in going back to Banaba and unlike the Indians they don't seem to have any conflict with the Fijians. Of course they haven't posed any economic or political threat to the Fijians either. The families live at Albert Cove are there mainly to maintain a presence when the yachts come. Albert Cove is a popular anchorage for visiting cruisers and the people of Rambi recognized both that there is the need to keep an eye on the place and that there is some potential to make some money off the yachts by giving dance exhibitions and trading. When we were there they put on a dance program for 13 of us yachties and we enjoyed the nice music and great dancing. They asked for a donation that we were happy to give.

We also spent several days at Katherine Cove at the other end of Rambi Island where we visited the primary school on exam day. On a walk in the jungle we were attracted by the sound of a band playing military marches. We followed the sound and came to the school, where they were having a big event. We met the head master and some parents, and saw a hundred or so school kids dressed in colorful and clean school uniforms taking tests in five subjects. The parents were fixing a big lunch and the boy's brass band which we had heard was playing during the lunch break. There was a big feast planned for later in the afternoon. The activity, sounds and color of this school in the middle of the steaming green jungle left us with strong images.

Next we anchored in the roadstead off SomoSomo on Taveuni Island, our last stop on this cruise before pointing WINGS back toward the civilization of SavuSavu. The high backbone of mountainous Taveuni blocks most of the trade wind but a few strong gusts and some of the ocean's swells were present in our anchorage. We were not complaining, the holding was good and being open, at least we could get out quickly if we had to in a weather change. The same mountain which blocks the wind causes a lot of rain to fall and SomoSomo is a drizzly, wet place. Rainbows are common on the hills over the town. There is a fast running river in town and the local kids play in the rapids under the bridge on the main road. We walked to an Indian store and bought fresh bread, frozen meat, wine, and fresh veggies. We didn't see any way to get water onboard however and our water tanks are low, so we were reduced to the water we could make with the watermaker. Time to turn to the southwest.

Another day’s sail found us on the way back in Nasasobu Bay. This is another treasure not in the cruising guide with 360 degree protection and good holding for the anchor. There are two other boats here who have been here for weeks. They have made friends with the four local families who own 800 acres here including the entire bay. This is not a Fijian village, it is a plantation owned by black Fijian citizens who immigrated here some generations ago, from where we are not sure. They have trimmed lawns and cultivated gardens. The land is fenced and they have cattle. It has a different feel from a traditional Fijian village. The other cruisers are adventuresome divers and we went with them on a dive on the outer reef, looking for game fish and sharks. We shot one big wahoo that unfortuately got away with the spear, and we saw three white tip sharks who left us alone, but mostly is was an uneventful dive and the others were disappointed. We learned quite a bit about free-diving however and were glad we made the trip. Later we went on a hike around the bay and picked a bag of wild lemons.

Fred & Judy, S/V Wings, Nasasobu Bay, Fiji


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