We reached the largest lagoon in the northern Lau group after one week island hopping from the Southern Lau group. We entered through the southern pass, which was wide and easy to get through, and anchored next to Susui island just before sunset.
Susui village has about 70 inhabitants, and we visited them the following day for the sevusevu welcoming ceremony. They had instructed us to arrive late Sunday afternoon, right after church service. The local cruiser liaison in the village, Jekob, took us to see the chief, who conducted the ceremony.
It was a proper ceremony, where Jekob took lead and assisted us, while we tried our best to follow. He started with a speech, and followed with the three claps we have learned accompanies every speech. We did not get offered any kava to drink this time.
After the sevusevu, we were invited to a monthly tradition having tea and cakes at the communal building. Most of the villagers were already there when we arrived, with the women in one room, and the men in another. We were presented with hot tea and a huge plate of pieces of cake.
We soon found out that they wanted us to eat many pieces, the one plate with almost 20 pieces on it, was for us alone. Most of the others sitting next to us, ate at least 6-7 cake pieces each, so we tried our best, again, to follow suit. After three pieces, the captain had to give up keeping their pace, and the admiral had to stop at two.
What a warm and welcoming community! We were so touched by the way the village greeted us, and invited us into one of their most social events of the month. We really enjoyed it, and felt that we had participated on something very special. Due to respect for the local communities we are welcomed into, we do not take photos of settings like these.
During the next week, we spent our time taking walks on the beach, snorkeling and socializing with the other boats that came and left.
While we were there, Norway played against Brazil in the 1/8 finals in the football World Cup. And, much to our surprise and joy – we won! We did not realize at the time that our neighboring boat had a crew from Brazil on board, which might be the reason they raised anchor right after we had run all over our boat cheering and raising our big Norwegian flag. Ooops.
Our friend on board SV Moana invited us to a celebratory party along with the guests she had on board, as well as two other boats whom we knew from before. We were 11 people all together who shared a very memorable evening.
We were seriously running low on fresh produce, and were able to arrange a full day outing with Jekob together with two other boats. Jekob took us by his longboat to the biggest island in the lagoon, Vanua Balavu. We started in the main village, Lomaloma. As we have been so remote for almost two months, it felt like we really came to a big city. We haven’t even seen a car in two months! Considering it only has 900 inhabitants, I guess we really can call it a city, though…
We all got into a truck Jekob arranged for us, with a driver who was going to take us further north on the island.
Our first stop, was at a village called Mualevu. There was a a three day convention for all the women of the island there, which happens annually. They had handicrafts and other merchandise for sale, and we seized the opportunity to purchase some virgin coconut oil.
After another 15 minut drive, we arrived in Manava. There are two farms located in this village, and they supply the whole island with fresh produce.
We soon discovered that we were going into their fields to harvest our own fruit and vegetables, together with the owner, here as well. We climbed far up the steep hills, and have never seen a farm situated at a more beautiful spot. The views surrounding us were amazing.
With help from the farmers in the field, we harvested tomatoes, cabbage, pumpkin, papaya, eggplant and green beans. It felt like Christmas and birthday in one day! Getting access to fresh product while being remote certainly impacts our sailing plans, so that stop meant we did not have to rush back to a city for another few weeks.
After spending one week in Susui, we sailed inside the lagoon to the northern end of Vanua Balavu. There are several bays in which to anchor there, and we had put our eyes on the tiniest of them all, called Ravi Ravi bay.
There was a boat that entered the bay right before we got there, and we knew it would be a tight fit with two boats there. So, we prepared ourselves to move further west to the larger bays. However, right before we arrived, the boat exited the bay again, so another opportunity opened up for us.
We entered through the tight opening, and came into a circular bay, with reefs on all sides and steep walls surrounding us. It was quite deep in the bay, 10 meters, and the trick was to put out enough chain not to drag, but allow us to swing 360 degrees inside the bay without touching anything. At the second attempt, we were all good, and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset in our lonesomeness, accompanied by the sound of crickets and birds.
The following day we hiked to a nearby village, Daliconi, for yet another sevusevu ceremony. As we were planning to move to another anchorage the following day, we found out we would save quite some time and sailing distance by walking there, rather than sail past our anchorage to go the the village, and then have to venture back to anchor.
The chief was not at home, but we met his liaison, who welcomed us after receiving the kava root and 50 FJD donation to the village’s road project. We toured the village, before doing the 45 minute hike back to our boat.
We enjoyed another night in solitude, before we sailed around the corner to the Bay of Islands the following morning. This area is very well known amongst sailors. There are many mushroom islets in this bay, like we saw in Ogea and Fulaga.
We also met up with several boats we have not seen in a while, two of whom we have not seen since we sailed in French Polynesia almost 1.5 years ago. The admiral arranged a dinghy float sundowner party for the boats in the bay, so we all could meet.
During our stay in Bay of Islands, Norway played its last game of the football World Cup, against England. We had now gotten to the 1/4 finals, which was a huge achievement for our team. We were joined for the match by our friends from SV Blown Away, who showed up with cinnamon rolls! The admiral thought her eyes would fall out… soooo yummy!!!
We tried our best to cheer our team on, but ended up loosing to England.
We spent another night in the bay, before we decided it was time to move west. We have already been in Fiji almost two months, and we have a lot to cover, still. We have really enjoyed being in the most remote area of this huge country, the Lau group. Many sailors do not go there, as one normally has to sail upwind to get to there. We exited the Lau group on another day sail to the west, looking for a sheltered anchorage for an upcoming blow.