Week 4 Musket Cove, Fiji

Nov 2-Nov 9, 2014, Musket Cove, Fiji   Week 4

We have been in Fiji 4 weeks.  It  is time to get out of the marina and see some of the islands before the hurricanes start.  The weather has been nasty the last several days but on Sunday it settles down.  Monday morning we are off and clear the channel smoothly even though it is almost low tide.  We have never found a good cruising guide to Fiji and Alan is  worried about reef and atolls so we decide that for this first venture we will go to Muscat Cove.  It is only 10 miles away and everyone has been telling us about how wonderful it is.  Although the weather predicted 15-20 knot winds and moderate to rough seas, it is flat calm and we motor all the way..  I am guessing this is what it is like in the Caribbean, islands and reefs everywhere, just a short sail from each other.

The dress code in Fiji calls for skirts over the knee and covered shoulders for women.  Apparently long pants don’t qualify  It must be a skirt.  Men wear a wrap skirt with a short sleeved dress shirt.  This mostly applies to the outer islands but even in the main cities you seldom see the older women in pants and sleeveless tops.  So in anticipation of getting to the outer islands, I have reconfigured my closet with matching t-shirts and skirts and bought a skirt for Alan.  We have also laid in a supply of Kava roots.  The villages own not only the land but also the water around the island.  Whenever you anchor you are expected to dress properly, dingy ashore and present the chief with a bundle of kava and then attend the kava drinking ceremony.  Then you are free to swim, sail and explore in their waters, not before. 

Having said that, Musket Cove is a resort and so the rules don’t apply.  I put on a bikini and grab a sarong and I am good to go.  This turns out to be my week in Paradise.  The end of the season regatta was a few weeks ago and the resort is quiet.  There are a dozen boats in the bay, including old friends heading for New Zealand.  The weather is lovely.  Alan joins the yacht club for $15 for a lifetime membership.  The only requirement is that you must have sailed here from a foreign country.  The yacht club consists of an office on the wharf and a bure bar on a little island just off the beach.  Along with a well stocked bar, it has coin operated barbecues.  Buy your meat from the little store on the beach and drop a coin in the slot.  the staff provides utensils and even does the clean up.  Eat at one of their tables and then curl upon the beach front couches and watch the sunset.  Like I said, paradise. 

I go for 3 snorkel trips while Alan lazes around the boat and does odd jobs.  The dive boat takes us out to a reef and we all jump in and drift for an hour until we get to the boat and climb back in.  The snorkeling is wonderful.  Finally i get to see brightly colored living coral.  Up to now it has almost all been while, grey or brown.  Here it is vivid fuchsia, blue, red, green in all kinds of fabulous shapes.  The fish are equally colorful.. I am by myself and can just drift quietly along.  The fish come right up to see who/what I am.  There is one kind that has black and while tails in a v shape that are particularly persistent.  I finally realize that my flippers are colored the same way as their tails.  They must think i am a big fish.

One afternoon I join a trip to the village where most of the resort workers live.  It is obviously set up for the gueats from the 2 resorts on the siland but it is a very sad experience.  We are treated to a kava ceremony and then an extended request to donate money to the poor villagers.  Our guide points out one traditional building that has stood for 20 years through numerous storms and then points to the sorry modern buildings and tells us that seven of them were lost in storms just last year.  When asked why they don't go back to the old way of building he replies that it is too much trouble and that most of the big trees they need for posts have been cut down.   The rest of the visit is an opportunity to but cheap trinkets from the village women.  About 20 tables have been set up along the beach but none of the items for sale are made here.  They are bought on the mainland and brought over to sell..Poor quality and poor design.

We decide to join in the hotel feast night.  Alan is always up for a lavish spread and we certainly got onu moneys worth on this one.; pig roasted on a spit with a lavish spread of local foods.  There are several salads, including ne of ferns with coconut and lime dressing, roasted eggplant, taro, rice, etc for sides and fresh fruit and several coconut deserts.  After dinner we are treated to a dance presentation.  Once again it is similar to but different from anything else that we have seen .  It is mostly the men doing the dancing this time.  When the women join in they are much more restrained.  I have heard that the Hawaiian hula was originally a men's dance and I can see evidence of it here.  The men used much more hip movement than I have seen before but not the knee shaking that was so common in the societies.  I would love to see a comparison of the dances from each island.  It would be fascinating to see the evolution as populations spread throughout the Pacific and then were impacted and suppressed by the missionaries.   Fiji is one of the oldest cultures and Hawaii is the newest.

Saturday the weather changed and the rain came pouring down all night long.  Alan got up 3 times to bail out the dingy so that it would not sink while I slept like a log.  I find the sound of rain on the roof very soothing.  The rain finally let up the next afternoon but then the wind kicked in  and blew for another 24 hours.  So we had two lazy days on board.  Since we were safely anchored and not trying to sail through it we could just read or sew or work on odd jobs.  I have a lovely piece of jeweled fabric that I have had for years that I have decided to make into an elegant outfit for New Years Eve.  Now I just have to find somewhere to wear it.

With the storm blown out, we treat ourselves to a final barbecue on the beach before we head back to Vuda Marina.  Most of the cruisers are gone or on the way out and we are now meeting the people who stay here year round.  The only immigration requirements are that you leave every four months.  Not hard to do since flights from here to other island countries are just a few hundred dollars.  They are planning a Thanksgiving potluck with at least three turkeys already ordered and we are encouraged to come.  Unless we get a better offer in our marina or the weather is nasty, I expect we will be there.