We spent most of our time in Fiji in this area. Fiji is rainy, even out of the cyclone season, but the west is much drier than the east.
It is touristy. Fiji attracts getting on for ½m visitors annually, and this is where most of them come, to the beach resorts like this one. It seems even the tiniest sandy ‘desert’ island, which you could walk round in twenty minutes, is topped with its own resort.
The Melanesian native villages are on the volcanic islands. This is Waya Island.
In visiting these villages we had to observe certain formalities, in particular the ‘sevusevu’ ceremony, the ritual presentation of Kava root to the village headman. This is pounded and infused into a drink that looks and tastes like mud. It has mildly narcotic properties and makes the lips and tongue go numb.
In stark contrast to the resorts, people in the villages were living a near subsistence lifestyle without electricity, roads, vehicles, piped water or sanitation. A whole family were living in this hut (left). The table is their kitchen.
Whatever their means, we could not help but be impressed by the warmth of their welcome. "Bula!" (Welcome!) sounded wherever we went.
Hard to believe their one-time reputation for ferocity and cannibalism. After being set adrift from Bounty, Captain Bligh rowed straight past the Yasawa Islands fearing to land here.
For us yachties there are many pretty anchorages, either close to the resorts where we use the bars and restaurants, or outside the villages. The reefs ensure that the seas stay calm even when the trade winds blow strong, though they do need care navigating. And Fiji is by far the cheapest destination we have found in the SW Pacific.
In the resorts we are entertained by demonstrations of local arts and skills ...
... and there is much to see. Left, a subterranean limestone cavern in the Yasawas. Snorkling over the coral throughout these islands was exceptional.
On the nearby mainland are a couple of marinas offering a full range of yacht maintenance facilities. Here, there is an entirely different culture, due to the many descendents of Indians brought in to farm the sugar plantations. This is a Hindu temple. Sugar is still Fiji's main industry, and the narrow-gauge trains (above right) taking cane to the refinery criss-cross the countryside.
And, at the end of the day, it's yet another perfect sunset.
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