SAVUSAVU DIARY

Two weeks ago, when we landed here at Savusavu, we thought we’d stay a few days, reprovision and move on.  But a few factors converged to keep us here a little longer.  And happily so.

First of all, it’s a chill place to be. 

Fijian people are super-welcoming, helpful and friendly.  Which is not to say that they ‘re effervescent or enthusiastic – they’re not.  They’re quite reserved – there’s a distinct calm about their manner.  On first meeting, they seem almost stern, maybe stoic, in their demeanour.  Certainly modest, perhaps even humble.  Soft spoken.  Slow-talking, with a pleasant lyrical sing-song quality.  And just when you’re not expecting it, the face melts into a huge warm smile. These are big-bodied people – a gross generalization, I know – but as a race, Fijians, like Tongans, tend to be big people.  Gentle giants. 

The Fijian greeting is Bula.  Pronounced boo-lah – or more often, boooo-lahhhh – it’s actually hard to say it without smiling.  And Bulas galore – rarely a person passes on the street or in the market without a hearty Bula!

The folks at the Copra Shed Marina are few and they’re unassuming – and helpful to a person. 

Take Anjana, for example, the server from the resto. When we asked her a simple question (not too nosey) about her life, she gently pulled up a chair from the next table (not too close, respectful distance), and sat down with us to share some stories.  This week, she offered that, on Wednesday her day-off, she and her husband would drive us around Vanua Levu (means the big island) to the bigger town on the other side about 90 kms away – Labasa, their hometown – for some much-needed provisioning.  They spent hours taking us for “spares”, for groceries, to the market – much nicer than Savusavu market – picking up a few things for themselves along the way. 

As we wrapped up our errands around noon, Anjana’s husband asks shyly, would we mind to pay a visit to his mother – and then, would chicken curry and rice be OK for lunch?  Well, oh my goodness, yes and yes!   We’d planned to treat them to a restaurant lunch, and instead we were welcomed at his family’s home – a small modest sugar cane farm – meeting the extended family and eating their chicken curry – washed it down with “juice”, a lemonade made from citrus fruit picked from the tree, that he’d called ahead and asked his mother to prepare as a special treat in honour of our visit. Super-generous. Have a little, give a lot.

And then there’s Pio, the man-everything who guides you to the dock, pilots you to your mooring ball, tends to the gardens, maintains the property, resolves all disputes before they arise.  And our laundress, Oona – I especially love the sound of her name – Boooo-lahhhh, Oooo-nahhh – feels happy in your mouth!

Secondly, we were held up in Savusavu with a little equipment hiccup.  Some might recall the generator nightmare that we endured in Mexico – the long delay and exorbitant cost of importing and installing our brand new Italian genset – it’s a lambourgini, or some fancy designer thing like that – and a real disappointment.  By the time we reached NZ, it was leaking diesel and water and was badly in need of warranty service.  Of course, having procured it in Mexico, clear reliable paperwork was nowhere to be found, and warranty – what warranty?  You’d think we’d bought it at a bargain price off the back of a truck.  Still, the Kiwis got it back up and running, and it’s been purring away ever since we splashed in April, topping up our batteries whenever the sunshine isn’t quite enough to fuel all our needs. 

That is, until we arrived in Fiji, when it just stopped working – mechanically still perfectly fine, but suddenly not generating any power.  So, we encountered a small delay in Savusavu. I expected it might take 3 or 4 days to resolve, but it took only a day to find Pillai, the marine electrical guy in town, and to ferry him out to Turtlebones in the mighty tender, where he switched out the capacitor and later sold us a spare.  All sorted! Bill’s trouble-shooting had already identified capacitor failure as the culprit, but on this fancy genset, we couldn’t find the darned thing.  Now, we’ve learned where it is, got another spare, and Bill knows exactly how to switch it up.  Good learning that day!

Thirdly, there was a wee brush with dengue fever that had me flattened for 3 or 4 days – with no interest or energy for hiking or snorkelling or generally exploring.  Not 100% sure what it was, but the mossies had taken their liberties with me, and dengue is an issue here in Fiji – and the symptoms match.  Headache, fever, extreme fatigue in the daytime like I’d never encountered, and weirdest of all, full body itchiness throughout the nighttime making sleep impossible.  So, we stayed put.  Bill puttered around the boat and around the town, while I didn’t help at all, just rested and recovered.  And now we’re ready to move on.

Lastly, and certainly not least of all, we couldn’t venture too too far anyway – because today we have company coming!  Bill’s old dear friends, my new friends, Kim and Jacques from Vancouver. They are flying here to Savusavu this afternoon, and they’ll stay with us on Turtlebones for the next three weeks – while we circumnavigate this beautiful Fiji nation.  We can’t visit all 330 islands, but we hope to drop anchor at ten or more.  Stay tuned!