08/10/2024
Yasawa Island Circumnavigation
DAY 1
Navouta village was the most northern village where I paddled to the last time I was in Fiji. In 2022, we paddled 150km from Nadi to here. This time, we planned an expedition that starts from this charming village, to circumnavigate the whole of Yasawa island, the slender island that was the namesake of this 100+km long archipelago. It was supposed to be a Discovery trip, where we stayed in resorts and drank Fiji Bitter. But since no one showed any interest, I decided to do a mini 3-day self-supporting expedition to circumnavigate Yasawa island, before going to the resorts.
I had good memories of staying in Navouta village 2 years ago. The grassy village at the northern tip of Nacula island. It was windy then, and it was also windy this time. Coconuts trees lean hard to the side, clotheslines strained with flapping laundry. A moderate wind blowing almost 35km/hr (20knots). It was chilly in the shade and very comfortable in the sun. Navouta village was also close to "the blue lagoon”, made legendary by the movie of the same name. The movie was all about 14-year old Brooke Shields’ coming of age, but the book explored the interesting idea of what could happen if 2 children grew up on a deserted, bountiful paradise island by themselves, surrounded by the wonders of nature, and free from guardianship.
Sawa-i-Lau consisted of a lagoon (aka the blue lagoon) and a hidden cave chamber where one had to dive underwater through a short passage to get to. After lunch, we all piled on a speedboat, took 2 enthusiastic village guides with us, and explore this used-to-be sacred site. It was already late afternoon and all the high-paying tourists from the resorts had left. We explored the dark cave and swam in the lagoon at our private leisure. It was wonderful when it was just us.
The best sunrise in Yasawa archipelago could be here in Navouta village. The sun rising behind the tall limestone hills that held down the Sawa-i-Lau. The traditional and colourful Fijian bures glowing bright in the sun rays. Even better was the toilet that faced the sunrise. You can let it all flow - s**t, tears, fears, and whatever, as you watched the majestic sunrise while sitting on a toilet. Even sunrise needed witnesses to give it meaning, and sometimes it happened to be from a s**t hole…
We ate at a different host family for each of our meals. This gave us opportunities to meet different villagers and taste different home cooked food. Breakfast was at Aprorosa’s home, and his wife prepared a spread of boiled oats, breadfruit, bread (+peanut butter), and lentils. This was almost like my happy meal! Not "continental" or "American" breakfast, spurious resorts' breakfasts that served unknowable calories. I sometimes hear complaints about food, but I hoped these villagers would be wise not to bend to the fancy of tourists. I chomped down plenty of lentils and boiled oats, in preparation for the long paddling day ahead. Yesterday lunch and dinner were even better, expensive hipster cafe organic stuff - full of vegetables, tuberous root (cassava, sweet potatoes, taro), breadfruits, shellfishes, and paw-paw (organic sweet papayas). Meat, for these remote villages, were reserved for Sunday's lunches, which were a big tradition in Fiji.
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Southwest of Yasawa island was what we called an exposed coast with few landing beaches. I didn't know why the coast here was scraped, as this was on the leeward side of the island. The wind started once we rounded this large cape and pointed towards Vawa island. After an hour of struggle, we landed at Vawa island. The caretakers kindly invited us into the shade of a container house to have our lunch. Vawa island was about the size of St. John’s island. It had a very beautiful beach surrounded by coral reefs. Fiji was one of those places where foreigners can buy land, buy islands, and create their own slice of paradise. This island was sold to an American businessman for just a million dollars, probably to be built as a private island resort someday. For now, it had his big house, a swimming pool (disused), and a house for caretakers. He came often to stay. It was for us, a good respite and rest from the relentless wind.
Lunch was another of those simple dishes that required fresh ingredients to make it not just good, but awesome! - Dish 1 : Roti wraps of veg, rice, potatoes; Dish 2 : topshell conch sizzled with coconut milk, eggplants, & breadfruits. The topshell conchs ((Tectus niloticus) here were huge shells, more than double the size of what we could find in Singapore, and absolutely delicious.
After lunch, we took another 2 hours, against the wind, to paddle back towards Yasawa island. I couldn't say we were already used to the wind, but we just plodded on, knowing we were moving, albeit slowly, but surely making progress. The whole group was moving together, except for J, this 18 year old boy who obviously had too much energy and bravado. He was stronger than the wind. He came without his parents, so was screaming freedom. Mainly he was young and invincible.
"J! Come! Here's the tow rope. Tow the last kayak."
“Huh..?!”
No one needed to be towed. But he needed to be taught a lesson in zen paddling.
It took a couple of hours to make 5km. When we landed it was mid afternoon. Since it was a nice beach, we decided just to set up camp for the night instead of doing the planned 18km. This was the freedom of self-supporting kayak touring, having everything we needed on our kayaks. We could stop or carry on. There was no schedule or time or place that we needed to be. If it felt right, it was the right thing to do. So we stopped.
The beach was large and wide but we could see the extent of the high tide marks from 3 days' ago - highest of the month. Fiji, like Singapore, was semidiurnal (2 highs a day), and the next high tide was tonight at 8pm. We should have enough real estate, but just to be safe, we decided to watch the tides until 8pm.
It was also good to stop earlier as some of us would be camping...for the first time in their lives! Wow! 3hrs of mucking around would be a good time to sort everything out, and make comfy home on this beautiful beach.
Fiji offered very comfortable camping in September, with cool dry breeze and clear sky. I just wished the food could be better! Fiji had strict biosecurity customs, and this meant we couldn't bring food from home. We left the village on Saturday morning, when the villagers had not gone out to fish or hunt, so there was no meat to buy. It was not like what we used to in southeast asia, where food was always plentiful and we could always buy fresh fish or so from the villages. From Navouta village, we got a couple of breadfruits. Dinner was pasta, vegetables, and fruits - stuff from the supermarket on the mainland that didn't use excessive packaging. Canned food was very low on my list of edible food.
At night the sky was so clear that the milky way was visible not just at the horizon but high above our heads. When the moon rose, she shone so brightly the clouds gained shapes and that the entire beach was illuminated. On such a mellow evening, it was best to just sit in one's chair, looking out at the vast Pacific Ocean, listening to the waves, feeling the breeze - and light up a cigarette. No wonder the villagers drink so much kava. But since I had no kretek and I didn't fancy kava, reading a book (about Arctic) and doing nothing sounded alright.
