Day 67, Year 2: Trip to Mavana, Lobstering on the Reef, and A Full Moon
Date: Saturday, June 30, 2007
Weather: Just a Gorgeous Day
Location: Nabavatu Harbor, Vanua Balavu, Northern Lau Group

I don’t think it gets any better than this. At 8 AM we went with our friends from the Nabavatu Plantation, Iliesa, Nako and his daughter, and Sudari, to the village of Mavana. At noon we returned to Nabavatu Harbor and Mark went with the guys on a fishing and lobstering expedition outside the bay. After three hours, they returned with literally a boat load of fish and lobster. At 5:30 PM we are busily processing the biggest and most beautiful lobster we have ever seen in our lives–six of them. It was quite a day. I will now take one part at a time and fill in the details As I do this, the full moon is rising over Nabavatu Harbor. We spent our day with the kindest, most sharing people we have ever met in our lives, and we know this is why we are out here sailing around the world. Just to share a moment in time with these people is so very, very special.

First thing this morning, we went in the Nabavatu Plantation company boat, a small 18-foot outboard runabout, to the village of Mavana on the east coast of Vanua Balavu. Our main mission was to return Nako’s daughter to school. The children come home one weekend twice a month, and when she came home last weekend, she got sick and had to stay at home. It was time for her to return, so as I said, that was our main mission, but for us, just seeing the east side of the island was an adventure all its own. Mavana’s claim to fame is that it is the home of the past Prime Minister – the one overthrown in the coups last year. People here still call him the Prime Minister and have a mighty allegiance to him.

We had a great trip across the north end of Vanua Balavu and when we got near the village, I was a little taken aback. It looked like a small town with big buildings. We haven’t seen anything like this since we left Suva, so this was culture shock for us. We arrived just as low tide was approaching, so Iliesa was able to get us all the way to shore. But he then had to take the boat back out as he knew that shortly full low tide would leave us high and dry. We went to the store and bought some flour, sugar, and D-cell batteries to give to our friends when we go for Sunday dinner, and then Iliesa took us on a tour of Mavana. Iliesa is from the Lau island of Cicia (pronounced Thithia). He has a sister in Mavana that is married to a school teacher. We went to their home, and Iliesa’s young brother-in-law took us to the school. It houses Class 1 through Class 8 and as is the case with all Fijian schools we have visited, it is immaculately kept by the people in the village. Teachers in Fiji are assigned to schools by the government, and they are moved from island to island. Iliesa’s brother-in-law is from Kadavu, but was assigned to Cicia and met and married Iliesa’s sister. He was then reassigned to Mavana. He is sad that he is so far away from his home, but that is the fate of teachers in this island nation.

After visiting the school, we went back to the store and saw that Nako was already on his way out to the boat. We followed along and soon we were on our way back to Nabavatu Bay. We had an older woman and a young boy in the boat with bags of supplies. We were dropping them off in the plantation village of Tota on our way home. You can walk from Mavana to Tota, but if you can find a ride home with all of your supplies, it makes life much easier. We actually got back to Windbird at 11 AM. Iliesa, Nako, and Sudari took their supplies back to the settlement and said they would return soon to pick up Mark to go hunting for lobster while the tide was still relatively low. The company only allows the families to use enough fuel every two weeks to go to Mavana to pick up their children from school and take them back. There is no allowance for fuel to take the boat out fishing. We were paying for today’s fuel, and it was worth every penny. By 3:30 PM the “fishermen” returned with a whole boatload of fish and lobster. The lobster were so big and beautiful and they insisted that we take all seven of them. I tried to protest, but they really wanted us to have them, so I finally gave in. They wanted to give us fish, but we accepted only one coral trout. Sudari is really good with his spear gun and he caught a HUGE Trevally, almost as tall as him, and a beautiful little turtle. I was greatly saddened by the turtle, but I knew I could say nothing to them about that. For them, this is their source of food. They don’t kill the really big turtles, which is good, so I just turned my head and kept looking at the lobster. Mark had an incredible diving experience and learned that while the coral reef is a thing of beauty for us, it is a major source of food for the people who live out in the islands. There’s much more there than we have been seeing when we go snorkeling. We get all caught up with the beauty of the small fish, but dinner is lurking in the shadows. Mark had his first shark experiences today. When he was free diving with Iliesa, a shark longer than Mark followed alongside him. Mark says the shark didn’t seem to notice him, but he certainly noticed the shark. Later when he was diving with Nako, he saw a much smaller shark. The guys here assure us that the sharks here are absolutely no problem. They spear their fish and put them on a line that they tow along with them. Even with that, the sharks leave them alone. Mark said he certainly didn’t feel threatened.

Diving for food is a man’s job here, so I stayed home and fried the eggplant that Nako gave me yesterday, made bread, and made a chocolate cake to take to Sunday dinner tomorrow. When the fishermen returned, I was able to give Nako some of the fried eggplant. He gave me fresh eggplant yesterday, and I told him I wanted to fix some for him and have him try it Southern US style. We have spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening, dealing with the lobsters and fish. We pulled the tails off all the lobster and put all but two in the freezer to have when Mark’s brother arrives. We filleted the fish and also put it in the freezer. We saved out two of the medium-sized lobster and had them for dinner. They were delicious.

Tomorrow morning when we download the latest weather reports, we will decide whether we are leaving here tomorrow afternoon or Monday. We will definitely stay long enough to have Sunday dinner in the settlement and take a few gifts as a small token of our huge appreciation for the wonderful hospitality here. Vanua Balavu has certainly been a great stop for us. As I said at the beginning of the log, it really doesn’t get better than this. Or maybe it does!!! On we go.

070630 Day 67 Vanua Balavu, Fiji–Trip to Mavana and Fishing Expedition