Vunisei Village

Sevusevu at Vunisei, Kadavu

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We leave Yadu Island riding a huge high from our manta experience and head to the large island of Kadavu.  About six or seven weeks ago, we visited the south side of Kadavu, but we did not have a chance to visit the north side.  We motor-sailed 12nm from Yadu to the bay of Tomba Ni Ndaku and visit the Vunisei village. 

It was a beautiful, calm day to be out on the water.  A slight downwind run with clear, sunny skies.  We arrived the bay of Tomba Ni Ndaku around 1400, dropped the hook in a nook of the bay and headed into the village of Vunisei to do sevusevu.  Can you see the village in the lower photo tucked in the mangroves?

Vunisei Bay, Kadavu

Vunisei Bay, Kadavu

The village of Vunisei is not really visible from our anchorage.  We have to weave our way through a lot of mangroves before the beautiful village is revealed.  On our way in we encounter a panga with loads of kids happy to wave and shout “BULA” to us.

Welcome to the Village

We’ve been in Fiji now for almost 3 months and have performed the “short” sevusevu a dozen times.  But each ceremony has been the short-condensed version where the chief receives us, claps 3x, prays, welcomes us to the village, and we have a short chat.  However, this time, we get the privilege of a full and complete sevusevu ceremony!

We are greeted by Joe, the chief’s son who takes us to the town hall where the ceremony is to take place.  Joseph, the chief arrives along with the torang-ni-koro (headman), and 7 other men in the village.  Yep, I am the only woman present.

We politely explain that this is our first full sevusevu ceremony hoping they explain what they are doing along the way — which they happily did.

Sevusevu

The fresh kava root that we gifted to the chief is handed to his son Joe to pound into powder (step 1, upper left corner).  It is placed in a metal cylinder which is in a hole in the floor. He then uses a steel metal shaft to pound it into the cylinder.  Matt thinks he used a propeller shaft from a boat because it looked remarkably similar.

Step 2 includes placing the freshly ground powder into the tree bark (see the dried tree bark on the kava bowl in the upper right corner photo).  The tree bark is long and sort of looks like hair but is wicked strong.  Water is added and then the powder is all rolled and rolled and rolled amongst the tree bark in the water.  Infusing the kava with the taste and smell of the bark. This is new to us as we were told and had seen other villages use a tea towel instead of the tree bark.

Step 3 is when the liquid is cleaned and all powder residue is removed using the tree bark.

Step 4 is the final preparation for the grog.  All remnants of the kava root and tree bark are gone and the grog is ready to consume.  Using a coconut cup, the first one is handed to the chief, then the toranga-ni-koro, then me!  Oh dear, no pressure, please don’t gag or make a face.

The Grog and its effects

I clap once, say “bula”, and gulp the entire cup in one go, then clap 3x and say “Vinaka.”  I think to myself, “well done.”  Next up is Matt.  This is his first-time tasting grog and I am curious to see how it goes.  He somehow manages to dribble a wee bit down his chin, but other than that it goes swimmingly well. 

The cup is passed around a second time before we are able to extract ourselves politely.

Within a few minutes of drinking the second cup we feel a slight numbing sensation in our mouth, tongue, and throat.  It did not last long, maybe 30-45 minutes.  Keep in mind that the villagers do not drink, this is their recreational drink of choice.

Vunisei School

We walk to the top of the mountain just behind the village to visit the school.  I had brought a few school supplies for the teachers and wanted to present them personally.

From the hilltop, we had gorgeous views of both Kadavu village and Vunisei village.

On the way back to the town hall we came across loads of children.  There are 70 people who live in the village and about 25 of them are children.

Back to the Boat

We go back to the village chief and leaders and politely thank them for their hospitality and for walking us through the entire sevusevu ceremony.  They had wanted us to stay for more kava but 2 cups is all I can take so we graciously declined.

The water was flat calm when we left.  I just can’t get over how beautiful the entrance and exit is to this village.  What a lovely way to come home every day.

Matt got out the drown and took some beautiful photos at sunset.  And it just keeps getting better and better as the sun goes down.

Tomba Ni Ndaku is a beautiful anchorage with a lovely village!  We were invited to church the next day, but unfortunately, we had to move on to our next adventure.

We prepared to leave the next day at dawn and were greeted with a gorgeous moon set.

The events from this blog occurred in early September 2022.  Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual events.  We play with the manta rays while they eat and get cleaned.  Check out this blog post!

Manta Ray Escapades

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One of the main reasons we wanted to come to the Astrolabe Reef was to see the manta rays.  We had heard that there is a “cleaning station” and a good area where they feed near Vurolevu island.  This is a mere 1.5nm from Yabu where we are anchored.  

What is a “cleaning station”? A Manta Ray Cleaning Station is a location where fish, sharks, and mantas gather to get a regular hygiene check by parasitic copepods and a variety of small cleaner wrasse. Mantas spend some hours of the day here to get their gills, and skin cleaned.

Vurolevu Island and the Manta Rays

The next morning we head to Vurolevu island with the hopes of finding a few mantas.  As we approach the northern tip and slow the dinghy down, we immediately spot a large manta in the water.  Sweet.  In I go!

There is a nice current here with the water flow delivering delicious plankton into the mouths of these gentle giants.  I enjoy the alone time with 2 medium sized mantas (wing span of about 2-2.5 meters).

Within 15 minutes I am joined by 3 other tourists and decide to head to where Matt is which is about 300 yards from me.  SCORE!  He found the cleaning station.  Check out all the little fish having a field day with these mantas!  They swim around, under, and inside the mantas.  Yes, they swim inside their mouth and come out their gills!  Silly or brave, not sure which?

Manta Rays will jump out of the water to rid themselves of parasites (if they are not near a cleaning station).  They also jump out of the water when they want to impress a lady and or to simply play.

A Cleaning Station

There was no current over where we were swimming, so we could literally just hang out and admire these beauties!  Even though these animals are ginormous, they are not dangerous.  Some of the manta rays that we saw here had a wing span of 4.5-5 meters!  We are talking really, really huge!

But, mantas are harmless and can’t hurt swimmers.  We have found them to be very curious creatures and will often swim up next to and below you if you stay calm and still enough.  They really are delicate animals with no aggressive behaviors and are known to not be predatory in nature.

What do manta rays eat?

Mantas are filter feeders feeding on microscopic plankton near the surface of the water.  They glide back and forth high current areas gathering plankton. A manta ray eats 19,200,000 pieces of plankton every week – that’s a lot of plankton!

Did you know that the closest relative to a manta ray is a shark?  Unlike sharks, mantas don’t have teeth.  They sieve plankton out of the water using a row of tiny plates in their mouth, which they funnel in as they swim. 

One manta came so close to me that I actually saw him looking at me – honestly, he was checking me out!

I wanted to show you how very large these creatures were, but Matt was so far away that it is hard to get a perspective.  And, he happened to go below with a juvenile, not a full size manta.

Hurt Mantas

The natural predators for manta rays are sharks and whales.  Despite their large size and fast speeds, they do get hurt.

We saw several mantas with broken wings and bites out of their tail area.  Their wings naturally flow seamlessly to a fine point, but two of the mantas had their wing tips bent down.  It did not seem to slow them down.  Another two mantas had semi circle bites out of their left tail area.

Did you know?

  • Manta rays have the largest brain to size ratio of any cold-blooded fish?  
  • They have huge brains – the biggest of any fish! 
  • Believed to be as smart and highly cognitive as dolphins, primates, and elephants.
  • Studies have found that their brains are especially developed for learning, problem solving and communicating.
  • Some scientist believe that mantas can recognize their reflection, a sign of self-awareness.

The events from this blog occurred in early September 2022.  Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual events.  We visit many island near the Astrolabe reef in our last blog post.

Fiji to New Zealand Day6 – and a little more..

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Eat it or Loose It ..

So this voyage has been faster than we expected. The trip south is never an easy one, weather changes every 5 days or so. So forecasts are notoriously wrong.

But we still have a day or so to go, can’t spoil the trip already.

Another day, another 100+ miles or so we hope. The drone of the engines (both) running hot, pushing faster than our ‘normal’ diesel conservative mode. Trying every thing we can to arrive either Opua or Marsden (Whangarei) in the day light.

Day starts off as is should, the last bit of, the very last bit of Jimmy Dean was used to make the last Egg McMuffins for breakfast.. Tasty and sad all at the same time.

Morning time, engines running for hours on end, its time to give them a check up. Stop one, for a bit and let the oil rest to see the level, check the belts the fuel filters etc.. Make sure we are not being mean to the life blood of the boat on an ocean without wind. First port, then starboard and all is well. Nothing out of the ordinary. Get side tracked for a while while port is cooling. Checked weather and distance and speed. No matter what we did, it would be near impossible to arrive either Opua or Marsden with daylight. Dusk would be a good bet at Opua.

Coins were tossed, reality set in.. never started the second engine, and just used the conservative forward effort. Said we would arrive at 11pm. So technically there isn’t much difference between 11pm and 4am in terms of light and safety. Moon would provide the same light either way, 1/2 moon at that.

Couple of boat projects along the way, nothing major, just something to keep the energy flowing and keep from falling asleep. Washed this, cleaned that, glued this, checked skies and instruments for hopes of wind.. Good day but darkness was setting..

Uh-Oh.. new territory. Taking a short cut to the destination. Seemed fine. Plenty of water, no rocks or islands in the way. Accidentally zooming in .. spot a that says “area to be avoided” on the chart. Huh? What does that mean. Normally there is a ‘note’ on the paper chart to explain that. Digital charts say the thing, but then when you zoom in, you can’t find where to look for the “note”.. So after searching, best to just not cross the line.

Hour goes by, checking agin on a different device.. the ‘note’ is for cruise ships and things over 50 meters wishing to cross over a marine reserve. We would have been fine. So add another hour to arrival.

We can see the island, or rock of New Zealand sticking out of the water at 50 miles out. That lots of hours of seeing where you want to be but still waiting to be there. And then the sun goes….

TechNerd: I see a cargo ship on the screen. Will it go into the bay were we want to go. Please let it go that way. We have no tracks to follow to get to through the dredged channel. We have charts but its dark, very dark. The prudent sailor would find an alternative. The sailor that just wants a cold beer on anchor makes different decisions..

The cargo ship eventually decides to head in. Great, I use the electronics to record his path. Now I have a path of a huge ship to follow while red and green blinking lights try to help as well.

Whew, made the long part… now the technical part to find the small path to the marina. Again, it’s still dark, there are no street lights now. Just a silent version of ‘Tom Tom’ (for those with the first gps brains) .. Luckily we have a saving grace. Another boat “Only Time” is also trying to get in, we briefly met in Musket Cove, Fiji and know they have done this trip before. Quick chat on the VHF radio and we get to follow them in to the marina.

Okay, we are doing 5mph, with sunglasses on night trying to find a parking spot at Walmart. Oh my. Just then the Walmart greeter jumps out and says, WELCOME. Scares the “blank” out of you and its just the channel marker you just about ran over.

We make it in, pucker factor in full effect the dock is full. Decide to take a different dock “Only time” takes 1/2 then helps Sugar SHack take the other 1/2.. its 3 AM .. Customs dock for 2, now has 4 catamarans for breakfast.

.. all good.. a nice cold beer and out like a light but need to be up early for the officials.

….

Overall 1100 miles
7.2 average
Just over 6 days, for something we expected 10 possible with the crazy weather that is possible.

Morning comes as does the bio security guy. All our favorite meals are now gone. The pulled pork made Christine cry. But we did finish the gumbo and Jimmy Dean.. They just mainly wanted the meat, so we should have had pork chops the day before instead of the egg plant parmigiana that we could have kept. Oh well.

All good, we are allowed to stay. After clearing in .. headed to Whangarei..

Rain, Winds, Calm, Waves, Seas, Sun, Clouds .. I think we had it all.

Arriving Whangarei and trying to pull into our slip, we bounce off another boat.. but that story is for another day… Current and wind are sometimes very silent.

Welcome to New Zealand. French craft beer and local rose wine for dinner.

[tag Live, Passage, Underway]