Tag Archives: sevusevu

The Mitchells: American & Fijian

Meeting the Locals of Qamea Island

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Oh no! The weather was being shifty making it hard to find a safe anchorage.  So, we, along with our friends on Wainani and Geniet Lewe, decided to find a more protected spot.  We  decided to move to Qamea Island with the hopes of meeting the Mitchell Family.

Meeting the Fijian Mitchell Family

You will find the legendary Mitchell Family nestled in the pristine bay of Namata on the island of Qamea. The Mitchell Family is famously welcoming to visitors and cruisers.  And we just had to meet our Fijian counterparts.

The Mitchell family was gifted land spread out across the entire island of Qamea.  The Mitchells reside on Namata Bay and several bays along the northern and eastern sides of the island.  

There are 4 brothers and 3 sisters.  They live with their families in a range of homes across the island.  We came to meet the brothers who maintain a rich visitors guestbook.

A young 10-year old boy met us on the beach and took us to Thomas’s home.  You walk up a beautiful garden and land to find the house nestled in the trees.

Namata Bay, Qamea Island

Namata Bay, Qamea Island

They welcome us to the island and bay.  We took several photos and agreed to create pieces of art in their guest book.

Naiviivi Bay

After a fun filled experience with the Mitchell Family we decided to move to Naiviivi Bay where it was more protected from increment weather.

This bay is super calm and very protected from every wind direction except north.  Lucky for us we were not expecting any northerlies. You sneak in between two markers indicating reefs on either side of the bay’s entrance.

Once inside it is calm conditions with soft breezes.

We went ashore to perform our sevusevu.  

We had to figure out which chief to see and which village to visit first.

There are 5 or 6 villages in this bay. 

We went ashore, asked around, and found out Chief Sepo was our guy.  With our escort, we walked through a few of the villages.

We came across many children and a group of local men enjoying an afternoon tea.

Sevusevu with Chief Sepo

Passing several different styles of homes we finally come to Chief Sepo’s house.

Chief Sepo is the chief of 3 villages containing between 600-700 residents.

Wendy and Shane on Geniet Lewe provided the village with reading glasses.  Of which, Chief Sepo promptly searched for a pair that would work for him.

He tried them out on the glove I was donating to the school.

The Catholic church was located across from Chief Sepo’s house.  

The only school on the island has 117 children registered. 

Most of these kids are boarding at the school as their homes are far away.

Continuing on to the outer edges of the village we find more homes.

Naiviivi Villiage

Naiviivi Village

Each village has a drum that they use to start school, church, and other important events. 

The grounds are blooming with a variety of flowers, some taro (potato type) and fruit trees.

After our adventure, we enjoyed a lovely dinner on Geniet Lewe. 

Shane and Wendy made lamb shank, potatoes, and grilled vegies. Wainani, Jaqui and Tony made a huge salad and I brought desert.

Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual live events.

We arrived in Qamea Island in the beginning of June 2025.

Find Qamea on No Foreign Land. 

We hike to the top of the ridge of a caldera in the Ringgold Isles in our last blog.

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!

Fulanga and the Cave of Bones

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Matt and I make another overnight sail from Bavatu to Fulanga (which is also known as Fulanga and Vulaga / Vulanga).  It is only a 100nm sail but we have to time the exit from Bavatu pass and the entry to the Fulanga pass during slack tide which makes it an overnight.

The sail was relatively easy as it started with 17-18kts of wind from the NE giving us a tremendous boat speed of 8-9kts.  We kept enjoying the fast speeds as we knew we would lose the wind later in the day.  About 6 hours later the wind dropped to 8-9kts and then it dropped even lower to 5-6kts.  We did our best to squeak miles out under sail before it got to slow forcing us to turn an engine on.  We arrived just as planned at 0700 which was perfect timing for the pass.  We were traveling with 3 other boats and we all entered with no problems.

The Village

After securing a prime spot for anchoring, we all headed into the village to do our sevusevu (a requirement).  We all brought out sulu (which is a parero / sarong) and our bundle of kava (which the locals make into a drink) and dinghied 20-minutes across the lagoon to the landing.  We tied the dinghy up, removed our hats, put on our sulu and followed the path to the village (a 20-25-minute walk).  Along the way we met many villagers who each stopped, shook our hand and introduced themselves.  So friendly!

We do a short version of Sevusevu because the men are holding a village meeting.  They offer us kava to drink, but we declined as it was a huge crowd and huge bowl of kava and we did not want to try it for the first time with an audience.

After we present our gifts of kava and $50F (for community repairs and support), we are introduced to our host family.  Our host family, Nico and Lucy offer us ridiculously hot tea and cakes and tell us about the village.

There are two villages within walking distance of each other.  Each village has an “Artisan Market.”  Evidently all the men are wood carvers and they give it to the market to sell to help provide for the village.  I purchased a pretty floral bowl, a small carved turtle and a hammerhead tooth (for Jake Martin).

Cave of Bones

There are many things to enjoy in Fulanga, but a must see is the “Cave of Bones.”  We ask our host family if we can go see this cave and visit one of the lookout points.  They arrange for a guide (as they are older and cannot take us themselves).  Our guide is the host family for one of our cruising friends so we all go together.  Balé is very sweet and takes his time walking us up the rocky terrain.  It is a short, but super steep hike up the mountain.  We walked 4.3 miles, went up about 23 floors and managed about 12k steps.

The cave opening is a wee bit small that you have to climb into.  It is surrounded by lava rock which tends to snag your clothing and skin.

Inside the cave are lots of skulls, femurs, and other miscellaneous bones.  Matt decided one skull looked better with his hat and glasses.

It was kind of cool yet super creepy to hold the skulls in your hand.  They seemed so very small to me.

Of course, you have to have a skull and cross bones image too.

Another short, steep hike up the hill to the look out and it was well worth the effort.  One view overlooks the anchorage and the overlooks the two villages.

Here is our group of hikers, Matt and I and our friends on Rapture, Greg and Susan.

The Anchorage

Like many of the other Lao group islands, Fulanga has many towering rocks that jet out of the sea to the sky.  They are covered with palm trees and bushes and completely break up the lagoon.

We find a beautiful spot to anchor away from the other boats, but close enough to our friends that we can dinghy over for dinner.

This sign made me laugh…it is located outside the medical clinic (read the last line)

Dinner on Anima

We met some new friend and old friends (whom we know from French Polynesia) and had dinner onboard Anima.  It was “Rapture”, “Sea Jay”, and “Anima”.  Manuel and Thomas prepared a traditional Portuguese meal with some fresh fish they caught!

We enjoy a Fijian celebration of “lovo” at the bay of Bavatu after hiking 271 steps!  This blog occurred end of June.  Our blog posts are 10-12 weeks after actual events occurred.