After spending a few days catching up with our friends on SV Sauce-Sea, we headed a little farther north in the Yasawa Islands to meet up with even more friends at a place called the Blue Lagoon, named after the movie. As we approached the bay, I was surprised to see around 40 boats already anchored there. Eitan steered us to the front of the pack and anchored us as close to shore as possible, the benefits of having a smaller boat!
As the sun set, we made our way to shore to meet our friends SV Sauce-Sea and SV Kismet for dinner at the resort restaurant. We walked through the Nanuya Island Resort, half expecting to be kicked out once the management saw us. Luckily, the resorts in Fiji seem to welcome cruisers instead of shunning us, like in French Polynesia. We enjoyed our dinner and drinks while sharing stories about the past six months since leaving Mexico. As dessert was served, our attention was drawn to the commencement of the evening’s entertainment: traditional Fijian song and dance. Men in grass skirts and women wrapped in patterned fabric took the stage, chanting and dancing a number of songs. My favorite was a little, 3-year-old boy dressed in a grass skirt, trying to keep up with the men’s routines.
Looking around the crowd, I couldn’t help but notice Eitan appeared a bit uncomfortable. Although it was nice to see a celebration of the local culture, watching several people of color perform for a predominantly white audience made him feel uneasy. It was one thing to observe song and dance at an annual festival, as we had seen in Rarotonga, where it felt like the locals were performing for their communities. Watching a performance to entertain hotel guests, especially in a resort owned by white Australians, felt much less authentic and a bit cringy regardless of the quality of the performance.
The following day, Eitan and I trekked across the island, on a well-marked trail this time, to Lo’s Teahouse, famous for its tea, lemonade, and Fijian doughnuts. As we got to the end of the trail, we approached a small shack with a couple of women and children outside. I put in an order for two lemonades and two doughnuts for $15 and took a seat next to the roughly constructed tables along the beach. The doughnuts came in the form of oval-shaped deep-fried dough, covered in chocolate frosting, and were delicious. Having not seen a lemon in months, I should have been more suspicious of the lemonade which was probably from some kind of powdered concentrate.
The walk back was just as scenic as the one there, offered nice views of the island, and led us through the crops and orchards used to supplement food for the restaurant. Some of the local produce could also be ordered at a small convenience store but we found little need for it. Our afternoons on the boat were often interrupted by knocks on the hull from villagers wanting to sell or trade produce. We quickly realized that our useless, old items were of great value and were able to trade a few old bath mats for a half dozen coconuts, papayas, bananas, and breadfruit. Although we didn’t spend too much time in these villages other than to do sevusevu, it was clear that the local populations were quite poor. Their homes were made of makeshift materials that stood no chance of surviving the annual cyclones that spun through. I suppose if your home got destroyed on an annual basis, maybe it’s just easier to use the cheapest construction materials available.
On our last night in the Blue Lagoon, Eitan coordinated a happy hour with most of our buddy boats in Fiji including SV Sauce-Sea, SV Kismet, SV Holdfast, and SV Wastrel who we knew from Mexico along with SV X-Wing who we met in American Samoa, and SV Tengah who we met in Hiva Oa. Even though we are all constantly on the move, it’s been really special keeping in touch and meeting up along the way, giving us a sense of community in this nomadic life. I was really happy we fast-tracked to the Yasawas to meet everyone here before we each went our separate ways, unlikely to meet again.
Before departing the Blue Lagoon, Eitan dropped me off onshore with the jerrycans to get gas. After paying for the specified liters of gasoline and diesel, I was directed around the side of the building where the fuel is kept in drums. The employee used his mouth and a hose to siphon the fuel from the drum into an old, plastic one-gallon jug, then transfer it into my jerrycans, often spilling. It seemed strange to not siphon directly into the jerrycan but trusted his method. When he was done, I tried to point out that there was a bit of space below the 20L mark, and I had paid for 20L. He insisted that the marker on his jug was exactly 5L and he had already transferred in four rounds, clearly not accounting for what was spilled or the fact that the sharpie marker on his jug was likely less precise than the measurements on the jerrycan. It seemed like a waste of time to argue over it, so we took our fuel and were on our way.
Eitan and I decided to leave the Blue Lagoon and head a little farther north to the Sawa-i-Lau Caves. After dropping off the kava root for sevusevu, we made our way to the caves and paid the $15 per person fee. On our way to the entrance, we passed by a number of women selling local trinkets and trying to get us to stop for a look. We politely declined and made our way up the steps, passing some tourists on their way out. We asked how it was, and one guy, obviously annoyed, said it would be great if you didn’t have a screaming child in your group. Eitan and I descended the steps as the last tourists left and we had the place all to ourselves, making me even more thankful to travel the world in a way where we can separate ourselves from the commercial tour groups. We submerged into the cold, shaded water and looked up at the tall ceiling above. We enjoyed the place all to ourselves and had to use a waterproof light to swim into a secondary cave that was only accessible through an underwater passage.
I downloaded the movie, The Blue Lagoon, to watch during our time there and the caves were the only places I actually recognized! We only spent one night in this area before heading south to explore another island group: the Mamanucas!
