July 29, 2013
On our walk we saw some beautiful little things: small shells nestled in the swirling grain of driftwood, a shiny iridescent green beetle, mini lantern flower pods on a tree, and a sweet little puppy from the village. –Cyndi
Month: July 2013
Beach Outing at Albert Cove (Rabi Island, Fiji)
July 29, 2013
We had some trepidation about going ashore as there’s a small group of people who live here, just behind the thick line of trees along the beach. Since they retain their Banaban culture, there was no need for us to do a sevusevu ceremony. Of course this doesn’t stop some of the other cruisers from diving right into that village participation thing.
This is a good point to explain a phenomenon that we’ve nicknamed “sevusevu seeking.” Most of the bays in Fiji do not require boaters to do a sevusevu ceremony for various reasons: the nearby village isn’t actually in the bay, the villagers aren’t actually Fijian, or maybe they’re just not into the traditional Fijian ways. But every Fijian seems to love kava, and everyone loves visitors (especially visitors with gifts). So cruisers who love meeting and socializing with the locals can often go ashore, kava in hand, locate the nearest village, and enjoy an impromptu gathering or kava ceremony.
A few cruisers had done this here in Albert Cove and had a great time, but with some unintended consequences. One of those was being asked to cart villagers to the main town, in the middle of the island and not a good anchorage, then cart people back again to Albert Cove. We know of two boats this happened to, and it didn’t sound like it was an enjoyable outing.
The other consequence, at both anchorages on this island, seems to be that the “coconut telegraph” comes into play, the officials get wind of your presence, and thus decide that you need to officially check into Rabi (as they consider this their own country). This means a trip, either by your boat or by bus, to the main town on the island to check in with the officials, a somewhat difficult trip however you make it.
We wanted to avoid all of the above and hoped we wouldn’t have to live up to standards set by other more gregarious cruisers. Our friends on Bright Angel went ashore and didn’t get approached; so we headed ashore, asked someone there if it was OK to walk on the beach, then headed down to the end and back. We met a man and a young boy fishing and walked with them awhile. In all we were relieved to find this was very low key place with no expectation that we visit the village or bring anybody anything.
Sunny weather may be ideal, but gray days can have their own beauty. It was lovely and warm, the water glassy, and in the distance the sea seemed to blend into the sky. From the trees came a noise which sounded like howler monkeys. We asked the fisherman what it was, and he told us it’s pigeon that “barks” when the tide goes out. The whole scene had a very ethereal feeling.
Below is a gallery of our beach walk. Click to enlarge and scroll. –Cyndi
Snorkeling at Albert Cove (Rabi Island, Fiji)
July 28, 2013
The sun finally came out, and we able to go do some snorkeling in the bay. It wasn’t as impressive as the Rainbow Reef, but we found a variety of beautiful hard corals and a fair number of fish. Plus there’s some magic in seeking out and discovering an interesting spot in your own bay. We were enchanted by this pretty little place.
Below is a short video of Albert Cove’s best (as far as we know) snorkeling spot. –Cyndi
Edge of the World?
July 29, 2013 in Albert’s Cove, Rabi, Fiji Nope, we didn’t fall off the edge of the world but we are close to it! We’re in Albert’s Cove at the north end of an island in Fiji called Rabi (pronounced Rambi because of course you add an ‘m’ before a b when it falls in the middle of a word). We don’t have regular internet here which is why the lack of recent posts. This post is via the expensive sat phone. When we hit the civilized world (read: a place with internet), we’ll post some great pictures and a video of our fruit bat encounter. -Rich
Albert Cove Dinghy Ride (Rabi Island, Fiji)
July 27, 2013
It was cloudy, but still a nice day for a dinghy ride around the bay. We were anxious to ride around and hunt for areas with good snorkeling potential, but we also wanted to get a close up view of the boulders along the shoreline.
One of my favorite things about these dinghy rides is getting into the shallow water that’s often very colorful. Today’s water had bright shades of turquoise and teal green, even with a cloudy sky overhead.
We had a great time motoring around until Rich spotted flashes of lightening behind the hills. Then we made a beeline back to the boat to close the hatches. -Cyndi
