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
