The Lonely Coconut
This blog is dedicated to my friends Roberta and John of Taveuni, Fiji, who along with all of Fiji, are in the process of assessing damages caused by Hurricane Winston, which ravaged the Fiji Islands on February 19th - 21st. Wishing them clean water, food, supplies, and electricity as soon as possible.
The Republic of Fiji sits in the South Pacific Ocean surrounded by other island nations including Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu, New Caledonia and the Kermadec Islands of New Zealand. Fiji itself is made up of more than 300 islands with over 500 additional islets in an area of 7,100 sq. miles (or 18,300 sq. kilometers.) The three main islands are Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, and Taveuni, which is the smallest. The population of Fiji is around 806,000, 87% living on the main islands.
My friend Roberta first introduced me to Fiji in the early '90's. We flew from Hawaii to Viti Levu and waited in Nadi for our flight to Taveuni. During the flight to Taveuni, I couldn't keep my eyes off the islets set like jewels in the clear aqua Koro Sea. The reefs below revealed themselves in deep, intense, almost gaudy, colors. Georgeous! The list of islands and reefs I wanted to explore was long because, as soon as one appeared in the small plane's windows, it, too, was added to the list.
At our stopover on Vanua Levu, across the Somosomo Strait from Taveuni, we had to circle the Savusavu airstrip while dogs were chased off the runway. We took flight again: soon we would be diving the famous Somosomo reefs (well, the reefs are famous in the diving world!).
(photo thanks to Salt Lake Lodge, Fiji)
After reaching Taveuni, we donned our scuba gear, dove down the face of a long white wall of living soft coral, drifted over colorful coral balmies in the middle of the Somosomo Strait, encountered blue ribbon eels, giant clams, sharks, poisonous sea snakes, and watched huge turtles drift along peacefully below us. Big jaws opening and closing, the Moray eels peered at us from holes in the reefs. Huge schools of vividly colored fishes swam around us, peered into our eyes through our masks, and were not at all shy about being near air-breathing, two-legged non-fishes. Back on the dive boat, we ate fresh bread with Vegemite and looked for shells on empty beaches. These were such wonderful times in my life!
See all of this and more in these videos: Rainbow Reef, Taveuni (1:32 mins Vimeo), Rainbow Reef, Taveuni (9:53 mins YouTube), and Taveuni (2:40 mins Vimeo).
Roberta moved to Taveuni and built a small resort from scratch. On our honeymoon, my husband and I visited Roberta and John at her resort, Makaira. Roberta has spent years planting coral reef gardens in areas that were devastated by past hurricanes. These beautiful fragile reef systems are susceptible to storms with much less powerful winds than Winston; we have yet to know how they fared through the recent 230+ kilometer per hour winds of Hurricane Winston. I know my friends are taking care of each other and their Fijian community, but it is going to take time for the Republic of Fiji to get back on its feet.
The painting at the beginning of my blog is called The Lonely Coconut. The setting is on the south shore of Taveuni near the village of Lavena.
Vinaka vaka levu for reading my blog,
~Teresa
(Photo thanks to The Remote Resort, Fiji.)