.: Dolphins, barracuda and leper colony, oh my!

It was wonderful to get back out sailing, however, one of our batteries died, which meant that we couldn’t hold a charge, so Peter had to get up every night and run the generator for two hours. This resulted in us having to “hurry” back to Nadi, rather than enjoy some leisurely anchorages for a couple of weeks as we had planned. With sailing though, all itineraries are written in sand at low tide.

We had expected to replace our batteries in the near future, as batteries have a life expectancy out here of about 4 years – however, we were hoping to do this at the end of the season, so we could replace them before we left, rather than in the middle of the cruising season.

We made the most of our overnight stops though, with the first one being a remote marine park called Nanema. Here we did some wonderful snorkeling, although our adventure was also cut short by an extremely aggressive Barracuda. Mostly barracudas swim in schools and ignore you. We encountered one that was on its own and was taking far too much interest in us, plus displaying predatory actions including opening and shutting its large mouth full of teeth. We had to make a bee-line for the shore. It’s funny, but when we are diving, we feel so much more at ease with large fish or sharks, however, when snorkeling we feel more vulnerable since we are just floating on top and don’t have the same maneuverability as when diving.

After two nights at this anchorage we moved on to Makogai Island, which is owned by the government. This was October 28^th, which was the first anniversary of Peter’s father Erich’s death. As we left the anchorage we were escorted out by a large school of dolphins, which stayed and played in our bow wake for about half an hour. This was very amazing, since we have not seen dolphins for over 2 years. Then to make this even more twilight-zoneish, when we were heading in to Makogai island, (32 miles away) we were greeted once again by another large school of dolphins, which included mother’s and baby’s playing in our wake. Perhaps Erich was sending us a message? We like to think so anyway. I did get a great video, however, I have somehow deleted it, so it will just remain in our memory as a special day. I did get a few still shots, although they aren’t great.

Dolphins

More dolphins

It was awesome standing on the bow and watching them play.

Makogai is a fascinating island as they currently harvest and grow giant clams for redistribution throughout Fiji. Additionally, they protect the baby turtles and take care of them until they are grown enough to be reintroduced.

Giant Clams….they collect them as mere particles the size of sand and then they grow them, and once a sustainable size they distribute them amongst the reefs.

Baby turtles…..they are only fed fish so that they will be used to their native diet when they are returned. We were very fortunate to see a full-size turtle while we went snorkeling here.

At our anchorage, once again we were all alone. From now until when we leave in mid-December we will have most anchorages to ourselves as most of the boats have either returned to New Zealand or Australia, or have tucked their boats up for the cyclone season, which officially started on November 1^st.

The historical significance of Makogai Island is that it used to be a leper colony which was established in 1911 until 1969! This was one of the largest colonies in the world, with over 5,000 people living on this island. It was also the highest rated leper colony, with the head nun, Mary Maria overseeing it for 34 years and creating a model that other leper colonies tried to emulate.

Mother Maria’s gravesite

The large, sprawling graveyard that houses thousands of the past residents.

This colony was very advanced with a great infrastructure of dorm accommodations, a movie theatre and craft rooms. There was a real sense of community and the people who were exiled here made many crafts that were then sold on the mainland so that they could purchase anything that they could not grow themselves. This provided them with a good quality of life (considering their circumstances) and when the cure was finally found, those that still survived didn’t even want to leave to go back to “normal” civilization.

When we first arrived on the island, we went to the Chief, named Camille, to present the traditional sevusevu (which is Kava root). He invited us in to his home and performed the ceremony to welcome us and to thank us for respecting their culture. This was all done in Fijian and was very moving. Camille then took us on a tour of the facility and the ruins of the leper colony.

Peter & Camille

Camille and his family’s kitchen (outdoors)

Their little puppy

QuickStar in the background

An overgrown ruin

The generator that ran the colony is still working today as the only source of power on the island – over 50 years old (and leaking)

The jail….which wasn’t used often, but was used for any men that took advantage of a woman…which was the only type of crime ever committed.

This is the outdoor movie theatre.

Camille showing us the building with the projection units for the screen.

After we toured the island, we headed out to go snorkeling to see the giant clams in their natural environment and the multitude of reef fish. We had to climb up and down this ladder to reach the island.

Not exactly up to WCB standards!

My favourite little yellow-striped fish

Finding Nemo?

Unusual yellow dotted fish

After leaving Makogai we continued to our next anchorage where we enjoyed a magnificent sunset.

We are now in Vuda Point Marina and will be here for the next week to 10 days getting the new batteries and the new hot water heater installed.

School kids fascinated with the fish beside our boat.

The good news is our friends Dave and Suzie from Sidewinder are here as well, as they are working on their boat before they head back to California on November 15^th.

Having dinner with them the night we arrived.