Robinson Crusoe Island

We really enjoyed our stay in Suva so leaving was not as easy as we anticipated. We departed early on Aug. 9th for Vana Nui,  a bay 37 miles to the east along the south coast (called the Coral Coast) of Viti Levu. With a 14-knot wind off our starboard beam we had a wonderful sail under the azure blue skies of the Fijian Islands. Our stop in Vana Nui was only an overnight, as the next day we got another early start for the 46-mile sail up to Likuri Harbor and Robinson Crusoe Island.

This shows the total route from Suva to Likuri (Robinson Crusoe Island). The stop in Vana Nui was just about 1/2 the total distance.

The entrance to Likuri was described by some as “very tricky,” but we arrived at low tide so the location of the entrance reefs was very obvious. Interestingly, on our C-Map electronic charts the track showed us going directly over the western-most reef. Kind of unnerving after a long day of sailing. Luckily we were also using Ovital, an iPad-based mapping system that overlays the position of our boat (using GPS) on a Google Earth chart, which showed us in the middle of the passage.  

We had to anchor some distance from Robinson Crusoe Island's shore since it’s very shallow all around the island. Plus the wind had picked up and was blowing a steady 20 knots causing us to let out lots of chain (easy to do in shallow, bommie-free water) for added security.

We had planned to go into the island the next day but it was now blowing too hard for us to safely take the dingy off the foredeck, so we just hunkered down and enjoyed the good Vodaphone Internet via our iPhones and researched our route ahead to Vuda Point Marina in the next several days.

The next day the wind still hadn’t let up so we ended up calling the resort to have one of their taxi boats come out and pick us up for dinner.  Robinson Crusoe is famous amongst cruisers for it’s excellent dinner and dance show and we were told not to miss it.

Just as our boat was landing on the beach several other taxi boats arrived from Denerau loaded to the gunnels with tourists from the other Coral Coast hotels coming to see the show. It was weird being around so many “tourists” (compared to the cruisers we normally socialize with), but I’m sure we fit in well with our cameras hanging off our necks.

The show began with a demonstration of the traditional sevusevu ceremony which is used when you ask permission to anchor or visit villages in the Fijian Islands. You are supposed to bring a bundle of kava (from the pepper plant, called yaqona in Fiji). It is pounded into a powder and then decanted through a muslin-type cloth to produce a drink reminiscent of dirty dishwater (and with a similar taste). In the ceremony you sit cross legged facing the chief, clap your hands once, then down the small 1/2 coconut bowl of kava in one swallow. Apparently after several bowls you get a mild narcotic effect and your lips get numb. We haven’t tried it yet but we will as we visit the more remote islands and villages.

The villagers uncovered the lovo underground oven and loaded the roasted potatoes into the serving dish. Watching the tourists was also an interesting activity to those of us living in small, floating objects.

We then watched as they uncovered the underground oven, called a lovo, where they slow cook breadfruit, potatoes, squash, and pig all day long. After removing the food they did a demonstration of fire walking over the hot coals, which they verified by pouring water on them producing an instant cloud of steam. I don’t know how they do it, but it was impressive.

A buffet dinner was then served and we fought off the tourists to get our fair share (after all, they have big resort dinners every night). It was delicious and we resisted making pigs of ourselves and going back for seconds.

On occasion they dropped the flaming torches so you didn't want to sit too close.

After the dinner the dancing part of the show began. It seems most Fijian dancing is done by the men, compared to the predominate female dancing in French Polynesia. The show at Robinson Crusoe Resort was nice because the dancers were local villagers, not the professionals you get in Hawaii and other areas. The highlight was the machete dancing with twirling knifes (and occasional dropped ones) and the fire dancing with lit torches. The culmination of the night was a presentation along the seashore of bolo type devices soaked in gasoline and swung in a large arc. Very spectacular and very difficult to photograph.  All in all a great evening for a surprising reasonable amount of money.

The grand finale on the beach was really quit spectacular.

To get back to our boat we had to commandeer a boatload of Fijian workers being taken back to the homes across the bay, but they were very friendly and all greeted us with a hearty Bula Bula as we boarded.  They dropped us off on our boat with the waves crashing against the sides but everyone took it with a grain of salt, after all, they were Fijians.