September 17, 1993
We are now in Fiji. The first two weeks or so we were in Suva, which is possibly the rainiest place in the Pacific - we saw
1½ days of sunshine. Now we're on the other side of the island, and it's beautiful - finally warm weather, sun, clear water. We're on the island of Malolo Leilei, where the Musket Cove Yacht Club is. More on that later.
Suva, Fiji is much busier and affluent than most anyplace we've been so far in the South Pacific. About on a par with, but not as glitzy, as Papeete, Tahiti. The people here are very nice, even nicer than the Tongans, and things work better.
We are enjoying ourselves a lot more now that the weather is better. Malolo Leilei is one of the loveliest resort islands we've seen in a long time. Although very flat and dry, it has some of the flavor of Mustique. We've seen the biggest resort in Fiji, on the south coast, and weren't impressed - too much like Mullet Bay. But here on Malolo Leilei are the small cottages, casual but comfortable surroundings that we like so much. But if you aren't into sunbathing or water sports, you'd be lost - it's so small there's not much to do - no cars, because there aren't any roads or places to go if there were roads. But it is nice for us. And it's a yachtie haven - they like yachts and make it very pleasant and easy for us. From here we're joining the Musket Cove Regatta to Vanuatu on September 18.
Peter and I seem to have different opinions of the South Pacific. I haven't been very impressed - the safe season to sail is their winter, and it's a lot colder than winter in the Caribbean - I've been in swimming all of five times in the last year - the water was much too polluted in Pago Pago, and it's been too cold everywhere else. I really can't wait to get to someplace warm and clean - here in Musket Cove in Fiji we're almost there, but it's not yet perfect. And although I'm pretty adaptable, I'm tired of mediocre food and limited supplies - although here in Fiji we're doing quite well compared to Tonga. Maybe it's just that in the Caribbean we were close enough to the States to get a Stateside fix occasionally - even if only television, magazines and newspapers. Here TIME magazine is about it, and that only sporadically. We beg and grovel for U.S. magazines that other yachts receive, then devour them in a few hours and are left wanting more when there just isn't any more.
On the bright side - these South Pacific cultures are very interesting. Just read a magazine article about the daughter of the president of Fiji, who's quite involved in bringing Fiji into the present, and reducing the workload of the women. She complained that all the men did all day long was drink kava (Kava - traditional South Seas drink, mildly intoxicating, made by mixing the ground root of the kava bush, a member of the pepper family, with water until the color and consistency of dirty bathwater [which, according to Peter, tastes better than Kava.] It is then drunk by the men of the village by the gallon.). Men sit around getting stoned, women work all day. Fiji's first feminist is trying to get the men to do some work - like go out fishing once a week. She's got a tough job ahead of her.
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