Welcome to Matuku
We arrived outside Matuku at 1am, some stars were out but a virtually new moon made it very dark. Way to dark to attempt driving in through the pass, so I dropped the sails and decided to drift until daybreak. Jacques was the watchman, we were drifting south at half a knot, so after a few hours he drove us back to our original spot near the pass. Daybreak revealed a beautiful island. Dense green vegetation draped over towering green peaks, their tops disappearing in the clouds. We drove shimmi around the South Western side of the island, checking out a heaving left hander called "Vinaka". But the swell was just a bit too small, the tide just too low, so we gave it a miss. Carried on driving around the south side of the island when suddenly it was MAYHEM. Two yellow fin tore into the lures. One leader snapped, we landed the second one, only a small one. After that I thought bugger the rods, handlines only, so we trolled 4 handlines. Immediately we were on again, three lines. These were big fish. Eventually two big yellow fin lay on deck, the other leader snapped. Once again we put the lines out, a few minutes later a massive Wahoo took the lure. I gaffed it, but needed help to get it up onto the boat, it must have weighed 60 pounds. Within 10 minutes we had caught 3 yellow fin, one Wahoo, and lost 2 lures. We were now ready to enter the pass, find a sheltered anchorage and present the local chief with an offering of Kava root. This is the Sevu-sevu ceremony that you have to do every time you go to a new anchorage. Only this time we could also give them a batch of fish, more tasty than Kava root! But as we entered the pass, a massive rain storm hit us, and we were unable to anchor due to bad viz. But we did end up eventually in a deep bay, in front of the village of Karamaci.
Here's Jacques's version of our Sevu-sevu in Karamaci:
We delivered our fish bounty as a gift to the friendly villagers of Karamaci ,the club footed recipient a victim of no polio vaccinations. We were invited back do do Sevu -sevu after lunch and joined an extended family in a humble home. Much chanting and clapping later over the kava root we were granted permission by the chief to fish on their reefs, surf their waves,drink fresh water from the village well and enjoy the common areas of the village. Basically we are allowed to rest up in harmony with the villagers. The ceremony was followed by Sunday afternoon church service in Fijian.....Golla with his new found religious fervor opened the service by introducing us as the rugby world champions....The hymns alone made this worth traveling for, such strong angelic male and female voices harmonizing would do a cathedral justice. Returning to "our" home moored in the bay the entire village came out to wave us farewell. I'm just not used to genuinely happy people.....resorts cant do this even if they tried.
J
That's all from us on Matuku. We are sitting in the middle of a filthy cold front with dark clouds, constant rain and generally cold and miserable weather. A bit of cabin fever is setting in. We are thinking of eating Jacques.
Cheers
G