Thurday, November 04 1999 - Rotuma

Good morning folks,

boy did I luck out last night. I crawled out of bed to do my watch at 4.00am, but Michael was already up working on the computer and offered to cover my watch for me, so I was able to go back to bed and sleep - what bliss.

As a result I got my first view of Rotuma about 2 or 3 hours later than I would have under normal circumstances. It was actually under the shadow of clouds when I first saw it and looked quite forbidding, but then the sun broke through and lit up the gleaming lines of beaches and the vibrant green of the dense vegetation completely covering the low hills and peaks.

Willie was already awake at 4.30, excited about seeing Rotuma again and similarly, Chris was out early on deck looking at the island he had last seen 14 years ago. He had his binoculars, and said he had already spotted the house that he stayed in all those years ago. I said to him that it must be a very novel experience to return to a place after 14 years safe in the knowledge that it would not have changed one bit. How often have we all been back to places to find that once deserted beaches and mountains are irrecoverably spoiled by high-rise hotels and hotel complexes. That could never be the case on Rotuma, and sure enough, Chris said it looks just the same as it did back then.


Christof and Michael with the Chief Gagai Maraf and his wife.

Since anchoring at the north east corner of the island, opposite the district of Oinafa we have been very busy. We have to proceed carefully and diplomatically in the hope that we will obtain permission from the District Officer and the Rotuman Council of Chiefs to go onto the island. People from the Government Office, including the Deputy DO, and various deputies of the Council of Chiefs have been to-ing and fro-ing between STARSHIP and land all morning. In the meantime Monika and I have been rinsing down the ship - very carefully I might add - it wouldn’t do to inadvertently douse someone with the hose, Rudi and Anne-Lise are alternately filming the proceedings and editing down in the edit suit, Enrico is conjuring in the galley and the others are all doing their bit towards developing good international and diplomatic relations.

Things finally seem to have sorted themselves out and we now have permission to go on land. It seems there was some confusion at first as it was thought that we had come here to fish, which would not have been acceptable - but now it has been made clear that we are only here to enjoy meeting the villagers, and to observe and report.


Rotumans having a game of volleyball before dinner

We will remain at anchor here in Oinafa bay, which is extremely beautiful, at least until tomorrow. I can see at a glance why cruise ships are so keen to stop here. We are inside the main lagoon of Rotuma - crystal clear turquoise water, and the beach behind us is a stunning mixture of small, white sandy coves separated by spurs of black basalt, set against an emerald green backdrop of vegetation.

Apart from a few brightly coloured sarongs (or ‘sulu’ as they are known in Fiji) drying on a long line at one of the beach, there are no immediate signs of habitation.

A deputation has gone on land this afternoon, Michael, Willie, Anne-Lise, Christof and Hanns from Stern,  - to hopefully meet and talk with at least one or two of the chiefs on the island. In order that we did not swamp them with too many cameras or people the rest of us have stayed onboard. Since we now have permission to go on land Rudi, Enrico and I decided to swim from the boat and explore the little sandy coves at the back of the bay. We snorkeled in - it’s always further than it looks isn’t it? -  and were finally washed up onto the beach like latter-day Robinson Crusoes. The combination of black rock, white sand and green leaves had to be seen to be believed - it was almost like a child’s painting with splodges of pure primary colours lying next to one another.

The reef that we snorkeled over also looks worthy of further exploration, it was absolutely riddled with underwater caverns, chimneys and tubes - like a giant Swiss cheese. We did some free diving down into some of the caves, and like at Limu Pools on Niue, the bottoms of the caverns were filled with very cold water.

9.30pm and we are just back from drinking kava or ‘grog’ as they call it here- I have numb lips and tongue, but fortunately not numb fingers. A short truck drive through the palm trees on a sandy road under a star drenched sky, to where a group of locals had gathered outside the local cooperative - they will be bringing the copra harvest down there at midday tomorrow.

About twenty people were there arranged on huge pandanus mats, mostly men, except for Anne-Lise and I, although a few women turned up later to play cards. They had planned a little impromptu kava ceremony for us to welcome us to their district. The kava was served out of a rather ingenious receptacle, I couldn’t work out what it was at first - it was so smoothly round - it turned out that it was an old ceramic fishing float with the top sawn off - not a ceremonial bowl of course - but ok for casual occasions. It was nice to think that the locals felt sufficiently comfortable with us to invite us to an informal occasion. Kava drinking is usually done to the accompaniment of singing and guitar music - tonight was no exception, although on a muted scale.

Back at the boat and Enrico is just whipping up a late night snack.

Catch up with us tomorrow,

Janet