Fiji: An Adventure

A view of Nacula

This adventure has two parts because it ultimately played out over two different mornings. But first, some requisite background information . . .

Beth and I spent about five days on Nacula, one of Fiji’s Yasawa Islands. These islands are volcanic in origin—as are most of the islands of Fiji—and interiors often have elevation: as in peaky style hills cloaked in savanna with sporadic enclaves of coconut palms inscribing the preferred drainage route. A listing of possible activities posted at Oarsman’s Bay Lodge, our accommodation while on Nacula, included a hike to the summit of Nacula. There was a path, and round trip, lodge to summit and back, was estimated at two hours. Fiji is tropical—synonymous with hot and humid—so I posited that we begin our hike at dawn, to take advantage of our coolest timeframe, and return in time for 8:00-ish breakfast.

Attempt to summit commenced as posited. We arose about six with the dawn breaking but before sunrise, and I dressed for a day advancing thus: hike, breakfast, beach. Although we had conferred with Philip and Oni, Nacula natives and lodge personnel, about the path to the summit after dinner the night before, Beth and I did not remain on a marked path—most of which never was actually the correct path, we later learned—much longer than five minutes. Largely unconcerned, because Oni assured us there was nothing dangerous out there (like SNAKES), because we could see the goal above and beyond, and because the goal appeared easily attainable, we ascended—frequently on the vertical, using the grass for hand and foot holds. Eventually, though, we trekked through saw grass (it definitely had an edge, one that grew sharper with increasing contact) ranging from knee-high to over-our-heads-high without ever reaching the true summit. We gave up and turned back an hour or so after we began, only to confront much more daunting challenges than already encountered: a steep descent over terrain rendered invisible due to the grass and then the expansive thicket of dense bush—sans path—separating the savanna from the beach. I now marvel at the range and practicality of functions possible for a machete! We finally reached Oarsman’s Bay Lodge again just before 9:00, sweaty, dirty, hungry, out of water, and grass-cut across our arms and legs.

That's me encompassed in saw grass!

Looking down toward Oarsman's Bay Lodge

Notice the dirt on Beth's hands and knees...and we hadn't even started the hardest part yet--the descent!

We walked down this slope sans path--trickier than it may look!

We pushed and shoved our way through this bush to the beach; it took us about an hour!

Still, I yearned to summit Nacula. Although we chose to sleep in the following morning, on our final morning in Nacula—after a brief reconnaissance of the several paths snaking in various directions from the lodge and into the bush and then an additional conference with Philip and Oni—we headed out again. This time we found the path and followed the path all the way to the summit and then a bit beyond to where we could look down onto Nacula Village.

Beth--on the path this time!

Looking down on Nacula Village.

After our second attempt, our successful attempt, to summit Nacula, Pi—another native of Nacula Village who worked at Oarsman’s—asked to see my photos of our hike. While she perused the photos on my camera’s screen, I asked her if she had ever climbed to the top. She said only once: for the last tsunami warning, all the women and children on the island were sent to the top while the men remained below.

Pi, me, and Oni

What Stress Invokes

I rarely make lists. I do not own a day planner or appointment book of any kind, nor do I keep a calendar. With just my life to track, my memory and an occasional sticky note or two have largely sufficed. Every few years, though, an exception can emerge, and apparently 2010—with a transfer for me to Korea in its record—is one of those exceptional years. Several restless nights and one migraine later, I now have a calendar in place for the month of May!


April 30 Official orders arrive via e-mail for my transfer from Yokosuka to Seoul. (In the military world, nothing can proceed without these in hand.)

May 1, 1730 Caroline's baby shower at the O'Club

May 3 Fill out paperwork requesting shipment of household goods

May 5, 1500 Sign paperwork for shipment of household goods and confirm pack-out dates

May 8, 1100 Celeste's baby shower at Tsubaki Tower Party Room

May 10, 1730 Hair appointment, NEX Salon

May 11, 1400 Moving company preview appointment (A representative comes to the house and checks out how much stuff is lodged therein.)

May 13, 1430 Caroline's baby shower at school

May 14, 1430 Termination Briefing (sounds ominous, huh) at the Housing Office

May 15, 1400 Pedicure, NEX Salon

May 24 Pack-out for Unaccompanied Baggage (350 pounds, fast-tracked)

May 25, 0730 Appointment at Autoport to have belts on car checked (I have a buyer for my aged car--$500--but something in its internal workings has begun sporadically squeaking!)

June 1 Pack-out for Household Goods
           Take up residence in the Navy Lodge on base

 And still to schedule . . .

• washer/dryer pick-up (furnished by the US Navy)
• cancellation of cell phone service
• cancellation of Internet service, removal of cable, return of router
• utility meter readings and final payments
• final check-out with landlord and return of deposit

Why I Teach Eighth Grade

Jarae walked into first period today (Monday) wearing sunglasses.  The bell rang and he didn't remove them.  Now Jarae is smart, athletic, kind, good-looking, popular, and a great kid overall.

ME:  Jarae, what's up with the shades?
JARAE:  My eyes just don't look good this morning.
ME:  What's wrong? 
JARAE:  I'm just tired.
ME:  But, Jarae, I need to see the windows of your soul.
ISAIAH:  (who did raise his hand, by the way)  But, Ms. Cahoon, you're looking into the windows to the windows of his soul!

Fiji Impressions

• An assumption that Fiji stands in the ranks of so-called "third world countries" is probably fairly common. Yet, in comparison to other "third world countries" I've visited, especially tropical ones, Fiji is different.  In all of Fiji's major cities you can drink the water without concern.  There is no need to obtain and employ any malaria prophylaxis (HALLELUJAH!) because malaria is not a risk.  And I observed throngs of kids headed to and from school--all clean, pressed, uniformed, and, quite frequently, barefoot.  ('Tis the tropics, afterall!)  I also had the chance to visit a school on the island of Nacula, and a basic education for all seems to be culturally valued.  Since returning from Fiji, I have checked its ranking on three different listings of countries by GDP/PPP (gross domestic product/purchasing power parity), and out of 190-ish countries, Fiji shows up on all three lists somewhere in the 150s.  It's literacy rate is about 93%.

• Time is not so measured and allotted...Fiji time, they call it.

• People sing--these amazing, full-bodied voices seamlessly shifting between unison and harmony, sometimes a cappella and sometimes accompanied by ukulele and guitar.

Children singing for us at the school we visited on Nacula Island.

• Conceived in all the blues of the tropics, crystalline, the sea laps pristine white-sand beaches extending from canopies of coconut palms or else crashes against rocky headlands with dramatic spray and thunder or else grumbles and breaks into lines of white surf across the tops of coral reefs.

• Night is tangible, so dark the Milky Way seems to spiral across an endless swath of black velvet.

Fiji Facts

The Mamanuca Islands

• If every single island in the Fiji archipelago was counted, the number would be in the thousands. Of Fiji’s 322 “counted” islands, 105-110 are inhabited (depending on one’s source of information). In fact, Fiji has more land and people than the rest of Polynesia combined.

• Most of Fiji’s islands are of volcanic origin. Fringing reefs line most coastlines, and the Fiji archipelago includes thirty-three barrier reefs, a staggering amount for any one country. Actually, more than a quarter of the South Pacific’s coral reefs lie in Fijian waters, and the Great Sea Reef is the fourth largest in the world.

• Abel Tasman (Jalayne, et al, remember when we sea-kayaked in Abel Tasman National Park on New Zealand’s South Island?!), the first European explorer to reach Fiji—in 1643, by the way—never actually went ashore. Captain Cook sighted Fiji in 1774, even anchored, but also never went ashore. In 1789, after evading canoes-full of practicing cannibals—thanks to adrenaline-charged rowing by his loyal crew of supporters, a sudden squall, and an unexpected gap in the Great Sea Reef—Captain Bligh, of Mutiny on the Bounty infamy, provided the first accurate picture of Fiji to the Europeans. Although perhaps unwilling explorers who never actually landed either, Bligh and his men ended up rowing through the center of Fiji, between the two main islands, on their escape route to Timor. Bligh, as was his nature, made careful observations, ones ultimately shared with other European sailors/explorers.

• The Moon Handbook, Fiji reports that early Fijians “were extremely hospitable to any strangers they did not wish to eat.” Still, when a cannibalistic tradition is informed by the prevailing belief that shipwrecked persons have been cursed and abandoned by the gods, most voyagers who wrecked on Fijian shores—native or otherwise—were generally killed and eaten.

• The natives’ fierce and warlike reputation and propensity for cannibalism, in addition to the early explorers’ emphasis on the perilous nature of Fiji’s multiple reefs, caused most sea travelers to shun the area for a chunk of time. Fiji became notoriously known as the “Cannibal Isles.”

• Polynesians arrived in Fiji around 1500 B.C. and the Melanesians around 500 B.C. Indigenous Fijians are the resulting mingling of these two groups. Beginning in 1879, the British brought indentured Indian servants to Fiji to work in the sugar industry. According to their contract, the servants could return to India after ten years. More than half of those who immigrated to Fiji stayed in Fiji. By the time the practice ended in 1916, 63,000 Indians lived in Fiji.

• Native Fijians are mostly Christians—Methodists (78%) and Catholics (8.5%) comprising the two largest Christian denominations.** Even still, about 35% of the entire population of Fiji is Hindu or Muslim due to the large Indo-Fijian population; only about 2% have converted to Christianity over the years. Local Chinese also practice Buddhism. In Nadi, Beth and I saw the largest Hindu Temple in the South Pacific, Sri Siva Subrahmaniya Swami Temple*, and while on the highway between Nadi and Sigatoka we saw a good sized mosque as well.

• Any one who has known me very long or traveled with me quickly learns I have a strong aversion to snakes—perhaps even a phobia. Consequently, I prefer to have at least some knowledge of the snake conditions for any locale I may inhabit, however briefly. Many people claim there are no poisonous snakes in Fiji, merely indigenous "harmless" snakes in such scarcity they are rarely seen. The introduction of the mongoose in the late 19th century to control rats in the sugar cane plantations on the main islands decimated Fiji’s land-dwelling bird, snake and amphibious populations. Nevertheless, Fiji does have a terrestrial venomous snake, which can come as a bit of a shock to people with a snake mindset similar to mine who hear many a Fijian claim that Fiji is snake-free apart from the pacific boa—as in one of those very rarely seen snakes mentioned earlier. Even more appalling to those sharing this snake antipathy is the added detail that this snake is an elapid, one belonging to the same family as the Indian cobra and the Australian taipan. Still, no real trepidation need prevail as at last count less than twenty of these venomous snakes were located in all of Fiji. (With overwhelming gratitude, I kept this snake report at the forefront of my consciousness during one grand Fijian adventure to be reported in a future post!)

• Fijian waters do house sea snakes. (I saw nary a one…thankfully!) One of my sources provided this information, which I did find interesting:

“There are lots of long wiggly things that live in the sea and most of the ones that you will encounter are actually not sea snakes. The sea snake you are most likely to see in Fiji whilst goggling is the Banded/Yellow Lipped/Colubrine Sea Krait (Laticauda colubrina). These are fairly small, being about half to one and a half meters in length and generally not much thicker than a man's thumb. They are however the sixth most venomous snake in the world (behind Australia's Taipans, King Browns and Tiger snakes), with fangs able to deliver a mixture of powerful neurotoxins and myotoxins which affect the nervous system and skeletal muscles. The chance of being bitten by one of these sea kraits is minimal, though. They are amphibious reptiles which differ only from land-based snakes in having specially adapted paddle-like tails for swimming and diving. They must surface to breath every fifteen minutes or so and will be observed snooping and poking around the shallow reef edge in search of eels to eat. They search for food using their forked tongue as a sensor and have little or no interest in you. They pose no threat unless agitated or provoked.”

*Sri Siva Subrahmaniya Swami Temple in Nadi. A man at the gate stopped Beth and me from entering the grounds, informing us that he needed to be sure that we met the criteria for entrance. (See last photo below.) After surveying our attire and realizing we met the necessary clothes criteria, he asked if we were vegetarian. We answered no. He asked if we had eaten meat in the last 24 hours, and we confessed that we had done so. "Don't eat any more meat," he said, "and come back tomorrow. Then you can come in." Hence, we photographed the temple from outside the compound; we already knew that we would not be returning on the morrow!

**There is an LDS Temple in Suva, the capital of Fiji. (We didn't have enough time to include Suva in our itinerary.) One article that I read about Fiji mentioned that Mormons made up about 1% of Fiji's Christian population. On-line I did look up Mormon meeting houses and times for services in the Nadi/Sigatoka area, and there was a ward (Nadi) plus two branches listed.

Still Fiji on My Mind

First glimpses of Fiji from the window of the plane.

I made it to Fiji--that place so distant in the expanse of the Pacific Ocean that "You can't get any farther away before you start coming back!"--and my mind continues to bend, still seeking passages to encompass the experiences and then hold them in memory. Meanwhile, I can dabble with a record of sorts.

Skies, seas, and trees mesmerize me; major portions of the walls in my house format collections of photos, prints, and paintings of skies, seas, trees, and any combinations thereof. Fiji is a realm conceived in sea and sky, and trees comprise an essential element of the interior design!

Here, then, begins my Fijian record--always with sky, generally with sea, and often with trees!

First sunset from the hotel grounds, the Westin, near Denarau Port.

Fern palm, Viti Levu near the Navua River, where we white water rafted.


The grounds of the Westin again, our last day in Fiji--a day with sporadic rain.



Honeymoon Island, just off the coast of Nacula (one of the islands in the Yasawas). We spent five days at Oarsman's Bay Lodge on Nacula.



Bounty Island, one in the Mamanuca chain of islands.




Sea and the Mamanucas



Another island in the Mamanucas




Beach at Sigatoka Sand Dunes




"Our" beach in front of Oarsman's Bay Lodge on Nacula




A beach several coves over from the one in front of Oarsman's Bay Lodge--and on this morning, belonging only to us.

Retirement?!*>#!!&^+~#-??...

This last week I braved my first foray into the realm of a possible future—RETIREMENT—by attending my first ever retirement briefing. YIKES! However, I fear now I may require succor for my state of mind—total alienation!

Back story . . . During last November’s faculty meeting the principal announced the official sign-up sheet--the one for the once a year retirement briefing offered by the district--would make its way around. Perfunctorily, with scarcely a glance at the date of the briefing or names on the list, I contributed to the passage of the clipboard by handing it to the teacher beside me. The clipboard circled through the faculty and rested once again near administration by the time I reconsidered a confrontation with reality: In two more years I will have taught overseas for 25 years, for 30 years in just seven more; maybe there are some things I need to know. At the end of the meeting, I wended my way to the clipboard and added my name.

The actual briefing for all the schools in our complex, though, was scheduled for 3:30, March 3, in the middle school library. I entered the library at 3:28 and experienced my first shock: most of the seats were already occupied and serious discussion appeared to be underway. Was I late?! Had the briefing really begun at 3:00?! I have never known so many teachers to be so prompt—even early—for a meeting, but only one more teacher entered after me. I slunk into a remaining chair at a table where a teacher I kind of sort of knew from the elementary school was sitting. Once seated, I realized the other teachers had folders of information, so, as the presenter launched into the official Power Point presentation (I was not officially late), I slid back out of my seat to retrieve a folder from the library's check-out counter.

An inauspicious beginning deteriorated further. The presentation limped along as the same five people asked question after question and proposed endless “what if” scenarios. The guy on the other side of me commenced what I’m sure he assumed was witty repartee constructed from dramatically whispered asides spawned by the presentation in progress. As I attempted to remain conscious of the presenter’s main points during his painfully slow trudge through the material (not fully his fault, though), I also learned far more than I ever intended to know about the guy next to me: He just turned sixty, he is very available, he has exceedingly good health, his ex-wife has remarried so will have no claims on any of his retirement benefits, etc., etc. Although I truly aspired to at least be polite—an occasional monosyllabic response and some weak smiles—all I could think was “I don’t think I’m old enough to go out with you!”

Forty-five minutes into the briefing and I was pretty much finished. At 5:00, one and a half hours of briefing later, I gathered my stuff and followed another man—a teacher from the elementary school who has a daughter on the other 8th grade team—out the door. According to the handout in my packet containing copies of the Power Point slides, about ¾ of the presentation was complete…to be followed by a question and answer session. But I was done!

I skipped dinner in favor of two sugar cookies and a large Diet Coke from the snack bar at the Fleet Recreation Center. I currently have Season 5 of Lost in my possession and fully intend to suspend my reality for a space of time. So, until I resurface . . .