Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511270002
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: ANUA LEVU, FIJI LENGTH: Long
``Newspaper Bites Dust'' said the headline in the Fiji Times, or words to that effect. The July item was about New York Newsday, and I counted myself among the 800 staffers being cut.
What to do? Rush home and jockey for position in the rat race? Cancel the return flight and hang out in a hut by the sea? Or have the company wire me the severance pay and keep going - next stop Borneo?
The answer came in ``Fiji time,'' that elusive, hey-whatever tropical time zone where something's bound to happen ... maybe now, maybe later, maybe not at all.
Once I embraced the Zen implications of that, two weeks of island-hopping in the South Pacific turned out to be just the tonic for my predicament.
And Fiji has plenty of islands to hop: some 300 straddling the International Dateline 1,000 miles north of New Zealand. Most of the islands are deserted - about 100 are inhabitable - and only the largest few have much in the way of development.
The people - numbering fewer than 1 million - are a mix of sturdy, broad-featured native Fijians (whose ancestry is a blend of Polynesian and Melanesian) and descendants of Indian immigrants. Famously hospitable, Fijians laugh readily, sing with a seemingly instinctive sense of harmony and embrace Christianity nearly unanimously (mostly Methodism, eradicating the cannibalism of earlier centuries).
Europeans arrived in the early 1800s after the discovery of sandalwood forests, and by 1874 Fiji was a colony of the British, who brought indentured servants from India to work the sugarcane fields. Indians were precluded from owning land, but their descendants prospered in business and the professions and grew to represent nearly half the population of the islands, which became independent in 1970.
Even today 83 percent of the land is reserved by law for native Fijians. An Indian-sponsored ticket won the national election in 1987, but victory was short-lived. A military man, Lt. Col. Sitiveni Rabuka, with the support of tribal chiefs who retain influence alongside Parliament, led a polite and bloodless coup and became prime minister.
Politics divide along racial lines, and Indians are treated as second-class citizens, a significant flaw in Fiji's otherwise fairly convincing self-portrait as a modern Eden.
Though I visited in July, in Fiji's winter, the islands enjoy a tropical maritime climate. I ran into some rain, but it was easy to run away from.
The budget travelers I encountered were the usual backpackers, and middle-class New Zealanders escaping the cold rain of their winter. They found a variety of accommodations in the $20-$50 range to choose from. Mid-range resorts line the southeastern Coral Coast of Viti Levu, the main island, which is the center of government, business and agriculture, and Fiji's luxury resorts - rated at $500 to $1,000 a night - attract a well-heeled clientele from Japan, Europe and the States.
The crystal sea of coral reefs and colorful tropical fish makes the long trip (a 101/2-hour flight from Los Angeles) a prime draw for scuba divers. Skindiver magazine rates Fiji among the world's top five destinations, ``the soft-coral capital of the world.'' Most of the colorful fish swim close to the surface, so snorkeling is a popular inexpensive, low-tech option.
To prepare for my diving experience at my first stop, the new Cousteau Fiji Island Resort on Vanua Levu, the second-largest island, I had taken precertification lessons in New York. I was technically ready, but nothing could have prepared me fully.
You would expect an outfit bearing the Cousteau name would feature a first-class diving operation, and you'd be right. Jean-Michel, son of famed oceanographer Jacques and proprietor along with owners of the Post Ranch Inn of Big Sur, Calif., set up shop here in June after several years of bringing Operation Ocean Search groups for diving expeditions and educational seminars. (Jacques Cousteau is suing his son and his partners over use of the family name for the resort. The case is pending in Fiji.)
The resort's dive master Gary Alford and resident marine biologist Jenn Caselle see to it that guests enjoy a diving experience that's comfortable, safe and informative. Between dives Caselle answers questions about the magnificent South Pacific coral reef, an environment more diverse and populous than any land habitat on Earth.
Learning to dive in Fiji was like learning to fly by going for a spin in a space shuttle: out of this world.
Topside, the Cousteau resort cultivated a charming environment. Sure, it was costing a bundle - the 20 thatched-roof ``bures'' are $275-$450 a night (including breakfast), plus lunch and dinner at decent American restaurant prices, and $99 for a two-tank dive before lunch - but the setting was paradisal (coconut palm trees, bougainvillea, surf lapping at the shoreline), the accommodations casually elegant, the service priceless.
Part of Cousteau's eco-tourist ethic is to acquaint guests with the indigenous culture, so the Fijian staff members are encouraged to express themselves and welcome visitors as if they were coming to a tribal village, where hospitality is a paramount virtue. They give cooking demonstrations, tell folk tales, guide walks along the exposed reef at low tide, host tours to their nearby village and play guitars and sing in the evenings. In five days I was made to feel like I belonged there, and when the airport van pulled away from a group of my new friends singing a farewell song, I cried like a kid on the last day of camp.
It was a quick lift to my next stop, Taveuni, the third-largest island though a mere 26 miles long. (Fiji is served by a couple of commuter airlines.) Its waterfalls, rain forests, volcanic peaks and flowers and birds inspired its nickname, the Garden Island. Its villages are friendly, and the diving in the Somosomo Strait between Taveuni and Vanua Levu is world-class.
My Taveuni resort was so peculiar - I was the only guest. The 2,000-acre Vatuwiri Farm Resort was established in 1871 as a cotton plantation and lingers on as a last outpost of the colonial era. Nowadays, the founder's grandson, Spencer Tarte, with the help of three daughters, two sons and a couple of laborers, keeps 900 head of cattle on the property and puts up occasional tourists in former workers quarters and a couple of waterfront bungalows. I stayed in one of the latter and enjoyed generous meals with the family, all for $75-$100 a night.
For all the rich history, nature, culture and politics of Vatuwiri, the three days I spent with the Tartes linger in my recollection as the most fascinating I spent in Fiji. Again, I'd been made to feel more welcome than any tourist can ever expect to, and felt another sweet pang of regret on leaving. But I'd made a reservation at a place with one of the best reputations in Fiji, so it was time to push on.
Like Spencer Tarte, Do Cammick has complaints about the country's politics, but hers have to do with tourism. An expatriate New Zealander who runs a small up-market resort called Dive Taveuni, Cammick says business was booming before the '87 coup but has been a struggle ever since because of a lack of support for tourism by the government. Nevertheless, she and her husband, Ric, have fashioned a handsome, successful operation, with eight ``bures'' on a bluff over the Somosomo Strait that affords a spectacular sunset panorama.
At $145 per person per day (family style meals included, plus diving), Dive Taveuni provides sublime comfort and good value. It's another place that attracts couples on romantic getaways.
Fiji logistics
Getting there: Airlines serving Fiji's Nadi airport from Los Angeles (Saturday and Tuesday departures) include Quantas, Air Pacific, Air New Zealand, Canadian Air. Connecting flights on Sunflower Air or Air Fiji. Average fares round-trip from Los Angeles to the capital of Savu run about $1,000.
Time zone: Fiji is 22 hours ahead of New York time, and across the dateline, so it takes at least two calendar days to get there. Flight time from Los Angeles is 10.5 hours. Return flight arrives in Los Angeles on same day of departure.
When to go: Located in the South Pacific, Fiji enjoys a tropical maritime climate, with the more desirable mild, dry winter season extending from April to October. Average temperature 75-80, average surface water temperature 78-80. Summer (November and March) is warmer: air 80-86, water 80-83.
Where to stay: Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort, North America Sales office and Reservation Center, 400 Pacific Ave., San Francisco, Calif. 94133; (415) 788-5794; rates $275-$450, double; fax (415) 788-0150; reservations: (800) 246-3454, (800) 268-7832 nights and weekends.
Dive Taveuni Resort, c/o Matei Post Office, Taveuni, Fiji; phone (011) 679 880 441, fax (011) 679 880 466; rates $145 per person.
Vatuwiri Farm Resort, Postal Agency, Vuna, Taveuni, Fiji; rates $50-$100, including meals; phone/fax (011) 679 880 316.
Money: The current exchange rate is about $1.33 Fijian dollars to the U.S. dollar. Major credit cards are widely accepted.
by CNB