Yasawas in Fiji

BULA... is a greeting in Fiji. This word is one of the most important and is constantly on your lips with a smile in response. But in Nadi, where the international airport of Fiji is located, I was greeted with a heavy rain shower. A very friendly taxi driver took me to a flooded bridge, which I then waded through on foot, and on the other side I was picked up by Bosame, who allowed me to stay at his place through Couchsurfing. I spent one night with him and his family before moving to the hostel. There, I had the manager Imeri plan a tour to the Yasawas for me, and the next morning, I set off to my first homestay on Waya Island, in the pouring rain.

There, I met Sebastian from France, who was on a world trip with his wife and two children. He is a teacher and has been working in Congo for a long time. He will continue his world trip until they run out of money. There were also two young English girls with us, whom I shared a room with. However, one of them forgot to mention that she suffers from nightmares. I quickly found out when she suddenly started screaming loudly in the night, and her friend soothed her calmly, before a similar scenario repeated itself a few more times. She was very embarrassed the next day, and I would have gladly helped her get rid of these nightmares. And then there was Ariel, an Argentine on vacation and a joker. The next day, we treated ourselves to a dive with bull sharks, one of the most dangerous shark species in the world. The price made both of us hesitate, but since it was a unique experience, we decided to go for it. Ariel is not afraid of negotiations. So, his first action on the opposite island, where the dive base was located, was to ask the people in charge for a discount. But the way he did it made me feel a great sense of embarrassment. He indirectly blamed the people for the price and said that he had never paid so much for a dive. He also tried to evoke pity and talked about the high inflation and poverty in his country... a day earlier, he had boasted to me about his well-paid job as an engineer. When his counterpart was not impressed and did not change the price, he asked if we still wanted to dive. Without hesitation, I gave my consent to avoid further uncomfortable situations... and luckily, Ariel let go and did not continue with more manipulative and embarrassing arguments. In general, this situation made me doubt myself, as in certain situations, after a beer or two, I also like to engage in negotiations, not taking the lack of understanding of the people accompanying me seriously. Let's see if this experience will have a lasting impact on my behavior.

In any case, we then dived with the sharks, which have been fed at this spot for scientific purposes for 8 years. The subject of research is the personality structures of the sharks. Our group consisted of the two of us tourists, a 2-person camera crew, about 7 locals who were responsible for feeding and protecting the divers, 2 active researchers, and a researcher who accompanied the project in its early years and made more than 2000 dives only at this spot and was visiting with his father at the time. He explained to us that he now recognizes all the sharks by their appearance and characteristics. Some are more shy, others bolder and cheekier, and others slightly more aggressive. For me, they all looked the same, and I could only distinguish them by the different sizes of the fish hooks still hanging from their mouth corners, which, according to the researcher, would disappear within a few weeks through the digestive process. So, we went down to a depth of 20 meters and positioned ourselves kneeling behind a small wall, while the feeding was taking place just off the wall. Behind us, the local divers were equipped with an aluminum rod and a ring at the end, which they used to keep the sharks at a distance when they came too close to us. And we were face to face with the sharks. They came within about 40cm of our faces, and we had a fabulous view of the 8 voracious sharks, which fortunately were satisfied with the fish heads and spared us the experience of becoming fish food. And even though they are not the largest species of sharks, all the mature bull sharks with a length of about 3m were quite impressive and awe-inspiring creatures.

Back on our island, I planned a short hike to a rocky elevation in the hinterland. They offered it as a guided tour, but since 15 Euros was too much for me, I asked other locals if the trail was easy to find. A nice man described the access to this trail and told me to always stay to the right on the trail. A Japanese woman who was staying in the neighborhood also wanted to save money and joined me. So, we found the entrance to the trail and followed the man's instructions to always stay to the right. The path became narrower and we became unsure if it was the right one. I checked the trail on my app and it showed us that we had deviated from the path. So, I tried to navigate us back to the actual trail, which led us through dense bushes... until we stood in front of a stream that was impossible to cross. So, we decided to go back. But in the midst of the thicket, we couldn't find our path anymore. I could already feel that Kumiko, the Japanese woman, was breathing uneasily and didn't really enjoy our excursion. Fortunately, we managed to find the path again, a bit sweaty, and walked back. While I was still not giving up hope and wanted to try another path at a junction, Kumiko decided to return, which was fine by me, as I felt responsible for her. But the other path turned out to be the right one, and after about an hour, I reached the summit. Unfortunately, it started raining right on time at the summit, so there was no view. But after waiting for 20 minutes under a small rock overhang, the weather cleared up, and I had a beautiful sunset.

After 2 nights, I took the ferry to the next island called Naviti and went to the Wai Makare beach. Thirty years ago, Seru's father bought a piece of land there, which Seru now occupies with his family and opened his newly built accommodation for tourists at the beginning of the year. I was the 9th guest, and with a German couple from Mönchengladbach, I was the only tourist on site. And you could really feel it, as the people there were not yet oversaturated with tourists, and a wonderful friendly atmosphere of nice conversations was created. Nox, I think a cousin of Seru, was one of the most experienced spear fishermen in the family. He can dive up to about 50m deep and stay underwater for up to 10 minutes, according to his statement. Unbelievable, but apparently nothing out of the ordinary for the local people there. However, it can't be very healthy, as he usually has headaches after such a dive and is knocked out for the day. When asked if it is dangerous due to the bull sharks, he said that there are many cases of shark attacks on divers, some of them fatal. But he is not afraid because God protects him. He then took Yannik, Franzi, and me on a less deep spearfishing trip at the reef just a few meters from the beach. Instead of a harpoon with a rope attached to it, which he uses for deep dives, he used a rubber sling with a very long iron arrow. He only shot at small reef fish, which were later to be used for a barbecue. It was amazing how he stood in the water without weights on his body and had no buoyancy. He said that this is possible due to a low-fiber, rice-rich diet. With my buoyant body, which has only recently acquired a layer of fat, I probably would only slightly reduce my buoyancy with such a diet. So, I politely declined to shoot the little fish with this underwater slingshot and admired the spectacle while snorkeling.

After another 2 nights, I continued to the island of Nanuya Lailai to the Sunrise Lagoon Homestay. It is apparently not far from this northern island to the vacation resorts of celebrities like Leonardo di Caprio. Although the landscape was beautiful, the underwater world near our island was practically dead. I don't know exactly why, but the reefs are probably being destroyed by global warming and illegal dynamite fishermen. So, I took a few walks around the island with some nice acquaintances and in the evenings, we were entertained by a local named Navi, who sang all kinds of songs while playing his guitar, performed magic tricks, and told jokes or anecdotes from his 26-year life, with the occasional tooth loss. Suddenly, things got wild when two dogs got into a fight over a female in heat, and he tried to separate them by grabbing one of the dog's snouts. Neither he nor the other men who beat the dogs with sticks were successful. Only when one of the dogs limped away did the fight end. The result: surely severely injured dogs that we didn't see again until we left, and a deep, gaping bite wound about 5cm long on Navi's finger. But for him, it was no reason to be sad. It was actually a case for a surgeon, but he took it lightly, allowed us to convince him not only to flush the wound with warm water but also to disinfect and bandage it... and then he continued his entertainment. An incredible guy or an incredible way of dealing with injuries. He then told us that he had large scars on his neck from a dog biting him years ago and that this wound on his finger was not so bad despite the numbness.

And then there was Vitali. His appearance reminded me of Russell Crowe, while his behavior was similar to that of Forrest Gump. He came from Ukraine and had been on a world trip before the war and has not returned since. He apparently earned himself some money before the Corona crisis by buying and then selling masks, similar to Fynn Kliemann, which gave him fewer financial worries. However, returning to Ukraine is out of the question for him because he would have to go to the front and he doesn't want that. But he still tries to support his country and raised more than 6 million dollars in the USA through fundraising. With this money, he bought medication, bandages, and other important things, repeatedly flew them to Poland, from where they were smuggled into Ukraine. But he clashed with a Ukrainian influencer who is on the front lines and reports from there. She accused him of betrayal, which ultimately led to a media storm, and he was declared an enemy of the state in Ukraine. For him, it is clear that he will probably never return to his home country. For him, it's no big deal, as he no longer has any friends in Ukraine, and his mother lives in Germany. A crazy story.

Otherwise, I also solved my exhaust problems on the small island. Since my time on Tanna and chewing on the not entirely clean kava root, a foreign object had apparently made its way into my carburetor system and got stuck, which may have been responsible for the unusual state of my waste product. But then I got the recommendation from another traveler with similar problems to chew on the leaf of a tree called Guanabana. Damn bitter and somewhat reminiscent of wormwood. Additionally, I ate the seeds of papayas, and this combination actually helped me restore a functioning exhaust system after about 2 weeks.

And then my time in Fiji and my visit to the Pacific Ocean came to an end. Besides the impressive landscape, I will hopefully remember the warmth and openness of the people with their many greetings, smiles, and short conversations in a wonderful memory. It's really fascinating how people in comparison to our Western world possess much less material wealth but carry an admirable authentic friendliness, interest, and helpfulness within themselves. I met a man from another island in Fiji who was on vacation in Nadi and observing people with his family. I met him at the bus station in Nadi, and he invited me to his home. I asked him how he explains the almost unconditional friendliness of him and the other people. His simple and yet beautiful answer was: He believes in the goodness of life and that the positive energy he puts into the world will come back to him when he needs it.