Monday 13 June Over the hill

here is our boat

In Fiji it's the custom to ask permission to anchor /walk on shore / snorkel from the village or settlement. Here in Albert Cove we'd spotted a couple of huts behind the trees and this morning all 3 yachts made our way ashore to say hello. We were greeted warmly by the four families who are living here for 3 months to harvest the copra. We were invited to sit and meet our hosts.


Sitting meeting with our hosts and we did the correct thing of asking permission to anchor, swim, to dive and to walk on their island. We got affirmatives to all and an offer to guide us on the walk over the hill to Matewa Bay. Trevor was our guide,. He's half Banaban and half Fijian and moves through through the forest faster than we do. The path hadn't been used for a while so was overgrown, a bit wet underfoot and some trees to climb under / over. It took an hour to reach Matawe bay and after a mooch to find a disused bure (traditional house, photograph the crabs on the beach and take the obligatory group shot we walked back over the hill to our boats.

Odilin, Helen, Sheila, Stuart, Jacqui, David, Trevor

Walking over the hill

The afternoon was dedicated to snorkelling. The best spot we found was under the southern cliffs where we found a wall and fissures worthy of further exploration and David and I plan to come back for a dive on the wall tomorrow. In the evening we had all the anchorage – Odilin, Imagine and El Regalo over for pre dinner drinks.