Thursday 30 June Cantankerous customs

The day began well without auspices of what was to befall us later. The Stray Kitties and us caught the truck, it really was a truck with seats in along the sides of the flat bed ad a cover to keep off the rain, with the locals and their market produce from the village of Rukuruku an hour's bouncing to Levuka town.
Levuka was the original capital of Fiji in the Victorian days when whaling was still big business and it was considered a bit 'wild' with gaming houses, regular altercations and other nefarious businesses. Little has changed on the face of it, that is the buildings are all the original ones, but the people are far friendlier and better behaved now.

on the truck to Levuka

Our first stop after shaking out the muscle spasms from the truck was Lee Chongs restaurant for breakfast of an Indian curry, an English scone and Chinese green tea. Somewhat eclectic but it worked for me. The second stop was Customs to do our inter island clearance and obtain a new cruising permit to take us through to Lautoka on the southern end of the island.
This is where we were informed of our first mistake. Mr Very Unfriendly Customs Man was angry we had anchored in another bay and not brought our boats into Levuka. We didn't bring our boats into Levuka because all the guide books indicated it was exposed to wind from every direction except west, the holding was poor and the tuna cannery infused the air. He threatened us with fines if we didn't bring our boats in today and anyway the chief of Rukuruku village who'd been to unwell to see us last night had come in to rat on us and to say he wanted us out of his bay!

First supermarket in Levuka

Levuka main street

This is the first time we have encountered unpleasantness; a customs authority threatening a fine of F$10,000 and a chief wanting us away from his village. We were left with only one course of action, to comply, and to mark it down to part of the experience of cruising. A kindly taxi driver fitted us all in his big four wheel drive and took us back to the village to get our boats and motor around to town.
As it turned out there were two yachts already anchored in town and we knew both from our time in Whangarei, NZ. First was Dutch boat De Ware Jacob with Rene and Yaap and the second Marquesas with David and Virginia. We got the anchor down and found the holding to be good and not too much swell behind the fringing reef.
Papers in hand we returned to the cantankerous customs man, or as it turned out Mr Jekyll / Hyde. He done a complete about face and became the sweetest, most welcoming face of officialdom possible. All because we'd done what he wanted. We'll be sure to pass our findings onto the other cruisers and advise them to avoid Levuka unless they really need something.
There were some upsides to the day – we went to the supermarket and got fresh supplies and enjoyed a flavoursome and excellent value 3 course meal at the Whale's Tale with Stray Kits and De Ware Jacob.
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