i Makogai Oct 3 Position 17 26.445s 178 57.123e (Posted from Marshall Islands, May 2016) David From Rukuruku, on Ovalau, we sailed to Makogai Island and enjoyed a special five-day stay. Obsession, friends since Tonga (2010), and Zest, newly met at Nananu I Ra, were there. We were joined by a very amusing Scottish boat, Endorphin. I got to tell them the pee bottle story and sing them the song. Went down very well. Lester on Obsession plays harp so there were many evenings of music-making along with an appreciative audience. Our stay was topped off with a formal welcome and sevusevu, complete with a lei each. Followed by a meke, a dance performance, put on by the children of the village. All put on for two couples from a dive boat but into which the crews of five yachts were absorbed, as only the Fijians can do.
Special. Zest had left but two solo boats, Trumpeter and High C's, arrived that day. Trumpeter we'd met near Lautoka, and Jack off High C's we'd heard on the radio and had had his musical skills lauded to us on several occasions. I'd have liked to have stayed and swapped songs but the following day, yesterday, was good for the passage to Savusavu. Another time perhaps.
Janet The dinner with Obsession and Zest was riotous. I've really enjoying meeting Fijians on our travels but it was so good to be with Kiwis again. We laughed and laughed. The talk flowed easily. Everyone understood each other, nuance and all.
I love the ease with which you quickly become friends with other yachties. I know from the Tonga trip that many of these friendships endure, Obsession a case in point. Debbie and Chris off Zest are nearly neighbours, living in Kerikeri, an hour from Rawene, and near where we may keep Navire moored when we get back, so there could a future in that relationship too.
*** Makogai was a familiar place to us. Back in 2012 we came on Migration and explored in with Bruce and Alene. It is a unique place, being a former leper colony for most of the south Pacific. Here's a piece I summarized from a blog from Ladybug.
Before the British arrived in Fiji lepers were often clubbed to death. The British banned this practice and various colonies were set up to house them, the final one at Makogai. It was difficult to get medical staff to work there so the government employed nuns to look after the lepers.
Separate villages were built for the Fijians, Indians and other Pacific Islanders, and the staff. There was plenty of level land available for planting and raising cattle. There were two churches, a Catholic and Wesleyan, a mosque, and probably a Hindu temple as well. The patients lived in dormitories, with women segregated from men. Indentured Indian workers were brought to the island to do much of the farming.
The physically able were encouraged to work in the fields, assist in building, cooking, sewing and other daily chores. Physical activities and recreation were promoted including inter-village sports and arts and crafts. Children attended school and there were girl guides and boy scouts. There was even an open-air movie theater. However there was a jail too.
The varied activities were introduced to help overcome the sense of hopelessness that can occur when people are exiled from their homes and families. All in all it was a very positive community. The sisters attended to the physical as well as the spiritual needs of their patients.
Makogai became a very successful leprosarium and soon patients were arriving from all over the Pacific - countries such as the Solomons, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Cook Islands, Samoa, and Tonga. By 1947, there were 675 lepers on Makogai. After the discovery of a cure, the leprosarium was closed in 1969.
Back in the present the island houses a turtle and giant clam farm, run by a marine biologist and a few helpers. One of the workers took us on a tour of the farm and the remains of the leper's villages, and we gratefully accepted offers of fresh drinking coconuts, papaya and bananas. The next few days we relaxed and socialized.
*** Journal entries: Oct 5 I snorkeled on a bombie near the boat. It looked so ordinary from the surface, but was a wonderland under water, large turtles gliding around me, myriad's of brightly hued tropical fish and a superb garden of coral.
Back on board the boat I said to David, "Looks like we may be here for a week." A 1041 high pressure system was predicted to come near Makogai on the Friday, a squash zone at the top of it bringing strong winds to our area.
"I can't see why that's a problem," said David, "We have plenty of water, fuel, alcohol, and fresh stuff several more days." So we settled in for further rounds of drinks. On the 50' Scottish boat that evening. They had a whisky collection, like the decent stuff, bliss. For appetisers I made duck lolo (shredded in coconut cream), and fried kabana with olive marmalade. It was so good to have a larger appreciative audience to cook for.
*** Oct 6 It was our turn for drinks so we had a quiet day cleaning the boat. I'm a little bit house-proud. That night I served pate, red onion jam, crackers, and stuffed olives, just your average fare at home but a treat out here. We made more music.
*** October 7 It was blowing its tits off outside the anchorage, whitecaps abounding. We needed two lighter wind days to get to SavuSavu, so decided to stay put where our anchor had been down for several days and we trusted it. This, rather than risk anchoring in adverse conditions at an unknown bay at Koro Island, our stopping point half way between here and SavuSavu. However we did opt for a night in and gave our livers a rest.
And so it went.
October 8 - David Obsession and Endorphin headed south early morning and reported fair conditions. We vacillated. Would the winds be as fair going north? We decided to approach the pass and have a look. It was overcast and grey. No chance of seeing the reassuring turquoise outline of the reef. The island profile was high right up to the pass preventing us feeling the force of wind beyond the reef. We approached slowly, still undecided and a couple of boat lengths from the pass. I glanced over the side and my heart stopped.