by LSP on Dec.20, 2009, under Beaches, Environment, Oceans, Outdoors!, Photography
1st post since arriving back in civilization, albeit of the Californian variety…
Bula, Cyclones, cancellations, sunburn, lost baggage, way too many queues, “Fiji Time”, hammocks, timeless beauty, Bula, sand, more sand, where did THAT sand come from?, beasties, bites, Bula, slow days, WIND, fast days, destruction, a very delayed wedding, mindless chainsawing, FISH, boats, saltiness,Vinaka…all sorts of highs and lows; it has been one crazy week……
We are on to the next adventure, which hasnt slowed down at all after our 36 hour travel to the US as Clara and Joe have just arrived, but after copious celebrations I just got a little time to post some photos from the trip.
UPDATE>>>
On the 14th December 2009, tropical cyclone Mick passed close to the west of the Yasawa islands in Fiji. It was the first time in 17 years that a cyclone had come so close to the islands and coincided with the day I was due to get married.
The 14th began for me at around 3.15am when I woke to the howling winds around our Bure (small beach hut accommodation). Flo was already awake and we lay listening to the angry gusts, trying to convince ourselves that the Bure was strongly built and the roof was not likely to come off. I drifted in and out of sleep, attempting to ignore the paranoia I felt that the storm surge would send the crashing surf up the short beach and straight through our front windows.
At 6am we had given up on sleep and were nervously stuffing gear into bags in case we needed to evacuate.
At breakfast in the main building, the wind was whipping through the open sided structure while the local women attempted to secure a large tarp over the gaping space. A solitary male sauntered in wearing full wet weather gear and was immediately handed the hammer amid a torrent of Fijian abuse.
A huge gust slapped through, pulling most of the tarp down and Laili, one of the hosts, burst in to a huge cackle. A picture flew 20 ft off the wall and shattered in to hundreds of pieces. At that point we decided to head back to our hut.
For the next few hours we watched the carnage out the window. The water was a moody muddy angry brown as it chopped and rolled its way back and forwards around the bay. A small black and white bird landed about 10 feet from our door and stayed there for the next hour, hunckered down in the erratic gusts that were attempting to blast it away. The trees that framed the bay were a mixture of pine and palms and the palms began to show their hardiness, with only the weakest losing fronds. In contrast the pines began one by one to succumb to the wind, splitting or ripped themselves into pieces. Coconuts roared through the air at various heights above the ground, colliding with anything and everything in their paths. After a few loud bangs on the glass and the sound of the water drum on the roof starting to rip itself away, we elected to pack our essentials and valuables and move back to the main building.
When we got there we found the locals in a state of total excitement. After their Cava ceremony the night before (which they insisted would ward off the hurricane) I thought they would be a little slow this morning, but instead they were embracing the raw nature with massive enthusiasm. Some rushed around with swimming masks on their faces (to avoid the flying sand) while others cavorted in the water. While we were taking that in another Fijian rushed past with a huge grin and a Kayak, and proceeded to try to surf the storm surge in the bay. A huge 100ft pine tree beside the building crashed down in a tangle of branches and dirt and the small thatched sun shelter by the beach ripped itself off the ground and whistled away down the beach.
At this point we retreated to the bar to wait it out.
12 hours later the storm had rumbled on to savage the mainland, while on our small island the clean up began…
Despite the destruction, plenty of life did survive while the regeneration will bring many others in to existence…
