Chief for a Day

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Mike often comments to his “younger” friends that “age sucks!” but this is one time he didn’t complain. As an elder, he was given the privilege of being the “chief” for our group for 3 days and you can be assured that he milked it for all it was worth.
We left Nadi, Fiji on New Year’s Eve to experience a 3 day Windjammer Barefoot snorkeling and village cruise with about 20 other passengers from Australia, Netherlands, Fiji, USA and Canada. The ship was a 108 foot square rigged topsail schooner built in 1972. We arrived on Drawaqa Island (a small volcanic island in the Yasawa chain NW of Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji) after a 4-5 hour trip aboard the Spirit of the Pacific. After snorkeling along the way we were welcomed to the Barefoot Lodge that would be our “home” for the next 2 nights. Our “bure” consisted of 4 open windows, a thatched roof and mosquito net over our bed, located 20 feet from the beach. There were a series of 10 huts on the sunrise side of the island and 10 located on the sunset side. It took no more than 2 minutes to walk from one side of the island to the other.

Since it was New Year’s Eve in Fiji, the local staff began celebrating early with a “Kava” drink and lots of singing. The Fijian’s rarely drink alcohol but the kava drink is their “narcotic” of choice. It comes from a plant grown locally. The root is ground up, smashed through a sieve and water added until they had the potency they want. It is definitely an acquired taste!! Only the island men participate in a chanting and singing ceremony and they may offer kava to their guests. It is an honor to be invited to their ceremony, so following their customs including proper dress is necessary. If a kava drink is offered to you it would be very disrespectful to decline it. Since Mike and Rick were chosen to represent our group as the “chief” and the “security” man, they were the first to be offered the kava drink. The formal ceremony would come tomorrow.

The lack of partying on New Year’s was probably good since the next morning included a trek to the top of the island hill (in 90 degree heat) and then a snorkeling trip. The coral sea life was magnificent. We have never seen anything like it. Later in the day we sailed to another remote island in this chain where we were greeted warmly by the entire Fijian villagers. We had the formal ceremony and were then entertained by many of the men and women in the village. It was very colorful and a lot of fun. The group then toured the village and talked to the people and children to learn about their culture. Afterwards, they invited the group for a formal greeting ceremony in their activity center. Everyone was so gracious. The warm, dirty dishwater tasting kava was so refreshing!!! Later Mike was invited to join the village elders for more kava. Remember, it is disrespectful to say no. For the next 2 days on the island Mike was referred to as the “Chief”. He forgot all about his age!!!