Matuku, surfing shallow reefs, and some guests

We had a final feast with our extended host family after church on Sunday; followed by a very chilled overnight passage to Matuku, arriving midday on Monday. 

After a decade of obsessively poring over google maps and ambiguous internet posts, I knew Matuku has waves, but of unknown provenance, other than the main wave was pretty full on. I'd had a long hiatus off the boards and my fitness was starting to look questionable. But when it's on it's on.

 Brett and Tash from SY Complicite stopped by to say hello and check out the boat, so we decided to go in with them to complete what turned out to be a very chilled Sevusevu and a tour of Lomati village. We then headed back to Evenstar for some shuteye. 

At dusk we were roused by a local boat coming over to say hello. On board was an Aussie surfer, offering a tour of the waves the next day. Guy is almost a Matuku local, having visited 3-4 times, staying on land with the local chief. He has a love of remote surf, piercing blue eyes, and the unwavering gaze of a true believer. He had all the waves wired and turned out to be a great guide and surf buddy. 

The next day he he collected the Complicite crew and I in a local boat and we went down to Daku pass, western end of the south side of the Island, which was good in the (unusual) north wind. 

A good right hander was on offer and I got a few; but the angle was hard to pick. We agreed we spent too long sitting deep outside waiting for a bomb set, although had we snagged one it would have been a win. 

Here’s the one I got, a racy barrel that just shut me down at the end. No doubt John John would have made it; but he wasn’t taking chances at Matuku that day..

Here's the set that got away...

That evening Waqa (pronounced"Wonga") motored over from Raviravi village to introduce himself and invite us ashore for a kava session. It is a tiny but picturesque village overlooking the lagoon.

Evenstar at dusk from Raviravi

Waqa and his friends grow a multitude of crops including kava. They had a kilogram of powder ready to go; and it quickly became apparent they weren't moving until it was finished. The kava session involves a lot of storytelling and singing. I'd sensibly brought my guitar ashore which was appreciated, so we exchanged songs and tales, while partaking of endless bowls of their finest. 

After a while we challenged them to give us a Polotu song. There were some furrowed brows and a considered silence as everyone remembered their parts. Then the spoons were fetched (keeping time is important) and the boys gave us a good rendition of an old Lau tune. Pretty impressive for a group of half cut farmers. The singing tradition in Fiji is really admirable. I'm not sure what it is about Aussie blokes that makes us so embarrassed to give forth in full voice.

We held out until midnight and called time, at which time the very resolute fellas still had about 1/3 of the kava to go. A great night out and quite a privilege.

The next day (Wednesday) we woke... A little later than usual. The wind had shifted east with grey rainy skies, so I collected Guy, and we tried for the ”main” wave, called Vinaka’s, which is on a knuckle in the reef on the west side to the south of the pass. Not being located on the pass there is no proper exit… So I caught a good one, flicked off but then the next one was bigger… I tried to paddle over it but no go, it broke about 5m in front of me.  I slid off the board looking to dive under it, but there was only about 2-3 ft of water to work with…..Bam. Slammed into the reef (again), this time head first. Stunned and probably concussed, I was frantically (and somewhat mechanically) swimming with no idea which way was up until I felt my feet hit the reef. Easso came in on the dinghy but I waved him away before the next set got him too. Jaysus. 

I got back on the horse and caught one more. What this video won't show is the bleeding swollen head, and eyes rolling in opposite directions. I would probably have failed a rugby HIA. But hey, the waves were on.

The leaden skies, squally wind, throbbing head and the all-too-evident consequences of further miscalculations indicated it was time to get going. I later found out this was the day John John Florence, who’s currently sailing around Fiji in his 48ft Gunboat catamaran, was getting epic stand up barrels at Cloudbreak. Maybe shallow and windy Vinakas was too edgy for him.

It had turned out that Guy is a sailor, and well overdue to return to the mainland thanks to the unreliable shipping timetable: so we gave him a lift to Kadavu via overnight sail.

We were headed for more surfing at King Kong lefts at Nagigia Island on the western tip of Kandavu; at dawn Guy talked me into a detour via Yaurava Bay on the south coast with the promise of a drone session. Fiji's longest right hander is allegedly located on the reef to the west behind Evenstar in the second shot...

We anchored in a little bay to the east of Mount Washington to surf King Kong lefts… Again, an outside reef wave with no exit but a much more makeable proposition than Vinakas. After a couple of ibruprophen and some yoga to combat my rigid and aching neck, we motored around Nagigia Island to anchor the dinghy outside the reef which was interesting. I got a few good ones here. 

Evenstar anchored off Cape Washington next to the abandoned resort on Nagigia Island

Guy took some good drone footage of both Matuku and KKL but things were a bit rushed as we wished him farewell; when he shares it with me I’ll post it here in due course.  

We headed to Vunisea so we could drop Guy to the airport and collected Clare. The rain was sheeting down so we came in on instruments; not an advisable strategy in Fiji where the charts are sometimes quite inaccurate. We crawled in using the "approach the reef pass at the speed with which you intend to hit the reef pass" stratagem. Fortunately the Furuno charts were a lot better than the Navionics charts and we anchored off the beach without any mishaps. 

The Kandavu Rugby 7's tournament was in it's final day next door; so after collecting Clare we took a look. There was a big crowd and the typical party atmosphere. The women's pre-final game seemed to garner a lot more support than the men's final, with the onlookers whooping every tackle and try.  

We did some shopping in the post-event crowd and headed off to a nearby anchorage, which was located off a resort. Alas the resort was dark and uninhabited, so there were no welcome cocktails to be had. It was an early and damp night for the Evenstar crew: not as per the brochure.