We met Panea, a seventy year old man originally from Tuvalu
who had moved with his family to Kioa Island, Fiji as a young boy. Panea’s mother delivered him in a ‘drua’ (double hulled outrigger canoe) –
guess after having ten children it’s nothing to deliver a baby in a canoe. Panea claimed that he is one with the sea and
is truly passionate about all the fruits that the sea has to offer.
Panea told us that Kioa is inhabitated by Polynesians
originally from Tuvalu. Because of weak
soil and overcrowding on their home island, the Tuvalun’s decided to buy Kioa,
a rich fertile island off of Vanua Levu.
These Polynesians earned some money in WWII working for the American
military and was able to buy Kioa for the grand sum of $15,000. It was with some trepidation, however, as
they feared the climate and whether they would be eaten by Fijian
cannibals. In 2005, the residents of
Kioa were finally granted Fijian citizenship.
These people, like Panea, are very warm and traditional people. The women make woven handicrafts as evidenced
in Panea’s thatched roof hut with woven floor mats. Traditional ‘drua’s are used for fishing
(we were approached by a lobster fisherman in his ‘drua’ when sailing off of Kioa Island).
Panea relocated to Albert Cove, Rabi Island, Fiji, after he
had suffered a stroke nearly ten years ago.
Albert Cove is possibly one of Fiji’s best kept secrets – beautiful soft
golden beaches, crystal clear water with coral heads loaded with tropical fish
and no road access to the nearby village, Nuka – about 3 to 4 miles by sea. Panea decided that living in this paradise
cove would help him recover from his stroke by changing to a subsistence
lifestyle rich in swimming, collecting rain water, fishing, spear diving,
gardening and raising chickens and pigs.
His garden is rich with bananas, coconuts, papayas, breadfruit, taro and
flowers. He now lives alone in his
thatched roof hut as his wife has passed away.
His daughter lives in Suva but his grandchildren who live in Nuka visit
him on weekends. We even got to meet his
14 year old grandson who hiked along the rocky coastline at low tide – about 3
to 4 miles from Nuka – to visit and fish with his grandfather.
We felt that Panea really enjoyed the presence of occasional
cruisers who anchor in Albert Cove. We
brought gifts of tea, rice, sugar, water, parachute chord, knife sharpeners, a fishing
net and swim fins and in return he was very generous with sharing papayas,
kasavas, bananas, coconuts, fresh eggs, smoked fish and freshly caught fish. We had a knock on our boat one evening around
8:30 p.m.; it was Panea in his little rowboat dropping off some fish that he
had caught on a hand-line.
The one thing that Loren had on his bucket list for his
cruise with us was to catch a lobster and he had just the right man, Panea, to
help him find one. They made two trips
on pretty windy days, even spotted a few lobsters, but those darn critters
evaded them. Well, guess Loren will have
to hook up with us next year for that lobster.
Panea shares his home with a few ‘Banaba’ families who we
saw infrequently. When we saw them, they
were either fishing with handlines in their outrigger canoes or walking along
the beach. Rabi, like Kioa, also has an
interesting history. Micronesians
originally from Banaba in Kiribati (Gilbert Islands) settled here. After WWII, the British bought Rabi for the
Banabans who had suffered several injustices by greedy phosphate mining
companies and an attack by the Japanese in WWII. Contempory Banabans are now citizens of Fiji
living on the island of Rabi, close to the islands of Kioa and Vanua Levu. The citizens of Rabi live according to a
different set of rules than the rest of Fiji; in fact about all they have in
common are their monetary, postal, educational systems, kava drinking and
Methodism. The local language is
Gilbertese, and the social order is that of the Gilbert Islands. In Nuka, the capital village of Rabi, there
are even two police – one Banaban and one Fijian.
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