Sam Snaaps

The neighbors

The loveshack is in a very quiet neighborhood, with only a small handful of people living on the same street as me. The population ratio of dogs to humans is about 1:1, no complaints from me there! I have 3 direct neighbors, one up the hill, and two down, one of which is right next to my fruit farm. Incidentally, I often exchange words with the neighbor next to my garden while I pick bananas and pineapples, and we are getting along very well! He repairs bags for work, and is a very skilled craftsman. As I was occupying myself in the garden, he and his family were enjoying some food and drink on their porch, and as usual I waved and said bula!

This time with a neighborly wave he ushered me over, and invited me for kava and snacks with his family, who welcomed me with such charm as if I had known them for many years. They speak Fijian Hindi, so I sat listening, fascinated by the beautiful sound of this language. It is much slower than traditional Indian Hindi, but has retained the complexity of sound, and is spoken with a very nimble tongue. We spoke a lot about food (classic Sam talking point), where they were impressed by my love for dal, and other Indian dishes and flavors, and offered to teach me many of their favorites, which I cannot wait for! They are a very welcoming and beautiful family who I hold so much optimism for.

The family also helped me to understand more about the Hindu parade that I witnessed several weeks ago. Every September, 9 days of prayer towards Ganesh commences, where flowers, and paper offerings are used as vessels for transporting your prayers from your mind and body, to be delivered to Ganesh. At the end of the 9 days, the celebration takes place, and all of the prayer offerings are taken to a holy place and sent towards Ganesh, which is what I got to see and be a part of!

Jungle adventures!

The working philosophy at KoroSun Dive (currently) is that if there is work, we work. If people want to dive for the seventh day this week then Colin will have the boat operating for the seventh day this week. This means in busy periods, days off are few and far between. Even if there is a day of bad weather and nobody is diving, we still have jobs to do, such as maintaining equipment and repairing boats; we call these maintenance days.

An example of us restoring a broken engine on our large boat, maintenance days rarely end with clean hands and clothes.

I will talk more about maintenance days another time, but first I would like to tell you about my one day off so far this October.

I was totally exhausted, and had been severely lacking any free time to unwind, recharge, and explore on my terms. Finally the stars aligned, when no guests, and no equipment needed our attention, and I could turn off my usual 0630 alarm. A whole day free, just for me. My first priority was, and always will be, a good breakfast so I made some babacau (Fijian pancakes which are spherical balls of pancake batter fried in oil), and ate on the front porch with my favorite avian soundtrack playing.

The road system here is very simple. There is one long ‘main’ road, and every house is either directly adjacent to this road, or along a small driveway that extends no more than 100 meters from it. I wanted to explore this area more, and find out where the road really goes, and if any of these driveways were keeping any secrets. so I went exploring with no end goal other than to lose myself.

The flat fringing reefs extend up to several hundred meters from shore, where a sudden and steep drop off leads to deep water and dark, ocean blue, where the waves meet the end of their journey across the sea.

What started out as a gravel road, turned into a dirt track, and what became a dirt trace quickly became a grassy space to walk with thick jungle on either side, bursting with colour and life. And what started as a gentle stroll along the coast became a wonderful adventure, down a narrow path through the bush. There were birds every direction you looked, most of them moving too quickly for an amateur like me to photograph.

I saw coloured lory’s darting between palm trees, a red and green parrot which is the national bird of Fiji, and one of the most brightly coloured birds I’ve ever seen. Pacific egrets stalked the shallow reefs, relentlessly searching for small fish to eat. There were Fiji goshawks soaring with so much purpose, pace, and power that they resembled a scene from Top Gun. And of course, many of my favorites, the pacific kingfisher, totally unphased by the birds of prey. An utterly fearless little bird.

A pacific egret, locked onto its next target inside the rock-pools, and my favorite kingfishers peering down on the water from a telephone wire.

I followed a winding path through some very fictional looking jungle, with tall bare trees, who’s branches looked like the map of a river delta, rising above a layer of dense green foliage. Soon, coconut trees replaced the tall branches, and sand replaced the grassy path, and I discovered a mystical entrance to the most incredible, wide-open and expansive beach. The waves broke violently on the reef, far away in the distance, and all there was between the forest’s edge and the waves, was a handful of red mangroves, little oases for the crabs against this vast reef exposed at low tide.

The progression of the jungle as you get closer to the beach really highlights the zones at which different flora specialise.

The tide covers these red mangroves twice per day, and those complex root networks provide extremely important habitat for many juvenile fish species, crustaceans, and other invertebrates who seek refuge in the otherwise barren shallows.

This walking adventure was the break I desperately needed from working so often. I had been feeling a little bit deflated before hand, but it really helped me refresh my mind and regain some optimism. I was feeling low because I wanted to show that I am trustworthy to my employers, in the hope that they would show some more enthusiasm in progressing with the ideas I have for the business, big and small. Therefore I was working really hard to show them my enthusiasm, but it is so difficult to spark their drive to let me take control of things like social media and website. Everything is a little bit Fiji-time, or “we’ll do it later”. Working so much, I haven’t had the time to do my things, like socialise, explore, and create, which lead me to feel a little bit stuck. Thankfully this adventure has helped, and moving forward I’d like to take some pressure off myself, and go with the flow.

How to plant a pineapple.

The fantastic thing about picking a fresh, golden pineapple is that firstly you get the tastiest few mouthfuls of fruit, and secondly you get a new, free pineapple plant! Allow me to show you how you can plant your own. 😉

Firstly you pick your target. Ripe and ready. Then you take care not to slice your legs on the razor edged leaves of the bush because you’re wearing shorts and forgot your shoes again. Next, with gloves, because the stems are also sharp, you twist the top off your pineapple.

Next, you peel off the lowest leaves, exposing the stem beneath. There is not rush to this stage, as the stem has a long lifetime before it becomes unplantable, and can even survive when totally dried out.

And finally, you are ready to dig a small hole in your garden, and place your pineapple bush inside, ready to grow into a beautiful fruit factory! Here are some I planted earlier…

On the subject of fruits, I remember from my last time in Savusavu that every evening the sky would be filled with fruit bats on their way to feast on unclaimed bounties during the night. However I am yet to see a single one this time. I can’t explain why yet, but I would like to find out and report my findings to you about where they might’ve gone very soon.

The round-up

This week has been a tale of two halves really, a tired, deflated beginning, and a refreshed, revitalised ending. I got back into teaching some diving courses in the last few days which has been fantastic, and made me feel very purposeful.

My Fijian is improving too! My friend and boat captain, Lai, has been teaching me words and phrases to show the other locals that I’m not just another tourist, but a part of the Savusavu community! Some words I have learned: Nataka, meaning tomorrow, and nataka tale for see you again tomorrow. Savacava tiko which is how to ask how are you, to which you can reply seti if you are doing well!

I still tremendously enjoy writing these blogs, as they allow me to write down my thoughts and feelings, as well as keep everyone who reads them close to my heart. I send a big Bula vinaka to you all with lots of love. See you next Friday for the next one where I will tell you all about how to be an underwater model 😉 ❤