Bula Vinaka – Fijian sailing diaries

Bula Vinaka! This is how Fijian people welcome you on their islands with a big smile on their face. It’s hard to believe that less than 200 years ago this population of kind people were eating each other! Luckily, the arrival of missionaries stopped this era of cannibalism. Today Fiji is a long way from its, sometimes, brutal past.

We are still alive though: no arm missing, no human bbq, few sharks spotted, some reef cuts, quite a few broken boards, world-class waves, a lot of laughter, many shooting stars, and heaps of dreams coming true.

We boarded on Fantasea, our sailing boat for the next week, feeling a bit like pirates when the sail raised and our journey began. The cross from Nadi to Mamanucas took a couple of ho