Dravuni Island, Fiji

A wonderful day yesterday!  I had heard that Dravuni was only a small island with a small village of around 100 local Fijian people. But I did not realise just how small and isolated it is – or that we would land approximately 1600 passengers at a site which was essentially in the centre of the village. Everybody seems to think that this is good for various reasons – even the islanders themselves – but as is said “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions!!”. As there can be no day without night, there can be no “good” without also a “bad”.
This island is probably the closest thing we Westerners could imagine as a tropical island Paradise. Absolutely beautiful, natural food in abundance. But perhaps it is also “Paradise Lost”. I understand that education of the young is having the effect of de-populating the island – to the point where perhaps in 20 years or so, there will be no-one to care for the old or to cultivate vegetables– and perhaps eventually the island will become unpopulated.
Unfortunately for us, the weather was a little unkind to us here– being overcast and quite windy. Hence the absolute beauty of the island was not quite as evident, but it still shone through. It would be a delight to see it on a still day under blue skies. Snorkellers who went out about 50 metres from the beach reported very nice coral and fish.

PARADISE LOST???

For me, the best part of this visit was that I was able to briefly see just what life is like for the local Fijian people living here. Many have basically never ever left this small island paradise. They performed songs and dances for the passengers - but what I enjoyed most, happened late in the day, when passengers were heading back to the ship. The islanders (mostly men) slowly gathered into their communal house, shared kava and started to sing – they were not singing for us, but for themselves. I found it to be a magical moment and would love to be able to share it with them again.

The people of Dravuni Island