Gather all your valuables

We always planned to walk to the summit on Kuata island but maybe not in these circumstances.

Our day of island life brought the norm. It was shoreside for us for some barracoda, butterfly, regal angel, saddleback lovers and moorish idol fish spotting whilst reef snorkeling (Fiji is known of the soft
coral capital of the world with over a thousand species of fish within it's 333 islands which all have fantastic reefs). The rest of the day was spent lazying on the beach, swinging in hammocks and walking to the point to take shot after shot of a pacific sunset all carried out in 'Fiji- time'. So as you can imagine another tough island day.

The afternoon we did something special, something outside of our normal island routine. From Kuata a small group of us took a short boat ride to the neighbouring island of Loutoka. Here we were lucky enough to walk through daily life in a small Fijian community village. Wading ashore from the boat we walked through overhanging palm trees which lead to a small cluster of beachside settlements, which merely comprised of a dozen or so bure huts, a meeting house, where the local community meet once a week to discuss and address local concerns, and a really quaint little church. At the far end of the village the island's school playing fields open up a vast green space which echoed with children singing. Some of the schools kindergarden kids board here, Monday to Friday, returning home to other neighbouring islands at weekends. We were able to enter into the classrooms of Namara Village School, all 3 of them, where ages 5 to 14 are taught a standard education. All the kids were outside under long verandas at a end of the week sing along. Some songs we recognised like ''how much is that doggy in the window' and 'ring-a-ring of roses' they sung with happy smiles waving as we passed by. We were introduced to the school's headmaster, Leano. The 'main boss-man' we nicknamed him, a real nice

 guy. We stood and discussed everything from schooling to sport whilst in the back ground the kids sung their hearts out. You could feel the pride in this guys approach to the schools success. Yes, we felt like tourists staring in on another world but then that's what we are, tourists, and they seemed genuinely pleased to see us. In the past Leano said he'd taught at much larger main land schools where bullying was a daily occurrence. Island life he said was certainly the place for him. We joked that when the kids sang the English rhymes they sounded like Londoners!

Singing class over the kids all charged out into the grassy play grounds that were over looked by the pacific ocean and shaded by the palms. We got the kids to show us were we came from on a world map. Then they asked how long it would take for them to get there. A 100 hours was given as one guess. They were such smiley and happy kids some reaching the age of where coolness really counts. After a long goodbye we moved onto the village church where on Sundays all the island's residents attend without fail. Come our time to leave it was a little exit through the gift shop which was actually local women in the meeting house. Local crafts were on sale but you'd better have the right change in this outlet or you'd be charged whatever note you decided to hand over!

After supper us few long term residents, i.e, anyone who'd be on the island for more than one night, managed to get a pass-out from the obligatory 'BULA!' dancing and opted for a fire on the beach. It was then a Kiwi joined us and causally said he'd just had a text from his family back home saying that there had been a huge earthquake in Sendai, Japan measuring 8.9 on the Richter. The 5th biggest in history to be ever recorded, and that as a result a 10-metre tsunami was being predicted to hit the pacific. It goes without saying that along with the lack of water and constant electric, our island also lacked any form of landline, tv or internet access so at this point this Kiwi lad was our only main source for any info. He continued to get sporadic texts from his family updating us when his signal was strong enough. It seemed that a pretty big situation was building as following the initial quake aftershocks continued to follow including a massive 7.4 magnitude around 30 minutes later all resulting of tremors being felt as far away as the Chinese capital, Beijing.

So with a bit of to-ing and fro-ing our island's chief contacted the mainland on his mobile for more information. The tsunami was due to hit Fiji around 3am so to the thatched dinning room hut it was for a lively group discussion where it was agreed we would head for higher ground. Advice was given from the staff that everyone should return to their bure huts to collect valuables only, leaving the rest to be possibly swallowed up by the expected 3am wave. It was all very tense at this point but all were trying hard to stay calm. So around 1am we collectively started the hike up to higher ground. It was a steep climb, pitch black and fairly hot and very humid. The tropics hey. You could feel that people were getting scared as we filed out of the village. The locals were great doing their best to calm our nerves and showed no fear themselves, their reckoning that the gods and the surrounding reef would protect the islands from any large tsunami waves. Even so all seemed pretty keen to get to that higher ground once we got going. At the summit following a sweaty, mozzie-tastic, overgrown jungle, up hill hour we all sat huddled together gazing at the most beautiful stars going whilst sat huddled on a sheet of blue tarp. The chief had also brought up a battery operated radio. So 'Fiji FM' kept us regularly updated inbetween soothing pacific style music. 'Here's another great classic' the DJ would cry, and we'd all chuckle as another 70s number filled the air whilst the Fijian ladies sang along still seeming all very upbeat whatever the outcome maybe of this latest natural disaster.

Being so high up everyone felt happy that they were going to be completely safe but couldn't help think about other island hoppers on the more flatter islands that had no high ground to retreat to. I can remember thinking, well at least it was Friday so there wont be any boarding kindergarden kids at Loutoka island school as from memory Loutoka island, especially around the school seemed pretty flat.
We tried to get some sleep with some success but you could say it was a longish night dispite the calm tones of Fiji FM. As the sun rose around 6am our bure huts below came into view and luckily looked untouched. The tsunami hadn't made a mark on the Fijian islands. A well spoken English toned DJ of Fiji FM spoke of Hawaii and many parts of the US beeing affected but the islands of Fiji had escaped with little more than a tiny 100 mm wave.

So on the chiefs call it was all back down the hill in single file. What stood out the most was that everyone was completely silent, all seemingly stunned and very much relieved by the nights events.

Tiredness now taking over from initial adrenalin. We all showered, cold, and headed for the dining room where the staff had already knocked up some fresh doughnuts, honey and bananas. Throughout the staff had been great. All used to these warnings and of course keeping their strong Fijian sense of humour. With no media in the form of tv or papers it was impossible to find out more on how Japan were coping. The island returned to it's peaceful self as if nothing had happened. With most staff going about their daily duties of gardening and housekeeping and most of us lot just flunked on the beach.

The day was a stunner, perfect you could say. You just couldn't help thinking what a different kind of day we would be having if this big wave had hit. These islands are pretty basic when it comes to village set ups, it wouldn't have taken much to completely destroy the little comforts that these islanders have. Not a good thought.
We all joked that something pretty big was going to have to happen that night as if not all was going to seem pretty dull compared to the night before. But hey, dull in small doses can be a welcomed state of affairs!

Through the rest of the day the sea conditions seemed a little different than normal. As the locals came and went from the island one commented that he's seen the tide levels change from high to low and back again 3 times within 30 minutes. At one point they were loading the boat in the shallow waters the next minute it would be beached on the sand. The tide had receded past the length of the boat!