The Detail is a daily news podcast produced for RNZ by Newsroom and published on the NZ Herald with permission. Click this link to subscribe to the podcast.
Flags of the 56 Commonwealth nations fly everywhere you look, whole villages have adopted countries, and rooftops and buildings have been painted in their adopted colours.
But there is something else going on over the hill on the south coast overshadowing all this – for New Zealand at least – and when King Charles arrives today, it will be happening right under his nose.
Today, Sharon Brettkelly meets a fisherman who paddled his kayak through stormy seas to rescue an injured crew member from the water, and talks to a navy diver about the shipwreck; a resort owner who has lost business because of the Manawanui; and Commodore Andrew Brown, the head of Operation Resolution.
Fisherman Lui Nifo was a hero of the rescue on that dark, rough night, bringing a woman with an injured shoulder safely to shore and making sure in spite of the horrible weather conditions, rescuers knew where to go.
But now, as a result of the wreck, he can’t go fishing.
The Navy has warned of oil leaking from the ship damaging the reef where the fish live.
Lui Nifo’s wife Tolopene Lui translates for him – she says they’re waiting for the all-clear to get back to their livelihood.
She says that night, she was worried for her husband in the early hours of the morning as he kayaked far away – he says more than a mile out – in heavy rain.
But Lui Nifo says he wasn’t afraid because he was depending on Jesus to help rescuers locate the sailors. He found a group of 32, who were grateful help had arrived.
The couple is heading to New Zealand soon as part of the immigration quota, but they don’t have job offers yet.
New Zealand has 460 police, defence and medical staff, three Defence Force (NZDF) helicopters, a plane, a naval vessel and five ambulances there.
There are two explosive ordnance detector dogs here from the NZDF and two police dogs.
Navy diver Chavez Rahurahu is part of the contingent.
He’s been part of a crew observing leaks on the Manawanui, doing what they can to contain them.
On a good day like the last few, it takes about 15 minutes to get to the wreck in a zodiac, but on a rough day it’s more like half an hour to 45 minutes, battling the swells.
“From the surface [there’s] quite good [visibility], so you can see most of the shipwreck laying on its starboard side,” he says.
“You can see the reef off to the right of the wreck, so the keel’s facing toward the reef.”
A cruise ship off Samoa serving a host to the overflow of journalists and Chogm-related officials. Photo / The Detail, Sharon Brettkelly
Rahurahu says some locations have been marked because oil or diesel has been seen coming out of them, and they are checked every day. The integrity of the heavy-duty bags used to cover them is also checked, and they look for any new leaks.
“The ship is surprisingly undamaged apart from where it was burned, and along the keel where it’s scraped, or ran aground. And then we’ve started to see quite a few fish in [the] last week ... it’s kind of a good sign.
“It’s definitely weird looking at it underwater,” he says.
Rahurahu says at the moment they can’t see any more fuel coming out, but you can still see a sheen on the surface which moves around according to swells and tides.
Ulugia Su’a Jay Ah Fook Schuster owns the Maninoa Ocean Club located right next to the Sinalei, where the King and Queen are staying.
It’s also a couple of villages away from the area where the Manawanui went down.
He says the sinking has affected people’s way of life, with warnings not to fish in certain areas in place. But not everyone gets those notices.
“It’s really hard for us to actually stop a habit that we do everyday. Also, because it’s not visible to the eye, [people] don’t understand the dangers of it.”
Roughly 200,000 litres of diesel and oil have leaked from the ship, and the impact of that on sea life and reefs is still unknown.
Schuster says people are frustrated by not knowing what’s going on, and they’d like to help out with the clean-up.
Commodore Andrew Brown told The Detail work to remove the fuel should start in the next few weeks, but the boat itself is unlikely to be salvaged until mid next year.
He gets emotional when talking about the courage of the locals who helped with the rescue and offered care afterwards.
“Whether it’s the shopkeeper who opened up the shop, and we emptied those shelves of clothing so that we could clothe our people with dry clothing ... there’s lots of stories there.”
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