Vatu Vara
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Vatu Vara Island lies in the northwest sector of Fiji's northern Lau Group of islands, 32km west of Mago Island and some 60 km south-west of Vanua Balavu at Lat: 17° 26'00 S Long: 179° 31'00 W.
The island is 3km in diameter at the base of its 305m high summit and is also referred to as "Hat Island" due to the summit's shape. The limestone cliffs, some 60 meters in height, of the guyot and the rest of the island are covered in dense tropical jungle.
The volcanic and limestone island is nearly 2 miles in diameter at its base. It’s 305 meter summit, the highest in Lau, is a massive truncated pyramid bounded on all sides by almost perpendicular cliffs up to 200 feet in height. The crest of the pyramid is some 40 acres in extent, and is generally flat, although pitted with holes and depressions from 6-30 feet deep, some of them filled with water. At it’s base there is in most places a wide belt of gently sloping land, standing not more that 25 feet (7.5m) above sea level, and forming the brim of the hat suggesting the island’s profile. On the northern and eastern edges of the island the sea breaks against the limestone cliffs, which are deeply undercut; but elsewhere the island is circled by a broad fringing reef, which, off the western coast swings sharply away from the shore to enclose the lagoon. The precipitous sides of the central mass are scored by three shallow terraces, marking pauses in the uplift of the island; but these are not readily observed, being smothered under the dense vegetation that clothes the whole towering structure.
It is a former atoll, specifically called a “Guyot”. This is an extinct volcano that has become overgrown by coral reefs to form an atoll. The flat top was once at sea level, which is why the summit is flat. It’s unmistakable shape, and it’s massive peak like that of a vast stone hat, dominates the surrounding skyline and is recognizable over a radius of thirty-five miles (56km) from nearby islands such as Kaibu, Yacata, and Vanua Balavu.
“The island was at one time bought and occupied by Joe Thompson, and American seaman to whose movements and affluence a great deal of mystery where attached. He seemingly had an endless supply of gold coins, the source of which he could never be induced to divulge; and as there was one part of the island which he would allow no one to approach, it was thought that he had buried the treasure there. The truth of the matter was never known. Thompson was insane at the time of his death, and the secret of his buried treasure, if it ever existed, died with him.”
(South Sea Reminiscences, by T.R. St. Johnston, London 1932)
The island is privately owned, and is currently uninhabited.
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