Astrolabe Lagoon

Beachcomber in the Astrolabe Lagoon

Dublin-born author Leonard Wibberley arrived in Fiji in June as Press liaison officer on the “Oriana”.

He left the ship to have a look around, promptly fell in love with Fiji, went back aboard and asked the captain to relieve him of his post. Surprised—but co operative—the captain agreed. Wibberley played his part by providing enough Press material in advance for the remainder of the voyage.

The more he has seen of Fiji, the more enraptured he has become. He has even cabled his wife in Cali fornia asking her to make arrangements to have their six children cared for so she can fly out to Fiji for a holiday.

Wibberley left Dublin as a boy and at 17 was the youngest reporter in Fleet Street. After reporting for newspapers in London, Trinidad, New York and Los Angeles, he decided five years ago that he had done enough writing for employers and would write for his own profit. He started writing books. He has had 42 published, and one of them, “The Mouse that Roared”, has been made into a movie.

Wibberley, to get material for a new book on aqualung diving, lost no time in getting out to the beautiful coral gardens of the Great Astrolabe Lagoon, Kadavu, where he was photographed by Rob Wright in a beachcombing mood on the lovely, uninhabited Yau kuve Island.