Near Nawaca, Fiji being encounter — October 8, 1957

Two middle-aged couples travelling in a motorised punt reportedly saw a white object descend near Nawaca in the Fiji Islands on 8 October 1957. Believing it might be an aircraft in trouble, they changed course to investigate. As they approached, the object appeared to revolve while hovering roughly twenty feet above the sea. The four said a manlike figure stood on its exterior. It directed a brilliant light toward their boat, dazzling them and producing a sensation of weakness. At a reported distance of five chains, approximately one hundred metres, the figure disappeared. The object then rose vertically at high speed and soon vanished. The account does not describe the figure's face, clothing or movement into an opening. The source trail cites the New Zealand Herald of 21 October 1957, Flying Saucer Review and Vallée's later catalogues. A Project Blue Book listing treated it as a foreign newspaper report rather than a United States field investigation. The couples' agreement on the story is a reported feature of the newspaper account, not a substitute for an independent measurement or photograph. Retellings vary over the spelling of Nawaca or Nawaka and the associated island geography. Some also place it in darkness, whereas Magonia and Hatch specify about 3 p.m. The plate follows the daylight version, shows the two couples together and leaves the distant manlike occupant anatomically indistinct.