Yup, I went diving again today. Best dive yet. The conditions were outstanding and the water was especially clear and almost unnaturally blue. We went outside the pass, but this time turned to the right and dropped in the water on the NE side. Turns out it’s got more interesting topography. Lots of dips and turns and some almost caves and the coral is really alive and colorful. Just fantastic.

The best part of the dive was coming around an underwater hill at about 50 foot depth, seeing an undercut and when we were about 10 feet away a huge sea turtle swam out. OK, we probably interrupted his afternoon nap, but it was a spectacular display as he slowly swam out 10 feet in front of us and arced across, up and then down and away until he disappeared into the deep blue. Breathtaking.

On these “cruiser dives” we only have the one set of gear (looks like we might be able to borrow some extra gear in the next few days for Ann to get to experience such an amazing place) so Ann has been going into the village to show the ladies there how to quilt. But today she spent the mid-day exploring our new anchorage on the paddleboard. Then after going all the way around the bay, she jumped in for a snorkel around some of the little motus near Charisma and – surprised a sea turtle! Wow, sea turtles dancing all the way around for us today!

Tomorrow is Saturday in Fiji and it’s the day everyone is out gathering/hunting for food for Sunday feast. I’m going fishing with some men from the village (at 0700, ugh) and Ann is going to go fishing with the ladies. We’ll go outside the reef hoping for some pelagics and the ladies will fish the shallows for goatfish and other reef fish that they will net. Others in the village will be collecting food out of the gardens, gathering and preparing coconuts and hopefully some will get clams. One of my favorite foods here is clams in coconut milk cooked in the lovo (in ground) oven. Yum.

A last word on our new anchoring spot. We’re the only boat here.

Charisma's private bay.

The water alternates between ice blue and turquoise depending on the tide. Those colors signify depths in the low to high teens. Charisma is in about 15 feet over sand. Last night the stars were so amazing we were speechless. Not a cloud in the sky. A 360 degree view with a horizon punctuated by an occasional coconut tree on one of the motus sprinkled near us in the lagoon.

One sign of how enthralled we are with this place and its people is that we’re going to run out of wine and beer soon. Yup, the unthinkable is near, yet we’re staying longer. We just can’t make ourselves leave. Once the alcohol runs out, (shudder!) we’ll likely go native…so stay tuned, but don’t worry we still have enough rum to last most of the rest of the season, so Charismas at sunset will NOT be missed.

That about sums up today. Well not quite, but close.

Morning starting with the last of the rain and clouds. I got up (again) sometime around 0400 when a gust of wind blew one of the paddleboards off the cabin top and it banged on the deck waking me with the usual scare of hitting a reef in the dark. OK, just the paddleboard and back to sleep.

Enter morning and a pot of coffee waiting for the clouds to part – which they did on schedule around noon. Good, the day is going according to plan. We had a quick lunch and pulled anchor to head to a new part of the lagoon since we had some sun to guide the way. I’m getting more comfortable reading the water depth by the color of the lagoon, so we headed into completely new territory where there are no other boats. We’re in a beautiful spot in among the motus. We’re surrounded on three sides by maybe a dozen little islands. Some are just 20 yards wide and maybe 15 feet tall. We’re anchored in about 15-20 feet over sand. It’s a small spot with just enough room to swing and stay in that depth. Just beyond our 100 feet of anchor chain it shallows to four to six feet at low tide. Not enough to float Charisma, so it was important that we set the anchor carefully to allow just the right amount of swinging room if the wind shifts.

Evening finds us under a cloudless sky, by ourselves in our lovely little anchorage with an infinite blanket of stars overhead. There are so many stars that it’s hard to pick out the constellations. We’ll probably stay here a couple days. It’s in a nice spot not too far from the village anchorage so it’s easy for us to dinghy in, yet it’s a private spot with no other boats – largely because it’s out of the way. You have to be a little adventurous to wander in here instead of sticking with the safety of the deeper, safer spots.

Ann had a special time today. Here she is to tell about it: (By Ann) I have wrestled with the idea of entertaining my weaving friends on Charisma but I know that I could not limit it to the number that would fit on Charisma. There are at least ten, if not more, of these darling women who I would love to have aboard but it would take multiple dinghy trips and a much bigger boat. Enter Sue, from Spruce. Sue is also an apprentice weaver trained by the best here in Fulunga but, yahoo…her boat is much bigger! And Sue and Andy are leaving Fulunga tomorrow so when she called and asked if I wanted to be part of a tea party aboard Spruce to say goodbye, I was thrilled! And Sue did it up in grand English style. Not only was there English tea, with lessons on how to properly extend your pinky, but there was a demonstration on how to properly prepare an English scone. There were cucumber sandwiches, egg sandwiches and loads of sweet things to indulge your sweet tooth (these non-English items I was able to help supply).

The first dinghy...

...and the second boatload.

Crowded but loving it.

And, no Tara, that's not how you stick out your little finger when you drink tea.

The best part of today was being able to return the generosity that these ladies have shown us. The ten ladies who were ferried to Spruce in two large dinghies actually got to sit and enjoy being pampered. They loved the tea and devoured all of the goodies. How fun it was to tell them to eat and enjoy, more….more…more. They are always spoiling us when we visit the village so it was extra special to be able to spoil them. Laughter, love and the most beautiful smiles in the world!

It’s been rainy and windy the past two days, so we’ve pretty much been sitting it out on Charisma. But…today the villagers decided to have the yachties in for a kava party. Even though there’s a fair amount of kava consumption on a household basis, they only do this as a large group a few times a year so it’s a real event here. Everyone gets together in one of the larger huts. You sit cross-legged on a large woven mat on the floor and over the first half hour or so the room fills up with people. It starts with maybe 10 or so and by the end of the first hour there’re easily 40 or more, plus us yachties. There’s music, singing, dancing and of course the kava. It’s a relaxing way to spend the afternoon and a lot of fun.

Kava parties start small but before long the room is packed.

Making the brew.

The ceremony of kava drinking is always interesting to be part of. There’s a mixer who sits by the bowl – in this case, it’s one of the large ones, about two feet across – where he mixes the kava and pours it into the coconut bowls. There’s a separate person who is in charge of passing the kava around the room. He or sometimes she takes the drinking bowl from the mixer, passes it around the room one at a time, always in the same order. Each time someone receives the bowl he or she says “Bula”, claps once, receives the bowl and then returns it whereupon he claps three times and says “Vinaka” or one of several other approved words of thanks. The words vary depending on the formality of the occasion or place, but it’s essentially the same and there’s a serenity in the knowledge that you are part of a ceremony that is hundreds of years old.

Aside from the ceremony as I mentioned there’s the music. Six or seven of the villagers sat in a circle and played ukuleles, guitars and a loli or type of drum. It is beautiful Polynesian -type music and their singing voices are lovely. It’s also pretty funny when we “trade” songs. First they sing one they we yachties sing one. First there’s the lovely Polynesian melody and then we sing something like “Sloop John B” since that’s one of the few songs we all sort of know. Then they sing another song and we sing “Home on the Range”. Very funny and mildly embarrassing comparing our lame attempts with their lovely music. But they are as much entertained by our attempts as we are enthralled by their rhapsodies.

Much music, dancing and silliness. You can tell Ann by her tattoo.

Toward the end of the afternoon we were all presented with lovely necklaces that they made for us. We each had one put around our necks and tied in the back. I’ve never seen ones like these before and will put a picture of them up when we’re back, but they are basically bouquet of flowers about three inches across tied at the neck with a piece of tapa cloth that goes around back of the neck. Very unique in our travels to date.

Our necklaces.

And the finale of the afternoon which was unexpected was a feast that they somehow prepared during the party. We were not going to stay since it was getting near dark and we needed 45 minutes to get back to the boat as we are anchored in another bay away from the usual village anchorage. We told Tai – the host – that we needed to get going and thanking him, etc and he responded in the usual Fijian way,”OK, but first, you stay for dinner”. In other words, we had no say in the matter and were staying. OK. Fortunately he was sensitive to the fact we would have to dinghy back a couple miles through motus, reefs and whatnot and let the three boatloads of us who had to go back to the sandspit anchorage eat first and leave while it was light. The other six or so boats stayed until later and got back to their boats after dark, but they only had to make it 100 yards out from the beach.

We had prepared for darkness and had a flashlight and brought a portable VHF radio in case of problems, but we really quite lucky we were adamant about the need to depart the party and timed it just right. We got back at last light and within 10 minutes it was so dark we could not have seen. With no moon, even the flashlight would have only lit the way for 50 meters or so. Phew!

So…the weather looks to be lifting tomorrow so hopefully we’ll be able to get back to our water sports and general exploring and not be boat bound. Saturday I’m going fishing with the village men to catch (hopefully) fish for the Sunday feast. We’ll see how that goes.

(by Ann) Position: Fulunga, Sandspit Anchorage

I am writing this blog midday so that we don’t miss another night of posting. Life can be busy in paradise. There are not only the interactions with the villagers but time spent with the other cruisers around. Right now we have seven boats from the US (four from the Bay Area) and a British boat in this anchorage . Lots of people to meet or catch up with, which means we get back to Charisma late and crash. So no blogging.

Bob went fishing outside the reef with two of the newcomers, fellow Americans Adam from Bravo and Brian from Persephone (Brian was here 20 years ago in a Tayana 37 similar to Charisma and has many stories to share), this morning. I hope they are catching too. But either way they went off with big smiles and big dreams of catching a big fish.

Yup, we caught a couple good ones (in the rain). We gave them to the village they feed US so much.

I went into the village, hitching a dinghy ride with other cruisers, for church on Sunday and again yesterday for another quilting lesson. At the picnic the other day the girls let me know they were ready to learn how to assemble the blocks. Fast learners!

I guess we'll have to come back next year to see how this quilt came out.

You can never go in and out of the village quickly and we have learned to go with the flow and just enjoy full days in the village. Sunday church service is always magical. The voices lifted in prayer and song really fills my heart. I was a bit surprised when one of the locals invited me forward, by name, to tell the congregation why we came back to Fulunga for a second year. It was very difficult to fully explain what Fulunga and these lovely people mean to us but I tried. And those of you who know me well know that included tears of emotion. The Fulungans also were misty eyed. Such a great connection with these lovely people.

Monday’s quilting lesson was full of giggles and silliness. They brought out their hand-cranked sewing machine. Not the best stitch but it works.

Hand cranked sewing machine. An Indian knock off of an old Singer.

Unfortunately the blocks they are working on are hexagon shaped and hard to piece on a sewing machine so I redirected the sewing machine to learning to do half-square triangles. I brought in a quilting ruler/square to help them trim their new creations and they all wanted to try. I sure wish I had an extra cutter and board to leave behind. But for years our great grandmothers quilted by hand with no cool tools so I am teaching them the old-fashioned way. I have gained a new respect for the vintage quilts I have seen in museums, quilt shows and homes. So much work. (Sure hope my quilting babble hasn’t bored you sailors out there!)

There is a kava party with music and dancing being planned. Because we are in Fulunga that means that no one knows the exact time or location…not even the villagers. But that’s part of the fun…we’ll see!

I am off to bake some cookies to take in to share…whenever it happens.

P.S. Bob came back from the great fishing expedition. Alas only a couple trevally which the villagers enjoy, but we don’t really care for so fish for the village from the trip but no tuna for us. Maybe next time (as they say).

And a little bit of misadventure. We came up after 45 minutes along the reef and…no pick up boat! Oh, oh.

A great dive, but we made a bit of a wrong turn.

But the coral was nice.

It started back when we went in. Four of us dove from two dinghies outside the reef. It was windy and the waves were up, so it was challenging to keep the dinghies close together and the two pairs of divers dropped a ways apart. OK, no problem, each pair still had a buddy.

We had a gorgeous cruise along the wall at about 75 feet, going toward the pass. The plan was to go to the pass then take it inside the lagoon – going with the incoming tide. Well, we missed the pass and kept going – as it turned out – along the reef on the other side of the pass. After about 100 meters, we were running our air down and came up for a safety stop (three minutes at 15 feet) and then surfaced for a look around. No boat. Just ocean and waves breaking on the reef about 20 meters away. We went back down a bit and swam away from the reef, then back up. Ah, there was our boat; they saw us. With the wind pushing us down on the reef we had to have the dinghy drag us a bit out to sea before we could safely climb in without worrying that it would get blown onto the reef while we were fumbling out of our tanks and gear and hauling it all in the boat.

Ah, adventure. Beer tastes much better after a good adventure, don’t you think?

So, a beautiful day, a stunningly gorgeous dive, a great tasting beer. Ann got a lot done on a quilt she’s making for the ladies who have taught her to weave. We finished the day over on Quixotic playing Whist over cocktails and one of the most beautiful sunsets we’ve seen here in Fiji. And the best part? I’m winning even though (it turns out) I don’t even know how to score. Now THAT’S a great day!

Fishing in Fulunga (By Ann)

Fishing…that relaxing, peaceful pastime that so many crave. Not on Fulunga! Today the yachties were invited to a BBQ on the beach by the villagers. Part of the invitation involved going fishing for our main course. The women do the fishing in the lagoon. The men spear fish in the passes.

Setting the net.

Some net fishing anyone?

Splish, splash perfectly describes the women fishing. It starts like this…five palangis (us) and four villagers. We slip into the water, send the two women with the fishing net slightly ahead of the rest of us so they can set it and then we scare the fish into the net. The biggest challenge is keeping nine women from making too much noise and scaring the fish before the net is set. Too much laughter and chatter let alone the splish splash of our sneak attack. It was exhilarating and exhausting! So fun!

Meanwhile the guys, our spouses, are wrangling the dinghies with Tai, the village go-to-guy guiding us. The village women did not need the guidance. So I guess the guys in the dinghies were there to help carry our catch. How do you divvy up 11 fish between 4 dinghies. And they were not large fish. But the fun had by all was very big. Splashing through the water with our goggles and snorkels, sometimes swimming across chasms, sometimes crawling in the sand and sometimes my big feet splashing in from shore. It is really surprising we did not catch more.

Joanna with some fish...

Jasmine with fish.

Luckily Andy (Spruce) and John (Mystic Moon) went fishing in the pass this morning and snagged a 34 pound wahoo to share. The final spread of food on the table formed by lacing sticks into a table covered with palm fronds was really impressive. The women of the village had gone crabbing prior to our arrival, the local men speared some huge parrot fish, add the cassava, spinach and contributions from eleven yachts and there was plenty to go around. Serve all this on plates of hand-woven coconut fronds and life is perfect. Finish the day with some hammock time, connecting with friends on a radio net (Hello Bright Angel!) and an amazing sky filled with stars galore and you know why we are still in Fulunga for the foreseeable future.

Prepping the fish (no need for a cutting board here).

Sena preparing the cassava root.

The crab pot.

Steaming the crab.

Crab is ready in the just woven palm basket.

The picnic spot. Some palm fronds on the ground and you're set!

Ann and Jasmine her "netting" partner (and friend).

The way to see a place is by paddleboard. Today the wind was light and we took the boards out for a spin. It was just going to be an out and back but turned into an over three mile, 4 hour journey.

A little "art" shot at one of the stops on a beach, with the help of our waterproof camera.

Great for island hopping from beach to beach.

First we went over to a spot known as the “swimming pool”. It’s where there is a very small cut that goes from the inside lagoon out to the outer reef and ocean. On either side of the cut are deep pools that are fun to snorkel in slack water. With any kind of in or out current, it can be near impossible as the current rushes through the small gap that’s maybe 4 meters across. Once outside, we very quickly saw the waves were too strong for our little boards and we quickly ducked back inside the lagoon.

Next up? Across the bay from the sand spit to what looked like a lovely beach on the other side about ¼ mile away. Guess what? It WAS a lovely beach. Sometimes they look nice, but are really sharp, uncomfortable coral. This one was pure, barefoot sand. Nice. We walked around a bit and decided what the heck, let’s try for the village anchorage. So off we went through the motus in search of a “paddleboard route” to the anchorage. Weaving in and out of little bays and cuts that boats and even dinghies cannot manage due to the shallow water, we emerged into the little bay where we were anchored when we first came in. A quick stop on the beach for a picture to prove we made it that far and to stretch our legs and then back out.

We can even stop for a quick water break in between islands at a shallow reef (my feet are just touching for a short rest).

Not 100 meters out from the beach we saw another small cut through the island with a promising looking spot on the other side. We had never noticed it before because it was so small, but with the paddleboards… onward we went and found another secluded little bay. The colors of turquoise water against sandy beaches and the greens and umbers of the coconut trees provided the perfect backdrop to a tropical adventure. Just then, I noticed what at first glance looked like some seaweed up ahead. A second look and…a turtle taking a sunbath! It was huge, almost three feet across! We snuck up on it floating silently along. Getting within about ten yards it stuck its head up and took a look at us, but not seeing anything terribly alarming put its head back in the water and continued sunbathing – even flapping a flipper in the air. Then as we got within about 10 feet it took another look and realized that something really strange was approaching. With a splash, Mr. Turtle was gone. But how much fun to be weaving in out of paradise and to see such a lovely sight. And this was about the sixth turtle we’ve seen since we were here. That’s good news. We only saw one or two last year.

So, four hours later on our “three hour tour” we were back at Charisma. A late lunch and up went the hammock for an afternoon snooze. THIS is cruising! Others aboard went for a swim to stretch out her arm muscles. Lovely afternoon.

Our friends Ed and Nila from Quixotic, who we met in Tonga two years ago, came over for sundowners and now it’s blogging time and then some stargazing.

Maybe from the hammock, although I don’t want to wear it out.

Yup, that was the highlight of the day.

Oops, Ann saw this and said; “WHAT!!”, (with at least that many explanation points) and pointedly reminded me that the highlight of the day was the two loaves of bread she kneaded repeatedly and cooked. (Repeatedly is defined as twice for 15 minutes… a lot of kneading!) Well, what can I say. The “knew” headline should be “kneaded bread”.

Anyway, about that garbage. It’s been building up on the boat. Not to put too fine a point on it, but toilet paper, which we can’t just throw over the side like on the ocean, and other paper products. Ann cuts the plastic stuff into tiny pieces and stores it until we get to a place where there is a true waste disposal, but the paper stuff builds up.

So burning the garbage on the beach was our excuse to get off the boat today. It’s been pretty windy for the last two days and we have been boat bound, so any excuse to go ashore is a good one.

We go at low tide, dig a little hole, get some twigs and such from the jungle, add a little gasoline from the dinghy and voila – instant garbage dump fire. Burned down to just ashes. Once the tide comes in there will never be any sign that we were there/here.

OK, it’s an exciting life we lead, what can I say. Tomorrow looks to be a little more promising. After two days of wind in the low ’20s it’s supposed to drop to single digits for the next three days. We’re going to take advantage by paddleboarding, snorkeling, diving and whatever else we can do while we have calm weather.

Yay.

A little P.S. It’s fun to reconnect with folks that we’ve met “along the way”. Ed and Nila from Quixotic pulled into Fulunga today. We first met them two years ago in Tonga and haven’t seen them since then. What fun to see them today and they brought a special treat for the boats here. Fresh greens that they brought from the market at Suva. Most folks here, like us, have been away from stores for at least a couple weeks and are running out, or have run out of fresh veggies. Another part of the cruising culture that’s so fun – folks really go out of their way to do nice things for others. Thanks Ed and Nila, we had a salad and fresh eggplant today thanks to you!

There are 143 coconut trees within the 200 meters of beach off which we’re anchored.

Hangin' out.

At least that’s what I told Ann. I don’t think she believes I counted them. I didn’t, so we’re even.

That’s what today’s been like. We’ve done so much stuff the last four days or so that it was nice to do nothing today but count coconut trees – or at least pretend to.

Also I didn’t get a great night’s sleep. It was one of those nights cruisers sometimes pay for in return for this great lifestyle. The wind was up and we were on a bit of a lee shore – meaning, the beach is only about 100 meters downwind from us. If our anchor drags, we’re on the beach. So…we set and anchor alarm. But, given that the anchor chain defines a radius from the anchor to the boat, if the wind shifts, we can move as much as 2X (for 180 degrees) the amount of chain out. Well, the wind shifted and the alarm woke me up with a start since you hate waking to an alarm that may or may not mean you are about to drift up onto the beach!

Today has been windy with rain, so it was pretty easy to stay on the boat and chill. Ann worked on a quilt she’s going to give to the village ladies who have been so generous with their time showing her how to weave. For me, two days diving and then yesterday I pumped up my paddleboard while Ann was in the village and paddled a mile in and around the bay and associated motus have left me needing a rest. OK, at least that’s my excuse for goofing.

Maybe tomorrow we’ll have more to say. And then again, maybe not.

(by Ann) Location: Fulunga…still

At least that’s what Bob tells me. Personally I have never led my life based on Star Trek Federation rules so I am not sure. How could they not be laughing too?

Today was about gifts. Those that we have and those that we share. Today is Ma, the Grade 8 teacher’s wife’s birthday. And Ma wanted to celebrate with all of her friends, cruisers included. We girls in the anchorage decided that it should be a “Girls Day Out” type of celebrating. So Sue from Spruce loaded up her little dinghy with four of us…Kathy off of Mystic Moon, Carol off of Vision, me, and Sue herself, and off we went to celebrate.

The party was not until the afternoon so Weaving 101 was on the schedule. I was going along just to enjoy the girls and test my weaving memory. My memory was well tested and is full of laughter and giggles. The girls from Fulunga love to tease and laugh. And boy do my cheeks hurt! A good laugh is a gift that keeps on giving, with every fun memory of the day. I have many. These darling ladies patiently tutored my friends as they made their first woven mats while I goofed. I actually started another mat but got distracted by another woman weaving bookmarks. Ooh….that looks cool. Can you teach me? And so another gift was shared with me. And I can make a very cool bookmark out of pandanas leaves.

I made one for Ma for her birthday…we giggled at the ridiculousness of me giving a local weaver a woven item… we all smiled and giggled that universal language of laughter.

The party was attended by the local women and Tai, one of the go-to guys in the village. Tai was the babysitter, the dish clearer and even the dish washer. I am pretty sure this is not his normal array of talents but he was available and it earned him an afternoon with laughing ladies and leftover birthday cakes. Yes, plural. Ma made a full assortment of birthday goodies to go with our lemon leaf tea. So delicious. I learned the Fijian word for delicious today but it escapes me now.

As we headed back out of the village to the dinghy I saw that the weavers were now back in their usual spot and the quilting supplies had appeared. This makes me smile! I had promised one of the ladies a neat trick for chaining squares together while making blocks so I quickly stopped by. These ladies are amazing and quickly understood my instructions. Unfortunately the bus, I mean dinghy, needed to get going so I was not able to demonstrate the technique but I bet they have figured it out by now. A gift from me to them.

So it’s not that I want to change their culture as the Federation feared, I only wanted to share my gifts with them the way they so selflessly share theirs with me. Especially their laughter and joy.