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.

Yup, another great day.

Right now, we’re sitting in what’s known as the “Sand Spit” anchorage. It’s a little part of the lagoon in the southeastern side of the island. Our stern is backed to the sand spit, our bow toward the Southern Cross, and I’m looking out over the peaceful water at a full moon (plus one day) coming up over the island. The moon is leaving a trail of white gold over the water that I think we could almost walk on to the beach. Palm trees are silhouetted on shore and the roar of the ocean on the reef is flowing through the palms and the jungle.

View from our back yard.

After a leisurely coffee and papaya breakfast, Ann and I jumped in the dinghy for what is now a half hour ride through the lagoon to the beach that gives access to the village. We pull the dinghy up on the beach away from the tide and take the 20 minute walk through the jungle to the village. Along the way we can hear the loli (a type of Fijian drum) announcing church is starting. Ah, oh, we’re a bit late. No worries, we’re on Fijian time.

Part of the view walking into the village.

There are four other boats in the Sand Spit anchorage with us and we decided that we would dive again this day. The only problem for us was after church you are supposed to have lunch with your host family. I had a feeling it would be tantamount to a mortal sin if we skipped lunch, so instead of saying we would skip lunch in favor of diving, I asked if maybe it would be too much trouble for them to have us for lunch again. Me, “The yachties are going diving, maybe you don’t need to make lunch today”. Jasmine, one of our hosts; “Diving? Why”. Me; “The tide is right, it would really be best if we leave and then you won’t have to do lunch today”. Jasmine, “OK, you can go dive right after lunch. Come on”.

It’s like that. Fijians sometimes have a stubborn streak (don’t we all) that shows more as just ignoring your question. Anyway, we (I) knew in our hearts that skipping lunch on Sunday would not be good, so we dutifully trudged over to Tau’s house and sat down. She said, “I hear you want to go dive today?” Me, “Yes, the tide is good and the other yachties will be there”. She, “OK, you can go right after lunch!”

OK. So that’s how it went. Lunch was delicious as always. The highlight was clams baked in the lovo (underground oven). Yum. Once lunch was done they dismissed us, “OK, you can go dive now”, and off we went and darn if we didn’t get back to the boat just in time to make the dive.

The dive was spectacular. Even better than yesterday. Very clear water, at least 120 feet visability and crystal clear. It doesn’t get better. We’re looking forward to more dives all this week – except maybe tomorrow when the wind might come up. We’ll see.

Excellent water clarity

Dinner. Fish again. Fresh tuna marinated in sesame oil and soy sauce and cooked very rare, with rice and breaded eggplant. Yes, life is tough out here.

Signing off from Fulunga for some extreme moon watching.

When someone comes over to your boat and asks if you would like some fresh tuna, you of course say,”Yes please”. But beware when that someone says, “OK, do you have a bucket?”…. That’s what happened (again) today. Once I brought the bucket over, a chunk of yellowfin tuna that filled a five gallon bucket came aboard. Oh my, we are going to have to eat a LOT of sashimi in the next couple days. Yay!

Got to go diving outside the reef. Beautiful!

I got the chance to dive the outside of the reef pass today. Spectacular. We spent most of the time drifting with the current at about 60 feet. A cliff of beautiful, live coral on the reef side, pure blue/purple ocean with a huge drop off on the ocean side. 120 foot visibility. Saw some sharks and a sea turtle. We are definitely going again in the next day or so.

Ann got to paddleboard. I think she went a couple miles on her paddleboard while we were diving as she explored among the motus. From Ann – I was looking for turtles! As we moved from the village anchorage to the sandspit anchorage three turtles helped guide us. And that is not counting the one that popped up to say goodbye as we left the village anchorage. One was so big I called it out as a bommie to be avoided…until it swam away! Unfortunately no turtles were found but two puffer fish and a shy sting ray were cited. I loved being back on the paddle board…and with a full moon I am going out again right now!

We ended the night with a fantastic dinner aboard Spruce (it was Sue’s birthday) with three other boats (Mystic Moon, Buffalo Nickel and Vision) who we have not really met, but with whom we now feel a strong friendship. It was one of those evenings when you end up with your cheeks hurting from laughing so hard. Also one of those nights where if you tried to explain any of it the result would not make sense. Perfect!

Good times.

Yep, it was a tuna kinda day.

We were delighted when the skipper off the large yacht Gliss dropped by with…you guessed it… tuna! They caught a bunch of yellowtail a couple days ago and had said they would drop some by, but today they caught a huge dogtooth tuna – it was about 4 foot and when they came alongside they said, “Do you have a bucket or something?” Yup, we got a bucket of tuna. I gave them a couple cold beers in return and we chatted a bit before they headed back. Nice guys.

Back to the bucket. I think the two huge “chunks” they gave us must have weighed 8 lbs or more. I filleted them into 10 steaks, froze as many as would fit in the freezer, made ceviche from the scrap and took a nice hunk and made sashimi for lunch. So, lunch, cocktails (tuna ceviche with our Charismas) and tuna for dinner. A nice 2 inch thick fillet, rubbed with wasabi, coated with egg and dipped in flour mixed with cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper then fried on a very hot cast iron pan with oil and butter. Two minutes one side, one minute the other. Just the way Ann likes it – red in the middle. Drizzled with soy/wasabi and fried rice with peas and carrots on the side (OK, the peas were dried and I boiled them with the carrot for a while, but they tasted good). Ann, the tuna fiend, is very happy.

We went into the village late in the day as we were invited by Lo and Shaney, two of the 12-year old girls, to a “play”. Well it turned out to be more of a traditional Fijian song/dance thing, but it was delightful.

On the way in, Ann checked on her “girls”, the weavers. Well, now that she has introduced them to quilting they may not go back to weaving. They were still cranking away at a project she started them on yesterday. They were very proud to show the progress they made and Ann was impressed. From Ann – yesterday’s project was with hexagons – a difficult angle in quilting. So today I took in some examples of a basic 9-patch and some precut 2 ½ squares to play with. By the time we came back from the play my protégés had completed their first 9-patches. And they were beautifully constructed and hand sewn. But most important were the proud smiles that showed them to me. I love it!

So…bought a few papayas and headed back to Charisma. A lazy day. Tomorrow, may be even more so although I may get a chance to go diving with a couple of other cruisers who are talking about going. We’ll see.

No kidding, that’s what it feels like right now. We’re just having too much fun.

I got to spend some time with Mini watching him carve a Lali - the Fijian drum.

Today, after a very leisurely morning, we went back into the village. When I say leisurely morning I mean we stayed on board until about 1:30 PM. Why? If we go in any earlier we inevitably get invited to lunch somewhere. We didn’t want to impose yet again on such nice people so stayed until we felt all possibility of being invited to lunch was over. So, what happened as we were walking through the village around 1:30 or so? We got invited to stop for lunch. At least we were able to say we had lunch on the boat and politely decline. Wow, such nice people.

So, why was today like summer camp? Ann wanted to meet up with her weaving group again and I wanted to hang with the men who do the carving. Turned out the weaving group was in a different place just inside the village along the path, so I dropped Ann off there. As I walked a little further, Jasmine, who is part of our host family saw me and jumped up to join me on my mission to spend some time with the men who do the carving. Nothing I could say about knowing my way would dissuade her – she was going to guide me there. Once at the carving shed we found noone about, but ducked inside to find Mini, Salote and one other man who I didn’t know sitting and chatting. Mini was working on a drum – they call them Lali. It starts out as a solid rectangular piece of wood, then the middle is hollowed out lengthwise and they decorate the outside with Fijian symbols. Part of my mission today was to do a pencil rubbing of the carvings so I have some of the designs for future projects of my own when I’m back in the US. I asked Mini’s permission to do this and he was delighted and very helpful. I made about six pencil rubbings of the designs.

While in Mini’s house, Jasmine pulled out a kava bowl and started mixing kava. Oh my, this is the third day in a row of kava for me. Well, once again, I was the honored guest at a kava ceremony and enjoyed four or five bowls. Along the way, and this was the delightful part, Mini and Salote picked up guitars that were sitting on the floor, Jasmine grabbed a ukulele, the other man started drumming on a bowl and I grabbed a lali from outside and there was song! They sang and played such beautiful tunes. I wish I knew the words and/or had the music, but alas…that won’t happen. Just the memories will play on.

Jasmine mixing the kava.

Salote grabbed a guitar.

Meanwhile Ann had secretly brought some quilting project into the village. The weaving ladies told her to sit down and start weaving with them. After a bit, Ann asked them if they would like to see some quilting (she had talked about quilts at the last weaving session). Of course they wanted to see and she brought out a project she started over ten years ago and never got around to finishing. By the time I got back from my afternoon, all the weaving ladies were hand-sewing the quilt and Ann was weaving their mats. It was quite a role reversal.

Ba working on a quilt.

So, there you have it. Summer camp. Just plain fun working on projects. And for tomorrow…one of the young girls from school ran up to us as we were walking out of the village and invited us to school tomorrow to watch a play. We have no idea what that might entail, but you can bet we won’t miss it for anything.

On a different note: I have been feeling that there was a turtle in our anchorage. We saw one last year and I’ve heard what I thought might be one – they come up and exhale then inhale and dive again. Today, we saw him. He came over to Charisma and stuck his head up to have a look. Nice to see that turtles are alive and well in Fulunga.

Mr. Turtle swimming over to say hello.

Must have been my lucky day since I just sort of became Chief of the Pulangis again. Let’s take it back to yesterday to see how this came about.

While we were having lunch yesterday after the school project Tau the headmistress asked us if we might be interested in coming in the next day (today) to participate in a church fund raising event. It’s an annual event where all four of the villages (they consider the fourth village the island just north of here) make their annual contribution to the church. We said, “Of course”, and were then asked if we might inform the other cruisers. OK…we’re glad to make a radio call and announce the event.

So…we got back to Charisma and put out a call to the anchorage about an event to be held tomorrow, food, entertainment and a request for a donation to the church. A couple folks responded that they would likely come and we considered our job done.

Fast forward to this morning when we went in to the mystery event. We didn’t know what to expect nor did we know if any other the other cruisers would actually show up since it was a cloudy, rainy (the most rain we have seen in weeks) morning and all the other boats were on the other side of the lagoon – at least a 20 minute or more dinghy ride away. But, it turns out six boats made it in. We were all invited into the chief’s hut for a discussion of what to expect. Somewhere along the way I became our group’s spokesperson and then chief, since we were the guests of honor we needed a representative who would “speak” for the group. It turned out (and other cruisers will know what an honor this was) the chief of the Fulunga village started the event by doing a sevusevu for us! Quite an honor. He talks -in Fijian – and we get a summary translation and then it’s our turn to respond. I said something about how honored we were and how much we loved the island since they not only treat us as friends, but embrace us as family. Other cruisers reiterated these feelings and the chief was pleased. This went down pretty well and soon they broke out the kava as is normal for such a ceremony. Well…what I found out at this point is that the “visiting chief” – that would be ME, is responsible for the pace of the kava consumption. Once the kava bowl has gone around the room once, no-one can drink again until the visiting chief says. There’s a word that phonetically translates as, “Taki”, that the visiting chief uses when it’s time for another round of kava. (Like buying another round at the bar but not on your dime….nice!)

Kava is very important in Fiji, very popular, and eagerly consumed and I didn’t want to disappoint those present so as soon as the first round was complete I shouted “Taki”. There was great relief in the room, many smiles and the kava pouring continued and the bowl was passed. I carefully watched as each person had his or her bowl and as soon as it went around the room, I again shouted “Taki” much to the delight of the room. At that point – and this may be the highlight of my week, if not month- one of the men slightly intoxicated by the early rounds of kava leaned over to Ann, and very properly announced – “Chief Bob is the best chief ever!”

Taki!

So there you have it! Chief Bob. Yessssss!

OK, that lasted a minute. Ann quickly leaned over and said, “Don’t let it go to your head, buster!”

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

The kava celebration was halted when the “entertainment” came in. Local women dressed in red sulus and white shirts with beautifully woven necklaces of fragrant flowers. There is nothing like the song and dance of happy people. It was lovely and included an invitation to Ann to learn the hand motions and join the dance. And we both walked away wearing one of the lovely flower leis. Very special.

The Meke (Fijian "dance"). All done with the hands.

Closeup of the Meke.

And as if to just extend the excitement of the day, I can say that lunch was as much an adventure as being chief of the Pulangis. We ate (again, cruisers will have the best appreciation for this) boiled sea cucumber in coconut milk. Akin to banana slugs, the sea cucumber until now has mostly been something that we attempt to avoid stepping on when we wade onto the reef. It’s kind of squishy, no, actually really squishy. Definitely something I never anticipated eating. I think it rates right there alongside raw sea urchin. So glad we had eaten the ones on our plates before another more discerning cruiser questioned what they were eating. We figure try everything once, and if it is really yummy get its name!

So another day in paradise. For some reason we weren’t very hungry at dinner so just had some roasted potatoes and pumpkin and soon to bed. See you tomorrow!

Must have been my lucky day since I just sort of became Chief of the Pulangis again. Let’s take it back to yesterday to see how this came about.

While we were having lunch yesterday after the school project Tau the headmistress asked us if we might be interested in coming in the next day (today) to participate in a church fund raising event. It’s an annual event where all four of the villages (they consider the fourth village the island just north of here) make their annual contribution to the church. We said, “Of course”, and were then asked if we might inform the other cruisers. OK…we’re glad to make a radio call and announce the event.

So…we got back to Charisma and put out a call to the anchorage about an event to be held tomorrow, food, entertainment and a request for a donation to the church. A couple folks responded that they would likely come and we considered our job done.

Fast forward to this morning when we went in to the mystery event. We didn’t know what to expect nor did we know if any other the other cruisers would actually show up since it was a cloudy, rainy (the most rain we have seen in weeks) morning and all the other boats were on the other side of the lagoon – at least a 20 minute or more dinghy ride away. But, it turns out six boats made it in. We were all invited into the chief’s hut for a discussion of what to expect. Somewhere along the way I became our group’s spokesperson and then chief, since we were the guests of honor we needed a representative who would “speak” for the group. It turned out (and other cruisers will know what an honor this was) the chief of the Fulunga village started the event by doing a sevusevu for us! Quite an honor. He talks -in Fijian – and we get a summary translation and then it’s our turn to respond. I said something about how honored we were and how much we loved the island since they not only treat us as friends, but embrace us as family. Other cruisers reiterated these feelings and the chief was pleased. This went down pretty well and soon they broke out the kava as is normal for such a ceremony. Well…what I found out at this point is that the “visiting chief” – that would be ME, is responsible for the pace of the kava consumption. Once the kava bowl has gone around the room once, no-one can drink again until the visiting chief says. There’s a word that phonetically translates as, “Taki”, that the visiting chief uses when it’s time for another round of kava. (Like buying another round at the bar but not on your dime….nice!)

Kava is very important in Fiji, very popular, and eagerly consumed and I didn’t want to disappoint those present so as soon as the first round was complete I shouted “Taki”. There was great relief in the room, many smiles and the kava pouring continued and the bowl was passed. I carefully watched as each person had his or her bowl and as soon as it went around the room, I again shouted “Taki” much to the delight of the room. At that point – and this may be the highlight of my week, if not month- one of the men slightly intoxicated by the early rounds of kava leaned over to Ann, and very properly announced – “Chief Bob is the best chief ever!”

So there you have it! Chief Bob. Yessssss!

OK, that lasted a minute. Ann quickly leaned over and said, “Don’t let it go to your head, buster!”

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

The kava celebration was halted when the “entertainment” came in. Local women dressed in red sulus and white shirts with beautifully woven necklaces of fragrant flowers. There is nothing like the song and dance of happy people. It was lovely and included an invitation to Ann to learn the hand motions and join the dance. And we both walked away wearing one of the lovely flower leis. Very special.

And as if to just extend the excitement of the day, I can say that lunch was as much an adventure as being chief of the Pulangis. We ate (again, cruisers will have the best appreciation for this) boiled sea cucumber in coconut milk. Akin to banana slugs, the sea cucumber until now has mostly been something that we attempt to avoid stepping on when we wade onto the reef. It’s kind of squishy, no, actually really squishy. Definitely something I never anticipated eating. I think it rates right there alongside raw sea urchin. So glad we had eaten the ones on our plates before another more discerning cruiser questioned what they were eating. We figure try everything once, and if it is really yummy get its name!

So another day in paradise. For some reason we weren’t very hungry at dinner so just had some roasted potatoes and pumpkin and soon to bed. See you tomorrow!