This was really Ann’s day. She offered to do a class at the island school making paper woven hearts. You have to see them – you take two pieces of paper, decorate them with crayons, cut strips on each piece and then when you weave them together they make a three dimensional heart-shaped cup. Turned out to be the perfect assignment as far as the teachers were concerned because today was assessment day for grades 4, 6 and 8. They were taking their standardized tests to ensure they were keeping up with the rest of Fijian classes. Sooo…since a lot of the classes are mixed ages, testing days disrupt the normal flow. Enter Ann’s project. The Headmistress was delighted. We were a little worried when she told us there would be 35 from kindergarten through grade 7. Yipes!

Ann's day in the classroom.

But the kids are exceptionally well mannered and listen well. It took a while to corral everyone, then the “count one through five” to set up teams, then modifying the teams so they had some strong ones and kids who needed a bit more help as ascertained by the kindergarten teacher who became Ann’s aide. Once they finally dug into the project though, it was like kids anywhere. They had their paper and crayons and were on a mission. The challenge came as each finished decorating their two pieces of paper- that was where they had to have Ann or the teacher, Mary cut the paper with scissors and then do the weaving part. Or at least start the weaving for the older kids. Just as it was looking like this was going to be a giant cluster, Ann had the brilliant idea of enlisting the older kids who “got it” to help the others. So instead of two people weaving, she now had about six or so. The project went famously from there and by the end of the class time – about 90 minutes – everyone has completed a beautiful woven heart. Ann was reminded of quilting with the kids at Christ the King. Watching the boys, especially (who are taught to carve not weave) get it and see their sense of pride as they presented it to Ann to approve was just wonderful. One word of praise and as with all children, they puff up and glow with pride. Such a reward for us.

The kids quickly got to work.

Some detailed consultations.

There were two things that for us were priceless about the morning at school. The first was the pure joy in the smile as each child finished his or her heart, figured out how to open it into a cup and then show it to us. Radiant joy!

Some finished projects.

The second -and we can’t wait to post the movies – were the songs they sung for us when the project was finished. Such beautiful voices! They all know their parts to all the songs including some complicated harmonies, but not one reads music. We asked the Headmistress and she said these kids are singing before they can even talk. When we get back in the land of the internet we’ll post something and you can see for yourself. What a treat.

After the project was complete it was time for lunch. We ate with some of the relatives of the kids who were being tested. Apparently it is tradition for them to come and drink kava while the children are in testing. When in Rome, etc, so we sat under a shade cloth and drank kava and enjoyed yet another wonderful meal that included chicken, fish, cassava root, breadfruit, noodles, rice and one of the strangest things we’ve eaten yet – a Chiton. They boil them and pull the shell off. Tasted something like abalone that hasn’t been pounded enough. But good.

After school and lunch, back to Charisma for some reading and a nap. Kind of a lazy afternoon, but it’s been windy and a bit rainy. As of this evening the squally weather is passing and I think we’ll have a few really nice days. I think the paddleboards are coming out and maybe tomorrow we’re going to move to another spot in the lagoon where there might be lobsters for the taking. Stay tuned.

Fulunga, Fiji

I am calling this blog Weaving 102 because I have to admit that during my senior year at St. Mary’s College I actually took a course called Weaving 101. So this being my second weaving course I am calling it 102. Wow. What a fun day!

Gonna learn some weaving...

Bob and I went ashore with the dinghy loaded down with many of the gifts we had brought to Fulunga – like some flour, some sandals, and some beach balls. By far the heaviest item was the set of 22 full size encyclopedias that we were able to secure in New Zealand for a mere $8. Okay, so it is missing two volumes but the remaining 22 are sure to be well-loved by the school children. We asked the 8th grade teacher last year what one thing he would like most for school and encyclopedias were the answer. Yay!

But they were heavy so we left them on the beach for the school boys to come carry back to the school. We went to the school to let the teachers know they were available for pick up and were mobbed by our “little friends”. The children from the other two villages had not seen us yet and were very excited to see if we remembered them. “Bob, do you remember me!?” Of course! These are the kids that always walked the beach with us. The kids had just finished lunch and were all running around with toothbrushes. Fiji has figured out how important it is to keep these beautiful smiles around! Love it. Good thing we left more toothbrushes and toothpaste with the nursing station.

After a visit to a few other friends we wandered over to the community weaving building. How great would it be to have a whole building to leave your projects spread out across. Someday I will have a quilting room like this. And my girlfriends will be there to play with me. Just like today. It was so delightful to be in the company of women who laughed and giggled and created together. I was under the tutelage of Jasmine, and guided by Koro. Koro is the master-weaver of the island. I wish you could see her fingers move as she weaves magic with pandanas leaves. Jasmine pretends not to know how to weave but she was able to tell me how…the sign of a great weaver…even if she won’t admit it. I worked, they supervised and every once in a while Koro would cluck and Jasmine would point out a mistake and help me correct it. I love this stuff!

Weaving 101

All the extremities have a part.

New Best Friends.

I left the community hall with a completed wall hanging. It is not perfect, but it is lovely. And I will always look at it and smile and laugh, remembering an afternoon of fellowship. Not that I understood any of the specific chatter in Fijian but the playful, loving tone was so obvious that I couldn’t help but feel at home. And miss my quilting friends and our great prolonged quilting sessions. We girls are the same everywhere!

Ann also gave a quilting lesson and the weavings were quickly covered with quilting.

Ann's first completed mat. It even has a tree bark fringe which is the sign of a "fine" mat.

It’s Sunday here in Fiji, and that means all commerce/work stops. The day is devoted to church and family. As “yachties”, we are very fortunate to be considered extended family and join the village in church and then various host families after church for the afternoon feast.

Church starts at 1000, so we were careful to be in our dinghy by 0910 for the brief ride to the beach and then a 15 or so minute walk through the jungle into the village. We stopped just outside the village so I could put on my sulu, a wrap around skirt that is mandatory for the men on Sunday. Woman wear the same or dresses and make sure to cover their shoulders and arms.

Ann in her sulu.

Once in the village we’re mobbed by the kids all in their Sunday best – special dresses for the girls and white shirts and ties for the boys. We’re a little early, but some of the congregation is inside singing. We wait outside in the heat enjoying the shade of a tree that has no doubt provided similar relief for many, many generations of worshipers.

At the appointed hour, Joe – one of the village elders – approaches the huge wooden drums outside the church and begins the drum beat for “final call”. Everyone files in.

Joe playing the "call to church" drum.

One inside I’m struck by how similar yet different the experience. On the one hand, you are in a church. A place of worship where everyone is somber and expectant waiting for the minister to come in. Yet on the other hand, the windows are all open and the breeze is flowing in from the ocean which is just 100 meters outside. A glance outside the window shows coconut trees, the turquoise lagoon and the stark white spray of ocean waves crashing on the reef beyond the lagoon.

In the church before the service starts.

As the Minister enters the backdoor in all of his splendor with coat and tie I am still reminded of where I am when I see that he is barefoot and in the background, through the door I see chickens scamper across the grass.

Then the singing starts. It only takes a few moments before I start to tear up listening to the heartfelt joy that these folks – I’m happy to call them ‘our friends’ – pour forth in their song. When the children’s chorus stands up to sing, about a dozen children from 6-14 or so, and three adults to sing the lower notes, well….you will not hear a more beautiful sounding chorus anywhere in the world. I don’t think any of them read music, yet the pitch and harmonies are perfect.

Then, there is the sermon. Of course it is in Fijian, so we don’t have the slightest idea what is going on, but there is some thumping and raising of voice. The children are getting fidgety. They are yawning, stretching, rolling their eyes – you know how it goes. There is much tolerance, but when one goes beyond the accepted norm, “Joe” the enforcer shows up, quietly down the side isle with his stick! He never whacks anyone, but they get the message and quickly straighten up. I have to admit that when Joe comes past I also sit much more erect and pay closer attention to the service. One boy had his ear tugged because he was within reach. He got the message, no dozing.

This will be our enduring memory of Joe.

So, the service is progressing. Several people got up to make a speech of some sort, one ofwelcomed us “yachties” to the service, more people spoke in Fijian, then one of the other elders come over to our group of “yachties” and in a very low whisper said something that sounded like, “If anyone would like to say something, please feel free…” . There was a bit of an embarrassed silence as I think no one really knew exactly what was expected, but I thought, “What the heck, we should say something and if I blow this, the village is a very forgiving place, etc…” so before my brain really knew what I was doing I stood up and walked to the front of the church. Bowing to the minister and the congregation I said something about how honored we were to be there, how much we loved the village and I don’t know what else, but I ended with a “Thank you” and the whole congregation shouted back; “Naka!” which is the Fijian slang for “Thank you”.

I have to admit here and now that my biggest fear in standing up and walking to the front of the church to make a speech on behalf of the “Palangies” (white man) was not so much that I might say something foolish, but that my sulu, which is kind of precariously wrapped around my waist and sort of rolled under, would fall off while I was standing there! It didn’t. Phew.

After church Ann and I accompanied our host family (Tau and Joe) back to their home where we feasted on smoked fish, pumpkin with green curry, cassava greens, breadfruit cooked in the lovo, baked banana and Ann brought quinoa salad that she made with beans, tomato, corn and carrots.

Sunday feast on the front porch with our host family...

...and my new friend "Boy" the dog. (And that's not a plastic straw in my coconut, it's a papaya stem which is hollow)

A fun day in the village! We walked back to Charisma (stuffed to the brim) around 1400 and once back went for a snorkel over to the little reef in the cove where we’re anchored. It’s a bit like being in an aquarium, so lots of fun seeing all the colorful fish.

Oh, by the way, we mentioned to Tau – who is also the headmistress of the school – that Ann wanted to show some of the kids how to make “woven hearts”. Tau immediately jumped on the idea and said, “Come in on Tuesday!” She then proceeded to let Ann know that she would be in charge of 26 children during the time when the older ones are working on their assessment tests. Ann was thinking it would be fun with a group of 6 or 7 girls. OK – this should be interesting!

(If you want to see “exactly” where we are, put the following lat/lon into Google earth 19 degrees, 08 minutes.934 seconds south; 178 degrees, 34 minutes.037 seconds west)

Heading in for sevusevu with my sulu on.

I’ll admit, both of us have been concerned that by going back to the most beautiful place we’ve ever been might be a mistake. Would it be possible to repeat the experience or would we be disappointed?

Our welcoming committee on the beach.

I can say that while it’s not exactly the same, Fulunga is still a magical place. Beautiful beyond description with the most delightful people you have ever met.

The first thing you see coming into the village are the children and you fall in love all over again.

While we had to stay on the boat yesterday fixing the broken wind vane steering system, word apparently spread through the village that we were here. Little did we know that folks would even remember us, but when we walked into the village this morning they were waiting for us. Even the children here all were able to yell; “Bob, Ann, welcome back!” It brought tears to our eyes.

Ann, as you know, is quite shy but still managed this selfie with the kids about 1.5 minutes into our visit.

Also a funny anecdote – Turns out that I’m known here as “Chief Bob”. Yup, almost everyone who greeted us used that as part of the greeting. We were wondering where the heck that came from when through some careful questioning we found that it was because last year I sat on the Chief’s throne outside his hut. Now, in my defense, I asked the Chief’s grandson (Mattei, who is in his ’30s and knows better) if it would be OK if I sat on the stone “throne” outside the chief’s hut. Mattei told me it would be fine. Knowing that this could be a touchy issue I asked again; “Are you sure it’s OK?” He reassured me it would be fine and I thusly sat on the throne. Well, EVERYONE in the village noticed and I’m now known – and I should note, fondly – as Chief Bob. I’m currently trying to leverage this with Ann, but she’s not buying it. Oh well, at least I’m a bit of a Chief to the village.

Speaking of the Chief, he is much better this year. Last year he was very much under the weather and well into his 80’s there was a lot of concern for his health. This year however he is looking ten years younger than his age and we were very fortunate to be able to do sevusevu with him by ourselves. It was a wonderful experience and through a translator we exchanged greetings and stories. Fortunately (I think) he was not aware of the Chief Bob thing. I mean, his father was a cannibal and all.

Sevusevu with the Chief and Mele.

The changes here that I alluded to are good ones. The villagers have set up a fruit stand and are selling fruit to the “yachties” to make a little money which goes to fund the school and other good things that help the village. We (all the yachties, not just Ann and I) told them they could make some money doing this and we would be really happy since there is no other store within a hundred sea miles from here. They have also consolidated their wood carvings into a store of sorts – it’s really more of a lean-to, but it has a sign! Again, a way for them to take advantage of their beautiful carvings.

The "Fruit Market"...

...and its little volunteers.

Other than that, the village is exactly the same and the people remain as unselfish, happy and wonderful as last year. The little girls cannot keep from holding our hands and smiling up adoringly at us. As we walk through the villages shouts of “Bula! Welcome back!” We, of course, remember them fondly and we are thrilled and stunned that we are as special to them. Fulunga….so special.

One view of the village.

Tomorrow we go to church which we’re really looking forward to. I think I mentioned last year that the singing brought years to my eyes. They sing with all their hearts in the true sense of the phrase.

Also, Ann has been working on a project that she can do with the little girls in the village and has settled on a crafts project. I donated my watercolor paper and colored pencils and she’s going to make “woven hearts” that the kids can decorate. We’ll let you know how that goes, so stay tuned.

Fulunga. SW Lau Group, Fiji

Sunrise on the way to Fulunga

We made it to Fulunga! This certainly has to be the most beautiful place in the world. Words cannot really do justice to just how beautiful and idyllic this place is. I also can’t quite find the words to describe how happy both of us are to be here. We have already seen several of the locals we met last year and one (Alfredi) already came past Charisma on his canoe and gave us some oranges he has been cultivating. ( I think his stash is a secret, as he paddles out to go fishing in the lagoon and comes back with the oranges). Anyway, we’ll have much more to say about Fulunga as we plan to do our Sevusevu tomorrow and go to church on Sunday (it’s Friday night here in Fiji right now). So…why did we not do sevusevu today? After all we got in early and had dropped anchor by 1000. Weelllllll….our Monitor Wind Vane broke yesterday and we spent yesterday afternoon and all last night hand steering (oh, the horror!). We have no autopilot and rely on “Wilson” to get us from place to place. In fact we sometimes secretly snicker at people whose complex electro-hydraulic autopilots conk out. You know the saying; “It’s not IF your autopilot breaks, it’s WHEN”. Well, karma smacked us on the butt yesterday. I was sleeping, or at least trying to, when Ann came down and said; “there’s something wrong with the wind vane. Dragging myself out of bed and into the cockpit it took about three seconds to see that the entire water vane (the part that steers in the water) had broken off and was floating behind us, hanging on its emergency cord that keeps us from losing it. That was the good news. The bad news was it was unfixable while underway. There was no doubt we were going to have to hand steer the whole second half of the trip. No reading, no games on the iPad, no napping under the dodger. Just hands on the wheel. Turns out what they call the “Watervane Pivot Shaft” broke. This is the main shaft that holds the rudder part of the vane. The weld that holds the shaft to the big stainless steel plate that attaches to the hinge parted. I was bummed.

Here's the broken weld.

Only one thing to do. Pull the thing out of the water (thank goodness for the tether), tie it to the stern pushpit and set up a new watch schedule. No more five hour watches. When you have to hand steer at night, three hours is about the most you can do before your eyes start bouncing up and down in their sockets and you go into periods of “micro-sleep” where you think you are steering 130 degrees, but the compass really says “150 degrees”. So we got here, a little broken, but intact. I was mentally counting all the hours we would have to hand steer over the next 4 to 5 weeks as we cruise the Lau Group of islands here in the eastern Fiji, but as luck would have it our Canadian friends on Katie M II were here in Fulunga. Martin built his boat and is a good hand with tools (to say the least). He took one look at the Monitor and said; “I think you can fix this by drilling a couple holes in the stainless steel plate and then bolting it back onto the shaft”. Yeah, right, Martin. In your dreams. I don’t have the kind of “firepower” in tools to drill through inch and a half stainless. But since he volunteered to help, I saw a chance to actually jury rig the darn thing until we can get a new part from Monitor. “Go for it!” says I. He did and we then took the broken part and with some more brutal drilling from the dinghy, Ann and I matched the holes and drilled through the broken ¼ inch shaft.

Time to fix the broken weld. Screws, drills, taps...

Drilled and tapped, almost ready to bolt back on.

Now we could bolt it back together where the weld had once held the part. Oh and one other thing. There was a roller bearing that fell out when the thing broke. The good news is I had parts. The bad news is the roller bearing actually just consists of 31 plastic rolling pins about 1/16 inch wide by 3/8 tall. You have to somehow stick them UP into the shaft before putting the base back on. Oh, and did I mention this is over the water on the back of the boat? We were working on this from the dinghy. We had a big bucket under the thing so any parts that dropped could be retrieved instead of dropping into 25 feet of water. The most interesting part was the use of shaving cream. “HUH?” you ask?? Yep, the only way to get all 31 of the darn little plastic roller bearings UP into the shaft was to put shaving cream on a washer and then “stick” the bearings on it before lifting (very carefully) the whole thing up onto the shaft. This was Ann’s idea and it was a winner. It worked!! The whole assembly looked something like a birthday cake with the white shaving cream with all the plastic bearings sticking up through it.

Shaving cream holds the little bearings in place...

Now we just ease it up into the shaft...

A little awkward. Can't do this while underway...

And we're done. Paddle and hinge back on ready to go.

OK, I’m rambling now because I/we are thrilled that a potential BIG problem has been solved through the help of our friend Martin and four hours work and I have only had a few hours sleep in the last 36 hourss. Now we can get on with our adventure in paradise. And, both Ann and I can notch another unusual and unexpected boat repair in our resume.

We’re anchored just a half mile inside the reef from the Koro Sea.

We left Savusavu around 1600 and anchored just in time for Sunset and a Charisma.

Dinner of eggplant and bok choy on rice (with a little Hoisin sauce and a dash of Siricha) and we’re set.

It’s now about 2020. It’s absolutely still, flat calm, with a lovely little sliver of a moon behind us peaking through the clouds.

Ann’s grabbing a nap as we’re going to leave this idyllic spot around 2200 and head 185 or so miles south to the island of Fulunga. She’s first up on watch. We’re planning an arrival for about 1000 Friday which coincides with high tide/slack water for going through the reef pass. The hitch right now is a forecast for clouds and some rain at that time. We’ll hope its not too bad. If we hadn’t been there before we would make other plans, but we have pretty solid GPS waypoints from last year, so as long as the conditions are not too crazy, we’ll go in. Otherwise – plan B. Don’t know what that is yet, but stay tuned.

OK, I see that as I’m writing this the clouds have parted, so I’m going to the foredeck for a little stargazing while we’re waiting to leave.

OK, Julie Ross says we need to get our act together and get back to posting, so that’s the way it’s gonna be.

Actually, we’ve been back three days already.  We’re almost caught up on sleep, but there’s a weather window right now, so completely caught up or not, we leave tonight.

We’ve been stocking up the last two days on veggies, fruit, some meat (very little freezer space, so either we catch fish or become vegetarian) and wine.  We’re going to leave Savusavu this afternoon and motor six miles to Cousteau Resort, drop the hook, have dinner and then actually head out around 10PM tonight.  The trip to Fulunga in the Southern Lau is 186 miles.  There’s no wind right now (that’s the weather window since usually the wind and waves are 20 knots, and 5-6 feet on the nose) so we’ll motor.  At 5 knots or so, we’re looking at about 36 hours.  We want to get to Fulunga around 10AM so we have good visibility over the reef although I haven’t checked the tides yet which also determine when you can enter the lagoon (because of the current, not the depth).

So, now we’re caught up.  Here’s a few pics to tide you all over.  We’ll be out for at least three weeks with only the shortwave radio to send in text posts – no pictures, so these are the last until we’re back in the land of broadband internet.   We will post text notes daily though as long as there’s something to say 😉

The White Stork noted a couple posts ago. It looks MUCH better in the daytime!

Our island hopper...

Flight planning easy here. You climb barely above the clouds, then GPS direct your destination.

A good example of the places we'll visit as seen from the air. Mostly reef (all the light blue and yellowish brown) with a tiny island (the green on lower left) and if we're lucky a little bay which is the slightly darker blue to the right of the island.

Here's what we want to avoid. This is just a random reef with no island. Depending on conditions and the direction you approach from you may or may not be able to see it from the deck of a boat.

Here's Savusavu from the air. Usually we go on a mooring in the river, but since we were gone for two weeks I opted for one of the slips on the middle right of the picture right opposite the building.

If you look closely at this picture you'll see the makings of a wild landing. Look at the direction of the plane, then out the front windshield at the runway heading about 40 degrees to our left and just below us. Yipes! Actually you come in over a tall ridge, so they have to do what's called a "slip" to lose altitude fast enough to make the runway. In a slip, you actually fly sideways while dropping kinda like a rock. Fun if you know what they are doing, but not so much if you don't.

One last one; here's Ann with a bunch of bok choy. How much? 0.50 cents. Bok choy and eggplant are the main ingredients of our diet here. Available everywhere in quantity. 😉

We spent the weekend anchored out at Cousteau Resort with John and Lisa on Orcinius.  What a fun weekend!

Up in the conning tower waiting for the big one to strike.

We started out trolling back and forth out by the reef trying to catch a fish for dinner.   After a couple hours it seemed like we were going to be out of luck, so we turned back to the anchorage and pulled in the lines.  Yipes!  Two lures were gone and one was ravaged by some savage teeth.  Looked like Tuna, so we decided to put new lures on and give it one more shot.  Just to make sure luck would be with us, we took some meat out of the freezer to thaw.  Sure enough, on the next run, we saw something make a run at one of the lures.  It didn’t hook up though so we turned around and tried again.  This time we saw it come zooming in and hit.  POW!  White water churning all around the lure.  Fish on!

We slowed a bit, brought in the other lines and when we brought this line in there was a twenty pound Wahoo on the line.  After processing – we had enough filets to fill the freezer, give some to one of the other boats in the anchorage, have dinner for the four of us and make a very large batch of ceviche (which was delicious with our evening Charisma).  And we were able to put the frozen meat back in the freezer before it thawed.  When we got anchored, I even had a chance to jump in with my new dive gear and do a test dive.  It all works very well.  A very successful day.

Ann shows off the catch.

The following day, after a delicious quiche whipped up by John, the four of us donned dive gear and went over and dove Split Rock.  It’s only about 30 feet, but was a good tune up for everyone for the real diving out on the smaller islands that we’ll encounter over the next five months.  Lots of fun, followed by a lazy day then back into Savusavu.

Scuba Ann.

A little post dive R&R.

Good fun.  Thanks John and Lisa for being such great hosts.