If church was surprisingly fun, the rest of our Sunday-the first full day in Fulunga-was equally exciting.

This is the Chief's residence.

Ann and I with friends on Slip Away (who we met for the first time in Savusavu) and Chief Daniel.

Chief Daniel with his grandson Mattei and great grandson Waes

As we mentioned before, we were fortunate enough to have met the chief’s grandson, Mattei. After church he was kind enough to ask us if we were like to meet his grandfather the chief of the island. As we sometimes say in California; “Duh…” We of course could not pass up an opportunity like this and followed Mattei to the chief’s hut -actually a bit larger than the others, but comprised mostly of a large room about 20 feet square with a wall at one end that partitioned Daniel’s bedroom. The main room had little furniture, you sit on the floor covered by several large woven pandanas mats. The Chief sits in a chair behind a small table and behind him on the wall are several lovely tapas.

Daniel is 84 and has been Chief for about 10 years. The position is hereditary-going to the eldest son. Mattei is in line to someday take on the role, but not for some years as the Chief has several brothers and there’s a line of succession.

After spending some time meeting with the Chief, Mattei said that we would stay for lunch. OK… At this point we moved to the next hut where there was again the pandanas mat on the floor. Also, there was a large cloth that ran down the middle of the hut on which were numerous plates of food. We all sat cross-legged along each side of the food with Mattei, his wife Ma and son Wise and several other relatives. Along with Jan and Rich from Slip Away there were about a dozen for lunch. After a prayer, the cloth covering the plates was lifted to reveal plates of Octopus, Red Mullet (local fish), and two kinds of Casava root-all cooked in coconut milk. Delicious!! Stuffed from lunch we decided to take a walk down to the second village (there are three on the island and a total population of about 90).

Lunch after church with Mattei and family.

This kitty was just sure he was going to get some of the delicious fish!

It was about a 10 minute walk through the jungle to the next village and no sooner did we reach the edge of the village than all the kids came spilling out of their Sunday-school class to greet us. One of the delights here is that everyone you meet comes up to you, shakes your hand, tells you their name and asks yours. “My name is Bob” is something I got very good at saying as the day wore on. There were two dozen children here all of whom went through the ceremony with Rich, Jan, Ann and I. It took a while.

After the introductions, the kids quickly split up into two groups and suddenly started a singing competition. One group would sing a song and then the next group would try and out-sing them. Fun!

A delightful day getting to know all of our new friends here at Fulunga.

Tomorrow, the cannibal caves.

Yesterday was amazing. Arriving here after the long sail down from Savusavu, doing the sevusevu and then back to the boats and an invitation for cocktails on Slip Away (before we all dropped dead from exhaustion). We had a nice time on Slip Away and back on Charisma dropped into a deep, deep sleep only to be awakened by our alarm for Sunday service at the church in the village near where we’re anchored (there’s a church in each of the three villages here).

The kids were so excited to have us with them in church.

One of the choirs in the next village.

The other choir in the second village. They were competing with each other as they sung for us.

We were told to arrive at 9:30 and being cruisers were of course 10 minutes late. No worries, the villagers knew-the service didn’t really start until 1000. But there was singing.

As we arrived the children we met yesterday ran out of the church calling our names (everyone here is amazing at getting and remembering your name). “Ann, Ann, Bob, Bob, come with me…” was what we heard and then little hands grabbed ours and off we were towed into the church. All the kids guided us almost to the front and then adjusted the pews to give us some extra leg room. Once we were settled all the kids sat in the first three pews in front of us….and stared. They just smiled and stared at these strange people from so far away. They were fascinated with us and since they knew our names from the day before when we in town, now they wanted to know where we came from, how old we were–everything And they were all so beautiful and darling. Big smiles, big eyes, happy personalities. They were delightful! Seating in the church is very specific. Children on the front left, (there were about 15 of them from the ages of about 6-15) yachties (us and Slip Away) behind them, women on the front right and men in the back.

The service was all in Fijian (other than a small bit in English welcoming us to their church-so nice!) , so I have no clue what was said. Since it was Methodist and not Catholic, Ann was a bit lost as well, but there was a lot of singing and it was heartfelt and beautiful. The harmonies were amazing. And there was only one instrument. A triangle. This helped to keep the beat, but other than that, nothing. Just lovely voices and the sound of happiness.

During the service since I didn’t know what was being said, I was struck by the visual richness of the scene- A tropical trade wind was blowing through the windows Out the windows on the left side of the church you could see the ocean with waves breaking on the reef and the turquoise lagoon inside. Out the right side windows were the village huts. Rusting corrugated tin roofs showed many luscious shades of orange, red and brown against the tropical foliage of palms, bananas and such. The sides of the huts were painted in many pastel hues including pink, orange, turquoise, lavender and peach All in all, a stunning visual feast for the eyes.

Church for me has rarely been so captivating.

The last couple days have been amazing for the incredible hospitality that everyone here at Fulunga has shown us. Today was incredible for the adventure we were able to take to see the caves where cannibalism was performed a hundred years ago.

You have to climb up the rocks, then you peer over the edge-oh my!

Yup, after hiking through the jungle and climbing up the hill, here it is!

Climbing up to get to the cave.

Our guides to the caves.

Judging by the condition of the trail (almost non-existent) we are a of the few who have had the good fortune to visit this spot. We gathered in the village with our friends from Blue Rodeo, Slip Away, Evergreen and Just In Time, a Kiwi boat we just met.

Anyway, Mattei had mentioned the existence of these caves and we said we would very much like to see them. Not expecting too much, we gathered outside his house this morning around 0900 for the hike up to the cave. Well…our expectations were far exceeded. As we hiked up the hill behind the village, we were treated to an anthropologists dream. Mattei showed us where the “old” village used to be situated back when there was open warfare among villages as well as islands in this part of the world. As we hiked higher up the hill, we were literally transported back to a place in time when sentries were posted on the peak watching for any sign of an enemy approaching. The rock foundations of the old village-not inhabited since the late 1800s-are still visible and we were able to see how it was sited literally at the top of the hill and on the edge of an impassible cliff. This was a fortress in its day-now mostly swallowed by the jungle-since the village moved down to its present position nearer the water a hundred years ago. Still-you could almost feel the spirit of the ancestors.

And if you couldn’t quite feel the spirit, once we came to the cave and climbed up to look inside, you could see the spirit. Skulls and bones. Stacks and stack of them. Some staring out at you untouched for these many years. It was eerie and amazing. The fact that this is still here completely intact is absolutely amazing! We ended the day feeling extremely privileged that we could experience something like this in such a pristine environment, untouched, in a state of repose that so vividly depicted a way of life that (fortunately) has been gone for over a hundred years.

Amazing. (I can’t wait to share the pictures when we’re back where we can access internet)