Or maybe it’s sewing and diving. You guessed it, we split up today. As Bob and friends bobbed and dove on the outside of the reef I went into the village for more weaving and quilting. But it ended up being a sewing lesson instead.

I had mentioned to Cindy on Bravo that Jasmine asked me to please plan to come back to Fulunga next year and teach them to sew their own clothes. They love quilting but they would also love to make stylish new dresses too. Well, Cindy happened to have a pattern for a simple yet stylish dress that she offered to bring in to share. So while Cindy and the other new weavers were enrolled in Weaving 101 I began teaching Sewing 101.

My mother, who spent so many hours teaching me to sew as a six year-old, would have been pleased with my efforts today. I was channeling Mom as I explained how to read a pattern and understand how to use it. I could hear Mom explaining how to properly layout a pattern piece following the grain of the material and properly notching the needed marks. Marks that later become very important for matching pieces and sewing seams. And she would have laughed when the dress we were making/ had just cut out was now going to be sewn to fit a 9 year old girl, not a grown women. No need for room in the bust, take in all of the seams. What a day. Add to these issues the fact that the hand operated sewing machine was giving us fits. We finally got an okay stitch out of it and seem to be on the right path to downsizing the dress.

We ran out of time today so will finish the dress tomorrow. The village ladies are hanging on my every word and I am trying to be as clear as possible so that they can continue to make some new dresses for themselves. Some of the ladies really seem to understand. I have been speaking very slowly and pointing to everything I am describing because I know how hard it is to translate a language and apply it at the same time. They are amazing.

Nila from Quixotic ended the weaving lesson with a lesson of her own. A yoga lesson. Although most of the older women declined the invitation a few joined in, as did the young girls who had just come home from school. I was not inside the “yoga studio” but the silliness was spilling out the windows. As one of the “reserved” ladies commented, “We sure know how to laugh here!” Amen!

A little silliness to go with weaving and sewing.

From Bob: So, the bobbing part. It was windy today, but Ed from Quixotic came by and asked if I wanted to try and dive. Yes please. We got Adam from Bravo to came as well and the three of us headed out about halfway between high and low tide. As we got to the entrance to the reef there were large standing waves. The biggest I’ve seen. Probably about three feet, but they were very close together making them pretty intimidating. Fortunately we could just slide by the edge of the channel and miss the worst parts as they were big enough to have swamped the dinghy.

Once outside, we immediately saw that our plan to “go left” down the reef about a mile to a spot we saw when we were fishing the other day wasn’t going to happen. It was too rough. Actually, it was looking too rough to dive at all, but we went to the right and up the reef hoping to find a spot that was a little protected from the waves. Even though the wind was easterly and theoretically the reef was blocking the waves, they were still refracting around the point so we have three foot waves breaking on the reef. Not to worry. Ed, who is a strong swimmer jumped in with snorkel gear and set the anchor on a piece of dead coral. The dinghy was set in about 25 feet of water, but since the reef is near vertical, the dinghy was probably only 10 meters from crashing waves on the reef. But Ed was OK with where his dinghy was, so we suited up and slipped below the surface. Once down everything was quiet and serene (as always). You would never know that it was so tumultuous up above. We descended to around 50 feet and paralleled the reef up current. Ed and Adam saw a turtle right off. I was mezmorized looking up and over at the waves crashing above me and how they contrasted with the quiet beauty of the coral down where we were. And so it went until our air supply ran low and it was time to return to the rocking and rolling world above the surface. The only way back into an inflatable dinghy is to take off your gear while still in the water and tie it to a line while you try and time your “kick” with the waves to jump back in the boat. Back in the boat it’s a little disorienting to once again see just how close you are anchored to the crashing waves against the jagged coral reef. Oh well, just another day in Fulunga.