(I sit here writing this sitting in the cockpit under a very bright and almost full moon. It’s straight overhead just to the port side of the mast while the Southern Cross hovers in the sky over to starboard above the bow. There a gentle breeze tonight (a nice change from fairly boisterous winds the past week or so) nudging a few trade wind clouds across the lagoon. I can hear the quiet thunder of the ocean pounding against the reef on the other side of the motus that surround us. A true south seas paradise).

We did so much stuff today I didn’t know what else to call this post.

Is that clear water or what?

The day started (you know, “started” means “after coffee”) with a paddleboard ride around the motus. The wind was down for the first time in quite a while so Ann and I were eager to jump on the boards and have a ride. We had a lovely couple hour waltz around the area and then I stopped back at Charisma for some hammock time while Ann toured the local reefs for a while longer. It paid off as she surprised a large sea turtle.

Back on Charisma around lunch Mele, who is the Chief’s “right hand man” set up one of the outriggers with a sail and took off fishing in it. That was an exciting event as these are practically antiques – you see similar ones in museums in Suva and Wellington – made by hand out of hollowed out trees. Most of the villagers now use the more modern 18 foot “fibers” although since there is often no petrol, they can be seen pushing the boats with poles from reef to reef with the outboard hanging off the stern looking like a vestigial limb. Rumor has it that Mele has been working on building a new outrigger. Seems as he found a suitable tree, felled it “a while” back (no one can say how long ago including Mele), has been hollowing it out with a large adze and may be dragging it out of the jungle this week. We’ll see about that. If it happens, it will be a huge event.

Mele sailing one of the older dugout canoes.

Between coffee and lunch a fiber poled past Charisma with a group of young men who had been out all night fishing. They looked suitably cold but proud of themselves as they caught a LOT of fish. Ann called them over and gave each a granola bar which were eagerly consumed and they gave us three large fish that looked like small tunas (they aren’t but that’s the best description I can give for now). I gutted them and put them in the fridge with the intention of frying them in coconut oil this evening, but…upon going into the village Ann was presented with the largest lobster either of us has ever seen. It weighed at least 5 pounds and was cooked so we didn’t need to do a thing. Surprisingly it was also the most tender lobster we have ever tasted. One of the young village men speared it today and somehow it ended up with us. We’re going to try and find out how that happened when we’re in the village for church tomorrow. Amazing! (Update: we had half of it for dinner, but the whole tail is now in the fridge probably to be turned in a lobster and pasta dish one of these nights.)

A good fishing day.

Monster lobster.

This afternoon I stayed on Charisma and worked on my bowl. I have to sand it (and sand, and sand…) so it’s ready on Monday for Joe to put a pattern on it to carve. I might have to stop counting the hours I’m putting into this thing other than to show how long it takes to make something like this with relatively primitive tools. I dropped Ann ashore and she walked into the village where she immediately became a “kid magnet”. Always happens on Saturday when the kids are not in school. They adore her. One in particular wanted to make sure that Ann’s going to be at church tomorrow as she’s going to wear her new dress that Ann helped her Mom sew. She also wanted to invite us to join her family for Sunday dinner to celebrate but Tau would be offended. So Ann was honored by the request but had to politely decline. Penina, the little girl, understood.

Onward through the village on a mission – to show Alfredi and Bali how to play “Fulunga Train”. That’s what we’re calling Mexican Train now that Alfredi has carved us a Fulunga platform for the game and six little turtles to use as game pieces. We’re going to give the original train pieces to the village so they can play it as they love having new games.

On the way back to Charisma Ann was shanghaied by Tau, our host family patriarch who would let her go until “the bread is done” so she could send a loaf back to the boat. Yikes – we just thought we were running out of food. Anyway, what does Ann do when confronted with a wait like this? She pulls out a game of Pocket Farkel then proceeds to teach our family – Joe, Tau, Jasmine and Samu how to play. She left them still playing their new game once the bread was done and came back in time for sundowners with our new friends Graham and Diane on Maunie, one of the boats here that hails from the UK.

So, sorry for the long post, but it’s been a Fulunga day and hard to single out just one thing to write about. We’re always exhausted by the end of the day and wondering how being in paradise can be so tiring.