We moved up another island today. We’re now at Oneata. Usually, when we get to a new island there is the sevusevu or ceremonial gift of kava to the chief of the village. Well, today we experienced a different sort of sevusevu. A fiber, or 20-foot open outboard, came by once we were anchored and offered to “take our kava”. Since we’re pretty experienced with the sevusevu we were actually pretty glad to just hand it over in this case and be done with it since we’re not planning to be here long. Well, Ann said (not seriously) to Lisa that she was “crushed and that she missed the emotional contact” and Lisa’s response, “Get over it Ann”.
"We'll take your sevusevu right here!"
So…we did our duty and then took advantage of the ride to the village offered by the two guys in the fiber. The cost? A gallon of gas. OK, that works. A twenty minute ride around the end of the island later and we were in the village. It was a nice village. I wish we could spend more time here. The kids were awesome, flocking around Ann (as usual) and Lisa, and the ladies who make the tapas were very funny and fun to talk with. We bought a couple small tapas and John and Lisa commissioned one to be made and picked up tomorrow in the other village. It will be fun to hike over the island from our anchorage to pick it up. More adventure perhaps?
Kids at Oneata
This woman's name is Toga whose relatives we have met in California.
Kids on the beach.
Dinner tonight was the leftover mahi from yesterday cooked inside a pumpkin with onions, eggplant and curried coconut milk. The Fijians just put it on the fire. We have to cook it in the oven, but it’s still good! Just hollow out a pumpkin, sauté the veggies and drop them in with the curry and coconut cream/milk then cook an hour or so until done.
Nice.
I love the cooking in a pumpkin! I am assuming you cover the fish with the coconut milk so its kind of like poaching…that may be on the menu this week! All is well here except it is HOT HOT HOT ! xxoo
What’s all this tapas stuff? I thought you said you were in Bounty territory. Where the heck is the breadfruit? It might be good with the Mahi Mahi. And couldn’t you make breadfruit pudding with it?
Sounds like you guys are back to being nomads. A new village or island every couple of days. The don’t-let-the-grass-grow-under-your-keel approach to adventure sailing. Well I say, “Let ‘er roll, let ‘er roll, roll on Charisma!”
Keep marking the island trails. Do you even use a compass? Or other methods to keep track of your path through vaguely marked territory?