Such a unique experience to come to this place. First off there are only two guys who live here and one of those has been gone most of this year. His uncle Mo is the only one living on this tiny island. Mo’s brother lived her by himself before Mo did. There’s nothing here but a couple of old shacks that they are adding to hodge podge as they find old nails and boards. The island is very remote. It is the most Northeast of the islands in the Fiji archipelago and it’s at least 50 miles from any other inhabited land. It’s also tiny. The lagoon is almost 12 miles long, but the island is only about ½ mile long and somewhat less than that wide.
My friend Mo and me on the beach in front of his house.
But, the spirit is so strong here. These two and especially Mo have such a strong belief. It’s just such fun to be around them. And fun that Mo remembered Ann and me from last year including details that he pointed out such as which path we took through the jungle(“Look, remember we went that way last year”) and he remembered that last year we were heading to Nairai to meet the folks who found our bottle. Of course we are only the third yacht that has visited his island in the last twelve months so maybe not so hard to remember. One of the boats we recommended come here last year made up a Guest Book for him to have yachties sign. That’s how we know how many have come – and we’re proud that even though we were here first, our name, a picture of Charisma and a little note are now also in the book.
It’s pretty interesting to see how simply someone can live and still enjoy life. Mo loves his life even though he almost literally has nothing. Except as he will point out, he in fact has a lot. Beautiful sunrises, starlit nights, clear water and plentiful food from the ground and sea. Mo may not have much but he is not wanting.
So, what a treat to be able to revisit for a second time such a wonderful person. I do hope we might meet him yet again.
Such a beautiful place (John and Bob walking the beach)
So long Mo and thanks for the wonderful hospitality. I hope we might be able to come see you next year.
(A postscript: Mo asked us if we would telephone his brother Leone who lives in Suva and ask him to send a AM Radio when Matea comes back, to replace the one that broke. We called him today and had a great conversation and hope we might get to meet him in person when we get to Denarau in a couple weeks. How fun to make connections like this from island to island and across the world).