(By Ann) Okay, so not every day is warm and sunny but that doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy them!. So yes, Bob did ask for his coat (I already had mine) and we jumped in the dinghy to go explore after lunch. We motored along the shore, in and around incredible “cupcake” islands (so nicknamed because of the way the volcanic rock is eroded by the water) over water that kept looking way too shallow to negotiate. I figured that if it got too shallow Bob could pull us over the shallow spots! Luckily it was not necessary. After an hour or so of investigating/exploring the shoreline we rounded a mushroom rock and saw our old anchorage in front of the path to the village! Now we know the short cut. But more exciting was when we came back to our current anchorage and realized that the outgoing tide was creating the sand spit that we are so protected by. It was very cool to walk out there as the water was receding. Sometimes we feel like we walk on water …this is one of those times. Suddenly we are out in the middle of an area and it looks like we needed to walk on water to get there. It is always a religious experience when you are cruising! While exploring today Bob found another coconut that was calling to him. I try to keep him to a one-a-day limit. But…today we decided he would chop it up on shore. The other day he made a mess all over Charisma …and he was only in the cockpit! But pieces of coconut were launched everywhere! So we came back to Charisma, got Bob his machete and chopping board and sent him back ashore. Oops – he came back without the cutting board and had to go back for it before the tide claimed it! And as I type this he is making fried coconut strips a la-Big Mama’s in Tonga. I sure hope they turn out! Tomorrow the winds are really supposed to pick up as a “Convergence Zone” event passes over us over the next couple days. Could be rain too. So tomorrow we plan to pull out the sewing machine and make a rain catching device! And then maybe I will do some quilting! PS – Joanne commented on our cheese making implements referred to in our blog last night…I had panty hose on board for those social events that called for more than a sulu (the wrap around sarong that is necessary when visiting the villages). No, honestly the pantyhose were on board to put my bar of soap in while showering under way. I put my bar of soap in one leg and tied the other one to the hand rail so there was no concern about losing the soap over board (thanks to my son, Greg for the great idea!). So now I don’t lose my soap AND I can make cream cheese! It’s all about using everything to its fullest potential!

Cheese making on Charisma. You put the yoghurt in the cheese cloth and let it drip overnight. Then salt and seasoning and you're set.

Mixing in the herbs

Done!

A new word in Charisma’s lexicon. Fivesies is the Kiwi word for cocktail hour. You get invited to a Kiwi boat for Fivesies. So there you are, your lesson for the day and our new concept of “Charisma Time”.

Speaking of new concepts for stuff, the new concept for social hour when you’re sailing in the wilderness as we are is the 0800 social hour….on the radio. The shortwave. It’s essential for keeping up with people. We have two nets we are checking in with. The 6212 MZz 0800 social net where a few friends including Bright Angel, Gato Go and Ladybug chimed in this morning for a delightful chat. Then there is the 0830 “official” net called “Drifter’s Net” with a Net Controller where all our friends check in and update their status of where they are, what they are doing etc. It’s a great place to hear about other islands, anchorages, dive spots, hikes, etc, etc. So, while having breakfast and a coffee, we listen to the “net”. Fun and informative and how we keep up with where all our friends are.

Also, today was Sunday. That meant Huevos Boberos day. We haven’t celebrated that particular holiday is a while but discovered that in Fiji there is an Indian product called Roti that is suspiciously similar to flour tortillas. So, add a can of refined beans, marinated serano peppers, topped with sunny side up eggs and some shredded cheese all baked in the oven and…there you have it…Huevos Rancheros a la Fiji! A good start to a cloudy, windy Sunday.

Then, not to be topped, Ann whipped up corn fritters. Why you might ask? Because in opening a can of corn for last night’s dinner, we discovered that we bought a can of creamed corn. No bueno- at least for our intended dining use of corn/black bean salad. But, Ann quickly realized we could use the leftover black beans, serano chiles, and creamed corn combined with pancake mix for-waIt for it-corn fritters. I was slightly horrified even thinking about it, but have to admit that it made a delicious lunch.

So, after all the good food for breakfast and lunch, we went minimalist (more or less) for dinner with Waldorf Salad a la Charisma. That is blue cheese/yoghurt dressing with cabbage/toasted walnuts/carrots and apples. We’re down to our last and most hardy veggies. It was great though.

And, talking about food and invention- Ann has about perfected cheese making. Not quite artisanal, but absolutely delicious! She makes yoghurt, then strains it overnight and in the morning adds spices to the solid whey. Refrigerate and voila, the best cream type cheese you have ever eaten. Several cruiser friends have partaken and loved it. We don’t have the heart to tell them the product is strained through some old (but clean!) panty hose- not having enough cheese cloth on board. That’s on our list for the next shopping expedition in the real world.

In the mean-time, we’re reporting from the wilderness where it’s starting to blow really hard. Gusts into the 30’s but we don’t care, we’re tucked into a nice little sandy cove. No waves, no rocks, just wind.

This guy was just cruising the shallow water-where we were walking!

Our new anchorage on the other side of the lagoon.

“There we were…”(as these stories always go). We were exploring the beach at our new anchorage when there was a section where we had to wade into the water to get around a large rock blocking the beach. There was some eel grass in the water and Ann half jokingly said; “keep a watch for eels”. As I rolled my eyes, threw caution to the wind and took a step, there not two feet away in the water staring at my toes was a deadly coral sea snake. This is a snake with one of the most venomous poisons on earth. One bite and you’re dead in minutes. Uh, oh.

Fortunately the deadly coral sea snake also has one of the smallest mouths of any deadly snake. My toes are big enough that I’m relatively safe from coral sea snake bites unless he were to catch the skin between the toes. Not that I’m testing the theory mind you. I gingerly stepped another foot or two away so as not to disturb him, took a couple pictures and we moved on only to discover just a few feet away the fierce Fijian land crab blocking our way. And so the day went.

We moved our anchorage this morning. The wind came up last night and turned a bit south. The combination made our old anchorage a bit rough with two foot waves setting down from the far end of the lagoon driven by the 15-20 knot wind. So, we moved. About ¼ mile to the south into a pristine little bay with a beach at the south end where we are anchored, that also curves around to our east with a sand spit to the north. We are virtually covered-completely actually when you consider that the only winds we have seen in the last two weeks have been between south and east, northeast. And we’re only about 50 yards off the beach. Even though it’s still windy -although we’re protected a bit more from the palms fringing the shore, there’s no chop at all. We’re very comfortable and it was worth the effort to move. We’re in between 14 and 19 feet of water over sand (depending on the tide) and I have a little over 100 feet of chain out expecting some higher winds that are forecast in the days ahead. We’re tucked in a sweet spot.

Even though we like where we are, the first thing we do after we anchor is create a route on the gps to get from here, out through the bommies and the reef to open sea in the case that everything goes wrong and we need to depart. Since we came in with the gps turned on and the “tracking” function set to take a reading every 10 seconds, we have a pretty accurate track to go out on. All I have to do is put some waypoints on top of the track and name it and we’re ready to depart. With this set up, we can theoretically follow the route we took to get here, back out in the middle-of-night darkness -although I’m not keen to try it. But, that’s just part of sailing in the wilderness. You have to be ready for anything.

So, that’s it. An easy day -well after I finished with my machete, cutting the coconut we collected while on the beach and then cleaning up the mess in the cockpit when I was done. I need a little more practice. I still have ten fingers though and the coconut milk is sooooo good and refreshing after a hike on the beach and fighting off deadly sea snakes. Then to really make a mess you split the coconut in half and scoop out the soft meat inside for a little snack. Ahhhh -I think it’s time for a nap.

(By Ann) The winds stayed away and the sun came out at just the right times today. It was a lovely day in Fulaga.

We had only hoped to get a good paddle in but were gifted with a delightful party hosted by the villagers. But that was after the paddle.

Spear fish, place over fire...

Mouth-watering...

Palm frond floor, lean-to roof...

...and, oh, you weave your own plate.

We took off from Charisma and headed toward the shore that we explored on foot a few days back. We were paddling into the wind, about 8 knots of wind, but very little chop so we plowed through until we were in the protected lee of the land. It was wonderful! We glided in water that was anywhere from 3 feet to one foot below our boards. The color of the water went from varying shades of turquoise to the warm browns of the bommies. The sun was behind us and so everything was lit up perfectly for pictures. And then when we turned around it was downwind on the return trip! So fun! Prior to taking off on the paddle boards we had been invited by the villagers to join them in a good-bye fish roast on the beach. We were not really expecting to go but they even sent a dinghy around to personally invite everyone. We are so glad we went!

The villagers had built a sheltered area with a palm frond roof and floor and invited us to come on in! The men had been spearing fish and diving for crabs while the women caught fish in nets. There was jack trevally, barracuda and some other fish I was unable to identify. The fish smoked on sticks over the open fire. No seasonings, just fish cooked the old-fashioned way. And the crab melted in your mouth!

Of course there were a variety of side dishes too: baked bananas, coconut and the ubiquitous cassava in the case, cooked by simply putting it on the coals of the fire. All simply made with loving hands. And to serve the food the women taught us to weave plates out of a banana palms.

We’re going to stay here another couple days as there is still much to do and explore, but we’ll probably plan to move on sometime next week. In the meantime there are some fairly high winds predicted starting tomorrow or the next day, so tomorrow we’ll move Charisma about 200 meters closer to shore to tuck in out of the wind and waves.

Did someone say party!

Dinghy raft up cocktail party.

Bring your own chair.

Add a little sunset and we're good to go.

So, there are seven of us yachties here in one of the more remote places in the world. What do we do? Dinghy party. How do you do that? Just before sunset, you make your favorite beverage, and a snack, jump in your dinghy and motor up into the shallows and throw out an anchor in about four feet of water over sand. Seven dinghies, 14 people sitting in their dinghies watching the sunset, drinking various boat drinks (in our case, Charismas of course) and telling stories of sailing daring do. Really fun.

Food wise, there was humus, popcorn, fresh baked bread, tahini, nachos. Yum!

We also went snorkeling today. We dinghied around the windward side of the island and inside the reef. It was a bit of an adventure getting there and back, but the snorkeling was fantastic. The water is exceptionally clear. We saw a white tip shark and tons of coral and the associated fish that congregate among the coral reef.

The wind was down today for a change and no squalls, so tonight we have unbelievable stars with no clouds in sight. Tomorrow is supposed to also be light wind before picking up again in a day or so, so we’re planning paddleboard adventure for the day and maybe some more snorkeling.

We’re getting some amazing pictures and can’t wait to post them when we’re back in “internet country”. The blue sky, turquoise water and incredible undersea world are fantastic. We’ll likely be here at least another week just enjoying being in a place this clean, clear and beautiful.

By the way, if you’re reading and enjoying this blog, let us know. It’s good to know whether anyone is following or whether we should just take a break and not post so often 😉

Adios for now.

“That was great! Could be the flavors, but maybe it’s the banjo music”.

Ah, Spam or Taj Mahal. That’s the existential, question for today.

Our anchorage.

Some pretty sweet snorkeling here.

Ann's turning into a fish!

So, we finally got a nice sunny day where we could see the reefs (bommies) under the water and avoid them on our 1.8 mile move over to the other anchorage. We’ve now got a 7:1 scope out in 18 feet of sand. Nice. And the bonus is that this part of the lagoon is completely different from where we’ve been for the last 10 days. We moved 1.8 miles and are in essence in a completely different place. Nice.

Once we got anchored and had some lunch we went out with some of the other folks “over here” to snorkel the pass. Gypsea Heart, Blue Rodeo, Evergreen and Slip Away are over here and it was nice to hook up with them again. Anyway, to “snorkel the pass”, you get your gear in the dinghy and motor about ½ mile around some rocks and outside the reef where you jump in the water just after low slack when the tides coming in. In theory the new tide washes you into the lagoon with clear fresh water. That’s pretty much what happened. We got just outside where the waves were breaking, slid over the side of the dinghy (with it tied to my waist) and then I swam to keep the wind from blowing it to the other side of the pass onto the reef while the tide pushed us in. At a couple points we were moving pretty fast. It was exhilarating. We saw a lot of fish and coral and clear water. Just what we expected. Tomorrow I’m hoping to go further out and jump in where the pelagic fish are. Reports are that the large fish further outside are stunning to see, but we wanted to take it easy the first day here and not get too crazy. One of our friend’s dinghy flipped over onto the reef two days ago-everyone’s OK, but it could have been bad. We want to avoid that kind of problem and be conservative.

So….tomorrow, we’re thinking that we’ll tow the two the paddleboards with the dinghy about 150 meters toward the island into the calmer water and tool around. It’s blowing about 18 knots in the area where we’re anchored which is a bit much for paddleboarding, but in toward the beach looks really nice. We’ll see and report back. There’s also talk about taking the dinghies into the shallow water near the beach for a sunset raft up cocktail party. That would be nice 😉

Hallelujah, the ship came in.

Waiting on the beach while the supplies unload.

The longboats go a mile out past the reef where the ship waits to unload, then they bring the supplies back to the beach to be unloaded.

Eventually everything has to come off the beach and be carried (or wheelbarrowed) into the village. There are no land vehicles on the island.

And the shelves in the island store are now stocked.

Last evening around twilight, a longboat from the village came out to Charisma and essentially begged us to give them some of our extra petrol so they could go across the strait (about 10 miles) to the other island where the supply ship was anchored. Its tender had engine trouble and there was a lot of concern that it would just skip Falunga . Of course we would donate our gas to the cause. We hope to get it back once the ship comes in, but even if we don’t it’s a small price to pay for all the hospitality that the villagers here have shown us this past week or so.

Fortunately the longboat expedition seemed to have worked and the Falungis made an impression because the ship came today. Even though the tender wasn’t working, the Falungis used their longboats to unload cargo and passengers. We were fortunate to have been here to see it as it was fascinating to witness.

We walked into the village about 1000 to pick up a carving that one of the villagers was doing for us. Once near the water near the village we could see the commotion. There were at least 50 people sitting on the beach and in the palms just off the beach, among stacks of their possessions that were leaving with them for the trip to Suva. There were literally stacks of boxes all along the beach. Some had already been delivered via longboat to the beach from the ship and most were yet to be transported along with their occupants to the ship and onward to Suva.

The effort to make all this happen is huge. You have to picture a 150 foot ship sitting ½ a mile offshore outside the reef going up and down in 10 foot waves waiting for the little 18 foot longboats to come alongside to load and unload cargo. They use a crane with a cargo net to drop the supplies (boxes and sacks of commodities-we saw 50KG bags of rice, flour, boxes of canned corned beef, crackers, etc as well as 50 gallon barrels of petrol). The longboats then leave the large ship and have to navigate in toward the reef where they have to time the pass just right as waves are breaking over it. Once inside the pass, they have to go slowly for another 150 meters picking their way over the shallow reef. Once inside, they are then able to motor quickly the last 200 meters into the beach where a dozen folks would swarm the boat and offload the supplies. Everything from commodities to petrol to the new village nurse to grandmothers back from Suva were brought ashore. Some looking happier to be back than others.

Then the “tide” of people and supplies turned the other way and folks from the beach started loading onto the longboats for the harrowing ride out to the supply ship. Ann took one look at it in our binoculars and said: “uh, uh…I wouldn’t go anywhere near that….”. It’s a two day ride into Suva and you pretty much sleep on the deck on your own mat. Not fun.

So, we said our goodbyes to all our new friends from the village and now we’re back on Charisma by ourselves in our little bay in the lagoon. We were hoping to get across to the other side of the larger lagoon where several other “yachties” are anchored (about two miles away) by the pass enjoying the snorkeling and diving in the clear water-but the weather had other ideas. It’s been squally and cloudy all day. Not conducive to moving in a reef strewn environment. You only move the boat around here when it’s sunny and you can see the “bommies” that lurk under the water waiting to tear the bottom of your boat apart. OK, we’ll wait ’til another day in paradise. We feel privileged to have met and spent time with the villagers on this island and hope to connect with them again someday in the future. They are such wonderful, sincere people. While we’ll be here in Falunga at least another week, we’ll be across the island and out of touch with the village. What fun we’ve had, but we’re looking forward to a new kind of fun snorkeling and beachcombing on the other side of the lagoon a couple miles from here.

That’s the word on the “street”. Everyone is speculating on when and if the ship’s coming in.

We hear: “It’s going to be here today”, or “it’s at the other island and will be over here tomorrow”, or “it’s going to drop our freight today, then anchor at the other island and come back tomorrow to pick us up”. So many possibilities. It’s like the Fulanga version of the Lottery. When’s the ship coming?

(“The Ship” by the way is purported to be a tramp steamer type of vessel. Probably about 100 feet, or so, but we haven’t seen it yet. More to come on this aspect of island living)

Well, it turns out that the latest scoop is the ship has some engine trouble and is anchored at the island next door. This turned into a greater crisis later in the day when it seems people here became concerned that the ship would just skip past the island since it’s tender or boat that brings the cargo in through the reef actually has engine trouble. After a week of activity getting ready for the ship and doing stuff like harvesting coconuts, catching and crating pigs, gathering and processing clams by the bushel and much, much more, the thought that the ship would skip past here was unthinkable. It missed last month too, so the Falungis are absolutely out of everything. Gas, propane, commodities. Right now they are surviving on fish, cassava (a root vegetable) and coconuts. Their one store is out of everything except a few batteries, some steel wool and half dozen jars of jam.

So, given that we were paid a visit today by a “longboat” (very similar to the Mexican panga-about 20 feet long, solid fiberglass, open boat with a substantial outboard that can propel it about 20+ knots) from shore. They were desperate. They had no gas, but wanted to get across the strait between Fulanga and the next island to talk with the supply ship. They wanted our gasoline store for our dinghy. We keep about 2 gallons of gas on deck in a jerry can. The folks here never ask for anything, so when they asked we knew they were desperate. So…sure-your can have our gas. We have some in the dinghy so we’re not high and dry, but we’re hoping they succeed in their mission as it would be more convenient to get the fuel back for our further travels. We’ll see tomorrow how it goes.

Other than the drama of the supply ship, today was delightful. We went to church again. On the one hand, being in church seems a lot the same as being in church anywhere. You see the minister in a coat and tie up behind the lectern and take it for granted that you’re, well, in church. Then he comes out from behind the structure and he has a dress (i.e. a sulu) and is barefoot! OK, so we ARE in Fiji. The singing is glorious and the service, while in Fijian, is fun to participate in. And it was communion day. Apparently it goes consecutively through the villages, so once per month “our” village gets communion. And as Ann delighted in seeing-I had my first communion experience. I could hardly decline as the minister was staring directly at me as he was exhorting people to come forward to take bread and wine and all the little children on the three rows in front of us were straining in their seats begging us forward. “OK, I’m going”. It was a first, and fun. The minister, as he passed across each person muttering in Fijian even changed to English for us; “…body of Christ…etc” So today-I feel blessed.

One of the reasons we stayed here and went to church today was one of the couples in town had asked us several times over the last couple days would we please come to their house for lunch after church this week. We could hardly say no. To give you some idea of the sincerity of the offer: they had no food other than the fish they caught yesterday and some cassava root they prepared. They were almost besides themselves, but actually the food they made was delicious. They made a yellow curry with coconut milk that was delicious and the fish and cassava was we all we needed. After they apologized that the only thing they had was fish, we were glad that we elected to bring them a tin of corned beef and some canned tomatoes which were all very well received.

Hopefully the men in the panga made it across the strait and are convincing the ship to come in tomorrow. We so want to see all our friends in the village get back to regular life with some of the basics like rice, flour, petrol, etc.

That’s life in the hinterlands of Fiji. For us it’s an adventure, for all of our friends it daily life.

P.S. Just an extra word about where we are. We are presently in a small lagoon about 200 meters across and maybe 400 long within a much larger lagoon that’s several miles across with numerous ilands dotted throughout. We have only barely begun to explore this area. It’s dark and we’re looking up, more or less to the south, right at the Southern Cross faithfully shinning above. The wind is gusting a bit through here at up to 15 knots, but the water is fairly smooth since about 200 meters upwind of us are five or six little islets that are breaking up any waves. We’re the only boat here. It’s quiet, but for the sound of little wavelets splashing against the dinghy that’s trailing behind Charisma, the gusts of wind in the rigging and the occasional whistle of a bird over toward shore.

It’s not easy to get here, but it’s so worth it.

Paddleboarding in four feet of water over sand.

It feels like floating on air...

So fun working our way through the little motus

Yup, we finally got to deploy the paddleboards. The wind dropped enough that we felt we could go out without struggling too much. Turned out to be fun beyond our expectations. We were cruising along in 12 inches of water right over the sand and coral, then in six feet of water over the turquoise bottom, along little islands. Suddenly a stingray shot out right beneath Ann’s board, then we saw two mantas. Way too much fun. We were out for over two hours. I had to take a nap in the afternoon. I know, tough life.

In the meantime, we now have a local mascot. A sea turtle has set up housekeeping between Charisma and a little reef about 75 meters to starboard. Every day now he pops his head up and takes a few breaths, looks around, then dives back down to do whatever sea turtles do. He’s fun to watch. We have decided we’re not going to tell anyone in the village though since they do catch and eat sea turtles even though they are supposedly protected.

The last couple days we have tried to take a walk along the long beach that connects the two villages. It’s a beautiful white sand beach with a turquoise lagoon that goes out 200 meters to the reef where the ocean waves crash and expend their energy from their thousands of miles long voyage. Well, what should be a relaxing stroll looking for seashells always turns into an exhausting, but ultimately fulfilling trek. One minute we’re walking along, then we hear; “Ann, Ann!!”. We’re found out. The village kids have seen us and a dozen or more are running over to join us on our walk. They particularly like Ann, although there are always a couple who HAVE to hold each of my hands as well (sound of grumpy man…hruph, hrruph!). Then you play 1000 questions. How old are you, where do you come from, how many children do you have, what are their names and on and on!!!!!?????? It’s at the point, where most of the kids can answer the questions themselves and often do! OK, it’s actually quite endearing, but it IS exhausting and from this I also have to take a nap we’re back on the boat.

Naps are very important out here.

Tomorrow we’re attending Church again. One of the families here has been asking us for days now if we would please come to their house for lunch after church. That’s part of the reason we have stayed in this spot for a full week was so we could have lunch at their house tomorrow. Also, one of the villagers is supposedly making a wood carving for us and it will (hopefully) be done tomorrow. If not, we’ll have to come back here later. We’re looking forward to lunch but also to moving across the lagoon to the other side by the pass where the snorkeling is reported to be quite good. There are five or six boats over there and it will be nice meeting up with them after having enjoyed the solitude of this anchorage for the past few days.

So, that’s our report on this July 6 from Fiji.