Warm Rain Ship's Log

A Kiwi Campfire

On Saturday night we joined Kiwi's Jeff & Joan and Dan & Chris from the boat Aurora Lights for a campfire/BBQ on the beach. The fire was supposed to be started by Sammy, a local guy that lives on the island, but he was late arriving, so we scrounged around the beach and adjacent bush looking for anything flammable. We actually did a good job getting the fire lit and had dinner cooking on the BBQ in no time. Sammy showed up about an hour later and joined us for dinner and a chat.

It was interesting talking with Sammy - he's in his 20's with a beautiful wife and 3-month old baby. They live with his family (mom, dad, aunts/uncles/cousins) here on Nanuya Levu island in a house with generator-provided electricity. He has a computer that he can only use when the generator is working (it's currently not working) and, like most Fijians, he carries a cell phone. Apparently the cell phone coverage is good here on the island which is a plus since they have no landline phone. So, they're part-way into the technology age. On the other hand they are a very traditional people, holding to traditions hundreds of years old. He told us that the children go to school on the island across the bay beginning at 6 years old. The kids leave for school on Monday morning and stay in dorms for the entire week, returning home for weekends only. And they start that at age 6! I can't imagine sending a child away from home at age 6 but he said that they quickly grow up and learn to take care of themselves. Of course they're supervised in school, but that seems awfully young to me!

We had a great time with Sammy and our new Kiwi friends Jeff, Joan, Dan & Chris. We hope to visit Jeff & Joan when we're back in New Zealand this coming season.

Getting into Mischief

While anchored here at Blue Lagoon we met Darren and Melinda on the boat, Mischief. Darren is a naturopath doctor and his wonderful reputation preceded him. He had done acupuncture treatments on friends of ours who said that after the treatments they felt great. Our friends had also told Darren about Tom and his arthritic back pain, so when we introduced ourselves he knew who we were as well.

Yesterday Darren worked on Tom, giving him RIFE treatments (a small machine that's hooked up to your fingers that sends shockwaves into the body to kill bacteria, the cause of arthritis) and 1 1/2 hours of acupuncture. In the meantime, Melinda gave me nutritional information to help treat the pain. Tom said that while Darren was giving him acupuncture he was heating up mugwort on various points of Tom's body and at one point it looked like several small campfires were alight on his chest. I wish I had seen that! Anyway, Tom came away feeling a bit fragile after the intensive treatment, but said that the back pain has lessened. Darren is going to give him another acupuncture treatment later this week.

Darren has been treating the people here in the local villages with great success and is in high demand. The village chiefs are vying for his time and tonight one of the chiefs is holding a feast in Darren's honor. We're kidding him that the chief is going to kidnap him to keep him on the island.

Darren and Melinda came over for happy hour in the evening and we had a wonderful time just chilling in the cockpit, telling stories and getting to know each other better.

Circumnavigation! (of Nanuya Levu)

Yesterday (Tuesday) we decided to walk around the island of Nanuya Levu at low tide with Jan & Dave (s/v Baraka). We were, in fact, only going to go halfway around. The walk on the beach was beautiful and it was windy so it wasn't too hot. We got 1/4 of the way around the island and came to a cut between Nanuya Levu and Turtle Island. Turtle Island is an exclusive resort and non-guests of the resort are efficiently chased away by security guards. Across the small stream of water that separated the two islands at low tide there were people playing volleyball on the beach and they had tables, chairs and umbrellas set up for lunch. We tried to be as inconspicuous as possible and started up the stream towards land on Nanuya Levu. The first few steps were in very mucky mud - so much so that my Keen sandal stuck in the mud when I tried to walk. I fished around in the muck and found it then we found better footing and headed around the island - with no trouble from the Turtle Island police - whew.

We came around the corner onto a beautiful beach and saw buildings in the distance. We were told that there were other backpacker-type resorts on the island. Tom was in the lead and spoke to a woman on the beach and she led us up the hill to Lo's Tea House - a small "restaurant" in the middle of nowhere! Lo was in the kitchen taking a chocolate cake out of the oven - how fortuitous our timing! So, we had no choice but to force ourselves to stay for warm chocolate cake and tea. I also bought some of Lo's jewelry and Jan bought a beautiful Nautilus shell.

We decided to continue on around the entire island instead of cutting across the middle. We ended our circumnavigation at the Nanuya Resort bar and celebrated with beers and munchies. Tough life, eh?

Fijian Feast

Last night we went ashore to attend a lovo lovo feast with 3 other boats. The food is wrapped in leaves and cooked covered with rocks and sand in a buried pit in the ground. The meal consisted of a huge red snapper served with a beautiful coconut sauce, a whole chicken, cassava, spinach, eggplant, and pawpaw (papaya). What a treat! One of these days when we're back in the land of internet connections we'll post some pictures.

Blue Lagoon

We had a great sail north to Blue Lagoon on Saturday. After we got anchored (in 70 feet of water!) we went ashore and met the family that lives here (on Nanuya Levu island). Va is the matriarch and we took her some canned meat and fresh fruit to pay our respects. Her house is situated next to a dive shop then there is a beautiful resort (Nanuya Island Resort) on the point. We went there for a drink and made dinner reservations for Sunday evening.

I spent Sunday in the galley, baking bread and lemon bars, then we swam around the boat in the afternoon to cool off. We went ashore in the evening and had a fabulous dinner at the resort. It was quite pricey but worth it.

Tonight Va's family will fix a lovo lovo feast - cooked in the ground - for $15 Fijian (about $8 US) and we'll attend with friends. We'll stay here at Blue Lagoon for a few more days and enjoy the calm, quiet beauty.