We are now at Fulaga. Last stop before heading to Vuda Point. We got here on Tuesday afternoon. Upwind motorsail from Namuka, but not too bad. The pass into the lagoon here is narrow and shallow at the lagoon side. The light wasn't great, but we made it, and I only have a few new gray hairs to show for it.
Wednesday, we walked into the village for our sevusevu. It was about a 45 minute hike thru the bush. There is of course an easier walk from a different anchorage. But the walking is good for us. We have a host family. Ma, Teddy and their 6 year old son Joshua. They are the same family that hosted Doug and Carla on Moondance, whom they remembered with big smiles. Dan our teenaged guide showed us first to the wood carver - Dennis bought a really pretty bowl. After that we went to see Ma. She served us Tea, yams and pancake like things. Her grandma, auntie and another lady were there weaving a huge mat for her house. Eventually her husband (Teddy) came by and we were shown their house. Its a nice village, pretty simple, they have solar and I think the school might have internet. Dennis had a look at their inverter - needs a fuse that we might have. Unfortunately their TV is broken and not something we can fix or replace. They told us that since they are our host family, that we should come to them if there is anything we need or want to do - they offered fishing, clamming and of course church and food on Sunday. We will do the Church thing. Carla told me Ma loves chocolate, so I will bring in a wacky cake. After all that, we walked over to the close anchorage to check it out, then back to our boat. We dinghied around a little first to get a feel for the place. It really is cool. The lagoon is huge, mostly sandy bottom with the requisite bommies scattered throughout. It was cloudy and rainy , so I didn't take very many pictures.
Thursday was a spectacular, picture postcard perfect day. We gathered our gear and toured the whole lagoon. At some point I will post pictures, because even those won't be able to show just how amazing this place is. Lots of white sandy beaches interspersed with islets that look like sculptures that have been haphazardly placed. We explored like crazy, were able to go out a pass into the lagoon on the east side of the island, stopped on a beach where we say a white eel. We drove the dinghy out the main pass thinking we might snorkel, but way too much current. There is a cool beach with a lagoon to the outer reef just west of the pass also right out of a post card. We ended the day on a small beach close to the boat, just hanging out with a bottle of wine and snacks. I can see why people suffer the 2 day bash to get here from Suva. Its pretty idyllic.
Yesterday was a pretty quiet day. The forcasted winds came, so we moved the boat to the anchorage with the easy walk to the village and yeah.... that was it.
Today is forecasted to be windy again. There is a picnic planned with all the boats and villagers. I imagine it will go ahead unless its pouring down rain. I am going to make a peach crumble. We are down to our last 6 eggs, so am having to plan what I bake around them. No eggs or butter to be had here - sadly.
So we figure we will be here till a good weather window next week then head off to Vuda Point on Viti Levu. That will be a 2-3 day trip, depending on whether or not we go straight thru or break it up. It is an overnighter (90 miles) to the next closet Island and at least that again to Vuda, but we'll see. We are trying to eat thru the freezer as we will have to turn it off when we haul out. It is hard to believe that we only have 4 weeks left before we head back to NZ. I am torn, as Fiji is pretty amazing, on the other hand a grocery store sounds pretty good too. hahaha
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