We spent the early part of last week doing a little school work, boat work, bonfires on the beach, kayaking, snorkeling and spear fishing. The kids didn't camp on the beach anymore, we thought they were getting too tired to function normally. Liz lead the ladies in some relaxing yoga on the beach in the morning. It really was perfect living.
Wednesday the wind started to pick up. Late afternoon we decided to move to a more protected anchorage. As we moved from the sand spit to our new anchorage it was blowing 35 knots. The steerage was hugely affected by that much breeze. Gary was on the bow looking for coral heads and I was steering. I could see dark spots in the water and he told me he didn't see them. That was when I said we had to stop, I didn't want to go any further if he couldn't see all the coral heads. So we anchored behind a small island. Later he told me he saw the dark spots, but they were deep enough so he didn't bother acknowledging my concerns. It is times like these that our communication seems to be the worst, and unfortunately it is those times when it is most critical for the safety of the boat. I know he won't change, but it gets quite frustrating.
After a restless night in the windy anchorage, we moved to the anchorage near the village. It was blowing 25-30 knots as we traveled, but only 15-20 in the new anchorage. We managed to just squeeze in to the anchorage, as there were already 8 boats there.
That same day we had been invited to the village to play volley ball and for a music competition. We arrived around 2 pm and the volley ball was already underway. We participated in that, then waited a little for church to start. It seems that almost any village activity is preceded by a church service. The choir was all dressed in white smocks and sang many songs during the service, so we thought that might be the competition. No, we hadn't heard the competition yet, and it was to follow a community moral session (we were told that they talked about not living with your parents once you were married). At this point some of the other cruisers left, so they would arrive back at their boats right as it was getting dark. We stayed as our hostess was in the singing competition. The singing was incredible and Ma's group won the competition.
It got a little cool at nightfall and we hadn't prepared to be out for so long, so without asking, Sala brought warm clothing for the kids and me. The Fijians are so nice. After over 2 hours in church, Axel was done with sitting still and behaving for so long. The kids were tired, cold and hungry, and so was I, but the next activity was a kava drinking session. First they grind the kava, then the kava roots are wrapped in a clothe and soaked in water, then wrung out to get the flavor. Everyone sits around the kava bowl, drinks kava, talks, sings and dances and this goes on into the wee hours of the night. So the kids and I headed back to the boat, and Gary stayed for the long kava session. When we got back to the beach our dinghy was the farthest out. Gary had assured us we would only by staying for 2 hours, so not to worry about the rising tide. That meant I got to go for a night swim to retrieve the boat. So after a windy, wet dinghy ride, we were actually cold when we arrived back at Nirvana.
After many days and nights of strong winds, the wind finally lightened a little, so we decided to leave Fulaga. Sunday morning when we left Fulaga at high tide, hoping to leave during slack tide, unfortunately the tide had started to change so we experienced some standing waves at the entrance of the pass, but otherwise an uneventful trip out of the lagoon. We sailed slowly through the night with just a triple reefed main, so as to arrive at Matuka around day break.
The pass at Matuka is deep and reasonably wide, although the anchorage has a reef that extends across about half of the area. The bay is surrounded by forest covered volcanic mountains, reminding us of the scenery from the Marquesas. It is extremely picturesque, and we are hoping to go for many hikes up the mountains while here.
As we entered the bay, a small boat greeted us and escorted us into the anchorage. Three of the kid boats joined us, so we managed to fill up the tiny anchorage. A little while later, the chief came out to greet us and to ask for fiberglass to fix his boat. Gary got him set up and said he would help him fix the boat if we are still here on Saturday.
Exodus caught 2 tuna on the passage, so they had everyone over for sushi that night. It was so yummy. I brought a lot of the sushi making ingredients and did half of the rolling. Katrien brought pumpkin soup, and Liz brought cinnamon rolls, and the most popular food of the party, a watermelon.
We just did our official Sevusevu with the chief, although Gary felt like we had already given him a great present, the fiberglass and resin. This was a different sevusevu than in the other villages, here they immediately grind up the kava and drink it with you. They offered kava to everyone, including the children. Both kids tried it, Gigi wasn't thrilled with the flavor, but neither made any funny face. We are slowly making progress on trying new things and pretending you like it even if you don't. The ladies also served everyone a bunch of fruits we had never seen. Our favorite was the "wee" fruit, it tasted a bit like apple.
It is raining right now, so we are having a quiet afternoon. There is no internet or cell phone service on this island, so I am still limited on what I can send out. I will upload photos when we get to Suva.
Cheers,
Julie
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