We are back on the mainland after sailing the islands for the last 3 weeks. We set sail again today, headed for the northern island of Fiji, Vanua Levu.

The last few weeks have been filled with more fun and adventure. We met up with friends from Australia, Terry and Christine on s/v Sedna. We first met them when our boats were tied together going through the Panama Canal last year. We sailed together for almost a week this time. We spent a few days at an uninhabited island, Navadra. This was a beautiful island that has nothing but cliffs, seashells and wild goats. Other friends of ours told us about this island as they found it a few weeks ago and actually killed a wild goat, caught a shark and had a big feast. We were invited to the party but as adventurous as we may be, no thanks on the wild goat meat!

We moved onto some other islands and the four of us made SevuSevu together at Nalauwaki Village. This is the customary presentation of the Kava Root to the village chief in order to ask permission to anchor and fish in their waters as well as being allowed on the island. We were granted permission to use the island as well as being given permission for “us women” to use the river to do the laundry. As I’ve mentioned, they are way behind the times in many ways. We’ve made many friends in the village now and Mike even found his own local fishing guide, Tom. Tom likes the ‘big boat’ so here showed Mike where to catch the fish, as long as we let him on the boat to show us where to go.

We were invited to a big party on Waya Island where the resort there had the most famous Fijian band playing. We were told that this band was the equivalent to Lady Ga Ga in the U.S. Mike’s reaction was, “who is Lady Ga Ga?” When I translated that to mean Bruce Springsteen, he understood. The entire village was also invited to this party and we had soooo much fun. That night, after much wine had been consumed, Mike invited half the village and half the resort to our boat the next day for a July 4th celebration…..what a wake up call that was the next day. We managed to tone things down and luckily most folks were as hungover the next day as we were so the July 4th party was a simple BBQ for 5! One local villager, Joe came and he played the guitar and sang for us…fabulous.

The next day or so we were off to discover Mantaray Channel where you can snorkel with the rays at certain times of the year. We are lucky that time is now. We also bought some lobsters from the locals. 4 lobsters for $30FJD, that is only $15 USD!!! Yummy, we will be going back there for sure!

They say it is a small world but get this…..we met up with some friends, Amy and Scott who are at a resort in Fiji on their honeymoon. That is a small world! Unfortunately, our visit was cut a little short due to a storm that rolled in that night and we had to take shelter in a nearby bay. The season in Fiji now is Winter. The days are hot but the nights are actually quite cool. The Fijians think it is cold…..they would never last a winter in the U.S. That is it for now. Stay tuned for tales from our next visitors, Jenn and Kyle who arrive Friday and will meet us in Venua Levu. Life is Good……..