Fiji Week 9

Sunday July 4, 🇺🇸 Andy (from the UK) on Venture Lady said it best this morning on the “net”, “Happy 4th of July, the original Brexit”.

*Sourdough Notes*

Baked a Belle, I was a bit concerned as the Levain took 24 hours to rise, normally it’s 6-12 hours, and the consistency was different than usual. I’m guessing it’s all temperature related. My starter came from Hawaii, it was very active there and in French Polynesia. The temperature here in Fiji is a good 20 degrees cooler, although it is winter here. In the end the bread turned out great!

The afternoon was spent on another dinghy ride around the lagoon looking at the rocks. We arrived back at the boat just as a downpour of rain came bringing with it 25knots of wind which continued all evening and into the night.

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For dinner I made chicken with sun dried tomatoes over Orzo. It tasted a lot better than it looks!

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Monday July 5, we all went on a hike guided by Soki, along with our Rendezvous group. He took us to the highest hill on Fulanga, the view from up there is spectacular!

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Afterwards he and his family provided a lite lunch.

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5 boats, s/v Hoodoo, s/v Rondo, s/v Barracuda, s/v Estran and us. met on the beach near the sandbar had an enjoyable mesmerizing sunset bonfire.

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Tuesday July 6, Happy Birthday to me! It was a quiet day, followed by cards on s/v Barracuda. Kate and Graham along with Alison and Andy.

Wednesday July 7, at 1 pm s/v Barracuda, s/v Venture Lady, s/v Estran, s/v Windflower, s/v Quokka2 and us, all met at the landing to have a feast with the villagers. Because of COVID restrictions, they did not want us to go to their village so this was held at a neutral location. It was a pot luck meal with the villagers supplying a pig that was cooked in the ground. After lunch music was played and songs were sung a little bit of dancing too.

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A few of the older women in the village asked if any of us women had spare reading glasses and possibly perfume and shampoo. (Not sure why I even had a bottle of perfume on the boat, haven’t used it over a year, I’m sure it will be well liked.) In exchange we were given hand woven items such as bags or rugs. I chose the small bag.

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Thursday July 8, *Sourdough Notes* baked a Belle loaf this morning. I kept my starter out of the fridge since Sunday, fed it every day. It seems much happier now. It was being fed once every 5 days stored in the fridge.

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Departed Fulanga by 12 pm heading for Ogea, about a 2 hour sail. We are anchored in a protected cove in 9 feet of water. 6 boats traveled here, s/v Windflower, s/v Venture Lady, s/v Barracuda, s/v Indigo, s/v Enola and us, others to follow soon. Sundowners on s/v Enola.

Friday July 9, we took a dinghy ride around the lagoon at low tide, flew the drone from one of the beaches.

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Saturday July 10, All land in Fiji belongs to individuals, little is owned by government. When arriving at a remote island in Fiji, it’s customary to visit the Village Chief for a ceremony, and present gifts of kava root and other useful items (rice, bottles, gasoline, sometimes money, etc.) for the villagers. During the ceremony the Chief will grant permission to remain and explore the village’s portion of the island. This now makes you an accepted village member. This process is known as Sevusevu. It’s asking permission to be there on their land and water. In other words, you wouldn’t “camp” in your neighbors yard without permission. In normal times, prepared kava or grog would be shared with all to drink using a communal half coconut shell. Kava or grog is a mild narcotic drink. Typically a male thing, kava is consumed at the end of a work day, men would gather sitting cross-legged and drink grog. However because of COVID, villagers are asked not to share the beverage.

We walked a bit over 2 miles one way through a narrow path in the woods to the village. We met Chief Sili and presented him with 5 kava roots, one from each boat. Additionally we gave him empty glass bottles with lids, the villages uses them to store coconut oil and a kilo of rice.

The village had several brightly colored homes as well as a lime green school house. We saw several children about playing, the village store and men carving kava bowls.

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