Passage progress

It's 4 pm on Wednesday and we have 165 nm to go to Vanuatu.   Expect arrival around noon on Thursday.   Passage has been good with sunny sky and mild to moderate wind and seas, mostly on the beam.   12kt – 16kt wind and 4' – 6'  seas.

 

All systems are running well – batteries are perfect.   Oso seems to love a good run.

 

Cocktail hour is approaching .......

 

Eric

Moce Fiji

Good-by Fiji

 

It is 5 pm on Tuesday and we are approximately 100 nm west of Fiji, in route to the southern most island of Vanuatu, Anatom.    We left an anchorage in Fiji at 6 am.     Like Mexico, Fiji had almost become a second home to us in our nearly 6 months there.   Over two months last fall and 4 months this season and we had become comfortable and welcomed by the friendly people, beautiful countryside, wonderful anchorages, and fascinating remote villages.

 

We have not been at sea since last May when we came up from New Zealand.  Luckily, it has been a beautiful calm day with gentle seas as we again head west toward different islands, different countries, and new experiences.   We expect to complete the 450 nm crossing in 2 1/2 days, arriving in Vanuatu Thursday afternoon.    Friends have told us that going to the outer islands of Vanuatu is like going back 50 – 100 yrs.   But, not to worry, the last confirmed incident of cannibalism was in 1968.

 

Eric

Size Matters!

There are times at sea when there is no such thing as a big enough boat.  However, most of the time, Oso Blanco is the perfect size boat for us and is wonderfully safe and comfortable.

 

In our travels we get to see many different types and sizes of boats and yachts.   Occasionally, we get to know the owners (or the crew of the big boats), but rarely are we up close or able to tour the large boats.   The last few weeks here in Fiji we have been docked next to 'Georgia', one of the largest sloops in the world at 160 feet!.   There are usually 4-5 other big boats here on our dock, and as our Ambassador, Bear wastes little time in getting to know the crew of the superyachts.   This morning, he arranged a full tour of Georgia and she is beautiful.

 

The photo shows us docked next to "Georgia" and accurately shows our relative size.   You can see some photos of "Georgia" if you google 'sailing yacht Georgia'.

 

E

 

 

 

Progress in Paradise

Q: How long does it take to get an overnight air freight shipment to Fiji?

A: 10 days.

 

On Monday our long awaited shipment of new batteries arrived at the marina.   It has been 10 days since we paid for the 12 large batteries and air freight to get them here promptly.   Our saga began 3 weeks ago when our 'house bank' went belly up.   These are the batteries we use to power all of our systems and appliances when we are away from a dock or marina.   Since then, we have gotten by by running our generator 24/7.

 

I solicited the help of 2 strong backed Fijian rugby players to haul out the old batteries and position the new ones so I was able to do all the securing and wiring.  The process took us over 7 hrs and  when I finally flipped the switches there was great relief.   Each battery weighs over 160 lbs. so there was no way we were going to do this ourselves with my old back.

 

We are continuing to run tests on the charging and electrical systems and all looks good so far.   It's time to start looking ahead for a good weather window for our 600 nm passage to Vanuatu.   Early next week looks good so far.

 

E

World Class Rugby at Third World Prices

 

Our gang in the stands

Having been brought up watching NFL football every Sunday in the fall, I love watching the game and I am an avid Packer fan. In the South Pacific, the closest thing to American football is Rugby, and I do mean that with a capital "R". Here in Fiji, Rugby is revered. The players are gods and all the Fijians follow their team: the Flying Fijians. So when the Togans came to play Fiji in Lautoka in a three game tournament, we jumped at the chance to attend a game and learned what all the fuss is about. An NFL game this was not!

Some of the crew of the superyachts in our marina organized the trip to Lautoka (a 45 minute drive from the marina in Denarau). Thirteen of us, including a few Fijian guys who are working on the yachts, piled into a comfortable van for the bumpy trip at $2 per head. We arrived a couple of hours before the 4:30 game as we were anticipating long lines and crowds. We need not have worried.

Tonga in red; Fiji in white

Walking into Churchill Park in Lautoka, you feel like you’re entering an American high school stadium in a metropolitan city. Bench seats line the length sides while hillside seating provides cheap seats in the end zones. Having purchased our $10 ($6USD) tickets at the door, we sat in the covered seats at the “fifty yard line” (which doesn’t exist in rubgy but think of the equivalent in NFL).  Our gang filed in an hour before the game and established ourselves behind the TV cameras (yes, this is a televised event). The stands gradually filled in until it was at capacity with people crowding the stairs as well as the seats. However, the benches opposite from us were only a quarter full and the hillside had just a smattering of families where young boys played their own rugby game with a plastic Coke bottle. For all the Rugby fans in Fiji, many still cannot afford to attend games or are at work on a Friday afternoon.

Fiji's number one fan

An older Fijian woman waving a large Fijian flag sat just behind us, yelling her support and cracking up the crowd with her comments. “Wack ‘em! Wack ‘em!” was one of her chants. Most of her remarks were in Fijian so we unfortunately could not understand but we were humored by her animation nonetheless. We learned she’s an icon in Fijian Rugby. She is a long-time fan of the Flying Fijians, never misses a game and the team pays for her tickets. She’s the mom (grandma) that cheers on her boys no matter what the team status, what we would call a die-hard fan.

Fiji Warrior Dance

From the start, you could see the unity of the team as they ran through plays, practiced kicks and ran sprints. As they left the field after energetic pre-game warm-ups, each man had a hand on the shoulder of the player in front of him. During the singing of both national anthems, the teams both stood with arms around each other’s shoulders. And then a real show of strength, unity and intimidation. The Fijian team formed a semi-circle facing the Tongan team and performed a warrior dance. The crowd roared as the players chanted in guttural Fijian and moved in unison with threatening fist punching, stamping and slaps. The Tongan team responded to the challenge with its own dance and then the crowd really went wild. You could feel the energy radiating from the field and it sucked you into the game from the get-go. The sense of team carried into the game. There were no showboats or stars – they were the epitome of team play.

What I really liked about Fijian Rugby is that it's all about the game. There are no souvenir stands, no cheerleaders, no TV time outs. The stands were quiet as all eyes followed every move on the field. I could hear the grunts and chatter of the players fifty yards away. I was entranced by the play because it never stopped. For two forty minutes halves, the players grind it out, non-stop. As I learned the game from a Fijian fellow sitting next to me, the game became more intriguing to watch. I felt myself become emotionally involved with the team as the play got more intense and I felt as if I was cheering on the Packers at home! So I was disappointed when Fiji lost the game (32-20). But they won the three game series because the team with the most total points of three games is the overall winner.  

Tongans fans or Wisconsin Badger fans?

If you include the chicken roti and beer, roundtrip transportation and center field game tickets, the total cost for the three of us to attend this event was around $40 USD. Compare that to a Viking-Packer game at the Metrodome. Talk about value for your entertainment dollar! 

Posted by Ann

More from Nagara Village

Sewa with the kids

As I said, we spent several days with the people of Nagara Village. One of the village men, Sewa, was a dive master at a nearby resort who had some time off and offered to guide our dive trips. Along with a couple from another boat ( s/v Jackster), we dove three days with Sewa on some incredible rock formations which included caves and swim-through caverns. Truly remarkable feature diving in clear water. Some sharks, pretty soft corals, although not many fish.

Bear and I also visited the school one afternoon and had a ball. There were only twenty-five kids in the entire school and three teachers. They had gathered all the kids together for a presentation by another boating couple who talked about Canada. Bear and I were late and caught the tail end of their power point presentation on their laptop which left all the kids staring at the ceiling. We politely waited until they were finished then Bear and I took over. We had brought a blow up, beach ball that is a globe and played a game with the kids. We’d say a country, toss the ball to one of the kids and they would have to locate the country on the globe. When they found it, we gave them a lollypop. The kids loved it. We ended up teaching them the Continent’s song – the one Bear learned in preschool and I know they learned something and had fun. It was great. That was when they taught Bear the moves of a meke dance.

Bear with arm around Dan

Bear bonded with the kids from the village like no other – especially with a ten year old boy named Dan. School let out just a few minutes after we left the classroom and a bunch of kids caught up with us to play with Bear. They tossed the ball around and played tag while I talked with Noami, a friend I’d made at the dances. Noami was about my size so I gave her a bag of my clothes. She was thrilled. I had also brought in a bag of shoes that was much appreciated. We all walked to the beach together and I invited Noami out to the boat. Soon, all the kids were invited and Bear was the bus driver. Load after load came out and soon we had 22 kids aboard! We gave tours, made popcorn and put on a movie about Fiji and their coral reefs. I also made the mistake of giving them Gatorade to drink and a whole glass was spilled on our new white carpet – a unwanted souvenir that will remain with us forever I’m afraid. Bear gave Dan a pair of sandals he’d outgrown and I gave the little girls each two pair of new underpants that I had stocked up on in New Zealand. What a treasure those were! It felt so good to give to these people who were so welcoming to us and unexpecting of things.

Bear the taxi man

On Saturday, with no school, Bear drove himself ashore and played all day with the kids. They played games that neighborhood kids at home would play – hide-n-seek, tag, capture the flag, hot potato... it was so good for Bear and the kids loved playing with him. He was the star, which he also enjoyed. But mostly he liked running around and having the freedom to just be a kid.

Problems in Paradise

One of the most frequent questions we get asked is "how is the boat running?"   Our standard reply has usually been "There are little problems, but nothing to get in the way of having a good time."

 

That has all changed over the last two weeks.  Yes, we are still in a paradise known as Fiji, and yes, we are healthy.    However, the old adage that 'cruising is working on boats in exotic locations' has come to haunt us.

 

Oso Blanco has most of the comforts of a wonderful home, but our maintenance  is more like that of a city.   We have the normal household problems, but, we also have an electrical plant, a sewage plant, and a water making plant.   Our electrical system is called upon to support a wide range of gadgets, gizmos, and cool things ranging from household appliances in the kitchen to amazing magic boxes in our navigation system.   To run all this stuff, we have an integrated assortment of generators, alternators, batteries, chargers, and inverters that can supply 12v and 24v DC power as well as 120v and 240v AC.     When all is normal, we can even run our Sub Zero refrigerator, dishwasher, or laundry on batteries.

 

About two weeks ago, for some still unknown reason, our primary batteries began to fail.   This is not a simple case of not lasting as long as they used to.   They have completely refused to be charged.   When your flashlight takes a dump you have a couple choices.   For most folks, you stick in 2 new ones and carry on.   Some of the rest of us refuse to believe that the rusted old batteries are actually dead and take them out, sand off the rust, shake the light a few times and expect it to work a while longer.

 

Our boat batteries are not made for shaking.   To start with, there are 12 batteries arranged into 3 groups of 4.   They are then bolted down in inhospitable places where they can barely be seen, yet worked on.   And then there is the problem that EACH battery weighs 160 pounds!

 

We have spent 10 days trying to figure out what has gone wrong and how to work around it.   For the short run, we are OK and have gotten along by running our generator full time.    We are able to keep the beer cold, flush the heads, and keep most systems running, but we are reluctant to get far from town and access to internet, phones, and other support services.    We have found out that there are no comparable batteries in Fiji.   We have contacted battery dealers in New Zealand, Australia, and the U.S.   We now know that it will be nearly a month to get batteries here on a ship.    Our current quotes for shipping 2000 lbs. of batteries via air freight indicate that the batteries must be flying first class.  I never get to fly first class.

 

Our plan has been to leave Fiji next week and move on to Vanuatu and then New Caledonia, where EB and Brian are to meet us in early October.   We will certainly make it to New Cal by then, but Vanuatu looks like it will be cut short.  

 

2000 lbs of batteries to Fiji from the U.S. via first class air.    I wonder what the meal service will be.

 

E
 

Night Two in Nagara Village

We were invited to come in at 7pm to a area south of the village and meet on the beach. From there we were escorted uphill to a place they called Bar 66. It was a unsuccessful attempt at a resort a few years back which is now inhabited by some of the bachelors of the village. Not surprisingly, it is also party headquarters for Nagara village.

Bar 66 is a simple structure with a tin roof and palm thatched walls. Palm leaf mats cover the floor and lights powered by a generator illuminate the 12 by 20 foot area. A kava bowl sits in the middle of the room and the Fijians have all gathered on one side, leaving space for the sixteen of us at the other. We are told that when the music starts, it is appropriate for any male to ask a female to dance and any female to ask a male. The action begins quickly and soon we’re all dancing.

Ann dances Fijian style

Traditional male-female dancing in Fiji is done side-by-side, not face-to-face. This may have been a conservative practice imposed by the missionaries who christianized the native people in the 1800’s because when you compare it to the raucous meke dancing and the provacative fire dancing, it seems out of character. Although as the evening progressed and we all became more comfortable, more western style dancing took place – including the conga line at the end of the night led by our dear friend, Dave, from s/v Jackster. Our friend, Jo, was the bell of the ball when they learned she was unattached. She was invited into the band’s circle, asked to serve kava to the men and had enthusiastic dances with every bachelor of the village to the hoots and hollers of the others. Even the Fijian woman thought it was hilarious to watch the flirtatious antics of the young men. We danced well into the night and dinghied home in the rain after midnight.

Nagara Village

Bear with Sewa and friends

For the last few days we’ve been anchored off Ono Island in view of the village of Nagara (pronounced nan-gara). Here we have met the loveliest, most welcome people since coming to Fiji, which is why we’ve lingered here so long. From the moment we pulled our dinghy ashore and were greeted with smiling faces, we knew this was a special place.

 

As is the custom, all visitors to a Fijian island must pay proper respect to the local villagers before exploring their land or waters. In a ceremony called sevusevu, visitors bring a gift of kava, a native root that is ground to a pulp then made into a tea, to the village chief. He blesses the gift and the visitors are then welcome as family members. We are now invited to explore the village, hike, fish, swim and dive with the encouragement of all the villagers.

 

We’ve performed this ritual over a half a dozen times now, with varying levels of response. In the Mamanucas where there are many resorts that organize village visits, the Fijian people are very accustomed to white people gawking at them and many seem bored with the process. Even in the Yasawas, we were not a novelty. But down here, in the southern end of Viti Levu in the islands near the Austrolabe Reef, tourism exists on a much smaller scale, and cruising yachts are more rare. In fact, in Nagara there were no visiting yachts for the past two years. So when we arrived along with five other sailboats and filled up their bay, excitement filled the air!

 

Fiji men perform the meke

Our first evening in Nagara we were invited to a meke in the village. We are not quite sure of the translation of meke, but it involves traditional dancing. Kids in schools have performed mekes for us and that evening six young men of the village performed for us. Essentially, it is an interpretative dance performed sitting on the floor dressed in native costumes made from local foliage and pounding the rhythm on the ground with their hands. In the school the following day, the boys brought Bear into the meke line and taught him the moves. He was told that pounding on the floor means falling and upturned hands means catching. An arm in the air was a sword and other warrior moves involved slashing arms and chop-saw strokes. The dances are very entertaining and the accompanying music is upbeat and provocative. The entire room sways and claps to the beat as all are entranced by the dance moves.

Sitting around the kava bowl

 

Prior to and following the meke is the traditional drinking of kava. Once solely a male ritual, women now participate as well. Kava is a mild drug, similar to marijuana, that is legally grown in many South Pacific islands and is used for recreational purposes. The root of the kava plant is pounded into a powder which is mixed with water and strained through a cloth to produce a tea-like mixture. It is served in a wooden bowl on the floor surrounded by the men who are preparing the mixture . During the evening the men takes turns pounding the root, ringing it through the cloth bag, and serving the grog (another name for kava). The affects of kava vary. The initial reaction is a numbness of tongue and lips. Beyond that, it is a matter of tolerance, quantity and strength of the root. At best, you become very mellow. At its worse, your body becomes numb as if you are drunk.

Along with kava during the meke, the women served us tea and sweets. The tea was very simple – hot water with a leaf from a lime tree. It was surprisingly flavorful and good. The sweets were unique and tasty, although not as sweet as an American dessert would be. These were made from coconut, kasava root or taro root mixed with some sugar and flour and baked, with a thin layer of sugar icing on top. Again, they were surprisingly good and, together with the tea, it was a nice treat.

 

After a few hours of singing, refreshments, kava and talking, the elder called an end to the evening and they sang us the traditional Fijian good-bye song. Before we left, the entertainment for the following evening was arranged – dancing for all of us at Bar 66. We had no idea what that was all about....