Fijian Life is HotFiji is hot. Humid hot. Searing hot. I think Fiji must be closer to the sun. Fijians have a real knack for fire dancing too. If that isn't hot enough, it is sugar harvest time and they are burning cane fields and the sultry heat is interspersed with a pall of smoke in the air. Thar-be-devils in that smoke and Clariton, my chosen weapon against allergens, has met its match. I have a constant cold-like demeanor.
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Happy New Year LuckIt was hot and muggy in the cabin last night. We had reluctantly disconnected from shore power in anticipation of the first gale of the season and Simmons, our trusty air conditioner is reduced to being a rather ugly appendage on the settee. Dois was a flurry of activity, taking down sails, tying down kayaks and dealing with the 6 lines and chain meant to hold Ashika in place and kibitzing with staff and neighbors about storm strategies while I had discovered new things to do below, (while the AC was still on). We are uncomfortably close (12 inches?) to the neighboring boats and Dois has been working to get us a little room. But when it is all said and done, we will have to pull our boat out in front of the pile to ride any storm to avoid smashing up against them.
Up A CreekWe are up a creek, but its all good up this one; Namaka Creek in Savusavu, Fiji. We are still waiting for one more part because I ordered the wrong one. Crap. You make one little mistake and it costs you a month of cruising paradise. The replacement is supposed to be here any minute. (10/12/18 Update: We got the part and it did not fix the problem. Back to the drawing board.)
Fabulous FijiWe had been at sea for about 3 days when we landed this beauty. Just as he took the lure, it was at a most inconvenient time; the wind had picked up and Dois was quite busy tucking a reef in the main and then the genoa so I needed to keep the color-flashing pelagic busy. I couldn't bring him to the boat too soon because I needed Dois to help me gaff our dinner. As soon as Dois got the boat under control, he expertly gaffed him and brought him on board. All in a days work. What we did not know at that time was that the wind would continue to build over the next 3 days. The seas would grow steep and close and we would crash along in a most uncomfortable manner (albeit while gorging on delicious mahi) until we sailed into the lee of the islands of Fiji.
Hide the BananaIt is time for us to leave Funifuti in the country of Tuvalu and we must do so without our usual phone time with family. Internet is so difficult here. They only have 4g sim cards and they wont work on my Ipad or iphone or my android phone. The techie at the phone company was befuddled by the portable 4g mini router we bought in Majuro for just this instance. The wifi hot spot usage cost $20 for 600 MEGABYTES of data. So we bought $20 worth, thinking we would make our calls on that and we used it up just making one call to Dois' insurance.
Funafuti means "hide the banana" in Tuvaluvian and while I originally thought it meant something other than the erotic obvious, I've asked a few folks and based on all the blushing, it means "hide the banana". How funi is that? You are a RainbowMajuro reminds me of a sweet and sour dish. The first ingredient in a sweet and sour is vinegar, so I'll start here with the sour. The truth is there is a lot of sour here and it is most certainly mired in the fact that the water around them is rising and there is no future. The island is only a few feet above the waters of the great Pacific Ocean and reminders of water ingress are never further away than the next high tide. The highest place in all of Majuro is a 30' wall of trash about mid island, but trash is everywhere and permeates the island in a sad and heavy way.
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We blog for rum!
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Yep. We are the guilty parties for all this nonsense.. |