Fiji...contrasts and tsunamis

Our last two days in the South Pacific were spent in a lovely beachfront hotel in Nadi, Fiji. And I DO mean IN the hotel! Fiji appears to be a place that deserves some serious exploration but we were continually advised not to venture out into the city. This country has a turbulent history with the last coup taking place in 2006 and it is now under military rule. Our first day there we decided that we REALLY needed to do some serious shopping so we called for a taxi. We were warned by the concierge as well as the cab driver that it is pretty dangerous and we should be very careful. The taxi dropped us at "Jack's of Fiji" where you can buy everything from clothing to kava bowls to an extra bag to get them home in. We bought all three and then some. When we had finally melted the plastic, the store’s concierge called our cab to come and pick us up. Everyone is concerned about your safety, or it would appear so.

That evening the hotel was providing a program of traditional dance and, since we had an ocean view the performance took place right below our balcony. Whoo hoo! We indulged in a wonderful dinner and then purchased a nice bottle of wine to enjoy while we sat on the balcony and watched the show. The Fijians are very talented, as are all the South Sea islanders and the show was super. Each of the islands we have visited have a different style of dancing and the Fijians are no exception. Regardless of where we go, however, my favorites are the fire dancers. There were several young men here who were “playing with fire” but the one I enjoyed the most was the young woman who was swinging two buckets of fire around and around herself.

When we awoke the next morning, Chris turned on the TV while I was in the shower to see if there might be some news on (up to then all that had been available was rugby and religion). That morning was different. There had been an earthquake off the coast of Samoa that morning followed by a tsunami that was now headed our way. Given the information provided by the weather people (that it wouldn’t amount to much in Fiji) and the fact that we were on the west side of the island we weren’t terribly concerned but we did keep a close watch on the water. All we really noticed was the tide receded and came back in quite a bit faster than usual. We asked a couple of the hotel employees if they were worried about the tsunami but, not only were they unconcerned, they hadn’t even heard about it!

Our biggest concern was all our new friends. Most were in Vava’u but the last we’d heard from Hipnautical, was that they were in Apia, Samoa. We sent out several emails and then just waited. Unfortuantely, we were unable to contact the family we’d met who lived on Niuetoputapu island or John & Veronika from Suwarrow. Reports have come trickling in since we returned home and all our cruising friends are fine and had little or no effects from the tsunami. Guy & Karen told us that Nico’s family (on Niuetoputapu) are all safe but they lost their home, their boat and pretty much everything they owned. Still, 10 people are known dead and several missing on that tiny island. Help is trickling in but it is slow. The cruising community has begun gathering together things they can take that will help the people get back on their feet. As for John & Veronika, we have no news. We emailed them but the message was rejected so we can only hope they are safe.

All in all, Fiji was beautiful with sand like silk, warm, warm water and wonderful people and we would both love to go back and see more of it. Who knows…maybe we’ll take “Faith” someday

Tongan Tidbits

The wind is still blowing like crazy and rain flies through from time to time but the temperature is quite comfortable and we are enjoying getting to know a little about Tonga. The local customs are sometimes a little confusing but the people who live here are very friendly and happy.

Chris & I enjoyed taking a short walk up the hill from the anchorage area today to see something besides “downtown” Neiafu. One of the more disconcerting things is that they drive on the left side of the road and the roads are only about a car and a half wide. This can make walking a bit treacherous if you (I) can’t remember to stay on the “wrong” side of the road. The homes here are quite different from those we saw in Samoa. First and foremost they don’t plant the relatives in the front yard. I suspect that is because only the King, members of the Nobility or the government can own land. The yards aren’t much to speak of but that could have something to do with the pigs, chickens and stray dogs (which, by the way, are a Tongan food group) roaming around foraging for food. Also, Tongans aren’t real big on flowers. The only native flowering plant here is Frangipani. There are Hibiscus, Poinsettias and a few others but all were imports and are more prized by the Palangi (white people) than the Tongans.

This country is rife with very unusual customs and restrictions. Some come from the influence of western religions but much goes back way before that. Here are just a few interesting little factoids: The royalty, the nobles and the commoners all speak totally different languages. The members of the royal family and the nobility are somewhat able to communicate but the common people don’t have a clue about what the big wigs are saying.

Rank is very important here and Tongans will avoid speaking to each other until they know which one ranks higher. This is NOT easy to establish. Here are a few of the basics: Members of royalty are the highest rank (this one is pretty straightforward). Nobles are next highest and commoners are lowest (again…makes sense). Men are higher than women…BUT…within a family, sisters are higher than brothers. Relatives on Dad’s side are higher than relatives on Mom’s. Older people are higher than younger. From here it gets very muddy

Tongans have the largest body mass of any other race in the world and they consume 3500-5000 calories per day! No skinny fashion models here.

It is not appropriate for people of the opposite sex to touch each other (hold hands, put arms around each other, etc) in public but it is totally acceptable for people of the same sex to do this.

Tongans do not do anything on Sunday except eat, sleep and go to church.

The clothing restrictions are the most interesting. Women must cover their shoulders and their knees so shorts and tank tops are out. Men are not allowed to go around without a shirt on. Swimsuits are NOT allowed at all (when Tongans swim, they do it fully clothed and usually not in the sun…they do their best to avoid sun). Also, they wear woven mats of all different shapes and sizes and, while they aren’t exactly figure flattering, they are a definite status symbol.

Even though the Tongan people have some unusual traits (and, really, who doesn’t?), they are some of the nicest, happiest, least stressed people I have ever met. I am really enjoying this lovely country and her people…even if I do wish I could wear a swimsuit from time to time!

Note: The photo at the top of this entry is the Governor of Tonga and his wife.

Just the news

We are now in Vava’u which is a beautiful archipelago of islands that is a part of the Kingdom of Tonga. This is truly a cruiser’s paradise. Island after island with pristine beaches and world class sailing and snorkeling. Pretty much anywhere you go is a day trip or less and when you arrive it is another perfect anchorage that you may have all to yourself. There has been a big regatta here which started Friday so we have been enjoying the events. Saturday was a race to another island where a party was held on the beach. Yesterday we came back here as Dietmar had to catch a plane this morning to return New York to work a bit. While he is gone Suzanne, Chris & I will be checking out a few more island anchorages. Far and away this is the most beautiful place we have been to so far.
Chris & I were especially excited to discover that “Julia Max” was here when we arrived. We hadn’t seen them since they left Mexico last Spring. They were leaving for Fiji the next day but the 4 of us got together for lunch and did some catching up. It was great to see them again. Just to prove what a small world it is, we went to a relatively new restaurant here called the Giggling Whale which is owned by a man named Sandy who also has a place in Banff, Canada. Turns out I had met Sandy at a ski show in Portland a few years ago and he & my friend, Mary, know each other quite well!
Last night, we had a birthday party for Dietmar on the boat so Chris & I had a chance to meet more of the cruisers. Late in the evening it began raining and has been steady ever since. The swap meet that was to be held today was postponed but the traditional Tongan feast scheduled to take place one one of the beaches this evening will still go on. We plan to attend but if the rain doesn’t let up I believe Suzanne will be going with the “Follow You, Follow Me” crowd and Chris & I will hunker down on the boat. We have very few warm clothes and totally neglected to bring raingear so we are pretty weather dependent when it comes to outside activities. It does, however, seem to be letting up some so we have our fingers crossed.
I have been getting sporadic reports on the situation in San Carlos after hurricane Jimena went through. It didn’t hit San Carlos but they got winds of 50mph or so and record rainfall of 26” in 24 hours. I understand the storage yard where Faith is had as much as 4’ of water going through it at one time. The office sent an email to all the boat owners explaining that only 4 boats were substantially damaged and if you didn’t get a personal email about it, your boat wasn’t one of them. I am happy to report we did receive one! Still, they are now doing a boat by boat check to look for any damage or water that may be inside. We have also heard from friends who were and are there about what the conditions are like. We are also watching the local forum, and Chris has asked some of his Tucson friends who will be going down to check on their boats to take a look at Faith as well. It is a rather helpless feeling to be this far away from her but know there isn’t much we could have done had we been there. I understand the devastation from the flooding is pretty bad. The main street is washed out and about the only way people can get around is with 4WD or walking. The power and water was out for a while but I believe they are starting to get that put back in place. We’ll be happy to hear something more concrete once someone has a chance to look at the boat first hand.
More to come about Tonga in the days ahead!

Religion Gone Awry?

Friday we rented a car to drive around and explore a bit of Western Samoa. It was a beautiful day and we began by going to “Vailima”, the home of Robert Lewis Stevenson. The estate covers several hundred acres and contains the home that was built by Stevenson, himself, over 100 years ago as well as his gravesite at the top of the mountain. We took the tour of the home (which is now a museum) and wandered around the beautifully manicured grounds. It was a great beginning.
Leaving the Stevenson museum we continued on Cross Island Road and drove through one village after, each very small and different from the one before but with a number of similarities as well.
Traditional Samoan homes (or “fales”) do not have walls although many family plots seem to have two homes…one with walls and one without. The one most used is usually a cement floor that is ringed by large posts holding up the thatched roof. Given the heat here it makes sense to allow as much airflow as possible to keep cool but there is a distinct lack of privacy. Also, in front of each home is the family tomb. These range from primitive looking piles of lava rock to very elaborate mausoleums with marble walls and carved headstones. I suspect that Samoans rarely move given the difficulty involved in transporting grandma and granddad.
Samoa has embraced the religions of the Western World with an incredible tenacity. Unfortunately this religiosity has mutated into a system whereby the citizenry are subservient almost to the point of slavery. It is all very bizarre. Each small village has at least a couple and some 3 or 4 churches and they, as well as the home of the preacher, are the nicest buildings in the community. The families are required to choose one church as their own and must attend every Sunday without fail. If a family chooses not to attend they are ostracized by the rest of the village and if a single family member falls away from the church they are not only ostracized by the village but by their family as well. It is a pretty brutal system. Additionally, during the Sunday morning service, an announcement is made telling each family how much they are expected to pay that week for their tithe. It is quite surprising given the limited resources of the citizenry, but the ministers do live better than everyone else so I suppose they are somewhat reluctant to give up their status. As an aside, the suicide rate here is one of the highest in the world and it is reported to be thus because of the conflict the youth have between the extremely conservative way of life here and the experiences they gain from the rest of the world.
As we made our way back to the ocean, hunger set in so we stopped at the Coconuts Beach Club. The food was wonderful, the restaurant overlooked the ocean and there was a great breeze. Perfect!
Life is still good in the South Pacific!

The Wedding

Finally, three days late, we were married. The weather was much improved, though we still had squalls off and on most of the day. The morning began with a beautiful double rainbow greeting us and as we finished exchanging our vows the clouds parted and presented us with a picture perfect sunset. There were about 50 or 60 people from all over the world who, not only attended the wedding, but worked very hard to decorate, clean up the beach, provide food and just generally share in our happiness. I will try to put a few photos in but may not be able to due to the internet connection. If you go to the link on the blog for “Carinthia”, Dietmar has downloaded lots and lots of pictures that you can look at. Suffice it to say that it was a beautiful wedding, exactly what we were hoping for and we are very happy.

Suwarrow

Hello!
Today is August 11, 2009 and we are anchored in Suwarrow (pronounced Suvarov). This is actually an atoll which, by definition, is a large, generally circular, reef which has a number of small islands on the inside. It is beautiful here and we are one of about 17 boats. This is truly the island Paradise we have dreamed of. Just sand and palm trees, azure water, warm breezes and the only inhabitants are the two caretakers, John & Veronica (Cook Islanders), and their 4 sons. There are no stores, no cars, no telephones, no internet, etc.
We arrived yesterday around noon and there was a potluck and concert on the beach last night. What an amazing experience that was. The crowd consisted of cruisers from numerous countries (France, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, America, etc) as well as John & Veronica. The food was wonderful and music was provided by Roger & Bobbie Jo from “Hipnautical”. Roger plays guitar and Bobbie Jo has a…wait for it…harp! She also has a lovely voice and a beautiful spirit.
When we dinghied to the beach, the boat kids were playing soccer and working off some of the pent up energy that must build up pretty quickly when you are a kid living on a boat. Soon after we’d gotten a drink and begun visiting with the other cruisers, an announcement was made that it was time to feed the sharks. Off we all trooped to the beach on the other side of the island (about a 2 minute walk…it’s a small island) where there were LOTS of black tip and gray sharks in ankle deep water waiting for dinner. The kids would stand on the rocks and throw fish parts in and then the sharks went wild. This is a regular routine and the sharks are clearly in the know. I was told they feed them on that side of the island and are very careful not to throw garbage in the anchorage side so the sharks will not think it is OK to chow down on the cruisers. Note: this morning about a 3 ft long black tip shark swam right past the swim ladder on the boat! Chris jumped in a bit later and when he got out & was rinsing off on the back step, 3 sharks swam by. Suzanne & I have decided against swimming here!
Just before the dinner, John said grace and it was very moving. As a Cook Islander he is very strong in his faith. The gist of his prayer was that we have been set on this journey and brought together in this place by God and we are all one community and the caretakers of the world. After dinner we celebrated two birthdays. Anna (a cruiser off a French boat) turned 50 and gave a lovely speech about the gift she has been given in her husband and the opportunity to go cruising. Also, one of John & Veronica’s sons has a birthday today so he was included in the singing and birthday cake. In addition, Mike and Luke on “Thin Wolf” were celebrating having left Port Townsend on this journey exactly one year ago. The final announcement of the evening was that Chris & I had found “our” special island!
We said that we intended to marry at sunset on Tuesday and I was stunned to see how excited everyone was and how eager they were to help put together a wedding for people they hardly know. The next day everyone was out cleaning the beach, learning how to plait palm fronds for decorations, planning menus and music etc.
That evening (Monday) Dietmar & Suzanne hosted a Bachelor/Bachelorette party aboard Carinthia that was attended by all the cruisers here. It is not possible to describe how much fun it is hanging out and getting to know people from all over the world.
Alas, Monday morning we awoke to 25 knt winds and rain squalls. After checking the grib files (weatherfax) we could see that conditions were not going to change for two more days so the ceremony was postponed to Friday. Today, again, we have squalls and wind. After two days and nights of wind as high as 45 knts and big chop that contributed to several boats dragging anchor in the middle of the night, it looks like tomorrow will finally be “the day”.

Underway Bora Bora to Suwarrow

I am writing this from a position of 13° 48.68’ S, 161° 11.05’ W aboard s/v Carinthia. Today is Sunday, August 09, 2009. We left Bora Bora on Wednesday, August 5^th for Suwarrow (pronounced Suvarov) and we anticipate arriving there tomorrow late morning. The captain picked a great weather window and we have had light winds and following seas of no more than 3 ft the entire time.

This has been my longest passage thus far and it has been very pleasant. It’s quite interesting getting used to seeing nothing but water, water, water for days on end and, when you stop to think about it, it is often over 14,000 ft deep. Because we’ve had mostly sunny days the water color is a gorgeous cobalt blue with just little wavelets on top that look like frosting.

I’ve had the primo watches. I’m on duty from 6-9 morning & night so I get to see the beautiful sunsets and sunrises. In addition, we have had a full moon so the moon rises have been pretty spectacular as well. Everyone else seems to be quite happy with their watches as well, but for me, this is perfect. Watches on this boat are quite pleasant. Generally we sit up on the flying bridge keeping a watch for any traffic (nothing so far), watching the instruments and listening to music or watching movies (there is a DVD player & over 300 movies on boar).

Some information about the boat: It is a 2008 44’ Lagoon catamaran. The owners are very fun people who we met in Marina del Rey on our way south. The boat is beautifully outfitted and maintained and has all sorts of extras that Chris & I are not used to. Think electric winches, chartplotter, WII, electric toilets (each of the 3 staterooms has a private head), watermaker. Our normal day begins with the morning net. Usually Chris makes coffee at the end of his watch (he has 3-6) but we fend for ourselves for breakfast. Most of the day is taken up with reading, doing little chores, napping, playing WII (Suzanne is into tennis and Chris & I have gotten a bit hooked on bowling). 5:00 is happy hour and that is followed by a gourmet meal at 6 with all crew eating together on the aft deck. As soon as dinner is over Dietmar disappears to rest up before his night watch and I head up to the flying bridge for my first watch.

So far we are having too much fun...and we've even managed to catch two tuna! Excellent!!