by Judy Handley | Jul 3, 2007 | Fiji, Sailing Logs Year 2 |
Day 70, Year 2: Arrival in Savusavu
Date: Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Weather: No Wind, Sunny, Rainy, Cloudy and Foggy, Then Sunny Again
Latitude: 16 degrees 47 minutes S
Longitude: 179 degrees 70 minutes E
Location: Savusavu, Vanua Levu
The passage from the Lau Group to Savusavu was another great passage for us. We were able to sail most of the way wing and wing, with the headsail poled out to port and the mainsail vanged to starboard. We did have to reef both sails to slow down, and finally we had to roll in the headsail and go on with just the double-reefed main. It was a beautiful night with a just less than full moon. When it rose it looked like the sun rising, backlighting the clouds. It was big and orange like a harvest
moon on a totally clear night; and then in the early morning the clouds came and the moon had rings of light around it. The 20 knots and greater winds continued until midnight and then they started to die down a bit. We still had to keep doing everything we could to slow down so our arrival would be after sunrise. When I got up at 4 AM for my second night watch, however, the engine was running. Mark said that the winds had died down so much that we were having to motor. With the winds directly
behind us, we have to have 10-12 knots to keep moving or use the iron genny. The winds had dropped to 8-10 knots, so the engine brought us in.
There was a low fog over the Savusavu area as we approached our destination. It was certainly clear enough to see, but there was an eerie feeling to the approach. We entered Nakama Creek and called one of the marinas. Mark called Bosun’s Locker first, and they answered, so we are currently on one of their moorings. These moorings are owned by Curly. He is a New Zealander who has been here in Fiji for 37 years–quite a character, by the way. We will probably move to a Copra Shed Marina mooring
in the next day or so, however, only because showers are much more convenient. once Steve arrives and there are three of us to shower, convenience will matter.
As soon as we arrived, we went into town to check-in with Customs and then to walk through the town and discover what is here. Savusavu is a small town, there there are at last three supermarkets and a number of shops, mostly run by Indo-Fijians. We went to the Post Office to pick up some mail, and before we knew it, we were back on Windbird. We did check out the supermarkets and the fresh food market. I will definitely go shopping there again Once back on the boat, I fixed lunch–lobster sandwiches.
Mark went back to town to the internet cafe, but I stayed on Windbird and named photos. We are hoping to post all of our pictures from the past month tomorrow, but that will only happen if the internet is working better than it did today. Mark had a frustrating experience, with off and on connections. Evidently there was some work being done on underground cables today, and that was the reason for the disruption. We are really hoping to be able to make a few Skype calls tomorrow and are so looking
forward to seeing little Sam on the web cam. Hope with us that tomorrow is a better day.
We both went in for Happy Hour tonight and we met so many new cruisers that we have not met previously. We also met the infamous Curly. We actually ate dinner at a small restaurant at the Copra Shed and Mark is already in bed. I’m fading fast, so I’ll close for now. I know I’m not doing justice to the town and the people here, but I’ll write more about them tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | Jul 2, 2007 | Fiji, Sailing Logs Year 2 |
Day 69, Year 2: Overnight Passage to Savusavu
Date: Monday, July 2, 2007
Weather: Drizzing Morning, Partly Sunny Afternoon, Winds E 15-20 Knots
Latitude: 17 Degrees 07 Minutes South
Longitude: 179 Degrees 47 Minutes West
Location: On Passage from Vanua Balavu, Lau Group, to Vanua Levu
We made the break and are well on our way to Savusavu, the “gringo center” of the South Pacific. We may well be in culture shock by this time tomorrow–a real grocery store, a laundromat, restaurants, and somewhere between 40-60 sailboats in the harbor. For the last month we have been anchored in the some of the most out-of-the-way places in the South Pacific, so we’ll have to see how we do at reentering. I look forward to talking to my children via Skype and fresh vegetables. The rest I could
do without, but I’m sure once we arrive, I will enjoy it all.
Our passage started out this morning with unfavorable weather, but the weather has improved as the day continued and the winds have increased. The weather reports we had indicated 10-15 knots from the NE, but we have 15-20 plus from the E. It is a downwind sail, and we are going much faster than anticipated. We have just rolled in the headsail and double-reefed the main so we won’t arrive at 4:30 in the morning. Hopefully this change will slow us down some and we will have an early morning arrival
with light.
It’s time for me to cook dinner, so I’ll make this log a short one. One note–We just got an email from our son Justin indicating that none of our emails from June 29, Day 66, went through. We sent them via Auckland, and this is the second time we have had trouble with that HAM station. We will resend the log tonight and straighten things out when we arrive in Savusavu and have internet connection.
by Judy Handley | Jul 1, 2007 | Fiji, Sailing Logs Year 2 |
Day 68, Year 2: Only One Onion Left
Date: Sunday, July 1, 2007
Weather: Another Perfectly Gorgeous Day
Location: Nabavatu Harbor, Vanua Balavu, Northern Lau Group
When you have only one onion left, you know it’s time to head somewhere to reprovision. So tomorrow morning, Windbird and her one and only onion will be leave the Lau Group and sail overnight to Savusavu on the island of Vanua Levu. When our children were little, we would take our 25-foot Cape Dory out on the Chesapeake Bay. We always knew it was time to go home when all we had to eat was an onion sandwich. Back then, I never got down to having only one onion, but after a month out here, it hashappened. So no onion sandwiches on this this passage!
At noon today, we went to the plantation. Iliesa and Fane had invited us to lunch. I made tapioca pudding and baked a “Crazy Chocolate Cake” to take to them for dessert. This is the cake recipe requiring no eggs or milk. This is the recipe that I got from Siteri on Dravuni Island, and after making it two times, we have deemed it a winner. I’ve copied it at the end of this log for anyone interested. We took the tapioca pudding because we wanted to share the way we eat casava. Tapioca comes from the casava root. Here casava root is a staple, just like taro and yam. We just eat it in a different form.
We arrived at the plantation just after noon, and two of the families were all having lunch or Sunday dinner on their porches. We stopped by Sudari and Silivia’s home to say hello and then went on to Iliesa and Fane’s. Nako and Emma had company, so we didn’t stop by there. Fane had lunch all ready inside their home, so we took off our sandals and went in. Iliesa had made palisami for me as he knows I really love it. In addition, they had boiled fish, curried chicken, and taro and casava root. It was all delicious. And everyone really enjoyed the chocolate cake and pudding. The three-year old, Naibuka, ate only pudding. Once he had tasted that, he would have nothing to do with palisami. As we were finishing, one of the guests walked over from Nako’s home. To my surprise, it was Mele, Fane’s sister. I thought there were just three siblings, Fane, Sudari, and Nako, but I found out today that in addition to Mele who lives over near Daliconi, there is a brother working for a hotel in
Lautoka and a sister living in Suva, both on Viti Levu. I also learned that the five year-old Temo, is not Fane and Iliesa’s son, but is Mele’s son and just prefers living with Fane so he can play with Naibuka. Children here obviously belong to the extended family. when they are seven, most have to go to another village to attend school and when they do, they live with other family members and only come home one weekend every two weeks. After we ate, Fane put a mat on the front porch and we all went out there to talk. The other families came over and we got a chance to thank all of them at one time for the fish and lobster they left with us yesterday. We told them that they have been the most welcoming of any people that we have met. And as we left the plantation, Naka had to give us a pumpkin, sudari gave us a bottle of Coconut oil that they had made themselves, and Iliesa gave us a ripe papaya and a sopso. Sopso is a large fruit that hangs from the trees here. It is bigger than a pineapple, and although the consistency is different, it tastes much like a pineapple. Anyway, these guys were going to make sure that we don’t go hungry, even if we do have only one onion left!
Crazy Chocolate Cake
Siteri Ragutulei’s Recipe, Dravuni Island, Astrolabe Reef, Fiji
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup Cocoa powder
Pinch of Salt
Mix all dry ingredients. Put in round cake pan and make three wells. In one well put 2 teaspoons of vinegar (white). In the second well put 1 teaspoon vanilla. In the third well put 3/4 cup cooking oil. Pour 2 cups of water or milk over this and mix slowly. Bake until done at 350 degrees.
by Judy Handley | Jun 30, 2007 | Fiji, Sailing Logs Year 2 |
Day 67, Year 2: Trip to Mavana, Lobstering on the Reef, and A Full Moon
Date: Saturday, June 30, 2007
Weather: Just a Gorgeous Day
Location: Nabavatu Harbor, Vanua Balavu, Northern Lau Group
I don’t think it gets any better than this. At 8 AM we went with our friends from the Nabavatu Plantation, Iliesa, Nako and his daughter, and Sudari, to the village of Mavana. At noon we returned to Nabavatu Harbor and Mark went with the guys on a fishing and lobstering expedition outside the bay. After three hours, they returned with literally a boat load of fish and lobster. At 5:30 PM we are busily processing the biggest and most beautiful lobster we have ever seen in our lives–six of them. It was quite a day. I will now take one part at a time and fill in the details As I do this, the full moon is rising over Nabavatu Harbor. We spent our day with the kindest, most sharing people we have ever met in our lives, and we know this is why we are out here sailing around the world. Just to share a moment in time with these people is so very, very special.
First thing this morning, we went in the Nabavatu Plantation company boat, a small 18-foot outboard runabout, to the village of Mavana on the east coast of Vanua Balavu. Our main mission was to return Nako’s daughter to school. The children come home one weekend twice a month, and when she came home last weekend, she got sick and had to stay at home. It was time for her to return, so as I said, that was our main mission, but for us, just seeing the east side of the island was an adventure all its own. Mavana’s claim to fame is that it is the home of the past Prime Minister – the one overthrown in the coups last year. People here still call him the Prime Minister and have a mighty allegiance to him.
We had a great trip across the north end of Vanua Balavu and when we got near the village, I was a little taken aback. It looked like a small town with big buildings. We haven’t seen anything like this since we left Suva, so this was culture shock for us. We arrived just as low tide was approaching, so Iliesa was able to get us all the way to shore. But he then had to take the boat back out as he knew that shortly full low tide would leave us high and dry. We went to the store and bought some flour, sugar, and D-cell batteries to give to our friends when we go for Sunday dinner, and then Iliesa took us on a tour of Mavana. Iliesa is from the Lau island of Cicia (pronounced Thithia). He has a sister in Mavana that is married to a school teacher. We went to their home, and Iliesa’s young brother-in-law took us to the school. It houses Class 1 through Class 8 and as is the case with all Fijian schools we have visited, it is immaculately kept by the people in the village. Teachers in Fiji are assigned to schools by the government, and they are moved from island to island. Iliesa’s brother-in-law is from Kadavu, but was assigned to Cicia and met and married Iliesa’s sister. He was then reassigned to Mavana. He is sad that he is so far away from his home, but that is the fate of teachers in this island nation.
After visiting the school, we went back to the store and saw that Nako was already on his way out to the boat. We followed along and soon we were on our way back to Nabavatu Bay. We had an older woman and a young boy in the boat with bags of supplies. We were dropping them off in the plantation village of Tota on our way home. You can walk from Mavana to Tota, but if you can find a ride home with all of your supplies, it makes life much easier. We actually got back to Windbird at 11 AM. Iliesa, Nako, and Sudari took their supplies back to the settlement and said they would return soon to pick up Mark to go hunting for lobster while the tide was still relatively low. The company only allows the families to use enough fuel every two weeks to go to Mavana to pick up their children from school and take them back. There is no allowance for fuel to take the boat out fishing. We were paying for today’s fuel, and it was worth every penny. By 3:30 PM the “fishermen” returned with a whole boatload of fish and lobster. The lobster were so big and beautiful and they insisted that we take all seven of them. I tried to protest, but they really wanted us to have them, so I finally gave in. They wanted to give us fish, but we accepted only one coral trout. Sudari is really good with his spear gun and he caught a HUGE Trevally, almost as tall as him, and a beautiful little turtle. I was greatly saddened by the turtle, but I knew I could say nothing to them about that. For them, this is their source of food. They don’t kill the really big turtles, which is good, so I just turned my head and kept looking at the lobster. Mark had an incredible diving experience and learned that while the coral reef is a thing of beauty for us, it is a major source of food for the people who live out in the islands. There’s much more there than we have been seeing when we go snorkeling. We get all caught up with the beauty of the small fish, but dinner is lurking in the shadows. Mark had his first shark experiences today. When he was free diving with Iliesa, a shark longer than Mark followed alongside him. Mark says the shark didn’t seem to notice him, but he certainly noticed the shark. Later when he was diving with Nako, he saw a much smaller shark. The guys here assure us that the sharks here are absolutely no problem. They spear their fish and put them on a line that they tow along with them. Even with that, the sharks leave them alone. Mark said he certainly didn’t feel threatened.
Diving for food is a man’s job here, so I stayed home and fried the eggplant that Nako gave me yesterday, made bread, and made a chocolate cake to take to Sunday dinner tomorrow. When the fishermen returned, I was able to give Nako some of the fried eggplant. He gave me fresh eggplant yesterday, and I told him I wanted to fix some for him and have him try it Southern US style. We have spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening, dealing with the lobsters and fish. We pulled the tails off all the lobster and put all but two in the freezer to have when Mark’s brother arrives. We filleted the fish and also put it in the freezer. We saved out two of the medium-sized lobster and had them for dinner. They were delicious.
Tomorrow morning when we download the latest weather reports, we will decide whether we are leaving here tomorrow afternoon or Monday. We will definitely stay long enough to have Sunday dinner in the settlement and take a few gifts as a small token of our huge appreciation for the wonderful hospitality here. Vanua Balavu has certainly been a great stop for us. As I said at the beginning of the log, it really doesn’t get better than this. Or maybe it does!!! On we go.
by Judy Handley | Jun 29, 2007 | Fiji, Sailing Logs Year 2 |
Day 66, Year 2: Nabavatu Plantation
Date: Friday, June 29, 2007
Weather: Cloudy, Windy Day with Temps Still in the mid-70’s
Location: Nabavatu Harbor, Vanua Balavu, Northern Lau Group
One year ago today I flew to Papeete, Tahiti from Moorea to have my broken leg put in a cast. I must tell you that I walked very, very carefully today, watching for every little coconut crab hole and rock. I didn’t want a repeat performance. My leg is fine now, although the ligaments in my ankle still seem a little weak. Worse than that is that I don’t seem to have the balance that I had before. I think it is just a fear of falling, not a real balance problem. When walking up the foot-wide plank from where we have to tie our dinghy to the main dock here, I want Mark in front of me and I want to hold on to his hand. Whether fear or a balance problem, it is nothing that causes a huge problem as long as I can hold on to something or someone. When I think back to last year, hobbling around on one foot, I sometimes am not sure how I really did that on a sailboat. Getting in and out of the dinghy with two good legs is hard enough. So doing that with only one good leg is now just a distant memory. Sure hope I never have to go through that again.
I learned today that we are in Nabavatu Bay, not Bavatu as written in the information we have. We are on one of two mooring balls that are very close the Royal Exploring Islses Yacht Club. There is a hint of a path that goes up the mountain from the tiny building, but that is not how we get to shore. We get in the dinghy and travel to the far end of the bay. There is a jetty there with a little floating dock beside it. We tie to the floating dock and walk that plank I mentioned above to the jetty. We then get on land an walk a short distance to the switchback steps that go straight up. We made that trek yesterday to the settlement at the Nabavatu Plantation, and we made it again this morning. We had told Fane we would meet here in the settlement at 10 AM. Once we arrived, we went with Fane to the “Sometime Store”–the home of the settlement generator and the solar charger. We brought our box of fuses hoping that we had the right fuse she needed for her solar cell phone charger. We did have just the right one, so Mark put that in and we left the cell phone to charge while we explored the plantation. The settlement is fenced in to keep the cows, pigs, and horses out. We walked through the settlement gate with Fane, three-year old Naibuka on her hip, and headed to the original plantation home. We walked past a huge sink hole and on the hill above it still stands the home that Fane’s father lived in when he was plantation manager. No one lives there now. There were horses grazing under the coconut trees as we followed the path to the plantation home. We first came to a new, small home. It looked like a small beach cottage. Fane explained that the plantation now has two owners–Tony Philps and a man named Gregg from New Zealand. This home is Gregg’s and he comes here in December, January, and February when his children are on on school holiday. the view from the porch of the house is stunning. Below is the bay where we are moored, fringed with coral and enclosed by steep mountains. Sudari and Iliesa, Fane’s brother and husband respectively, were working on the grounds, so they came to see us and brought green coconuts so we could have a coconut drink. They just popped the tops off the coconuts and we drank. It was cool and refreshing. We then walked on to Tony’s home. We were now walking along the edge of the cliff overlooking the bay. The view was spectacular. The plantation home was built long ago, but it has been kept in immaculate condition and now has a very modern deck paved with flagstone. We could look inside and see some things that have probably been the same for 100 years and others that are completely modern. The old bathtub with claw feet was sitting out in the yard and we could see a newly tiled shower stall inside. The lawn is perfectly trimmed and the frangipani trees and bougainvillea flowers frame the view of not only the bay but the islands of the Lau Group in the distance.
We walked back to the settlement and then headed in a different direction to go to the lookout. This is a place where we would be able to see the Bay of Islands where we were anchored before coming here. We walked and climbed and finally reached the lookout. There is a very formal concrete grave there with a head stone dated 1837. Fane didn’t know who the person buried there was, but I’m sure there is a bit of history associated. We could see the whole Bay of Islands and we looked for Chaotic Harmony. They were no where in sight, so we then walked back a different way to the settlement. Mark had said he would take a look at the generator to see if he could find the problem with it, but after an hour and taking the whole thing apart, there was nothing that he could find to be the problem. The generator runs, but it does not generate. Mark told Iliesa that someone with more mechanical knowledge than us is going to have to fix this one. While Mark was working on the generator, I talked with Fane, drank tea, and looked at the plantation visitor book. I had great fun finding the messages written by David and Judy from Maine when they were here on Danza a few years ago alongside the message written by Gavin and Catherine of Chaotic Harmony (then on a different boat) who were here at the same time. I wrote an entry and will take a boat card and a picture of Mark and me to put in the book when we go for Sunday dinner.
When Mark and I returned to Windbird, we ate lunch and went snorkeling. We took the dinghy across the bay to an island, tied the dingy to an overhanging pine tree branch, and dove in. The water was a little cloudy due to all the wind, but we had great fun exploring along the shore. There were a few patches of coral everywhere we went; probably more coral than we saw in the Bay of Islands. But there was not the variety of fish. The big fish here are much more skiddish than they were in the Bay of Islands. They would shoot out of sight the minute they saw us. But we did see more bannerfish than we have ever seen in one place before, and lots and lots of small colorful fish of many different varieties. I saw a tiny little bright yellow boxfish with blue dots all over it. It was very, very cute. There were lots of big clams and little Christmas tree worms. It was a good explore.
Tomorrow morning at 8 AM we are going with Iliesa, Fane’s husband, and Fane’s older brother Nako and his young daughter to the village of Mavana. Nako needs to take his daughter back to school (she was home sick this week), but he has no fuel for the company boat. We will supply the fuel and get to go along for the ride. Mavana is a large village and has a grocery store. I haven’t seen one of those for a month, so this will be a “new” experience. We talk to Ranger on the radio every morning at 7:30, and this morning we learned from them that a system south of us might be bringing lots of rain our way by Tuesday. We are trying to get more weather information, and if this is going to be the case, we might leave here on Sunday right after lunch/dinner in the settlement. It is about 110 miles to Savusavu and will take us 20-24 hours to get there. If we leave Sunday afternoon, we will arrive on Monday. Mark’s brother Steve comes on Saturday, so we will have plenty of time to check things out before he arrives. After a month out here, it is time to replenish the stocks and touch base with “civilization” for a bit. I say that with a bit of hesitation, as what we are experiencing out here is certainly not uncivilized. It is just different and I so admire the way of life of the people on these out islands. Nabavatu Plantation has no electric lights, no television, no stoves or refrigerators. But they always have a teapot on and bread, pancakes, and rolls to offer. And they always have a smile. They live in the shadow of the modern world, but the modern world has much it could learn from these people. We are certainly learning much from them.
by Judy Handley | Jun 28, 2007 | Fiji, Sailing Logs Year 2 |
Day 65, Year 2: Bay of Islands to Bavatu (Nabavatu) Bay–Another World
Date: Thursday, June 28, 2007
Weather: Cooler, Drier, Sunnier Weather; Temps in the mid-70’s
Location: Bavatu (Nabavatu) Harbor, Vanua Balavu, Northern Lau Group
We awoke this morning to a gloriously sunny, cooler morning. The humidity was only 70 per cent today, and that made it feel even cooler. What a nice relief from humid, hot weather. We had one little shower during the night and another this morning that left us with a beautiful rainbow. From then on through the day, however, we have had not one little sprinkle. Finally we can open the boat and let the fresh air flow through.
We spent the first part of our morning reviewing notes on cruising in Vanuatu that we have from friends in New Zealand. We wrote notes as people gave us information, but not until this morning have we had time to go back and read those notes to see if they make sense to us. Just as we were finishing that job, Gavin from Chaotic Harmony came over for a visit. He has cruised Vanuatu, and he was able to give us even more information. We have so much more to learn about Fiji that it seems a little premature to be looking ahead to Vanuatu, but with Mark’s brother Steve coming to visit, it is my guess that we won’t look at Vanuatu information again until we are on our way there. So it was good to take a couple of hours to familiarize ourselves with the names of the islands there. Gavin left just before noon, and it was then time for us to pull up anchor and move around to the north side of Vanua Balavu. Leaving “fairyland” was not easy, but then leaving any of the beautiful places we have visited is never easy for me.
It took us close to two hours to make the move around. I think we are either getting braver, or we are getting better at reef sailing, because this trip was not nearly as intense as others we have made recently. We pulled into Balavu Bay and spotted the two mooring balls that Gavin had told us about right away. We also saw a couple of people who looked like they were snorkeling between the mooring balls. We moved in slowly and snagged the line on one of the mooring balls. The bay here is very beautiful, but the first big shock was the building on the shore just next to the moorings. It is a very modern building and at first glance it was obvious that this is the Royal Exploring Isles Yacht Club. There was a proper mast head, a little Hobie Cat type boat on the well manicured lawn, and racks with racing dinghies. But there is no one there. A couple of times a year, the plantation owner, Tony Phip comes here in his 90-foot yacht and the yacht club comes alive. Otherwise, it is just like a figure-head. The two young men in the water come over to the boat and introduced themselves as Iliesa and Sudari. They were spear-fishing and had a nice little catch of about five coral trout, a thick-lipped something or another, and yet another fish that I can’t identify. They asked if they could get in the dinghy to take a rest while we talked, so they climbed in and I handed them a bucket for their fish. They were headed back to the plantation settlement where they live, and since that is where we were going, we all went together. We learned that Fane, the woman we were told we must see in order to obtain permission to use the mooring here and to come ashore, is Iliesa’s wife. Fane’s father was the coconut plantation manager for Tony Philp’s father. The Philps are from Australia and brought this freehold land. At some point, Fane’s father asked Iliesa to come here from another island and work on the plantation. He did and he ended up marrying Fane. When Tony’s father died, he inherited the plantation and now Fane manages the business here for Tony. Her two brothers, Sudari and Nako, and their families, also live in the settlement. We learned all of this while we were riding in the dinghy to shore, and then while we were climbing the 273 steps basically straight up the side of a mountain to the settlement. The steps were done in “switch back” fashion and I was totally breathless by the time we reached the top. We then walked through what looked like an orchard and came to a fenced-in settlement. Everything is trimmed and neatly arranged. There are three homes built of wood with corrugated iron roofing that are painted a light green and curved out nicely to form the roof of a porch on the front of each house. These homes were obviously built to look like original Fijian bures, but have all been done with modern materials. There was a community building that also serves as the church, and the “Sometime Store.” Sudari explained that it should be called the “Most Times Not a Store.” We got a good laugh out of that. We met Fane and asked for permission to use the plantation mooring and visit the settlement. She looked at our paperwork, and asked if we had an invitation to visit the plantation. We did not, so she explained that even though we have permission to visit anywhere in Vanua Balavu, we must have a special invitation to visit private land. She said that she would call Toni to ask for permission, but the settlement generator is not working and her cell phone was not charged. She thought that if she came to the boat, we might be able to charge her phone which would allow her to call Toni. But first, we were invited to have tea and Fijian pancakes and meet Fane and Iliesa’s two boys, Temo and Naibuka. Temo is five and Naibuka is almost three. Naibuka was most curious and he ended up coming back to Windbird with his mother. He is so cute, and Mark and I both really enjoyed having him aboard. We brought Fane’s Nokia cell phone charger with a US plug, but it is obviously faulty. We could get no power to that phone. So we used our SAT phone to have Fane call Toni. He reluctantly gave us permission to visit, but he told Fane that no other cruisers are to be allowed to visit without the proper invitation from him through his Savusavu office. Whew! We made it though on that one.
Tomorrow morning we will walk back up those 273 steps to visit the settlement. Fane will then take us on a tour of Toni’s plantation home that is evidently kept immaculately as it would have been 100 years ago. She will also take us on a walk along the top of the ridge to an overlook where we can see all of the Exploring Isles of the Lau Group. Iliesa invited us to dinner on Sunday. We hesitated slightly as we have told Sam and Lako that we would return to Daliconi for the singing competition on Sunday morning. These are two lovely invitations and it is going to be hard to make a decision. We’ll put off making that decision until tomorrow. For now, we are just glad to be here and look forward to enjoying a bit of history tomorrow morning.
