A week ago, we cast off our
lines and sailed off to the Yasawa Islands. These islands were made famous by Brook Shield's remake of Blue Lagoon.
Doing the blog while at sea
(how cool is technology????)
The day-long crossing was a perfect sail…just like you read about in the
magazines. To top it off, as we
approached Waya Island we couldn’t believe the beautiful volcanic scenery.
Sailing In
Once all four of us (buddy boats…Sidewinder, Guava Jelly and Helena) all
anchored we had a quiet night. The
following day was Sunday, and unfortunately we couldn’t attend the church service
as we had not presented ourselves to the Chief yet, due to the fact that we
arrived too late on Saturday. Once all the
wonderful singing was over, we knew we could head to town to pay our respects
and ask permission from the Chief for us to stay in their magical spot.
Peter making fresh bundles of Sevusevu
(Kava root) which we give to the Chief
The village
Heading in to see the Chief and his family
After Sevusevu was accepted we were welcomed to his island to hike, fish, snorkel
and be his guests in every way.
The adorable kids hamming it up
More kids
Young girl on swing (missing our
grandchildren – big time!)
Following this ceremony, we all went for a walk across the Island to Octopus
Island Resort.
Peter and I on the beautiful Waya
Island Beach
Suzie, David and Peter walking along the
beach (notice David’s traditional Fijian skirt to show respect to the
villagers)
Fishing boats at low tide
Peter on the bridge along the hike
Coconut Bar at Octopus Island Resort –
great place to refresh for the return walk
View over the bay
Resting atop the hill
(note Riki's traditional Fijian skirt as well as David's as shown earlier)
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(note Riki's traditional Fijian skirt as well as David's as shown earlier)
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Peter on path with the view of the ocean on the other side of the island
View across bay to the peaks
Pigs wandering all around following Peter
The kids attend kindergarten on the Island (ages 4,5,6,7). They then go to primary school on the opposite side of the island. Up until about 5 years ago the kids had to make the 5 hour trek home on Friday after school and then do it again on Sunday to be back at school. Because the village is now wealthier, they have purchased fishing boats and the kids are now taken by sea (one hour each way).
The village owns all the land, but they welcome tourists. We took the necessary guide and paid
approximately $10 per person for a very strenuous, but awesome, all day hike to the top of the peak.
Boats below the highest peak which we would climb
Starting on our trek
At the mid-way station overlooking the
peninsula with Tico, our guide in the foreground
Peter and I having a pit stop mid way
up the hill
Looking out over the Yasawa’s
Almost there
There was a group ahead of us (as you can see from the picture atop the
peak). We made our final ascent (which
was pretty intense – I left my walking stick, and camera below the final rocks
we had to shimmy up – so no pictures from the very top.) At the end of the hike, we stopped and
enjoyed a fresh water waterfall and surrounding pools.
Peter and I enjoying the waterfall
That evening we invited Tico (our guide) and his girlfriend Heather over
for a Kava evening. Kava is an alcoholic
drink that the Fijians drink in massive quantities. This was a first on QuickStar and we loved
hosting our boating friends for this special occasion. All of us got a little buzz and some numbing
of our face. Everyone slept well
afterwards!
Peter bringing Tico, Heather and Suzie
to the boat
Making Kava
The coconut drinking bowls
Peter gets the first drink as the host
Riki and Tiko playing guitar
Peter & Di serving our guests
We got a jam session going (Peter and
I played dried goat balls – not kidding)
Every day that we were there
this past week, we went snorkeling. It
was some of the best snorkeling we’ve done for quite a while. Thousands of fish and really bright live
corals. We only dragged ourselves out of
the water when we got too water-logged.
The next afternoon David
caught a large Spanish mackerel, so David and Suzie invited all of us aboard
Sidewinder for a pot luck fish feast.
David’s fish
Peter and David on Sidewinder for
dinner
The final day before leaving all the boats went to the freshwater pools
to wash their clothes. We felt rather
decadent doing our laundry with our washing machine on board (at least for a
moment anyway). Later we dinghyed over
to the fresh water pools to check them out.
Cool cloud formations above the peaks
Walking in to the fresh water pools
Peter in a waterfall
Di swimming in the water holes.
We cast off yesterday morning and headed to the world famous Manta Ray
Bay.
Riki dropping anchor (Ricki is a solo
sailor aboard Guava Jelly – and sorry gals – he’s taken!)
Last night after we went to the Manta Ray resort for Happy Hour and
pizza, we were all invited to Helena (Glenda and Eddy’s boat) for homemade
beer. Glenda is from Venezuela, and she
got all of us up dancing doing the Mamba and Salsa (which wasn’t an easy task
on a rolling boat – but way too much fun!)
This morning will be a definite life-time memory. We swam with giant Manta Rays. I’m still just so pumped about it. Truly an amazing event. I’ll
report back on this next week, as I will be getting photos from Riki. We are heading to his boat tonight for
sun-downers and to look at his under water photos.
We don’t have internet access, but Peter & I will head in to the
resort and see if we can get online there so I can post this blog and to take
care of any business that may need attending to. Thanks for coming along for the journey.
Until next week…..
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