Hi Laurie!!
How are you and Cec? Everybody is quite alright here. We went on a 49-day trip to New Zealand (4 days), Fiji (31) L.A. (3) and Mexico City (7). All except Mexico were free stopover we decided to make use of. It all started when we saw a documentary in which a Spanish couple had windsurfed around Fiji on a 7-month trip. They explained how to gather the rainwater with their sails, fish with a line while sailing, cook lovo style, the kava and so on. They sailed around all Fiji and stopped on about 40 islands Then we found you on the web and saw you have done it someway. Ours was an adaptation of your trip to our wishes, time and conditions. And it went on so well that we, once again, would like to thank you and your canoeing club for the amount of information, support and advice provided. I don't think we'd have even attempted it without your well of knowledge. I can safely say this is a someway a turning point in our life. We've discovered lots of people, made lots of friends and even made a huge step in having a hobby to share with my wife. We had never ever been together on our own for so long. She's really nuts about it. Being together under these such different conditions has made us discover other aspects of each other. And I'm amazed at it.

This is the yet unfinished report: (Sea kayaking in Fiji)

We eventually made for New Zealand's North Island on July 14 and stayed there for 4 days It's a nice place and people's hospitality is amazing. Then on Jul 20 we flew to Nadi. It was shockingly hot at first because of the contrast but then, as you said in your 'Paddling in Fiji' report, it was never so hot as to be uncomfortable.

We went to Lautoka since it was there were the kayak was expected to be and had some trouble in getting it from the shipping company (Carpenters).  These people tried hard to rip us off to get the kayak through Customs but we managed to get it with the help of Williams & Gosling.

We started the trip in Lautoka, just opposite Waterfront Hotel, we put the kayak on our trolley and put it at sea. We finished loading it and off we went to Bekana Island, off Lautoka. The next day we kayaked to Savala, an islet where we stopped for half an hour, had a chocolate bar and went on to Vomo.

The sea conditions were those of a fairy tale, just gliding on transparent shallow warm waters flat as a mirror. On the same day we arrived at Vomo, and the sea started to come up and there was some surf to land. The kayak was so heavy with the food, water and equipment that we just left it apparently safely tied to a dead tree firmly rooted in the sand. It was full Moon and the visibility was about perfect. At midnight I came to see the kayak and the tide had gone, maybe 25 meters!! By 4 o'clock a rushed to the kayak after we heard a loud crack and saw the kayak and the dead tree being washed away by a wave. We fount it rather hard to undo the knots and pass the rope around my back as a pulley to little by little gain enough rope to tie it to the nearest palm tree. First one end and then the other. Then, some later while discussing if the tent was high enough to be safe from the sea, the spray of a wave washed half of the tent. This ended the discussion and there we were trying to move everything some higher. By 5 the sea looked it wouldn't come up any higher and we went to sleep ... until 6 when the sun started to rise and the tide to go down. We decided to have breakfast and make haste to go with the tide, and once we had launched the kayak wouldn’t ride the waves as usual and the back compartment was partly flooded. We paddled off the NE side of Vomo, which is now a top market Sheraton resort and asked the activity boys! 3 Fijians to talk to ask the manager permission to stay wherever because the wind and the sea were picking up and we were quite tired, but the manager refused We finally were told by the Fijians to paddle and around the island to the lee side and as far as possible to stay there for the day. So we did and found we the back compartment had holed at night during the struggle. We glass-fibred and got it ready to leave but the weather continued to get worse and worse and had to be on Vomo as uninvited guests for 2 more days.

The activity boys were extremely helpful, particularly one of them. They'd bring us fruit, hot tea with milk toasts with butter and on one occasion fresh fish. This was a touch of what we were to experience further in our trip on the other islands.

We went to Kuata and Wayaseva where we stayed at a backpackers and met lots of people and made friends with some of them. There we had regular meals and served us to get to the Fijian meals time and weather. Then we paddled to Waya, crossed the passage and landed on a dessert island. Some noisy (fruit) bats welcomed us in the early evening while landing. There we could do some trekking into the jungle and could shoot some of the most beautiful videos and pictures we have of the trip. Two days later somebody came for a visit. It was a Fijian Methodist Pastor who came to the island to pray. He showed us how to climb palm trees, cook breadfruit, build a fire and fish with his spear from the shore. He had very nice talk and insisted on our going to visit his family but we couldn't take that time. He was certainly one of our most memorable people we met.

We paddled on the lee west side of Naviti on a hot windy day which ended up in a drizzle when approaching the NE point. A local was apparently standing in the middle of the sea on a rock or dead coral fishing with a line. We asked him the way to get to Naviti Bay but he wouldn't understand. We offered some water we had on a plastic bottle on deck and tossed it to him. Vinaka! !! We noticed it was raining because we were cooling down and the sea looked as velvet with the rain on the surface. The sea we were following smoothed down gently and the kayak rode the waves more easily. The sun was still partly shining and a beautiful rainbow followed us between the sea and the coast. We steered to the right on the NE point and paddled east as quickly as possible. The pastor had offered to stay in his empty bure on the west side of Naviti bay but we preferred to follow the sea east and kayak into a shallow, completely still waters of the east side. We camped, had dinner and secured the kayak with the background noise of distant lalies (drums). An exotic end for the best paddling day in the trip!

And a great day can be followed by the hardest conditions. Early in the morning we met some people who offered us some paw- paws and had a short talk with. The morning was apparently perfect with flat water and no sign of wind. We departed north. We asked some fishermen on their red boats about crossing the passage and said it was OK As we paddled further north the wind pick up and we followed quite rough seas. Halfway through the crossing the swell coming from the east pushed us the wrong direction and 2 motor boats coming from Yanqueta splashed their waves against us. It was a 3-effet crossing at this point and the waves running and crashing on the shore prevented us from landing until much later, towards the end of Yanqueta in a rather protected spot. The crossing was so rough that our aluminium rudder got badly bent to the right. There's a very shallow passage to the right (east) and when you turn left a big bay comes in sight. As you paddle in you realise it's not a bay but lots of islands.,

The water was so shallow that we were about to get stuck any minute and the paddles touched the bottom now and then. We were received by someone and followed the trip on foot wading to Vuaki. We were lead to the Nasomolevu Mission Catholic Priest and then to the Chief We gave them the kava and went through the ceremony, after which we were offered to drink it.

As we paddled round Yanqueta and into the Blue Lagoon we saw the northern group of the Yasawas stretching ahead. The water became shallow, pale bright turquoise and a breeze blew from the east. I took out the chart and and chequed the route. Macatawalevu should be the island on our left, where Vuaki village is located.. Many of these villages are not easily seen from the sea since they're inland behind some trees. We could hardly make out some small boats under the palm trees of a beach and headed to it as long as we could till the paddles hit the ground and had to get out of the kayak and wade. It was just as deep as to let us pull the kayak to shore. A man came to us and took as to the chief. We waded for some longer and tied the kayak. Will it be alright if we leave the kayak on the water? I asked. – “It´s ebbing and it´ll be dry in minute,” he said and went up a hill along a path which was not visible from the sea. On our way to the top a man came to us. He was the priest to the mission school. They opened the gate and a wooden house and then a church in a vast lawn soon appeared in sight.

We left part of the gear  and went on through the mission and along a path into the village to the Chief´s bure. We had to take off our gloves, glasses and after crossing the limit of the Mission, our hats because they´re considered a sign of authority. There were children and women around. Lots of bures and some unfinished houses made of brick. Lots of Chickens, some goats and some hundreds of metres ahead, the plantation area fringed with palm trees.

We croached inside the Chief´s bure barefooted and sat down as near the entrance as we could while the Chief sat in the furthest corner and the guide halfway. After the introduction we were asked for the sevu-sevu (present) a half a kilo packet of kava, the root with narcotic effect they consume in these ceremonies. We had brought lots of these packets as gifts for the villages we expected to visit. We had kept them in the safest driest watertight compartment we had added to the bow. We witnessed a dialogue in their language and “Vinaka”,  probably the most common word in Fijian, could be heard now and then during the ceremony. Then the sevu-sevu was accepted, mixed with water and drank, first by the chief, then the guide and finally us. It´s rather tasteless and drank sparingly has no apparent effect. After that we were formally accepted as honour guests to the village.

We went back for, at last, a cold fresh water shower in the school mission!!. It was the first in 15 days. We had bathed and shampooed in the sea until now. Zori and I changed to clean dry clothes and sat comfortably at the priest´s table for tea and had a relaxing talk about the Mission, their teachers, nuns, villagers, the weather, Spain, the Canary Islands. On that (first) evening we went to church and met lots of villagers. They sat and prayed and sang beautifully. Sitting down barefooted is more than a rule for Fijians. Even at Mass during The Consagration they sit down as the greatest sign of respect. By 7:30 we had dinner and later on we spoke to Sister V***.

During the nearly 10 month preparations we had contacted these people by mail and they had asked for some first-aid medicines. We brought them and sent them previously by motorboat. Our kids had suggested that we should not only take primary use things but also some other “real gifts”. And so we did. Besides, our relations and friends wanted to help with some money. So we spoke to smiling Sister V*** to help us distribute the gifts we had brought with us among the children and families. “Easy”, she said. I´ll make a list of the families most in need and we can prepare the packets tomorrow. And so we did. The next day, in the afternoon we wrapped up the presents in newspaper and wrote the names on them. Late at night, after Mass and dinner we went out to the village. “Won´t it be too late?” I asked Sister V***, “and besides, it´s raining!!!” Zori asked – “It´s ok, just say “bongui na bonguí” at a bure´s entrance and wait’, said Vika – “Wait for what?” I asked – “For the reply”, she said.

Dogs barked as we approached the bures or walked by and we were a little scared of the unknown. “Say it”, she whispered – “Yes!”  “Bongui na Bongui!”... No reply. “Say it louder!” She insisted -... “Bongui na bongui!”... – “Bongui!” a voice said and suddenly a door opened.

Walking into a bure on that night was like walking into the first Christmas. Sitting on the floor, was an old man having his dinner in the dim candlelit inside of his home while a couple of children were lying behind on the floor. The woman led us to the light. We sat down and handed the presents. It was completely unexpected to them and the woman unwrapped the parcel slowly with a gentle smile. She now and then stopped to say “vinaka”... “vinaka vakalevu” (thank you, thank you very much). There were a few simple things for the children, for the older ones and for the adults, as suggested by our own kids. Then, we left them and went out to visit the next family in the list. We filmed only the first two families but then Zori said we should stop recording to respect their intimacy, though we have seen their faces on the video many times with great respect. You see, I find these people can do without most things we find essential. There is a sense of dignity in their lives, having very few things but apparently they don´t seem to need much more. Every day the children, spotlessly clean, washed in very little water wearing a shiny white smile on their face attend the school.

The night was quite dark and it suited our purpose of being unnoticed since we had brought things for the poorest and there were not enough things for each family in the village. We went back to our tent and the next night we completed the job.

One afternoon, after visiting the Chief we went back for tea and heard the children singing. It was a beautiful song in their language. We asked Sister V*** what that song was and said it was the song they usually sing at the end of the school day. First a girl starts singing, then the others join her and finally the boys. Sister Vika asked the children to sing it again for us and we could luckily film it. They sang softly but powerfully in the open field with no instruments whatsoever, but, to be honest, they didn´t need them in the least!!!

The next day they celebrated the annual village party. We were treated with great hospitality. Turtle soup tastes wonderful, somewhat like chicken, and their breadfruit and cakes finely decorated with flowers and sugar cane syrup were great. Women sit in a shelter and men in a different one, but Zori and I, being honour guests, went everywhere. Somebody had a radio cassette with batteries and played it loudly while women, particularly the old ones danced lively to the rythm and melody of their (folk?) music while most people clapped their hands. It was a great day and they raised some money to help the school.

B***, the Mission cook, a lovely witty elderly lady, made us stewed chicken and told us long funny stories about the school and work in the Mission. She baked sweet bread with the slightly smoked flavour and aroma open fire gives.

We spent one day with T*** and I***, two 9 year old kids. They took us along a path through the plantation. There was an ox, a couple of pigs, lots of goats in their fold and fruit trees. People went in an out to gather their food, mainly roots, fruit and casava. Women carried them in baskets, usually weaved by themselves.

The beach was on the southern side of the island. It was great to sunbathe and swim in its warm water and lye in the shade of the palm trees. The children proved themselves to be great guides. Fijians know their environment very well. “That is a banana tree”. “It´s boy, no fruit”. “That´s girl, it has fruit”. “This is the back of a crab” ... they explained. They took some papayas and peeled them with a sharp shell. Their conversation is as their parents´ “Do you have children?” “How old are they?” “What do you do?” “What´s your country like?”

On our return to the village a lady invited us to their home and showed us how she “polishes” the shells her family gather by putting them in boiling water several times. She gave us some to take home “Take more and give them to your family and friends”, she insisted, and we could some more.

The next day we went to M***´s for lunch. She had come late the night before to treat us to a meal and had brought a present for Zori, a blue sulu (a kind of long skirt) with sea animal patterns. Zori still uses it when we go to the beach.

It was lunch time and children in their school uniform would invariably say ‘bula!’ as we bumped into them on our way to M***´s. Sitting on the floor, in the usual Fijian style, we were welcomed and invited to sit. She had prepared lots of food for her family and us and we gave her a dessert Basi had prepared for the occasion. One of the eldest men in the village was also invited. I must say that in the unsophisticated, warm atmosphere of that inviting, smiling family with the sweet smell of the open fire in the cooking corner, we felt at home.

The children had then to go back to school and we lingered for a while, engaged in conversation, but... we had to go. M*** didn´t come with us. ‘ I felt so sorry to say goodbye to you two!’ she explained later on by letter.

Sister V***, several children and women went down the path to the shore were the kayak was waiting for us. It was late afternoon, by four and the tide was flooding We arranged the kayak, trimmed the water supplies and stuff, put on our gear and slowly, very slowly, paddled away, turning now and then to wave goodbye and headed to Turtle Island and Tavewa, but that´s another story.