sv evi

Exodus 35 Moses assembled all the congregation of the people of Israel and said to them, “These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do. 2 Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.“

Well…now that seems a little harsh and I doubt the local villagers wished the word of the Lord upon Jason and I tho they did greet us with a bit of a furrowed brow concerning our Sunday arrival.

Bodhran and Guava arrived at the remote island of Kia located off the remote northern coast of Vanua Levu…yep, this place is remote.  We managed to get to shore as church was beginning.  The locals suggested we attend church and after a lengthy service and quick sevusevu we returned to the boats escaping fire and brimstone.  Apparently the meter long Barracuda that I caught and presented to the chief was a violation of the Sabbath as well.  Oops.

The following day when we returned to hike around the island, we were again met with….indifference…until we hiked over the ridge to the next village.  Hallelujah…. Ligau Village, the keeper of the trail, welcomed us with open arms.  Sam lead us on a hike..actually it was mostly a extremely steep, bush-whacking scramble to the summit which rewarded us with panoramic views of the little island and our vessels anchored in the distance.

Exercise

Hike

Sam Silhouette

Summit Jason & Sam

Summit Riki & Sam

The remainder of the week at Kia was spent with the locals.  During the days, if Jason and I did not go to shore quick enough, the islanders came out to the boats.  There was a constant parade of visitors…and what a grateful audience.  Like most Fijians from the more remote islands and villages, they had rarely seen a boat anchored off their beach and never been aboard.  Well…the Bodhran and Guava Jelly Traveling Circus was open for business.  Arriving in groups of 2 to 10 we would have them aboard for tea, sodas and snacks while answering questions about every part of the boats.  The stove, fridge, bed, compass and….ohhhh…the electronics….a highlight.  Even turning on the depth sounder and displaying the number on the screen was fascinating to them.  I often tried to focus their direction to the various noise-makers onboard and incite an impromptu ‘jam session’.  Guitars, harmonicas, bongos, shakers, whistles, flutes…..usually a cacophonous mix tho occasionally a gem of a guitar player would emerge.

Local Kids

Locals

Riki Kava Dive

Daysail Crew Save’ & Jason..Kia in Background

When we were not entertaining guests aboard the vessels we spent most of the time interacting with the locals onshore.  Usually this meant sitting around the kava bowl and strumming guitars, sharing stories, laughing and singing.  During our stay a large vessel full of Fijian govt. ministers (from the current military coup ‘cabinet’ ) anchored off Kia.  The entire island population gathered for a sit-down with the officials to discuss various projects ranging from water catchment, trail maintenance, generators and solar energy.  Far from paralleling our western forums or town hall meetings, this had more of the feel of a picnic or even luau with the men meeting under a large, open thatched roof assembly area and the women preparing food in an adjoining area.  Jason and I were strongly encouraged to attend tho it felt a little intrusive.  

Picnic

Preparations of hand woven mats

Jason loves Kava

Pounding Yagona Root into Powdered Kava

Ministers Vessel

Gov’t Meeting

Sweet Locals

Traveling with the ministers was a reporter from the national newspaper, The Fiji Times.  He seemed interested in the story of our little yachts and had plenty of questions.  We obliged his request for an interview and a couple of photos too and the following week we were on page 3 of the paper with a large, goofy photo and a grossly misquoted interview.   

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=216678

Kia Sunset

Yes…I realize the posting of this blog entry is very tardy.  So much has evolved since this trip to Kia.  I am currently anchored in the Yasawa Group, the northwestern most chain of beautiful islands after a short stay in Vuda Pt. on Viti Levu.  After 6 months on the US Winter Friends and Family Tour I returned to Guava…she had sat in the water while Cyclone Evan, a category 4 hurricane passed directly over..twice.  Guava and Bodhran sustained minimal damage and after a week on the hard we were off to the islands.  I will report more on this years adventures soon.