sv evi

My mom came for a two week visit. I learned how you say grandma in Fijian: bubu (pronounced boombu). It sure was nice having her on board. She played with Wade non-stop, helped with cooking, and even washed diapers and clothes! I was sad after she left. She’s special. Wade was sad too. He got up in the morning and went to the aft cabin to look for her. They spent many hours playing together in that cabin, even underway. Mom invented lots of games, and gave him a good dose of screen time by showing him videos of himself on her I-Phone. 🙂

For the first week of mom’s visit we had to stay in Savu Savu because of Tropical Cyclone Pam. Heavy rains and winds to 40 knots were predicted for Fiji; in reality, we had several days of intermittent rain and no wind to speak of. We were lucky–Vanuatu got hammered, and many boats we know are doing some relief work there this summer. In Savu Savu mom got iced coffees at the Copra Shed and babysat Wade a lot. 🙂 Riki and I got to go to yoga three times, which was a real treat.

After the weather improved, we set sail for Vanua Balavu, in the northern Lau group. It is about 120 miles east of Savu Savu. We sailed the whole way there in 24 hours. Mom did great on the passage–she didn’t get seasick at all.

Eating feijoada, a favorite passage meal.

In Vanua Balavu we spent most of our time in the Bay of Islands. We snorkeled a beautiful bommie and did a dinghy tour on a rainy day.

We also visited the village of Dalakoni for the sevu sevu ceremony, where we learned we were the first boat in 2015 to visit Vanua Balavu.

Then a 27 hour sail back to Savu Savu, except this time it was motor sailing, into the wind. It was pretty rough with lumpy confused seas (wind against current) as we exited the reef. Riki pulled a hero move and stood watch from 7:30 pm to 4:30 am. As soon as he laid down to sleep, the engine died. We were about ½ mile off the south end of Taviuni Island at that point. He bled the air out of the fuel and the engine started up again…phew!

Behold the salty fisherwoman! 🙂

Back in Savu Savu my friend Anjana came out to Guava for a visit with her family. Anjana’s mom Shishila is as sweet as they come. She spoiled me completely when I went to visit Anjana in Labasa.