sv evi

We left the Bay of Islands in Vanua Balavu last Wednesday, together with SV Pangea, heading towards Fulaga in the Southern Lau group. We hoped to arrive the following day in Fulaga, but the wind was too strong (20+ knots) and from the wrong direction (on the nose) so we decided to stop in Lakeba. We anchored outside the reef, at an “indent in the reef” at 8 am on Thursday. Taylor took all the kids to the beach while Brad, Riki and I took naps to recover from the overnighter.

The beach in Lakeba was stunning, and we were the only ones there.

We snorkeled the reef and it was fantastic! We saw white-tipped reef sharks and silver sharks and tons of fish & coral. All three kids are learning to clear their ears and dive down.

Riki went spearfishing with Taylor & Brad and had a scary time trying to fend off a shark while swimming back to the dinghy with his fish and speargun.

We stayed in Lakeba for 5 days, playing on the beach, snorkeling, spearfishing, and trading off nights hosting each other for dinner. When it was time to say goodbye, it was so hard. We all hugged and cried and hugged again. Taylor gave us each presents. Taylor, Brad & Rex carried on sailing south to Fulaga, and will fly to Hawaii for a visit with Brad’s family. When they return to Fiji, we will be in Vanuatu. We decided to sail back towards Savusavu instead of carrying on to Fulaga because our friends from Tacoma are arriving soon-ish, but mainly because I felt we were running out of food.

Those who know me well know that I am motivated by food…well, I love eating, and I have a fear of running out of food. On all backpacking, camping, and climbing trips I am known for the amount of food leftover after the trip. As the chef on board, all day long when the kids say, “I’m hungry”, it’s my job to feed them. At this point, we were down to 4 eggs, 1 apple, 3 carrots, a few onions and carrots, some potatoes, and canned beans, 5 packages of ramen, pasta, dried lentils, flour…I had been baking bread and making yogurt every other day for a week, and I just didn’t see how I could squeeze another week’s worth of eating for 5 people from the stores I had on board. I am still learning about provisioning in places where grocery stores are few and far between!