The next morning at around 9:30, along with our friends Colin and Anna from Ithaka, we headed ashore to the village. We were met on the shore by a large number of islanders with greetings of Bula (the traditional Fijian greeting). Smiling children waded into the water, grabbed us by the hands and led us up the path with their families up into the heart of the village. As it was Sunday we planned to attend the church service. This is when things started to go a bit sideways!

We sat on a bench waiting for further direction, while villagers carried on busily around us. After a while we were informed that the service was being held in another village, a short boat ride away. So we climbed into our dingy with the chief of the village at our bow, and followed three larger villager boats headed for the service. The trip followed the bay to it’s end and continued through a cut in the mangrove forest (this path is not shown on any charts!) After exiting the mangroves and a short trip over a shallow coral reef we arrive at a small inlet, a short walk from Raviravi (the second village). Just as we arrived our outboard died! (See previous blogs about my love/hate relationship with the same). Not worried, we knew we could get a tow back to Navatu with one of the larger boats that made the trip.