We've been pretty busy these past 10 days in Denarau, with the priority being purchasing and setting up a network of laptops and accessories that will be heading for Fulaga's school soon. It took several days to work out the kinks and get everything talking to each other - printers, laptops, projectors, etc. And included two of the laptops having to go back to the store so the correct drivers could be loaded on them. We finally got it all up and talking by Tuesday, then took the rest of the day to repackage it all again!

In the mean time, we did some goofing off on the side as well. We had David, Jui, their son 'Sonny', and friend Marta over for dinner after a full afternoon of shopping last week.

Thumbs Up after a good dinner!

Over the course of several hours, they took us to every computer store, electronics store, fabric store (for a projector screen John wants to make for the school), and every other store in between in Nadi while we bargained and shopped for the best deals. They were very patient and persistent in helping us find the right stuff! So we had them back at the boat for dinner. David and Jui are both from Fulaga where all the equipment will be going. Jui is the daughter of our village family, Tau and Joe. So while we were preparing dinner we showed them the Fulaga movie I had made. They loved it! And asked to watch over several times! They loved seeing everyone from back home, and they sang along with the church music I had recorded for the background.

And a thumbs up for the movie!
We also found that Jui has a lot of spunk - just like her Mom! Great sense of humor. It was a really fun evening.

We spent one evening driving around the canals of Denarau in the dingy looking at all the beautiful homes. I think you would like this area Walt!

Some beautiful homes along the canals of Denarau Island.


Another beautiful house along the canal.


It kind of reminds me of our floating home back in Portland - except we don't have as many palm trees!

We also checked out the Bula Festival on Saturday. There were a fair number of rides (none of which I was brave enough to chance), surrounded by a variety of food stalls. The Bula Fest is the biggest event on the west side of the island. I think everyone goes at least one of the 9 days.

Just standing next to this thing makes me nervous!


These guys are working the crowd.

Today we fueled up and gave Orcinius a quick bath at the dock. This is sugarcane harvesting season and along with that comes all the burning of the sugarcane fields before they cut down the cane. It makes for one big mess on your boat with all the ash in the air.

Sugarcane fields on fire.


And the dirty mess it leaves on the boat.

We finally pulled out around 1pm heading north around the island. We are in a quiet bay around the corner from, and a few miles north of Lautoka. We will take our time these next few days making our way across the north side of Viti Levu, then probably hang out near Rakiraki until we can find a good weather window to make it the rest of the way down to Suva. The passage from Rakiraki to Suva is straight into the prevailing winds - so we are hoping for a break in the winds sometime mid-next week.

All is well aboard Orcinius tonight! And that is all for tonight!

Lisa