Remember back when Brooke Shields made her career making appearance in "The Blue Lagoon?" Well, we just spent the last 10 days at the beautiful lagoon area where she swam and frolicked! Talk about paradise!!! You can't anchor in the actual lagoon, but we were just a dinghy ride away. Georgie, one of the locals we have come to know and love, was telling us that there was another Blue Lagoon movie made back in the 50's with a star named Jeanne Simmons. He laughed when I told him the only Gene Simmons I knew of was the bass player from Kiss! He said, "No, that man is bad - the lady, she was good." It will be fun to find the older version of the film and watch it - along with a refresher on the Brooke Shields version. It's easy to see "the American way" is not in Fiji, otherwise some entrepreneurial Fijian would be going boat to boat selling copies! Hey, maybe we could make a little extra $ that way?!!! :)

The name of the island is Nanuya Lailai. It has beautiful, long, white sandy beaches, a nice hiking trail up and over the island to the other side, great reefs to snorkel, and a resort that, although isn't very yachty friendly, is willing to serve us dinner and drinks (but we better not sit in any of their beach chairs!). How much better can it get?!! A dive shop here does "feed the shark" dives, but at $110. each, we decided we could pass - besides... is feeding sharks really such a great idea? What if you run out of food and they're still hungry?!!! There is a small family that lives right by the dive shop. Apparently they used to own most of the island, but have now leased it out to the resort, cruise ship operations, and backpacker inns. After offering them our sevusevu, we were invited to a lovo dinner ($15. FD each) at their home. It was wonderful! We went ashore in the early afternoon to see them dig out the hole in the ground they would use for cooking. It was then lined with palm fronds and filled with coconut husks and firewood. After the fire was set ablaze, they would later stack rocks on top. Tui and Va (the "chief" and his aunt) worked hard all afternoon to prepare the feast. Tui wove palm fronds around a freshly caught red snapper and then wove another basket to hold chunks of taro (like a very bland potato). Va ground and squeezed the milk from a coconut to use in a taro leaf dish they call spinach. She also baked fresh bread in a double boiler type of pan. The six of us (Morning Light, Destiny, and us) were then sent off to enjoy the rest of the afternoon while they continued working. When we went back at 6PM, everything looked beautiful. They had used bougainvillea and hibiscus flowers along with more palm leaves to decorate the table holding the food and the sitting area where we were to eat (blue tarps spread on the ground underneath a canopy). The pit had been completely covered and we all stood around it and watched as it was first raked clear of sand, then stripped of wet burlap bags (we were told these keep the sand out of the food and add the moisture for steaming) then more palm fronds. The fish, chicken, and taro baskets were then removed. Everything was laid out on the table with lots of fresh veggies and the feast was on! YUM!!! Everything was so good and Tui was quite the host ladling more and more onto our plates. I'm not normally a cooked spinach person, but the taro leaves quickly became my favorite. Glen loved the snapper dribbled with a coconut sauce Va had made. Needless to say, we waddled away from that meal! But... the night was not over. Tui led us down the beach to where he had erected a wooden structure that soon resembled a funeral pyre when he flipped in a glowing ember (minus the body, of course!). We can't remember seeing such a lovely bonfire and it was nice to just sit and gaze as Tui's two little nephews whooped and danced within the rain of sparks. It was hard not jumping up and pulling them away from the "danger," but they had obviously done this so many times, they knew better than me - besides, what's a little singed hair to a 3 year old boy?!!! When the fire had burned down, we strolled back down the beach to find that a kava bowl had been set up back at the house. Not wanting to seem rude, we joined the men who were sitting on the mats around the bowl and quickly learned the correct claps and oral responses as the kava was served up. I have written a little about kava before, but I should mention here that it is served to one person at a time in the same coconut shell cup (germaphobes beware!). Our kava host, Sammy, was kind enough to ask if we wanted a high tide or low tide in the cup before handing it to us. Kava is an acquired taste we are told, and many love it and drink it every night. It is not alcoholic, but rather makes one a little dreamy. My thoughts are that it tastes like dish water with a little mud thrown in, but hey... I didn't like beer or red wine at first either! It is a little strange to have your tongue and lips go numb though! :) (Am going to try to add a little picture of Tui with Samuel and Peter at our bonfire, but not sure if sailmail will handle it!)

The reason we stayed in one spot for so long was that the winds had come up and kept howling day after day. We kept making plans each evening to leave the next morning, but we'd awaken to that sound again and think, "Hmmm, we're well anchored in paradise, why stick our noses out where they might get slapped?!!" The anchorage is actually in the middle of several islands - giving it great protection from the swells that can be such a nuisance here in the Yasawas. In addition to exploring almost every square inch of Nanuya Lailai (including a very long walk all the way around at low tide), we visited Matacawalevu just across the way to buy fresh fruit and vegetables from a local farm. Georgie offered to take us in his panga type boat, and we were glad we went with him because we're not sure we would have found our way in and out of the mangrove jungle. The farm belongs to Georgie's cousins. It is so neat to see how close families are here. They truly live by the "it takes a village" philosophy. The farm can only be reached by boat at high tide, so we couldn't stay long, but it was great to get to see it and get some fresh lettuce, green beans, green onions, egg plant, cabbage, and papaya. There haven't been any stores along the way, so we were out of everything fresh!

Our attempt to explore another one of the surrounding islands was thwarted when, after beaching the dinghy, a man quickly came up to us and told us it was a private island and we were not allowed to walk on it. Well! If that's the way they feel! :) The island's name on the chart is Nanuya Levu, but it's nickname is "Turtle Island" - as in the playground of the rich and famous! Guess we were hoping Julia Roberts would invite us in for a drink, and I'm sure she would have if we hadn't been kicked off so quickly! Oh well!

************ I have been trying to get this written and sent for days, but keep getting sidetracked! Since beginning this, we have since left and come back to this gorgeous place. Will write about our adventures away from here next time - we get to go to shore and have a meal I don't have to cook tonight! Yeah!!! :)