BULA! October 1, 2014 - my 57th birthday

My morning reading: " Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The only thing easy about Fiji so far has been getting here. We arrived Friday after an uneventful 3-day passage - relieved and grateful, yet feeling somewhat righteously that we had earned one. Fiji, however, has proved thorny since. A combination of official red tape, a disappointing return to hot, wet weather, and a new set of quirky local customs all conspiring to anchor us here for five days.

Having researched , timed and managed our passage perfectly, we had arrived from Tonga , spot-on, early morning Friday with the expectation that we could complete our 4-department clearing-in process that day (as we have in other entry ports). Then we would re-provision here in Savusavu and quickly get back into these magnificent waters the next day....the clock is ticking with Rob leaving in a week. Ah, but as luck would have it, the Dawn Princess cruise ship dropped anchor right behind us minutes after we arrived and proceeded to consume the officials' time the rest of the day. No Go until at least Monday. So we sat all weekend in this dingy port, the stagnant, hot, sticky, buggy weather exacerbating my irritation and further challenging my patience insufficiency. Already missing Tongan's cool breezes, we used the weekend to acquaint ourselves with the town's main strip, the farmer's market and the marina scene; sweating every step of the way.

Waddayagunnado? When in doubt: eat, drink, and shop. As we (get this) move farther West towards the Far East, the breath of local dishes is expanding, adding Indian curries, Fijian preparations (Polynesian influenced) and Chinese mainstays to the pizza/pasta mix . The dhal soup is sublime; the beef stir-fry is the choice for budget-protein. We find the open-air market darker, denser and dirtier than the one in Neiafu, Tonga, but the selection of produce is better. After a night of sampling local options, we deem the fancier Fiji Premium beer (still cheap versus Polynesian pricing) worth the dollar differential. Even in the marina gift shop, I find trinkets inexpensive enough to lure me, while David and I - crossing the street over the muddy, sewerage-smelling drain pipe - splurge on some delicacies in an incongruously up-scale wine & specialties shop. We pretty much crushed the main drag.

Back on the boat - with surprisingly fast internet - we collectively continue to hack away at our Fiji familiarization campaign, as each country we enter offers its own cruising challenges. Here, that specifically entails getting a better handle on these navigationally exacting, poorly charted, reef-riddled waters and learning the nuances of honoring the customs in the remote villages we plan to visit. Serendipitously, as it happens time and again with cruising, a friendly yachtie stops by to introduce himself and becomes a floodgate of useful information. Steve is a fellow Leopard Catamaran owner and an American intensive care physician who has hopped around the world these last nine years with his young family living in Costa Rica, China and most recently, New Zealand. He and his bright wife (intensive care nurse) and precocious pre-teens (all fluent in Mandarin and Spanish) provided hours of details on their favorite Fijian anchorages helping us further refine our cruising itinerary. Additionally, Eric and David attended an essential chart review by local guru, Curly Cardswell, a white-bearded Kiwi character, transplanted here over 40 years ago who lives in the harbor on his houseboat and conducts vital seminars sharing his extensive knowledge of these local waters. For our part, Rob and I traipsed downtown to purchase kava root - Latin for " intoxicating pepper" - or YAQONA in Fijian. We have learned it is the single most important gift to bring to the out islands.

Our plan is to cruise the Lau Group of islands, a pristine area of turquoise waters, abundant reefs and traditional, welcoming villages, holding special intrigue in that this area has just this year been opened up to cruisers. As such, it should be the most unspoiled part of all of Fiji...and the most traditional. Unlike our western notion of public lands, the land and sea here is regarded as belonging to the village. So dropping your anchor in their bay, snorkeling, fishing and going ashore for hiking, etc. is equivalent to parking in their front yard, trampling through their property, playing in their backyard, and stealing their animals. Hence, all visitors to the islands are required to partake in the SEVUSEVU ceremony (where the YAQONA is shared) to seek acceptance into a Fijian village. SEVUSEVU is the central component of all life-cycle rituals, social gatherings, healing ceremonies and community meetings and, given its significance and reverence, everyone participating in the ceremony is expected to be dressed appropriately - in a SULU.

Rob and I head to the "Grog Shop" to purchase our kava root (which resembles gnarly, unruly kindling wood). An unfamiliar, pungent musky smell wafts out of the door as we approach. We work our way to the back of the dim shop as the locals around the pool table check us out. We haggle a bit on price, choose our grade and wait patiently as the Indian proprietor prepares our requested nine, one-third kilo parcels, each individually wrapped in the daily newspaper (the islanders like to read the current events) and affixed with yellow ribbon. We dinghy back with our bulky bundle to stow the stash in a water-safe (and hopefully scent-containing) bin on the boat . Next up: SULU shopping. Truth is, David has always longed to wear a skirt. Over the years he has often lamented the paradoxical dress code that puts sweltering, red-faced men in suits and ties and shivering, frail, thin-blooded women in skimpy shifts. He could not have been more eager to try on the SULUs. The boys all settle on similar versions of traditional pin-striped, ankle-length wrap-arounds. I too purchased a SULU JABA , the female counterpart which includes the matching top for the skirt bottom.

The last, long-awaited component needed before heading to the out islands was our official Cruising Permit, the document in the Fijian language requesting that the village Chief accept our request to visit their island. We ultimately received that yesterday - Day 5 of "patiently" waiting. This morning, Fiji Day 6, we finally set off to our first remote island. It is my 57th birthday and instead of a sundowner, I will probably be quite intoxicated on YAQONA by five. We have heard that kava root is mildly narcotic and makes one numb so I suspect that trying to be duly respectful while uncomfortably buzzed could be interesting. I hope I do not embarrass myself and, especially, that I do not spill any on my lovely new, Fijian blue, SULU JABA.