Off On A Lark!

We arrived in the anchorage at 3:15 pm after sailing on without our catch of the day. JuJu4, a French boat we've seen several times along the way was already in the anchorage and Tuxedo Junction arrived not far behind. The entry through the reef is marked by 5 steel poles of which only three remain. One of those is broken off just above the water (depending on the tide). The surrounding reef extends for roughly 8.5 nm east to west and 2nm at it widest point. O'ua lies towards the western end and Lekeleka which is uninhabited at the far eastern end. When you look from the sea it's hard to imagine that the space in between is impassible. There is no beach, only reef and muck when the tide is out.

By late afternoon a local boat with two young men Kafoa and Perea and 2 younger boys Tevita and Toetu'u had paddled out to us. They brought bananas and were interested in what we might have to trade. Smokes, food, fishing gear ??? Being unsure of what we had in our trading bin we promised to come in at 10am the following morning. Along with Pete and Debbie off we went with flip flops, rice, m&m's for the kids and a t-shirt or two. Most of the family met us at the beach and we followed them up a steep dirt path to their home. Yikes! They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Look at O'ua in our photo gallery.

We traded for papaya and bananas, then set off on a walk down the main road of the village with kids joining in. The rest of the village seemed a bit better but I was still taken back by the conditions. I would have asked a million questions, but with the exception of a woman at the church very little English seemed to be spoken. Anything they didn't understand was received with a smile and a YES!

On our way back to the dinghy we were given fresh cut sugar cane which I haven't had since I was a little kid. I'm hopeful that the family we met wasn't a good example of life on the island. The poverty, the look of sadness in the mother's eyes and the tough attitude displayed by the men and boys that you see in the photos was unsettling to all of us.