No reports for a few days, and we apologize, but we have been busy. Since we last wrote, we have made our way up through the Yasawas, and are now at anchor in the famous Blue Lagoon. Brooke Shields is not here. She has left the building. ..and that's a good thing.

So, has it been anything interesting since we last wrote. We think so. We had some bad weather forecast to come in while we were at Navandra, so we jumped up to Waya. In the meantime, we had re-established contact with Jenny. Jan and Eli have their daughter and her girl friends on board along with their boyfriends, and have been traveling around sightseeing. They were another 10 miles north, at the pass where you can swim with the giant manta rays. The deal is that the dive shop there takes you into the pass when the mantas are passing through. Since the mantas are huge, as big as a 20 ft. wing span, they are easy to see. The boat driver runs you up in front of the rays, you jump out with your mask and snorkel, and voila! You have a manta show.

Jan was quite sure that the anchorage there would provide good shelter from the blow, and we didn't like the look of Waya, so north we went. Good thing, too. It did blow. That night, on the radio, we over heard friends in Waya having gusts of 40. We had mid twenties and a very beautiful anchorage. After sheltering there for a few days, we traveled further north to Naviti yesterday.

There is a little village there where we went ashore and had our first "sevu sevu" experience. This is where you meet the chief, to whom you gave your gift of kava. In turn for this, you were given free allowance to be in the village, walk around, meet people, etc. I think in the old days, it was really quite cool. But yachties are no longer a rare and special experience for these people - we are everywhere, and we believe that the Sevu sevu is now just a hassle for the poor chief. Where once upon a time (as we have all read about in the books and looked quite forward to) one would share a little kava drink with said chief. Now, you present your gift of kava, chief says thank you and presents you with the "the guest book". On the first page of the "guest book" it is explained that you are a welcomed guest and that a village resolution was passed and that it was decided that welcomed guests should also pay a suggested $5 per each person on your yacht to the village fund. After the "guest book", then came out the "handicrafts". Sigh, yes there were a few items that the villagers made, (and we did buy a nice tapa) but it is so disappointing to see that so much of what passes for village "handicrafts" is really most likely originating in China. It really is fine, and we don't mind contributing to the Xmas fund (we gave more than they asked), but the romance of the past is just that. A bygone time gone by.

The high point of the village visit was that Jan had met a woman whose brother invited us to a local feast of food all prepared in the Lavo, and oven which is a hole in the ground lined with stones. The menu was pig, chicken, fish, kasavah, some really yummy leaves stuffed and rolled up like stuffed cabbage leaves, and papaya. The price was negotiated to be $20 each Fijian, which is about $10 US. Pretty wonderful. Although our primary interest was cultural exchange, the food was really superb. The man was quite talented and did a great job. And speaking of cultural exchange, it truly was interesting. There were 10 of us total, and we sat on a big woven mat on the floor with plates (no utensils - we would eat with fingers the Fijian way) all spread in front of us while our hosts - and there were at least 10 including a few children - dished out our feast. They then laughed and visited and watched us eat.

I had read about this custom and always thought that I would be very uncomfortable eating in front of people who were serving me. That they should join me. But, it was very comfortable. It is their custom and we really were their "entertainment" for the evening. They were happy. We were happy, and the woman who made the little leave rolls was especially happy when Elisabeth and I had seconds of the little rolled stuffed leaves.

Elisabeth and I went ashore before this dinner to walk around and meet people. At one point, we found ourselves guests sitting in the living room of a local woman and her family. We then found out that there is a bit of a competition between villagers who meet the yachties first and who get to cook them dinner (make a little money). This woman was asking "how much are they charging you?" "Who is doing the cooking, etc." Well, what can we expect? We are all so very wealthy compared to them, and I cannot blame them for being motivated to make some income off of our visit. But it works out to be symbiotic too. A couple of guys came by wanting to sell a bunch of bananas they had just picked. We didn't have any small denominations of cash, but we offered to trade a couple of US ball caps. Done deal! Soon our new friends were sporting around in their smart looking caps, we had some nice bananas, and the over-loaded Proximity had just a little less on board.

While at Manta, a local young man named Aaron swam up with fish he had just speared tied around his waist. Would we like to buy some fish? Normally, we would have loved to. Fresh fish. Mmmmm. But in reef country, there is the ever present chance of ciguatera, a disease that is carried by reef fish, and which has some pretty nasty effects on people. So, we thanked him, but refused the fish. But then we thought...Aaron is a good diver, we were getting ready to clean out bottom, and the deep keel is the hardest part for us without putting on the scuba. "Aaron, would you like to help us clean the bottom? How does $20 sound?" Well, it sounded great, the guys in Musket get $3 or so per hour. Good for Aaron, good for us. Good experiences all. We do like the Fijians very much. They are truly nice people, and if it works out, we may go by Aaron's village next Saturday and watch him play rugby. The little girl in the village, who came up to me grabbed my hand then ran away squealing with delight when I gave a little squeeze back totally warmed my heart. And the clean bottom? We figure it is worth a knot.

Proximity always impresses us. Typically, we have been motoring while traveling because the navigation is so tricky and critical. Today, we encountered wind that was dropping our speed down to 2.8 knots. This was just unacceptable, we thought, so we rolled out the headsail. Quite promptly, we went from the dreaded 2.8 up to 7.1 knots. Proximity is not a motor boat. She is a sailor. Best Always!