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Until last week this had been a very "skinny"
fishing year but suddenly we got our mojo back. This is the first of
3 large Mahi Mahi we caught off the back of the boat one
morning. |
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We hauled these two in just after we had taken
the photo of Lucy with the first one. Enough now to fill the
freezer, pass some on to cruising friends and give a whole fish to the
village we were on our way to visit..... a sure way of being made very
welcome!! |
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We hadn't been anchored in Toba Basaga Bay for
long before these ladies came out on their bilibili to welcome us.
We invited them aboard for tea and
biscuits. |
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The next visitors were some of the young guys
who wanted to invite us to watch the Sevens Rugby tournament being held at
the school the next day. Here is Jamie with Grahame from Adamite
towing them back to the
village. |
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We went ashore to make "Sevusevu". This
is the handing over of the traditional gift of Kava roots which they
use to make their "grog". Normally you hand it over to the chief and
he makes a formal welcoming speech giving us permission to anchor, fish
and come ashore. On this occasion the chief and most of the senior
men were away for the day so the young men undertook the ceremony which
was a bit more relaxed than usual. They were pretty chuffed with the
fish as well as the Kava and here we are just about to share a couple
of rounds of grog from the communal
bowl! |
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Early next morning, the teams from the other
villages started to arrive for the rugby tournament. They were
clearly fired up for a big day out and we were amazed this long boat
managed to stay
afloat! |
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This is the team from our host
village. These were some of the same young guys who had come out to
Bamboozle the day before and had welcomed us at the Kava
ceremony. |
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It turned out to be a big event with 12 teams
from 7 villages. Each village put up there own awning and there was
a bit of a squabble as to who we were to sit with! We very much
seemed to be considered the guests of honour and everyone wanted to shake
our hand and say "bula" to
us! |
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Fijians adore their rugby and are
probably even more passionate than the Welsh or Kiwis about it. We
loved the environmentally friendly flag being used by the linesman
and if you look closely you will see that the referee hasn't got any boots
on...... he has probably lent them to a
player. |
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The ladies prepared a proper lunch which they
insisted we shared with them. No over-priced pies or
pasties here but a full plate of fish, vegetables, samosas, taro
and other local delicacies. The only thing missing were knives or
forks, so we ate Fijian style with our
fingers!!
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Everyone enjoys having their photo
taken.......... |
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....... and seeing themselves in the
pictures. You can never take a photo here without sharing
it. |
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I was surprised to find this Fijian gentleman
wearing his England strip. We couldn't ascertain where he had got it from
but I think he had his eye on my England Rugby cap as
well! |
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The rugby was high quality and very
competitive and the support was equally vocal and passionate. An
amazing day out and a real highlight for us. It was pure good
fortune we happened to be visiting on such a great
day. |
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We invited this family, who had particularly
helped to look after us, back on board to visit. They hadn't been on
a yacht before and were amazed by Bamboozle and that she (and
we!) had come from so
far. |
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