LTY UPDATE: Days#20-23 Tuesday, June 10-14, 2011 - Majuro to Fiji
LTY UPDATE: Days#20-23 Tuesday, June 10-14, 2011 - Majuro to Fiji
Day#23 –Tuesday, June 14, 2011 LTY time: 07:00 (UTC +12) = 21:00 UTC
Location: anchored at village of Oinafa on NE end of Rotuma Island, Fiji
Position: 12 29.233 S, 177 07.211 E (cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)
SOG: (Speed Over Ground) 0 anchored
Wind: 3-5 knots ESE True
Seas/Swell: flat inside harbour
Air temp: 82.5F 32.2 C
Sea temp: 85.5 F 29.7 C
Humidity: 73%
Barometer: 1015mm DAYS #20-23: Bulla bulla!! (Common greeting and hello, goodbye & welcome in Fijian)
We are still in that small speck of land known as Rotuma which sits all by itself (well a small cluster of islands) about 300nm due north of the northernmost part of Fiji. They recently (May 13th) had Rotuma day here which his when they transferred from being a part of Great Britain to be part of Fiji. On Saturday, the day after we arrived we watched as almost one hundred men, women and children were taken out to a freighter from Tuvalu which was anchored just offshore. This was a freighter that we had seen at the main docks in Funafuti when we were there and they left the day before we did and then we saw them again when we arrived here in Rotuma. For some fun Linda and I came up with lots of stories as to what was going on, who these people were, where they were going and then when we went ashore the next day we asked some of the locals and these were people from Tuvalu who had come at the invitation of the Rotumans to help celebrate Rotuma day. They had stayed for almost a month, living with different families here (no hotels or any other such provisions here) and now the Rotumans have been invited by the people of Tuvalu to come up there next year to help celebrate their day of independence which I think is in April. Yesterday was a holiday here in Rotuma as, like Canada and other Commonwealth countries they celebrate the Queen’s (Elizabeth) Birthday although we are unsure why we have it on May 24th in Canada and here is June 13th. We looked it up in our offline version of Wikipedia and turns out that “Queen’s Birthday” is a general term for a holiday celebrated by 53 commonwealth countries on a date of their choosing. In Canada it is also known as “Victoria Day” as it was originally for Queen Victoria’s birthday who was born May 24, 1819 and now also includes (by proclamation) the current Queen Elizabeth II although she was born April 21st, 1926. So there is a bit of your history lesson for today. You (and we) never know just what you will learn following the adventures of the good ship Learnativity!! As for what else we’ve been doing I’ll keep it short as I can as it will just be an exercise in frustration for me to try to capture in words this magical place. In short we have simply been trying to appreciate and enjoy the beauty we are surrounded by. We are both working hard on our skills of living in life’s moments which for us is all about “being present in the present” and “experiencing our experiences”. Surrounding oneself in beauty has long been a way of life for me and this location and situation Linda and I have put ourselves in is helping us with that greatly as it is ALL beautiful here; the people, the scenery and nature on land, sea and air, sounds, sights and smells. We almost literally see ourselves as sponges and immerse ourselves in the various forms of this beauty such that we can soak it all in, enjoy and appreciate it to the maximum. It is both humbling and exciting; excites ALL the senses. One moment it is all vividly real and literal as we snorkel over vast coral reefs filled with life of all shapes and sizes or walk along dirt roads wedged between verdant jungle growth which you can almost watch growing as it constantly tries to reclaim the roadway. The next life is is all very visceral to the point of spiritual as we sit on the aft deck for hours, being present as each day starts and ends with the rising and setting of the sun and otherwise watching Mother Nature seeming to almost show off to an extreme degree with rainbows throughout the day to add and multiply all her other artistry. And so our days have consisted of hours of snorkelling over different reefs or just jumping into these crystal clear turquoise waters to cool off at random intervals throughout the day and spotting sting rays flying by below us. Yesterday we had a very busy day starting with a leisurely 10km walk along the one lane dirt road that stretches along the north side of the island from our western end in the village of Oinafa to the town of Ahao near the eastern end where all the government buildings are located including a Post Office, general store, schools and the like. Just as we were strolling into Ahao yesterday before noon an elderly lady in her beautiful flowered yard beckoned to us and asked us to come in and sit down for a while, which we did and had a lovely conversation with her, her sister and their granddaughter. They have several properties here on Rotuma as well as a home near the big town and capital of on the main island of Viti Levu in Fiji. After a great conversation with them and getting lots of our questions answered we started to head back to Learnativity in Oinafa and just and within minutes a small pickup truck from the telecommunications company stopped to chat with us and offered to take us the whole way. There were two men and their young children, a boy and a girl and they too answered lots more of our questions about life here, history and how things all work. They were both from the main part of Fiji and transferred here for the past two years putting in more telephone and telecommunications equipment and lines. We noted that the lines were all run underground and all their signals come in via satellite. Internet is becoming more available but interestingly we saw no cell phones either here or in Tuvalu which his unusual in our travels to such remote locations. I might add that this truck coming along was very fortuitous as during our 10k walk in the morning we had been passed by a total of two mopeds! It was a holiday after all, although there are very few motor vehicles of any type here and part of this place’s charm is the incredible tranquility and the serenity that seems to just ooze from every part of it and seeps into your mind and body with the most wonderfully calming and joyous effects. Starting to see why I found Fiji to be such an incredible experience last year and why I ended up staying here till the very last minute before high tailing it north to the Marshalls as cyclone season approached last October? And now you and Linda can see why we have come back and will likely stay for at least several months here again this year. Yesterday morning had started out rather gray and rainy for a rare change and we had some good showers to cool us off on the 10k walk into town, but by 10am it was back to picture perfect blue skies and so when we got back to Learnativity just about noon the waters were calling our names VERY loudly and we had a quick bite of some cheese and crackers and juice for some energy and headed off to snorkel over some new coral reefs to the NE of us that connect this main island of Rotuma to a small rocky island we call “goat island” as they apparently walk goats out there at the annual lowest tide. The day before we had taken Ruby along in the dingy over to Goat Island and setup camp on the small beach there for a picnic and more snorkelling as we watched Learnativity floating quietly at anchor across from us and again immersed ourselves in all this beauty did our best to just absorb it all and appreciate how special this all is and how privileged we are to be a part of it. Today is Tuesday and the officials are coming by sometime this morning to issue us with our inter Fiji cruising permits and papers. Fiji is so spread out and has so many islands (322 islands, 106 permanently inhabited and 522 islets) that they require us to check in and out of the four main towns and Ports of Entry (Rotuma is the 5th) as we cruise within Fiji. We think we will likely leave here today or tomorrow, though it won’t be easy, and start making our way pretty much due south to the main islands of Fiji. We’ll let the wind determine which pass we enter the reefs through and which Port of Entry we go to. Ideally the winds are east and north enough to let us get over to the eastern half of Fiji and if so we’ll head for Savusavu on the south west side of the big island of Vanua Levu. If we can’t get that far east then we’ll either head for Levuka or Lautoka (east & west sides of Vanua Levu respectively) to check in, explore one of those more populated areas, get restocked with provisions and then head out to explore more of those 216 uninhabited islands which are our favourites. Stay tuned to see how it all plays out as you watch the bouncing red dot on your maps as you plug in the various latitude and longitude numbers in each of our posts giving you our location at any given time. Admiral Linda, Captain Wayne & Commodore Ruby (aka the Wonderdog) Immersed in beauty,
Aboard the Good Ship Learnativity
Exploring the world one nautical smile at a time.
Day#23 –Tuesday, June 14, 2011 LTY time: 07:00 (UTC +12) = 21:00 UTC
Location: anchored at village of Oinafa on NE end of Rotuma Island, Fiji
Position: 12 29.233 S, 177 07.211 E (cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)
SOG: (Speed Over Ground) 0 anchored
Wind: 3-5 knots ESE True
Seas/Swell: flat inside harbour
Air temp: 82.5F 32.2 C
Sea temp: 85.5 F 29.7 C
Humidity: 73%
Barometer: 1015mm DAYS #20-23: Bulla bulla!! (Common greeting and hello, goodbye & welcome in Fijian)
We are still in that small speck of land known as Rotuma which sits all by itself (well a small cluster of islands) about 300nm due north of the northernmost part of Fiji. They recently (May 13th) had Rotuma day here which his when they transferred from being a part of Great Britain to be part of Fiji. On Saturday, the day after we arrived we watched as almost one hundred men, women and children were taken out to a freighter from Tuvalu which was anchored just offshore. This was a freighter that we had seen at the main docks in Funafuti when we were there and they left the day before we did and then we saw them again when we arrived here in Rotuma. For some fun Linda and I came up with lots of stories as to what was going on, who these people were, where they were going and then when we went ashore the next day we asked some of the locals and these were people from Tuvalu who had come at the invitation of the Rotumans to help celebrate Rotuma day. They had stayed for almost a month, living with different families here (no hotels or any other such provisions here) and now the Rotumans have been invited by the people of Tuvalu to come up there next year to help celebrate their day of independence which I think is in April. Yesterday was a holiday here in Rotuma as, like Canada and other Commonwealth countries they celebrate the Queen’s (Elizabeth) Birthday although we are unsure why we have it on May 24th in Canada and here is June 13th. We looked it up in our offline version of Wikipedia and turns out that “Queen’s Birthday” is a general term for a holiday celebrated by 53 commonwealth countries on a date of their choosing. In Canada it is also known as “Victoria Day” as it was originally for Queen Victoria’s birthday who was born May 24, 1819 and now also includes (by proclamation) the current Queen Elizabeth II although she was born April 21st, 1926. So there is a bit of your history lesson for today. You (and we) never know just what you will learn following the adventures of the good ship Learnativity!! As for what else we’ve been doing I’ll keep it short as I can as it will just be an exercise in frustration for me to try to capture in words this magical place. In short we have simply been trying to appreciate and enjoy the beauty we are surrounded by. We are both working hard on our skills of living in life’s moments which for us is all about “being present in the present” and “experiencing our experiences”. Surrounding oneself in beauty has long been a way of life for me and this location and situation Linda and I have put ourselves in is helping us with that greatly as it is ALL beautiful here; the people, the scenery and nature on land, sea and air, sounds, sights and smells. We almost literally see ourselves as sponges and immerse ourselves in the various forms of this beauty such that we can soak it all in, enjoy and appreciate it to the maximum. It is both humbling and exciting; excites ALL the senses. One moment it is all vividly real and literal as we snorkel over vast coral reefs filled with life of all shapes and sizes or walk along dirt roads wedged between verdant jungle growth which you can almost watch growing as it constantly tries to reclaim the roadway. The next life is is all very visceral to the point of spiritual as we sit on the aft deck for hours, being present as each day starts and ends with the rising and setting of the sun and otherwise watching Mother Nature seeming to almost show off to an extreme degree with rainbows throughout the day to add and multiply all her other artistry. And so our days have consisted of hours of snorkelling over different reefs or just jumping into these crystal clear turquoise waters to cool off at random intervals throughout the day and spotting sting rays flying by below us. Yesterday we had a very busy day starting with a leisurely 10km walk along the one lane dirt road that stretches along the north side of the island from our western end in the village of Oinafa to the town of Ahao near the eastern end where all the government buildings are located including a Post Office, general store, schools and the like. Just as we were strolling into Ahao yesterday before noon an elderly lady in her beautiful flowered yard beckoned to us and asked us to come in and sit down for a while, which we did and had a lovely conversation with her, her sister and their granddaughter. They have several properties here on Rotuma as well as a home near the big town and capital of on the main island of Viti Levu in Fiji. After a great conversation with them and getting lots of our questions answered we started to head back to Learnativity in Oinafa and just and within minutes a small pickup truck from the telecommunications company stopped to chat with us and offered to take us the whole way. There were two men and their young children, a boy and a girl and they too answered lots more of our questions about life here, history and how things all work. They were both from the main part of Fiji and transferred here for the past two years putting in more telephone and telecommunications equipment and lines. We noted that the lines were all run underground and all their signals come in via satellite. Internet is becoming more available but interestingly we saw no cell phones either here or in Tuvalu which his unusual in our travels to such remote locations. I might add that this truck coming along was very fortuitous as during our 10k walk in the morning we had been passed by a total of two mopeds! It was a holiday after all, although there are very few motor vehicles of any type here and part of this place’s charm is the incredible tranquility and the serenity that seems to just ooze from every part of it and seeps into your mind and body with the most wonderfully calming and joyous effects. Starting to see why I found Fiji to be such an incredible experience last year and why I ended up staying here till the very last minute before high tailing it north to the Marshalls as cyclone season approached last October? And now you and Linda can see why we have come back and will likely stay for at least several months here again this year. Yesterday morning had started out rather gray and rainy for a rare change and we had some good showers to cool us off on the 10k walk into town, but by 10am it was back to picture perfect blue skies and so when we got back to Learnativity just about noon the waters were calling our names VERY loudly and we had a quick bite of some cheese and crackers and juice for some energy and headed off to snorkel over some new coral reefs to the NE of us that connect this main island of Rotuma to a small rocky island we call “goat island” as they apparently walk goats out there at the annual lowest tide. The day before we had taken Ruby along in the dingy over to Goat Island and setup camp on the small beach there for a picnic and more snorkelling as we watched Learnativity floating quietly at anchor across from us and again immersed ourselves in all this beauty did our best to just absorb it all and appreciate how special this all is and how privileged we are to be a part of it. Today is Tuesday and the officials are coming by sometime this morning to issue us with our inter Fiji cruising permits and papers. Fiji is so spread out and has so many islands (322 islands, 106 permanently inhabited and 522 islets) that they require us to check in and out of the four main towns and Ports of Entry (Rotuma is the 5th) as we cruise within Fiji. We think we will likely leave here today or tomorrow, though it won’t be easy, and start making our way pretty much due south to the main islands of Fiji. We’ll let the wind determine which pass we enter the reefs through and which Port of Entry we go to. Ideally the winds are east and north enough to let us get over to the eastern half of Fiji and if so we’ll head for Savusavu on the south west side of the big island of Vanua Levu. If we can’t get that far east then we’ll either head for Levuka or Lautoka (east & west sides of Vanua Levu respectively) to check in, explore one of those more populated areas, get restocked with provisions and then head out to explore more of those 216 uninhabited islands which are our favourites. Stay tuned to see how it all plays out as you watch the bouncing red dot on your maps as you plug in the various latitude and longitude numbers in each of our posts giving you our location at any given time. Admiral Linda, Captain Wayne & Commodore Ruby (aka the Wonderdog) Immersed in beauty,
Aboard the Good Ship Learnativity
Exploring the world one nautical smile at a time.
