Where I've Been

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All Hands

A little somethings I was having fun with on leg seven of this past offshore. I saw a spread in Irving Johnson's Book, Sailing to See call "All Hands" and wanted to try it out for myself. For those of you who would call themselves a land lubber we give a call of "all hands ...." to perform various tasks around the boat, most often "all hands on deck to raise sail"



Click on the slideshow to view my picassa albumns and see the pictures in larger format.

Home Sweet? Home

I have returned! We came home to an amazing amount of support on the dock and after a lovely ceremony and being lovingly mobbed for an hour or two I packed up all my things and am officially off the boat until the end of July. It was fantastic to see everyone's face once again and I look forward to spending time with every one! Love to you all, Sarah.

PT At Last

Wow, so excited to be in Port Townsend again. I have very nostalgic feelings toward this place since I first visited it last offshore and so enjoy its artsy, nautical, laid back lifestyle. The last passage was a fantastic one, even if it did have want for a little more wind, we ended the passage with a four or so days of great sailing and some of the calmest waters that I have ever experience offshore (save for PNG maybe...) Looking forward to a few slow days enjoying and soaking up the last of our time out here. Can't wait to see you all!

Made it, and leaving again...

Hi to everyone whose following my travels,
We made it to Hawaii finally, and I haven't had any time to write or update or upload pictures. It has been incredibly busy here, a lot of work to do, and three work days full of refinishing, painting, etc. We didn't quite finish it all up, so the days inbetween the legs were full of finishing up all the work that was left over. I had a fantastic time with my sisters and was so excited to be sailing with them for the first time all three of us were sailing together. Oh yes, we crossed the entire Pacific Ocean as well, almost ran of out of fuel/food, stopped at Midway (an off limits island) managed not to get shat upon by the 2 million albatross that live there and I performed in a sweet awesome band called Scupper 2 Scupper (more on this later, and yes to all you leg 3'rs of 03/04 who remember this sweet awesome band, I know I ripped you off and I know I infringed on your labels copyright.)
Off ot Kauai now maybe I'll get a chance at a computer there, but most likely not, see you all in a month in Victoria!

love Sarah.

Pictures From Himeji and Kyoto

After much Anticipation! my sisters arrived in Japan and we spent a couple of days just hanging out and visiting castles and temples and gardens! We had a lot of fun and now its time to leave for the warmer waters of Hawaii!

The Three Sisters
Himeji
Scarf Lady on the Path of Philosphy
Girls in Scarves
Bridge Shot
Nanzenji Temple Garden

Leg 5 Over...

Well this leg is officially over. It is hard to believe that another one has flown by so quickly. I am definately excitedly looking forward to this next one, and as always, sad to see some great people leave the boat. My watch was amazing this leg. Way to go PORT WATCH!
Some highlights to look forward to now? My sisters are coming! Cannot wait to sail with them for this passage, it is gonna be a long one... Also back to the warmer waters of Hawaii. It is funny really that in the warmer weather we shower more because its nice out and the water is warm, (we definately need to because of the ridiculous amount of sweat...)but in the colder weather we just think its okay to stay dirty longer because why again?? In any case I am in desperate need and am excited that my sisters have booked a hotel. I love the bathhouses dont get me wrong, but the whole concept of a private shower is still a luxury!

A Couple of Pictures From China

Susan and I at the Night Market


The Great Wall


Me at The Great Wall


Gill and Susan eat Street Meat


My Lovely Port Watch

Back In Shanghai

I'm a real man now, I've climbed the Great Wall. Interesting statistic...if you took apart the wall and re-built it 5 metres high and one metre wide it could circle the Earth. I climbed the part from Jinshanling to Simitai. It was beautiful and not crowded at all so I think I got some great pics...although I can't actually view my blog in China because of some censorship laws I think so I will wait until Japan to post more pictures.
Shanghai is a great city, full of life, but so polluted...my lungs feel coated with grime and I'm sure that the life span here must be shorter because of it. The Yangtze River is disgusting as well, we even saw a fetal pig float by with the umbilical cord still attatched... gross. The water is this sick grey brown and when pumping the head or washing the decks down with it, you can see the discolouration as well. I'll be glad to head back to Japan where everything is a lot cleaner. It has been impossible top find shower or laundry facilities here. A lot of people have rented hotel rooms, so I stole a shower from one of the girls' room, so at least now I feel cleaner.
But don't get me wrong, China is great, and it would be fun to come back and travel around for a while and explore some of the south and western parts...maybe in the summer...

Shanghai to Bejing, thank goodness....

So we finally made it to Shanghai. The passage over was a little longer than expected, and more than one catastrophic event happened, I think there was almost one for every day at sea! The first morning out I noticed that the anchor had loosed itself and was hanging inboard by the lifelines....oops, good thing it was the windward anchor and not the leeward one which would have fell into the water instead of the boat.
Then, the stove broke... so we rigged it up with a fire-bucket over the stove pipe so it would stop blowing itself out, although I think that even after that it still isn't cooking quite right and Katie and Gillian are most likely beyond frustrated, but they are putting on a very good face!
Then, forestay broke...I was actually on watch for this too, and it wasnt the forestay exactly, it was the bail (big 1-2in steel ring) that snapped in half. I was standing back in the stern as per usual, and we heard something and notice the main gaff jump, we all immediatly looked up and couldn't find anything wrong, even under scrutiny of the binoculars, but no wonder we couldn't find anything, we were looking at the wrong part of the ship. It was waaay up forward the stay that holds the masts forward that had come down and was now trailing along in the water. Jordan finally noticed about an hour later as he went aloft to untangle a flag halyard on the foremast. That took a bit to fix, and we couldn't go anywhere in the meantime, we had to back off our engines and just heave to while we rigged up some temporary forestays.
Then there was the maze of fish boats and deep seas to navigate through. We were all on watch for a part of this. My top numbers where more than 60 boats visable to me on deck, plus another 20-30 being monitored electronically! Did I mention this was all in the middle of the night! The fish boats where especially scary beacause they didn't really pay attention to anything like right of way or collision regulations, they would just dart out in front of you in all directions trailing nets, to boot.
Then, the hydraulic lines broke, I was actually asleep for this, but Bonice's long will attest to all the mess than this made.
Now, just so you don't all think that I am a lazy but...I was sleeping because I was sick and so exhausted I couldn't function anymore. I left Okinawa with a mild sore throat that went away, but the next day it started developing into more of a chest infection and then a head cold and then standing watch for four hours in the middle of every night eventually just took it all out of me. So it was a good thing that Jordan was able to stand watch for me that night. But don't feel sorry for just me, all the crew had been sick to some degree or another on that passage.

Now I am in Bejing, after leaving Shanghai last night on the overnight train. Today I saw the Forbidden City (beautiful and just as elaborate, and intricately overdone as Verasaille, or at least it kind of reminded me of that) Tiananmen Square, some shopping markets, the night market (where we bought dinner) the Bejing Opera, and tomorrow we are off to the Great Wall. Highlights of the trip were definately the hot shower that I go to have today (first shower since the bath house in Okinawa, and no China has no such thing...)
But really its a lucky thing we got here at all. I hadn't been into Shanghai yet, between trying to rest and ships keep the first day and half in Shanghai, so I let other peopl buy my tickets and arrange hostels... that'll teach me for not taking responsibility for my own travel arrangements. We ended up going the wrong way of the metro, finding the right way (which turned out to be the wrong way, and we should've gone to the first way) because we ended up at the wrong railway station, and had to book it in a taxi to find our train, and then make it with minutes to spare, pheww! sigh of relief.

Lessons learned:

1) always wear shoes to the head (Jose...)
2) always bring your own toilet paper
3) be prepared to detach street vendors from your person if you don't want to buy what they have offered
4)Chinese beer tastes like "Perrier Natural Springs"
5)if you go months in flip flops, your feet will change shape, and your runners won't fit, and then you will get blisters, so bring bandaids....

Waves at the Fifth Level

Well as you can gather I am still in Okinawa...we have been waiting for the weather for what seems like forever, but it has also worked in our favour as well with a myriad of things that have come up. I have spent more time at the hospital than I ever wanted to, but everyones got the drugs they need, and the sore throats and weird tropical skin things that offshore is so famous for are all well on their way to healing.

The forecast lately has been for 4-6 metre seas (12-20 feet) abd 30-40 knots of wind...we do NOT want to be out in a gale like that, but things are starting to calm down now, so hopefully its off to sea tomorrow.

I have enjoyed Japan thoroughly and am excited to return at the end of this leg, but I am definately looking forward to being back at sea and something new in China. We get to sail up the Yangtzee River into the heart of Shanghai, which will be unbelievable if my imagination comes true.

Some notes on the Japanese:
- they are extremely organized (there are four different kinds garbage cans and even your monorail tickets end up in the trash, Paris could learn from this!)
- everything is very quiet (a downtown busy intersection sounds like a quiet suburban one in Canada, they really know how to make mufflers I guess)
- they are fastidiously clean (and I, a dirty sailor, am cleaner for it as well)
- when it come to presentation they cant be beat ( I dont even mind all the excessive packaging beacuse their disposal system is so good)
- everyone dresses very well (or at least what the magazines say is well...)
- they live longer, and look younger (our engineer lisaon is 70-somthing, and I wouldnt have guess him a day over 45)

Okinawa

Made it to Japan finally and am definately fed up with japanese keyboards already, however the rest of the country is amazing so far, and I have definately had some different cultural experiences already.

The first night I went out to eat we found some really traditional Okinawan style food, which is different from Japanese. It would be comparable to a Japanese/Chinese blend. Some of the more distinct dishes I tried were：rafute - a local dish once served in the Ryukyu court which is pork (complete with fat slab still on top) in a sauce of ginger, brown sugar, soya sauce, and awamori. Awamori is the local firewater 30%-60% and has a Habu snake coiled in the bottom... another dish was mimiga - raw pigs ears sliced very thinly and marinated in vinegar. You mix this one around with the vinegar, ginger and bean sprouts and cruch up; it is served cold.

The next day was shower day...Japanese style. I visited the local bathhouse. It was great, and I think it would be very healthy for north american body image ideals. It is definately one of the best experiences I have had and will do it again. There were all these hot pools with jets (including a bedae style one) and electrodes, along with a cold pool and three different hot rooms, wet heat, dry heat, and a salt scrub/exfoliation sauna. Before you go into any of these though, you must clean yourself thoroughly at one of the little vanity stations along the wall. There is a very small stool) quite slippery once you are soaped up... along with shower head, tap and bucket, water temperature control, soap, etc.

It was lovely and I do not think I have felt this clean since before I left Victoria!!!

Monkeying Around at Tarzan Falls

I've had some fantastic days here in Guam. It's been such a treat to be somewhere that English is spoken fluently, I can find food brands that I recognize, and I'm not worried about my personal safety at all.
If there is a downfall to Guam its that you really can't get around without a car, hitchhiking only takes you so far.
I've had two really fabulous days with some memorable moments inbetween.
The first day: We rented a car and decided to drive around the southern half of the island and find some adventure. Initially we were going to head to Talofofo Falls, but after finding out you had to pay $20 to get in, we decided to find our own fun. The southern drive is extremely scenic and beautiful with some definite "aahh" moments as we came over the edge of different hills with pretty views. At one lookout that we stopped at, we decided to try and "summit" the hill next door, so 4 of 6 of us headed across the road to look for a way up. We found one in the end with much scrambling and grabbing of grass and tree trunks as we lost our footing as the ground slipped out from under us or into large but hidden holes. We did make it to the top (after a wasp sting or two and some serious grass cuts) and the view was amazing, you could feel all the wind just blowing past you, almost to the point you could just fall into it and it would hold you up on the top of the hill. Coming back down was slightly more treacherous as we slid on our feet...or our butts most of the way down again.
Next stop was Tarzan Falls. Another fault of Guam is non-visible road signs. The sign for this turn off was brown (blending in nicely) and only about 1x2 feet big. We were a little nervous as we looked at the stats of the hike down to the falls. There were 1.4 miles, 300ft elevation change, and 3 hours! In the end we figured out it must have been 3 hours total, with a stop to swim. It essentially a road down to the falls, although I didn't dare take the rental car offroading.... and an amazing set of falls over cliffs of slate-like looking rock. It did remind me of Tarzan actually. We pranced all around and showered/rinsed off in the fresh water (since he no longer have a hose at the dock anymore since we are now moored alongside the outside of three barges and have quite the traverse across and not enough hose to make the distance). Overall great day!
The second great day was yesterday. I spent most of the day with another Sara (in my watch) and we drove out to the northern most point of the island, fantastic limestone cliffs and then down south and did a beautiful hike out to Sella Bay where there is a freshwater stream flowing out into the ocean, some pretty snorkeling, shade and palm trees and wild orchids everywhere. This one felt really special becuase it wasn't in the Lonely Planet, we picked it up from a local dive magazine. It felt more secret and "local" than some of the other more touristy spots. The day was capped off with Vietnamese with Karen as well and then a great chick flisk called "P.S. I love you" It was a gooder! To anyone who gets the chance I highly recommend it. A good laugh/cry-er!
Now the last day will be spend lounging around the Sheraton pool, unless of course we get kicked out and maybe one last matinee before we take back out to sea.

Photos

K, So I put some photos from the last leg on my picassa web albums...It's so much of a pain to upload them here right now, even the fast internet is being slow....

Well so far so good....although I started last leg good as well. We've made it to Guam after sailing the majority of the way from Micronesia. It's such a great sound when the engines turn off. Silence! We were also on a starboard tack which means that I wasn't falling out of my bunk most of the time. I was blessed with some beautiful clear skies at night and could see both the southern cross and the big dipper in the same sky. This passage was filled up with lessons, now that most of our trainees are feeling more up to combating their seasickness. The more time you spend at sea I think the quicker you get over any queasy feelings...although this is not true for everyone unfortunately.

Arrival in Guam reminds me a lot of Hawaii. It is definitely the most north American style place we've been yet, which is good and bad. At first I had hesitations coming here because I didn't want to ruin my south pacific ideal, however, there are some amazing beaches and surf spots and hikes to check out, not to mention some amazing coral dives that I've heard about. In Micronesia I did a couple of wreck dives, and while great, I think I appreciate coral/critters more than decomposing artifacts. The dive in Chuuk could also be slightly tainted by the poor organization of the dive charter. It was a bit of a gong show with about 8 divers to one dive master and one light going inside very dark wrecks. The dive master would go in first and then leave before everyone had a chance to see inside, so if you were last then you didn't get to see much...

It's nice to be docked, although we are a ways away from town (about 10k) so hitch hiking is the preferred method of choice right now, although we're looking at renting a car. Can't wait to fit in some last warm water snorkelling and diving before heading north to China! I'm literally taking the slow boat to China. One trainee also had a brilliant idea, of getting a bucket of dirt and slowing scooping out a bit everyday, that way he could say "I dug a hole to China!"

Hello From FSM

That's the Federated States of Micronesia, for those of you who are wondering where abouts I am these days. We are currently on the island of Chuuk, and although the lonely planet warned us of sketchy characters in and around these parts, we had to come here to clear in through customs and wanted to take advantage of the mecca of diveable wrecks (about 60) that are around here. I am planning some diving on Saturday. A few more warm water dives will be wonderful before heading into the northern parts of the Pacific. So far so good though, all the people seem overly friendly...although the cat calls and whistles are less than appreciated, mostly you can ignore them , or at least get used to them and tune them out. Like any place though, the bigger cities always have more problems and when you get to some of the outer islands, the whole group mentalily of a people can change entirely, hopefully we will have a chance to explore at least one of the outer islands before we leave Micronesia.
The passage over her from PNG was great. We turned North on the compass which was momentous in itself. It was slightly longer than expected, but mostly because we were delayed leaving PNG for two days waiting for them to round up enough American cash for us to leave with.... The new group of trainees are fantastic and really excited to be onboard. Our first passage was 6 days. A good length, long enough for them to get sea sick and then get over it. It's better if they can get over it the first time so that the next time we go out and they start to feel sick they know that there is and end to it. A wise skipper once said: "there are three stages to sea sickness, first you feel sick, second, you think you might die, and third you think you might now die!" I was not sick this passage.
King Nepute came to visit this passage as we crossed the Equator...as is his duty to meet everyone who crosses his line and turn them from greenhorn to shellbacks. As I was already aquainted with Neptune I was part of his court this time. King Neptune made a dramatic appearance out of the whisker shrouds, trident first and all the trainees trembled in fear as they bowed to this green and baggy wrinkle bearded "god" The trainees all had to prove their worth to Neptune by passing his challanges ( licking peanut butter off a clear plastic board, blowing raw eggs through a hose, eating raw onions, witholding the most tabasco sauce poured onto their tongues drip by drip, and pushing noodles with their noses through slop filled decks). They were also glamourously made up with a special paste in their armpits by his highnesses wife and concubine Amphitrite and Nautilis. Fun was had by all and the decks warranted a thorough cleaning once he'd left.
I have officially done more night runs this leg than I have in my entire SALTS career (when I say night runs, I mean actually staying up for the full 4 hours of a watch shift and taking the con, so to speak) I really enjoy them mostly, although it takes a bit to figure out when you can catch up on the sleep that you've missed between all the other things that fill your day, like meals, dishes, sail handeling, teaching, reading, etc. The best nights are always when the stars are out. I was on 2000 to 2400 and then 0400 to 0800 this passage and was thrilled to be able to see both the southern cross and the big dipper in the sky at the same time for a period on one of my last nights. The sea at night is beautiful. I love being inside this snowglobe like dome of stars and having them be your light on the water. We haven't had even the moon lately to light our nights, so it's been very dark and peaceful.
Everyone is looking forward to the comforts of Guam and an Americanized port. It's odd really. We come out on the water to try and get away from all that, but the minute that we have a chance to get back to it, we take it. It's really comforting to have the ease of home for a little while, but I'm sure that we will all be glad to move onto China as well.

Leg 4 Update

Wow, that is one of the moring boring titles that I have posted in a while. I am sorry to all of you who were expecting me to be on the blog train... I would have, except that Papua Nwe Guinea has a severe lack of interent possibilities...or at least affordable ones. I am currently at the university of the divine word where I am able to log on and hopefully fill you guys in a little. Lets just say I am very greatful for Bonice's log at the salts website!

This leg has been amazing. I can't even describe it. I was so excited to be back offshore again and this leg has not let me down in any way. Since you heard from me last I have climbed volcanoes, snorkelled, scuba dived, raced hermit crabs on deserted islands, helped build a dugout canoe, danced, ate, painted, and met a lot of amazing people.

A story of interest that may not have been fully fleshed out in the ships log is the story of Houdinin Sylvester, our 38th crew member. At our first port of call in the Solomons, a town called Honiara, we aquired a an extra friend onboard. Our friend remained nameless for along time until we decided that Houdini was appropriate. He is rather small and black, and rather cheeky, and likes to eat the food and wheat grain that the cooks store under the bunks. He gained the named Houdini after impressing us all with his prestige at the art of dissapearing. We cornered him in the head one night and when we opened the dooir once we had deckbrush and bucket in hand, he had gone! We cornered him in the stern one night and before our very eyes he up and disapeared! To our best guesses up the main sheet and along the main boom back to whence he came... he likes to wake us up by running across our backs, he especially likes one mate by the name of Antony, he gets an exceptional spring off of his shoulders. He was slowly turning into legend, we even wondered if he left us to live with his friends who run rampant the dock here in Madang...but last nights sighting has left us with no doubts that the rat is still onboard.

I only have five minutes left, so I will say goodbye for now, and send my love to everyone!
I have high hopes that next leg I will be able to communicate a little more.
Thanks to everyone who has e-mailed and/wrote, it means the world...even if the post system in PNG has places to go...

I look forward to taking over from Karen for this leg, and will turn from a faux-W.O into a she-W.O.

Love you all!

Blue Water, Black Magic and Green Blood

Wow. Vanuatu is fantastic and considering it was the country I wanted to visit more than any other and therefore had the highest expectations of, I am definatly enthralled with this country and wish we could have spent more time there.

My first adventure was in Port Villa on the island of Efate. The city itself was not very exciting. Noting all the duty free shops on the main street (all selling the same thing of course) you could tell it was very geared towards the cruise ships that came into town. I did however manage to entertain myself. I had never before riden a jetski, so when I saw the sign advertizing rentals I took advantage of a way to escape the heat and monotony of town and feel the cool ocean breeze once again. Loren, the exective director of SALTS, was on the boat with us for the first two weeks of this leg and the two of us rented a 2 stroke jetski and went bombing around the harbour. It was hilarious. We both had different driving styles. I liked to go fast and run straight over wakes of other boats (but usually chickened out and slowed down at the last second). Loren liked the fast turns and I was whipped off the back, twice! But both times managed to hold onto my sunglasses and chaco flops. I never did get him back....

Next island was Ambrym. This was the most interesting place for me. Aside from all the things one can read about in the log (salts.ca) I had a very interesting chat with an aussie girl named Ally who was living there working on a council in charge of 12 villages and teaching the local women to take over. This is a very radical concept considering it is very traditionally patriarchal, but they wre voted in, and so far less corruption, although Ally didn't seem to think a lot of progress had been made otherwise. I was fascinated by the culture though and all the "kastom" (custom) that prevailed their lives, right down to who could sit higher than who (male versus female). Ally's experience was definately a rich one, but one could liver their for years and not understand what was going on. The villages are very steeped in black magic and to a degree it runs their lives. Ally was told not to hang her washing out over night in case someone came and put magic on her shirt. She said she had seen things there that she can't explain. It was kind of eery, but at the same time so fascinating. We talked for a while. I think it was nice for her too to have "westerners" to talk to as well. She had may stories to share and was thrilled to be able to hang out for a bit. She even participated in an impromptu mug-up on the beach after a pig roast.

The last place we visited in Vanuatu was Louganville, on Espirito Santu. I made an amazing dive here on the President Coolidge, one of the best and most acessible wrecks in the world to dive on. It was definately the most technical dive I have ever made. I was fully inside the wreck (it was 650feet long) and could only see in some rooms with the aid of a light. We went down to kiss "The Lady" who was a portrait/frieze on the wall in the dining room, saw toilets still intact, although on what appeared to be the roof because of the orientation of the ship, and went into the chain locker as well. Also I got cut, not immediately interesting, but what I found fascinating, was the fact that because you lose colour as you go deeper in the water my blood was bright algea green! Red is one of the first colours that you lost as you descend, so while if I shone my light on my arm the blood was red, to just look at it plainly it was green. strage. luckily too, the cut has healed nicely and not got infected, which seems to happen to easily in tropical climates, especially when dealing with coral.

The passage over to the Solomons will be remembered by all because of the 6 meals of fish we ate. We caught a 8 foot marlin, and while we tried to release it, damaged it too much, so were forced to take it onboard and eat it. Marlin, is okay, not the most amazing fish ever, a little tough, but the resident fisherman Chase and Scott were able to be quite creative with ways to cook this fish (which I'm sure the cooks Gillian and Katie welcomed with open arms) We had fish steaks, fish sausages, fish nuggets, fish burgers, and fish cakes. All very cook, but when we caught another similar sized marlin the day we finished the first one, everyone was keen to let it go.

Pictures

I've also uploaded some pics to the web check out

Lautoka & Waya, Fiji

*sorry the quality doesn't seem to be that great on the enlargements...I'm working on it.

The International Language of Dance

One thing I love about being offshore is being able to experience culture. There are a few great things about travelling on the boat that make these experiences all the richer. One is that we are able to get to some more remote locations than the average "parachute" tourist, another is that we are able to bring our home with us, and a third is that we are a whole group of young people.
After leaving Lautoka we sailed over to another island, still part of Fiji, called Waya. We brought Kava to the cheif and we warmly welcomed into their village. It was a very traditionaal Fijian village and a mother named, Mila, gave us a tour of their village and introduced us to the "old man" (chief) and "old woman" (matriarch) and then a local boy, Sie, led us on a hike up the mountain. We found out later that we were the first foreigners to ever climb all the way to the top! We were also suprised to hear that we were the first boat to come to island in least 20 years and definately the only boat full of young people who wanted to spend time sharing with them.
We rowed some of them back to the boat for a tour and to play on our rope swing and were invited back that evening because they wanted to dance for us. After dinner we rowed the dories back in the dark and they led us over to a low cement porch covered by mats overhung by corrugated tin roof, in front of a field where they would dance for us. Some of the local boys performed a knife dance, the warrier/fertility dance, the flame dance, and a fire dance. It was a hilarious. You could definately tell they were having fun with it, adding in some impromptu and less than authentic moves... it was all fantastic though! The fire dancing was the most awe inspiring. They were whipping around sticks with flames on the ends of them (kind of like the ones jugglers use) and doing all sorts of pyramids and tricks. The most amazing was when they balanced the flamming sticks on the bottoms of their feet. They were laying on the ground holding balls of fire on the arches of their feet!!!
The next part was possible even more hilarious.
They asked us to dance for them.
They had everyone stand up and tought us the "Bula Dance" definately some form of the Fijian Macarena, and then we did a sort of congo line which included a half squat, reaching between your legs to grab the persons hand behind and infront of you and then a jump... all the while the locals laughing hysterically and yelling at us to "not touch the coconuts".... slightly offside, but we were happy to make their day.
After this we had a kava ceremony and we brought some instruments on land and Tavish and Jose performed a drum duo and we all had a little impromptu mug-up with them.
All in all a very memorable night and a fantastic way to start of the leg.
We are now unfortunatly back in Lautoka waiting for fuel and a part to be made correctly for us, but tomorrow we will be on our way to Vanuatu.