2007-06-23

It's Saturday evening in SavuSavu, our 3rd day here, and things continue to improve. The first 2 days there was little breeze, and the humidity was so high it was slow getting anything we rinsed off to dry. Today the breeze picked up to about 15 knots so it was more comfortable, and easier to finish drying things so they can be put away. Sequester is small by the standards of cruising boats these days, and it doesn't take much gear out of its storage place to produce an unbearable clutter. Things will improve even more when we get to Also Island and unload most of the tools and spare parts we're carrying. For now, at least we can move around in the cabin. Karen spent many hours the last 2 days getting the laundry washed, and packing all the cold weather clothes in Ziploc bags for storage in the inaccessible nooks and crannies of the boat, hopefully not to be retrieved for 4 or 5 years.

Saturday is the big market day for local growers, so we loaded up on more fresh fruit and vegetables, and Karen learned to cook taro leaves with coconut milk and spices. Good chow! As usual, we keep meeting people who know people we know. A catamaran came in yesterday with a couple and their three children on board. The boys came by to ask if we knew where a good restaurant was. I’m guessing they chose to ask us because we were the only other multihull in the moorings. We ended up socializing pretty soon, and it turns out they are from Block Island, and know our friends Rick and Mary from the yacht Tranquility. We spent hours with them today, visiting the markets, exchanging books, talking boats, books, and places. Good company.

There are some disadvantages to being moored right in front of the town. Although the water looks crystal clear, the probability is high that runoff from the septic systems will have the bacterial count in the creek here too high for safety, so swimming is discouraged. Steve and Carol have taken Red Sky out to the anchorage near the reef entrance, where they can swim and fish, and incidentally the radio reception is vastly better. We're thinking that tomorrow we'll probably do the same. Access to town is still not that hard from out there. It's just a couple miles walk along the shore road, and especially with most things shut down for Sunday it will be a nicer day out there.

We have quite a lot of water on board in jugs now, so we can continue with the cleaning at a leisurely pace, and I have a good bit of drawing and writing to do, as well as a stack of books to read, so it should be a good day. As the sky starts to darken and the breeze drops, we can see the big fruit bats flying across the creek from the little island nearby, looking for fresh papaya. A background drumbeat has settled in, emanating from one of SavuSavu's waterfront nightclubs, but it's faraway and not too intrusive. We can hear children laughing and yelling along the shore, free of school for 2 days. The air is warm, the future is bright. Ted