2007-07-09

We've only been here 48 hours but it looks like we'll stay for at least a year. I'm astonished at what Jim and Kyoko have done here on Also Island. They've built themselves a house (one large room) with a separate kitchen, bath and guest quarters with 3 bedrooms. They have a lovely decked area with roof that serves as the dining/living area. It's all built on the side of the hill with some steep concrete ramps between the separate areas. The boat shop is easily 4 times the size it was when we were here last and is connected to all the rest. They have moved the village store from the mainland out here to the island, and it is part of the compound. So, the villagers all come out here by boat on a regular basis to go to the store and also to work in the boat yard. They hire a few women to cook, clean, garden and run the store. The grounds are beautiful and they've planted banana, papaya, and lemons, but the cyclone earlier this year ruined their crops, so it will be awhile till that's back on track. Ted is busy off-loading tools from Sequester and has already started work on a few carpentry projects. I've agreed to help Kyoko with the book-keeping in the store and to eventually train some of the local women to do it themselves. Most of my time will be spent on projects on Sequester; first on the list is to sew all the sail covers. There is a nice breeze out here on the boat and it is very comfortable; reminds us of winter in the Virgin Islands. We don't have phones or internet out here. We will have to rely on Sailmail for our communication. The nearest town is Labasa, 40 miles away by boat. The village boat goes about once a week for supplies, but we will mostly be able to put in an order for what we need. We'll be looking at getting Sequester out of the water in the next few days to repair some damage from the reef.

Karen