Hanging out in Savusavu

We are starting to really get the names mixed up out here: Suva, Savusavu, Somosomo, Nairai, Nausori, Nambuka, etc. Some of them sound the same and our palangi tongues get tied up. It doesn't help that many of the words are pronounced differently then they look to English-speaking eyes. Suva is "sooba" but Savusavu is pronounced like it looks. Then the Kiwis and Ozzies take a normal English word and pronounce it in a way that us Americanos can't understand. Oh well, we get by.

This weekend in Savusavu was very sleepy. It is a one street town basically but it is also the major port for the large island so there is a lot going on and the small (compared to Suva) bus terminal is always somewhat busy, even on a Sunday. (This is Monday here) Saturday there was a Methodist revival meeting in town all day. There were a couple of hundred locals in their Sunday-go-to-church clothes which meant dresses for the women and most all the men wore the skirts they call a sula here with white shirts and some with ties. One big older fella had a black tie with a day-glo painting of Jesus on it. They are very religious here and very serious about it all. I got handed several pamphlets walking along that told me how to save myself and friends. Nice people though.

The town starts closing up (except for the revival) at about 1:00 on Saturday though. I went to do internet at 3pm and I was way too late to do that. A grocery store was still open but it closed at 4:00. After that it was just the cars, buses and taxis racing through town kicking up dust clouds. The ferry landing is at the end of town by the entrance to our little bay here so there is always traffic from that if one of the ferries are in.

S/V Oz with Steve and Cindy came in from Suva yesterday, along with a monster catamaran from Belgium. It must be over 120ft long and rigged as a schooner, which is unusual. They sort of poked their nose in our narrow and tight little anchorage and decided not to risk it and anchored just outside the entrance. They are flying the yellow "Q" or Quarantine flag. You are supposed to fly this flag when you first get to a new country to tell the officials that you have not officially checked in yet and are supposed to stay on the boat until Customs, Immigration, Health, etc. go on board and check you in. The health guys are to make sure you are not bringing any dire diseases here, such as small pox, tuberculosis, yellow fever, etc. They could not check in yesterday but their huge dinghy came in any way and bought 20 Corona beers from the little bar ($140) and took them back to the boat. They probably have a large crew and guest list for this oversized cruiser. I would guess they came from Tonga after going through Polynesia, the Cooks and Panama. Not very friendly but many of the Europeans aren't, and especially any crew or passengers from the larger boats. They are too good to talk to small boat trash. I wish I were making this up but it is just the way it is out here. Very rare for any one on the really big sailboats or powerboats to mingle with the riffraff on boats much smaller than them.

We were invited to go snorkeling outside in the big bay but it involved going on two other sailboats and having our dinghy dragged behind with the motor on which is hard on the dinghy and painter lines so I was not to keen on going. We said may be then begged off after our outboard decided to stop pumping cooling water so I had to take the morning and lift it up on the stern and take the lower end off to check the water pump, which was fine. It is pumping water now but not as vigorously as it should so I will have to watch it. Something is plugged up it in.

Today we will check internet in town, help some friends with loading software on their PC's and might walk out to the point we passed on the way in. Michael Cousteau (Jacgues Cousteau's son) has a fancy resort out there. Tomorrow we plan to go on a bus ride to the bigger town of Lambasa. The town is just a dusty, hot sugar cane center but the ride is supposed to be fun and interesting and you get to see the interior of the island for real cheap. We will be leaving later this week to go to the west side of Viti Levu south of us. We have to figure out a route that will take us safely though the numerous (and I mean numerous) reefs and little islands. Fiji is actually a very intimidating place to sail.

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