Move over Gates Foundation; Lunacy on Vunisei and Vunisea

One crazy trip- Annapolis to Fiji in 13 years (LORIENT in the distance)

L'ORIENTals- we didn't forget you. We've been busy, busy, busy completing another 100 days off the grid. After bidding farewell to Jessie James, the James Gang (his family), and the other lovely residents of Matuku it was time to refuel and re-provision. Nine weeks in the "way off the grid" Lau group has a way of consuming all of your supplies.

We pointed L'ORIENT towards Suva, the capital and major port of Fiji. At the risk of discouraging tourism in Suva, I'll just say it's an abrupt transition. The desolate beauty of Fulaga and Matuku vs. a working fishing and industrial port with hundreds of Chinese fishing boats, rusted sunken freighters recalling cyclones of years past, and a diesel fuel sheen on the water. Yuck. We enjoyed a few restaurants, did some shopping, and resolved to get out as fast as we could. We needed everything. Fuel, fruit, vegetables, you name it.

Cyclone "Winston" from 2016 was a big one here

Sleep was limited by the work-noises of tens if not hundreds of welders, pipe fitters, etc. banging away beginning at sunrise (as true L'ORIENTals know, morning starts at 9:00-9:30 AM on this boat, so that was a problem). And when we weren't listening to the construction cacophony we were serenaded by hundreds of large fruit bats in the trees. They are kind of mesmerizing in a creepy sort of way (make sure your volume is turned down before playing the below - you'll thank us).

So, ready for action again, we headed due south to the bewitching Astrolabe reef and the island of Kadavu. This is one of the largest reef systems in the world (or so the brochures say), and the islanders are reputed to be among the friendliest in all of Fiji, which is saying something if true.

The Astrolabe reef

First stop, Dravuni. This island/village has monitized their geography and island's topography to become a cruise ship destination - up to three a month (some months have none). The island goes from 150 villagers to 2,150 people when the cruise ship comes; stands are broken out, crafts are sold........it's all quite amazing. Villagers come from other islands to participate in this odd orgy of commerce. We witnessed the arrival of pasty Australians off a P&O boat and marveled at the transformation.

Someones is always bigger.....

The "here today, gone tomorrow" cruise ship pier

Cruise ship tourists buying everything not nailed down

Dravuni has a "trust" managed by the chief that is funded by the $6,000 Fijian dollars (about $3,000 USD) each cruise ship pays to anchor there.

School "bus"; school is cancelled when winds hit 30 mph (Fiji's version of a snow day)

They've even acquired a modular plastic dock to facilitate cruise ship tender landings. Village needs (and cyclone damage) are paid for out of this fund. Beyond the crafts for sale the locals have carved a tourist walk into a large, centrally located hill on the island affording a magnificent panoramic view of the area. My suggestion of a toll booth about halfway up was met with a confused look by the chief. Hey, it works in New Jersey.

Well manicured walk to the "million dollar view"

Your long hike upward is rewarded with this view- note the outer reef

Dravuni helped us get Suva out of our system. We were back to village life again. From there we visited Buliya and met Bill, the former rugby player. Buliya had a perfect beach, a dive we tried (really cold water in Fijian winters), and all the accoutrements we enjoy in semi-deserted Pacific islands.

Never less alone than when alone

Our customary 3 mile buffer between us and other tourists

Perfect beach and great shade for reading

First class swimming holes all around

And then came Vunisei. This village was approachable only in high tide, as the mangrove sided river/inlet went mostly dry in low tide.

Vunisei- Chief Josefa's house is up front

View from Vunisei's school- killer walk to school if you come by boat

We made our offering to Chief Josefa, and visited the village. Vunisei's central feature is a school which takes students from the four surrounding villages.

Kid's lining up for class inspection

Look carefully- kids must brush their teeth in line after lunch (and spit on the ground)

One of the three school buildings

Many students arrive via boat and the school hours are determined by the tide. It seems that visitors are scarce, as we were paraded through each classroom of the school, encountering nervous, wide eyed students in each. They stood up, sang Fijian songs to us, and otherwise looked quite curious. Just to see if it worked, I looked around at the seated children and bellowed in my best James Earl Jones baritone "All Rise", as I motioned with my arms like a minister might. They all stood up. I was able to maintain a straight face for only a few seconds before saying "Be Seated". Ha-Ha-Ha. Always wanted to do that.

This little kid is literally a "poster child"

Kirstin's forte- giving the world's children crayons.....some good floor time too

Fijian kids learn English from an early age

The teachers all became friends, spending time chatting and walking with us. After a few days we could not enter the village without 5-7 shouts of "Tomasi, Tina" from all corners of the village. It was heart warming.

The parents of children get involved too. The locals rotate in the on-grounds kitchen making meals for the kids. It takes a village! Especially with no electricity outside of what solar panels can provide.

School parents take turns making lunch

Yum- cassava for lunch

Vunisei's teachers and villagers had next to no internet. A local construction team building a series of unpaved roads had limited internet access which they shared with the village, but teachers were walking 45 minutes to get so-so access which they needed to communicate with family, file reports, etc. We were told that lack of connection to the mainland was a primary reason people (most notably the teachers) were leaving the island. Most teachers we spoke with were new arrivals.

Kids were very curious about the visitors from the sea

So, after feeling like we were taking and taking from Fiji in terms of beauty, friendship, etc. we decided to give back. We bought the school Starlink and fund it for 2 years. But it became apparent that due to the Starlink router's limited range, people would be coming to the school from all over the village to use it. So, we sprang for the 800 meter signal booster. Now Vunisei and the nearby other village would theoretically have the signal. 5-G wifi for the entire area. When we told the teachers what we were doing, there was a lot of disbelief, followed by emotion.

From left to right- Lo (small kids teacher), Kirstin, and Sala (head teacher)

Sala was quite happy that Starlink was coming, care of L'ORIENT

At this point, the installation is being scheduled and the village awaits their leap into 21st century communication. Needless to say, we are rock-stars in this village now and honestly it feels great. The set of teachers they have here are amazing, and if this motivates them to stay, these kids and the community will be the better for it. We might be done with charity on this order of magnitude. With the signal booster, this project is a bit pricier than initially estimated; so our vision got quite a bit of "scope creep" as we used to say in the consulting industry. We planned on a return to handing out CVS reading glasses (which are super popular as gifts).

At low tide, poling the boat in is the only way

All alone as usual

As the only sailors around we were invited to the school's kava barrel party. Imagine a bake sale that instead of cookies sells a slightly hallucinogenic drink. And unlimited amounts of it for a contribution of the equivalent of $5. The community men begin early by grinding the kava root and then use shredded bark strips to stir it together - the introduction of bark into this already slightly dodgy concoction was a new twist.

"Wise" (older kid teacher) making Kava with the experts

The Kava production line- they mash it in sawed off dive tanks with a wooden club

After 16 months in Fiji, trying my first Kava.......I think I will stick to Sauvignon Blanc

Each batch is poured into a large plastic drum. As villagers arrive they receive a plastic wash basin and a coconut shell and the fun begins. Groups gather and amid a set regimen of phrases and claps the kava is consumed - all drinkers share the same coconut shell and thus drink one at a time (hello super spreader event). We stayed from 4-6pm and despite drinking this concoction didn't feel much different when we left than when we arrived. The experience of being the only non local at this event was truly a blast. It apparently went on until 2am.

The hills are alive with Kava - Drue town

The metropolis of Vunisea - the largest village on the island

Confusingly, right next to Vunisei (voon-i-say) is Vunisea (voon-i-seeya). Our last stop in Kadavu was also beautiful. We have a 2 mile long beach and another village of wonderful friendly people. We also can see squid from the boat.

Squids checking out the boat- they're highly intelligent (not to mention yummy)

As we lounged on the beach, two 20-something island girls brought us food from a party they were having......walking about a mile down the beach to deliver it.

Miri, Laywa, Sereli, and a friend delivered us a snack; how nice !

My newly expanded family....."Kirstin, why don't the kids look like me?"

We reciprocated by having them on the boat for "Tomasi Coffee", my special Keurig powered creation. Miri and Laywa were quite taken with yachting life and also enjoyed being DJ on the boat. When asked who their favorite music acts are we received the first ever response - "Celine Dion and Chris Brown". They were over the moon to play Celine's Titanic theme song on our boat. They also destroyed our stash of caramel corn and peanut cookies, as kids are known to do. Funny how islands with food anxiety rarely feature allergies to any food.

I think the girls could get used to this

Kava production on the island- it sells for $60 per kg (2.2 lbs)

One huge differentiator between Fijian islands is a simple one- does the soil support Kava farming or not. There is a growing appetite (even in the US) for this totally legal hallucinogenic drink. Islands with good soil are burning scrub off the hillsides to plant Kava. It takes 3 years for a root to become mature enough to harvest. We saw a lot of Kava farm ramp-up across these remote islands.

Our routine here is breakfast, reading on the beach, then happy hour on the boat. Reading on the beach is punctuated by visits from virtually everyone in the village. Sometimes the village's escapee pigs even join the fun.

These local pigs were'nt the more fearsome wild boars (who are also running around)

Sereli on a walk with Too-too; he much preferred Kirstin and kept asking for "Boo-boo"

In the way newly hatched birds imprint their parents in their mind, a four year old boy here has decided the Kirstin is his "Boo-boo", which means "Grandma" in Fijian. I thus am "Too-too", or "Grand-dad". The thing is, this young man has made his preference known, despite his paucity of English. I went alone for a walk down the beach......this little boy emerged from the woods, ran at me, and leaped in for a hug. When I put him down, he got a scowl and demanded to know where Boo-boo was (his preferred landing spot for a flying hug). He might have crayons or a drawing pad in his future (from our gift stash).