Race Week and the rest of Fiji...

Fay and Phil (Jigsaw) had invited us, 

along with Carola and Jim (Koza) to crew with them for Muscat Cove Race Week.

What a "FUN" week it was...

Pirates Day was not to be missed, with the requirement to dress as a Pirate or a "Castaway".

Water Bombs and Water Guns were at the ready as we headed to Beachcomber for the festivities.

We were "kidnapped" by Pirates

made to walk over hot coals, 

Richard, Carola and Jim having walked hot coals

before being given a shot of rum (11am in the morning!)

Everyone had dressed up, and the day rolled on

Andy and Paul

Fay and Phil

Jen, Fay, Fijian Hottie and Carola...

Alan, Jim, Phil, ?, Bill and Richard

Another day was the race to the Sandbar,

One of the competitions here was the "hairy chest" competition

The judges (women) had to stroke the mens chest and decide on a winner

(don't ask what the Woman competition was hahahaha)...

guys in hairy chest competition

There were also Hoby Cat races, which Richard entered with 8 year old Will from Yollata

(what a gorgeous location!)

They won their first heat, and got to race again, to be pipped at the post...

However, Phil and Jim also entered and were the Champions!

Receiving their prize for 1st in the Hoby Cats (Jim and Phil the 2 centre guys)

The "Big" race was the round the island race...

Jigsaw and Out of the Bag are the same design, so the rivalry race was on!

Would you believe, we lead the race and got beaten by Bill by 1/2 a boat length over the line

The view we had behind us for 98% of the race...

THANK YOU to Fay and Phil for such a awesome week (and Carola and Jim too)...

After Race Week, we headed to Robinson Crusoe Island where we attended a dinner and show,

it was fantastic...

Unearthing the Lovo

Walking the Hot Coals

We then headed up the Yasawa chain, seeing some lovely scenery, both above and below water

We thought the reflections off this small cruise boat were lovely

A Restaurant on Denerau Island - "cool"...

So its "Goodbye" to beautiful Fiji, we would love to stay longer!

Tomorrow we clear out and head 700nm to Noumea...

Vinaka Vaka Levu Fiji

Makogai...

We had not seen our wonderful friends Ian and Wendy from S/V Outsider for 3 years, since Grenada.

In cruising life, like on land, you meet people that come and go in your lives, then you meet people who are very special and it was at Makogai that we met up again with these "special" people.

In February this year, Cyclone Winston hit Fiji, with a devastation that they had not experienced before.  Being a Category 5 cyclone it left massive destruction in its wake.

Ian and Wendy were the first to respond to Makogai and found 

90% of the village and the school totally destroyed.  

Initially responding to the immediate needs - medical, drinking water, sanitation, shelter, clothing etc

Then began the assessment for rebuild.  Wendy and Ian volunteered for Sea Mercy and with their assistance the rebuild begun.  Ian spoke on radio in Australia and put out a request for help from anyone that was willing to come to this small island and assist with rebuilding.

The villages were in shock, having hidden under floorboards of buildings while the rest of the structure disappeared around them... when the floor started going, then running for their lives, carrying 8 month old baby, 80 year old women and hiding under the floor of another structure.  How there was no loss of life was unbelievable!

During the period of rebuild, Ian and Wendy had approximately 30 boats, people of 20 nationalities and around 120 people come to assist in the rebuild.  Early on, the volunteer work from Doctors and Psycologists was incredible for the villagers and of course the rest of volunteers being "anyone" who could do "anything" to help.

Some of the first people to arrive to assist were James, Hannah and their 3 children 

(Joshua, Jacob and Sady) from S/V Carpe Diem.  

They stayed for the complete project and were amazing with the rebuild and for support with Wendy and Ian who spearheaded the complete project.

All the materials had to arrive via boat, to give one of thousands of examples the following shows 

Ian and Wendy bringing water tanks lashed on Outsider

and towing them ashore

This applied to everything, it would either come on boats or the barge and then carried ashore and to the village, the village women carrying large foundation poles, gallons and gallons of paint.

As much as could was recycled from the destruction - one guys job was straightening nails!

The rebuild project took 3 months.  We only managed to arrive for the last 31/2 weeks and what a humbling experience it was to be involved with these incredibly resilient villagers.  It is something that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

We went via long boat each morning to the village - about 15 minutes 

sometimes with the weather making it a exiting trip.

  Ian would trawl a line and hope that a fish would be caught, 

all the volunteers had to be fed for lunch...

Unfortunately during our time there, I didn't take any photos as each day blended with the next with work, however I have a couple of shots from others just from our last couple of days there...

The finished result was incredible.  

Ian and Wendy in front of one of the school buildings

(the artwork was completed by Villagers and Volunteers - a communal effort)

The artwork on the school building below completed by a artist friend of Ian and Wendy

Inside the classrooms...

Very frightened traumatised villagers now smiling and laughing...

The hand over ceremony was attended by Government officials, Sea Mercy and volunteers

 - a truly moving experience with them dancing telling their stories of the cyclone in one of the dances, the rest being traditional dance.

The ribbon cutting completed by the government official

(with Rosa handing over the scissors - dressed in her traditional tapa dress)

The guys stayed up all night to have the Lovo ready in time for the official lunch

When Isa Lei (Fijia Goodbye) was sung to us tears flowed freely from us all