The Honeymoon Trip - Page 2 Nuiataputapu to Suva 9/15 – An almost perfect day for sailing. Had a fish derby. Everyone bet when we would catch the first fish of the day. I had 11:30. We caught one at 11:53 so I was closest. I got to reel it in but it was only a small bonita which we let go. Finished the Shackelton book – what an incredible story! Nice day and night of sailing. By the way, Tonga will be the first place in the world to celebrate the new year. 9/16 – Peaceful day. Not much wind. Did some motoring.. Caught a huge male mahi mahi, Bradley reeled him in and I got to fillet him. He made a great dinner. I’ve now learned to tie a bowline. 9/17 – Arrived in Suva, Fiji at dawn. Agriculture inspector came on board at 9:30. Then Will had to go into town for immigration. We were all prisoners on the boat until after lunch. Then Will still had to get cruising permits before we can leave Suva. Turns out we’re stuck here in Suva for the weekend! I called to US embassy because a friend of mine, Osman Siddique was recently appointed US ambassador to Fiji and I wasn’t sure if he was here yet. Turns out he arrived just over a week ago. He invited us all to dinner at his house tomorrow night. Went into town for dinner at the Ming Palace – good Chinese food but a slow dinner. Then went to O’Reilleys Irish Pub. The owner is from Eddie’s home town of Cork. Everything here is very cheap! A beer at the yacht club is less than $1 US. They’re small……but still. Taxis very cheap as are food, wine, and most stuff in stores. Eddie says Guiness at the pub is less than you’d pay in Ireland. We’d heard on the news about a huge hurricane – Floyd – which was due to hit the east coast of the US. More than 2.5 million people were evacuated. Called Fatiha and learned all was well at home. Virginia got lots of rain but the house and Mocha were OK. 9/18 – Bradley and I went shopping. Started at “the market”, a huge farmers market with lots and lots of fresh fruits and veggies, fish, clams, etc. Bought pieces of fresh pineapple – very good. Saw a parade in honor of National Library Week – a marching band and lots of kids parading down main street. Went shopping in town. Bradley got some great shirts – on sale of course – for as low as $5 US. Also bought sulus for both if us. Got a kava bowl as a gift for Osman. Went back to the market and got some kava powder too. The whole upper level of the market was nothing but kava dealers! Incredible. Also bought about 3 dozen clams for lunch for about $2 US. Will steam them back on the boat. Clams are OK, but not much taste to them Headed to ambassadors house for dinner. Beautiful place. Osman, Catherine, and their five kids only arrived about ten days ago. We were their first visitors from the States. Lovely dinner. Met Phyllis, Osman;s assistant. She and her husband own a 3-acre island. He’s a retired LA firefighter. They’ve been here for 17 years. Came to help run a resort but that fell through. They had already sold their house in the states. Bob, the husband, was sick so we didn’t get to meet him. Robert and Lisa Stone were also guests. Lisa is a good friend of Phyllis. Robert is a commercial tuna fisherman – he now has 4 large boats and 25 crew. He’s white but born and raised in Fiji. Lisa runs a fish products business – smoke fish, jerky and other stuff. John Hennessey-Niland is head of political-economic affairs for the embassy. His wife Julie is with Fiji telecom. She was previously with Lucent.AT&T. After dinner, had kava ceremony. Osman’s driver, Choni, is a kava master so he made the kava and organized everything. Dinner guests plus all the staff, including embassy guards, joined the ceremony. Catherine is from Newport so she and Will had something to talk about. She also made the pesto pasta dish we had at dinner. We also had lamb, wahoo, and green beans – great food. Robert and Lisa invited us for lunch at their place tomorrow. 9/19 – Bradley and I went for a run. Took a bus from the Yacht club to town. Ran along the water from town to the stadium – 3-4 miles, then took a taxi back. Eddie arranged to hire a car and driver for the day. Went for a drive inland to the highlands. Very sceni. Fiji is a very large island – has huge flat, farmable plqces as well as lots of mountains. Stopped off at a beautiful beach. Had a flat tire on the way which the driver changed. Then on to Robert and Lisa’s for lunch. Robert was playing golf. They live at a reort with a golf course. They have 3 acres and over 300 species of palm – a friend of theirs had them and got sick so he gave them all his plants. They’ve begun planting them on their property. Phyllis had stayed at their place overnight. We had drinks and fishcakes – yum! Mosquitoes were bad. Lisa’s friend Ellie came over for a while. She’s from Christchurch, NZ. She and her hubby retied and bought a place in Fiji. Have been here seven months. Robert returned from golf. He had done well in a seniors tournament but found out he’s not old enough. You’re supposed to be 55 and he’s not,so he had to disqualify himself. Had more wonderful food – chicken curry, rice, eggplant, and okra. Learned about all kinds of Fjiian wildlife – scorpions, foot long millipedes that spit, and flying foxes which are really big bats. Back to boat and asleep by 8:30pm! Kathy & Bradley w/Kristen, Will & Eddie Bradley drinks the kava Preparing the kava           Ambassador Siddique & wife Catherine