26 June 2011:

Dinner. I heard in interesting story of an American who moved to one of the numerous villages on Naviti after marrying the chief's daughter and thinks he's God's gift to the village. There was also a story some disturbed guests told after seeing villagers kill a dog. Apparently a dog did something bad, so they had the children kill it by tying a noose around its neck, and pulling it as the dog struggled until the rope cut its neck, bleeding it to death.

The wind and rain picked up during the post-dinner entertainment, and I was legitimately concerned that it would blow down the flimsy sheet metal shelter. Retreating to our little wooden dorms weren't much better. After the electricity was turned off at 10:30, we all crammed into a single dorm drinking and chatting together, trying unsuccessfully to ignore the groaning, creaking, and trembling wooden room. We were quite concerned, but with nowhere else to go, we eventually retired to an uneasy sleep under the mosquito nets in our rooms, with the rain blowing through the panes on our windows. I actually had to move my bed to avoid getting wet. All in all, a very interesting night.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-44_26.html

26 June 2011:

View of the village church from the outside. We could hear the singing throughout dinner, even though we were quite a distance from the church. Some of the guests who skipped dinner to attend services tell me that a Fijian service is interesting to see, since there is a lot of dancing and emotions being displayed.

As for us, our post-dinner entertainment consisted of bizarre dancing that the men seemed very into. It was hilarious that we weren't sure what to make of it, so when they asked "do you want more?" to psych us up, we all looked at each other and answered a collective "um... yes?" to which the guys would immediately get back into dancing. There was also a crab that kept running into people and eventually got stepped on by one of the dancers.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-44_26.html

26 June 2011:

After settling in, I met up with a few people, and walked over to Korovou, another backpacker resort just besides ours. Although it was a bit more expensive, had more people staying there, and had more amenities, White Sandy seemed to be a nicer place to stay, and some people at Korovou agreed with us. There was a tiny village behind Korovou, so we walked around and visited their church.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-44_26.html

26 June 2011:

As the storm clouds is the distance got closer, the weather got colder and windier. Once again, I met many familiar faces, including a couple I met in Samoa, and the French guy and his travel companion I met on Kuata.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-44_26.html

26 June 2011:

After a long and delayed boat ride, I arrived at White Sandy on Naviti Island. On-board, the boat/tour company was making arrangements to get people with evening flights to the airport on time, since the boat was very delayed. I also encountered Bill, the head at the Kuata resort on-board, wearing a long necklace with chiefly-looking beads and travelling with a small entourage. Out of nowhere, he asked me to buy them ice-cream. Since I was running low on money, I bought Bill ice cream but not the others, and he took it without a word of thanks. I couldn't tell if this is usual behaviour for chiefs in the area...

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-44_26.html

26 June 2011:

The finished string of shell rings. When the pick-up time came, I was whisked away on the speedboat to the pick-up point. The day was clearing now, and we drifted among patches of bright blue ocean and dark coral between the islands with the company of a few other boats. After a long wait, the yellow boat finally lumbered into view from behind an island, and we joined the scrum of boats flocking towards the ship.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-44_26.html

26 June 2011:

Woke up in the morning to darkness and rain. I lazed around all morning chatting with the Australian, learning more about how being an exploration geologist involves short work and break cycles, allowing for a lot of time to explore the world or just time to spend with family. I had lunch, and discovered the boat was delayed. Apparently, the boat encountered engine trouble, and will be quite slow for the day.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-44_26.html