Goodbye Fiji By MichaelSYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

An evening dancer on Taveuni Island.

Did you catch the byline? We left Fiji! We left yesterday, by plane. Del Viento remains, tucked away on a Savusavu mooring, stripped bare as she was in Tonga last year. We’re returning to the States for most of the Southern Hemisphere cyclone season because we’ve got some work to do (more on that in a future post). But when we return to Del Viento in March or April (we don’t yet have return flights booked), we’ll haul the old girl (she’ll be 40 in two short years!), paint her bottom, replace some hard-to-get-to thru-hull valves, relaunch, and head….north-ish.

Unless something comes up (like this project in the States) to thwart our plans, we’ll point our bow towards Japan, arriving around April 2018. Of course, that’s looking way far ahead in cruising time, so we’ll see.

Besides our big State-side adventure, another reason for staying another year in the South Pacific is Fiji. Not since leaving Mexico have we felt more at-home in a country. Fiji is filled with a diverse population that must be among the friendliest on earth. I know that’s quite a superlative, and I’ve not been to that many places in this world, but the warmth and acts of kindness we receive from the Fijians on a daily basis is inspiring and such a pleasure. And yet, it’s the most populous and developed island among the thousands in the South Pacific. It’s also a very big country (relatively), comprised of 332 islands (106 are inhabited), and we look forward to exploring more of them when we return.

Over the next few months, this blog will continue uninterrupted; I’ve got lots to say.

--MR

Sweet Fijian kids waiting for their Vishnu bus to pull
out of the station at Nadi Town.

This woman works for the butcher at the south end of
Taveuni. Not pictured are the discarded parts and pieces
of large animals at the shoreline just outside the frame.

This Paradise Resort employee took Windy and the girls
and the Oniva family on a walk, during which he found this
injured bird and brought it back. 

One of many young Fijians engaged in daring-do
at Colo-I-Suva nature park, near Suva.

Fiji's diversity is in refreshing contrast to other island populations,
familiar to us. In today's political climate (which we feel blissfully removed
from on a day-to-day basis) it's affirming to see this Muslim woman, covered
head-to-toe, giving encouraging advice to the Kiwi woman in Bikini
bottoms and a wet tank top about to swing on the rope.

See my smiling Nadi Town veggie market friend in the middle?
Note the signs above him. Fiji won it's first gold medal ever in
this summer's Olympic games--in rugby. We were in Savusavu
that morning and nobody wasn't watching a television for
the 15-minute event and everyone acted as though everyone
had just won the lottery. It was a joyous time, an amazing vibe.

Windy and Eleanor at a Port Denarau café.