The weather did improve in the morning so shortly after 10 we headed ashore to find the village chief/headman. It turned out in Waikama, the nearby village, these were two different people. With the help of two young boys we found the headman but he said the chief was in church. After some discussion he suggested we return around midday. Which we did, but not before giving the headman two huge wahu steaks which we’d brought with us.
By the time we’d returned it had been agreed that the headman and his elderly cousin perform the sevusevu. After we had given our cava and had the speech and clapping and a chat about where we’d come from, the headman, Willy, and another chap, Vatsu, took us around the village. This didn’t last long as the heavens again opened. We ducked into the generator shed until the rain subsided. Willy and Vatsu were keen to see the boat so we took them aboard, showed them around and shared some beer and biscuits Helen dug out some tinned food we’ve not used, and perhaps never will, and gave it to them.
Before I took them back they invited us round in the evening for cava which we agreed to. Vatsu also had a problem with his DVD player which he wanted me to look at so I agreed to do that on the way.
In the couple of hours we had left I fished a little off the back of the boat catching a fairly decent sized golden jack. By now the winds had dropped to nothing and the bay was flat and peaceful.
After dinner we headed back ashore taking the jack with us which we gave to Vatsu. The problem with his DVD player was it had no sound. He didn’t have a remote control so I couldn’t do anything bar check the cables. They were ok so I could go no further (I have just found the manual for my cheapo universal control so I may be able to do something today).
The cava party went on late. Helen had made some sweet ‘chasers’ from cornflakes, syrup and whatever which we shared. We didn’t leave until about 10:30 feeling a little affected from all the grog we’d drunk. They grow it here in abundance and drink it almost every night. It must be understood that grog drinking is more of a social thing where everyone gets together and chats while knocking back the odd grog. Hey – that doesn’t sound too different from a pub.
During the grog session we were shown a laptop given to one of the villagers by another boat. It was very slow and jerky playing DVDs. On examination the laptop was fairly old which accounts partly for it’s poor performance. I promised to take it back to the boat for a better examination and to load on some children’s movies and wildlife programs.
Today we’ll just hang around here. It’s overcast at the moment so our plans to snorkel the pass in the reef will have to wait until tomorrow.
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