Originally posted on June 10, 2015, by cruisingrunner
We took a holiday from our holiday and hung out on a mooring ball at Paradise Taveuni, a dive resort on the island of Taveuni in Fiji. It’s not our typical cruising destination, and we were mostly there to see family who were there on their own dive vacation, but we couldn’t help enjoying the high life for a few days. The owners of the resort, Alan and Terri, are very welcoming of cruisers. In fact, there’s no charge for the mooring, and they were constantly telling us to feel free to use the pool, “towels are over there,” and their staff treated us like any of their other guests. It was a nice transition between the hustle and bustle of Savusavu, which is where we cleared into the country, and our expedition to the more remote islands of The Lau Group down in the southeast corner of Fiji.
And I got to go for a run. It was only my second one since arriving in Fiji, and to be honest my legs were still somewhat dead from 2 weeks at sea, but it was quite an enjoyable run, even if short. I was told that if you go left from the resort the road is hilly, but if you go right it’s relatively flat. So, I went right. As I was leaving the resort I saw Alan and his dogs, told him my intention to take the easy route, and headed out on my way. Immediately, I noticed I had some company. At first when I noticed the dogs take off in the same direction I was going it wasn’t obvious that they were going WITH me. They were good at playing it cool, but soon it became obvious. If I fell a little too far behind they would slow down or stop to wait for me. When a car came and I moved way off over to the side of the road, they followed my lead and did the same. At the fork in the road they waited to see which way I would go, but again, they were playing it cool just meandering about as if they weren’t even paying attention to me. But I knew better by then.
I’ve never run with dogs before, but these dogs were cracking me up. They were my personal guides and body guards for just that little bit while out for a run. Eventually, it was time to turn back, so I just called to them, and of course they came back with me. When we got back Alan said, “Did they go with you? I was looking all over for them.” And apparently they were wiped out the rest of the afternoon from the run, just like me.
We are currently in a remote corner of Fiji without internet, so I’m posting via email over our HF radio. When we are back in civilization again, I’ll post a photo of my doggy running companions.
Gresham Family Exodus 