Matuku Photo Log

June 21-26, 2015

This was another lovely island in the southern Lau Island group. The anchorage was a tight fit for all of us, but we thoroughly enjoyed the small village of Lomati, especially the hike with our guide Jesse.

Logbook – June 21, 2015 (Fulaga to Matuku)

Passage Log Highlights

0940 Engines on
0948 Depart Fulaga
1047 Engines off, genoa only
1529 Genoa only
1600 Fish on! Went through a school of skipjack tuna. 3 hooked, 2 landed (1 got away)
1829 Genoa only

Daily Notes

Bumpy pass exit into the wind. No current registered. 3.0 kt SOG.
Buddy boating with Fluenta, Nautilus, Nirvana. Dijimos adios a Lumbaz 😦

Overnight, downwind passage from Fulaga to Matuku

Logbook – June 22, 2015 (Fulaga to Matuku)

Passage Log Highlights

0310 D watch. Genoa (2 reefs)
0737 P engine on
0750 SB engine on
0838 Engines off Matuku

Daily Notes

Crossed back to E hemisphere
Arrived Matuku poor visibility. Guided to anchorage by locals
Beautiful anchorage! Still with Fluenta, Nautilus, and Nirvana
Sushi party on Exodus

Exodus and Nautilus (we had to get quite cozy since there wan’t a lot of room in the bay)

Logbook – June 23, 2015 (Matuku)

Passage Log Highlights

1723 Engines on to re-anchor – Nautilus being too close to reef. We moved forward for more room.
1744 Engines off

Daily Notes

Sevusevu and kava party at the village

The village of Lomati. It’s a small village of only 7-9 families, depending on who you ask.

Email to Family and Friends Dated June 23, 2015

Subject: Exodus – Arrived in Matuku

We had a very pleasant overnight downwind sail to get here, but our arrival was a bit nerve racking. We have no one to blame but ourselves, since we chose to enter the bay with poor visibility. Matuku is another volcanic island, but this time closer to The Marquesas in its life cycle, but a bit older. There IS a fringing reef but there ISN’t much of a lagoon at all. So, it’s younger than, say, Bora Bora. There is a pass in the reef into a deep protected harbor, and we got through the pass quite easily, but once we turned the corner and were staring down the bay we realized our difficulty. We could tell there was reef between us and the head of the bay, but in the poor visibility it was difficult to spot the edges. Then, a local fishing boat came out to us and guided us in. Our friends who, intentionally I might add, waited for a little better visibility had a much easier time. When the sun came out you could easily spot all the bombies. Anyway, we’ve managed to cram all four kid boats in here, and last night we had a big sushi feast on Exodus. We all met the chief yesterday as he came out to all of our boats in his fishing boat, and he invited us to all come in together for our sevusevu today, so we will be doing that around noon. The village here is small, with only 9 families, and the chief was very nice. He told us they have plenty of water so we can fill jerry cans and we are welcome to do our washing on shore. He also told us we were free to swim and fish and generally enjoy the bay yesterday, even though we hadn’t done our sevusevu yet. However, in stark contrast to how we were treated in Fulaga, I, the woman, was basically invisible. They came aboard our boat, but they didn’t introduce themselves to me and didn’t shake my hand. After I served them drinks, they thanked Tim and when they were leaving, they said good-bye to Tim. There may have been a slight nod in my direction when they mentioned doing laundry on shore, but that was it. I really only noticed it because that most certainly WASN’t the way in Fulaga. Simon, the husband in our host family, was the son of the chief, and he always addressed me, looked me in the eye, and shook my hand. Interesting.
We will likely stay here just a few days before heading off to Kadavu next.
Love and miss you all,
-D.

They invited us to drink Kava with them immediately following our sevusevu ceremony.

During our kava party it was pouring rain outside, so the kids were stuck inside with us.

Logbook – June 24, 2015 (Matuku)

Daily Notes

T/B – spearfish
D – walk to beach w/ Nirvana & Nautilus
A/B – play & dinner on Fluenta

Email to Family and Friends Dated June 24, 2015

Subject: Exodus – Kava and Reanchoring

Wow, as much as I have raved about Fulaga, Matuku is pretty nice too. We went ashore as one big group yesterday to do our sevusevu, and we were met at shore by a couple of local young men and one of them went to get the “old people.” I’m sure he meant “elders.” We went to the community hall where there were women weaving mats and cutting fruit, and they were all very welcoming. As usual, they loved my chumba, but not nearly as much as they loved 1.5-year-old Benjamin in his little sulu. Can you blame them? We did the sevusevu, and then they invited us to stay and drink some kava right then and there, so of course we couldn’t refuse. We stayed for a couple of hours, and it was a really nice time. It poured down rain, but we were all nice and cozy in the community hall chugging kava and getting to know one another. It is a very small village here called Lomati, and all of their school age children go to a boarding school at another village on the island during the week, so our big group gave them the sound of playing children that they don’t hear every day. There was a young girl there, maybe 4 years old, and she was all smiles when Fien (girl from Nautilus) went over and took her hand and asked her to join them in their circle.
We all went back to our boats for a quiet evening that started out not so quiet. The wind picked up fiercely from the south after the frontal boundary passed, and we had variable winds with gusts up in the mid 20s. Our friends on Nautilus found themselves with their stern only a few feet from the coral behind them, and of course this happens only moments after Hans went ashore to fill water cans. So, Tim jumped in the dinghy immediately to go help, and I got on the radio to ask Fluenta or Nirvana to see if they could go catch Hans. And right at that moment Fluenta was also reanchoring, so there was excitement all around. Another boat had joined the anchorage that morning very near to us and Nautilus, so there wasn’t a whole lot of room for finding a better spot, so we also ended up also reanchoring to move forward, because we all wanted Katrien to be able to sleep that night! It turned out a win-win, because we also ended up with a little more breathing room from the coral behind us. So, just as we were all feeling settled, we realized that the fun wasn’t over for our little fleet. Just as the last light was leaving the sky, Tim looked back and saw that Nirvana had dragged and was now going to have to reanchor as well. Luckily, Fluenta wasn’t in their flight path.
After all the excitement, we enjoyed another tuna dinner, because Tim had managed to spear an elusive dogtooth tuna that morning. The wind eased during the night, and now it is a very pleasant, calm morning.
Love and miss you all,
-D.