Where is Ruth II ?

So today after just over a month in Fiji we got a wonderful opportunity to attend a Sevusevu ceremony. This is a Fijian custom whereby a visitor to a Village must visit the Chief and bring a present of Kava a local root crop which is ground into a drink which we were told had a  calming or numbing effect. We are currently on a small Marina at Musket Cove a resort on Malolo lailai  an attractive just off the Coast near Nadi . Our daughter Alice arrived on Sunday and we sailed up here with the intention of island hopping! However we have made ourselves very comfortable here and after a tricky passage in and a whole .2m under the keel at low tide we decided to stay put for a few days and tour our surroundings by Dinghy!  On a hike yesterday we met a local lady who offered to bring us on a tour of the two local villages . We set off this am at 9 am with our Kava in hand and some goodies for the school .  We met two separate chiefs both of them really welcoming . Alice and I wore

I had promised to update a bit more regularly while cruising but little did I know that I would be reporting on the giant catch so soon ! Saturday 18 th Tom Liam and I rose at dawn and just pulling out of Paradise Bay on the southern tip of Taveuni we came across a large school of Tuna leaping high out of the water ! Tom immediately put out his line and within minutes was in a big one . He played it like a professional and Liam gaffed it and within minutes we had lunch and dinner for the week ! Tom then filleted him  shortly afterwards leaving an immaculate deck which is always important when you fish on Ruthll  A lot of excitement before 7am .  We then passed a lovely day sailing south until we arrived in Makongai an isolated island  on the route south . We had been told that Sevsevu  ( a Fijian tradition to present  the chief of an island with Kava a root crop from which they make a drink which apparently has a numbing effect ! )might be appropriate so went ashore equipped wi

   We arrived in Fiji over two weeks ago and have enjoyed ourselves so much that unfortunately the blog got neglected ! We started with a week on the Marina at Cora Shed in Savusavu where we enjoyed the hospitality of the yacht club , had a couple of days in Koro Sun resort and generally did lots of  provisioning for the  cruising ahead ! We replenished all our pork supplies in an excellent deli close by ! We swam most daysat a beach  about 5km down the coast near the  Cousteau resort and admired the luxurious resort from the Sea! We then set off North to Taveuni known as the garden island of Fiji and having spent 10 days cruising here it is a truly special place . Our highlights were diving on rainbow reef in particular the "white Wall" an amazing coloured Coral cliff stretching down to 30 m ( very deep for me !) we dived with some lovely instructors ,Milena in Garden Sun resort and Julie in Taveuni Ocean Sports .  We had one day hiking in the Bouma National  P