day 146 + 147: return of the son of cloudbreak
Miriam: Night has fallen and the stars of the anchor lights, gently swaying atop each mast, are the only stars beneath a cloud covered sky. The day began clear and hot, Jamie snagging a ride to surf as the rest of us had a slow morning. I saw a stripy black and white sea snake lounging on our transom first thing this morning; Nao got a picture but the snake and I mutually startled each other enough that they didn’t stick around for long. The anchorage was a happening place midday, jet skis, tour boats, and dinghys motoring around and even a huge party catamaran swarming with people cruising in. I swam most of the way to a sand bar revealed by low tide that was the focal point of much of this tourist activity, thought about boarding the catamaran for one of the cocktails they were announcing over the blaring music on the loudspeaker, and chose instead to swim back to Bluebird top speed to get a little cardio for a change. We inflated the kayak and Matt and I paddled in to survey the scene, taking note of what the resorts had to offer (fish house building and coral planting! Buffets! Pools upon pools upon pools!) before following the wide dirt road towards the island’s heights. We saw many new and exciting birds including the Swamp Harrier, the Fiji Woodswallow, and the brilliant tiny red and green Fiji Parrotfinch! We gleaned some mangos and a papaya and spooked countless cane toads. I so enjoyed stretching my legs and seeing the island from the peak as Matt and I rambled both on land and in conversation. The paddle back took a little extra effort as we were heading into the wind through some significant chop so we paddled hard and got thoroughly soaked. I feel the day in the tiredness of my body and will soon be in bed, leaving Matt and Naomi to try and decipher “Dances With Wolves” without the Lakota subtitles. We are missing the dance music stylings of dj Max at the Bingham bar right now but bed is infinitely more compelling tonight.
(I was the only one who blogged yesterday and now everyone has chosen to add to yesterday’s draft so I guess I’ll write again…)
I am so very sleepy, again. Today I snorkelled for hours on the reef near Cloudbreak, sighting some new coral and fish species as well as a massive Unicorn Fish. I made banana bread so our hardworking surf crew would have snacks to come home to. Then came an afternoon swim that involved quite a lot of floating, completely supported by the ocean’s warm embrace and basking in bliss. Getting utterly drenched dancing around naked on the foredeck in the pouring rain while motoring back to Musket Cove for the night rounded out the day nicely and now, contentedly full of fried rice, I am actually already asleep.
Jamie here: yesterday our friend Leif came by in his dinghy first thing in the morning. He was heading over to the surf break and had space for one person. Naomi and I said paper scissors rock and faced off with our fists at the ready. Then she said aw you go if you want and I said hell yeah, grabbed my gear and left. We got out to cloudbreak and it was big and fun. Lo and behold John John Florence (most famous pro surfer in the world) himself was surfing out there amongst us 25 or so people. That was cool to see him catlike on these huge waves. I let him get a couple. Unfortunately 40 minutes into the surf I duck dove directly into the reef and dinged my board so had to go and wait at the dinghy for my mate to bring me home. Once back at the boat Naomi and I spent the afternoon talking about important boat jobs we had to do while sitting in the sun drinking beer. Today we took bluebird back to cloudbreak and had two epic sessions. We sat in the waves in the sun all day and it was truly awesome. I took some pretty good hidings on the reef and got cheese grated a few times. So time to get the iodine out and heal my wounds. Matt made a delicious fried rice dinner which did wonders for the all day surf fatigue. Thoroughly spent now. WOD: euthanasia. Euthanasia- a medical / clinical procedure to make something or someone stop being alive U.I.a.s: if you want to keep your finger on the pulse when it comes to pop culture, check in with the euthanasia
Naomi here, yesterday I let Jamie go with Leif because I thought I could get a ride with Magnus but he had too many people in his dinghy so I had a rest day :) doing very important boat jobs and patching up the tomo which I dinged on the last surf when I got dragged across the reef. Today however we were up early and commandeered bluebird and her crew out to cloudbreak. It was an incredible day, the morning was a bit crowded but really good, the afternoon session was a bit choppy but no one in the water! Sometimes 2 other guys, once it was just us and a local dude who was so friendly and stoked every time a good wave would come he would yell BULA VINAKA! At one point a chopper flew overhead, wave check! He said. Thors checking out the waves! Eh? I said. Apparently Thor (Chris Hemsworth?) is around on his luxury yacht with helicopter, surfing restaurants and wanted to see if cloudies is good too. Luckily he did not come out and we continued to have the session to ourselves, I got an extremely good very long wave that just kept walling up and walling up, my thighs were sore by the end! But I also got worked really hard, again got dragged into the reef but didn’t get wounded this time, altho the two set waves that worked me over did such a good job of it that I got pretty rattled, it was a lot of violent tumbling. Very impressive. Absolutely exhausted now, totally surfed out, full from a delicious dinner, ready to pass out.
Matt: The well-kept secret of the fried rice is to dribble some lime while frying the accoutrements and then to do it again post-egg (and always one less egg than you think, unless you’re thinking one egg in which case everything you’re thinking is probably correct). This might only work in the tropics however, and perhaps lemons are the secret of the temperate zones, so no promises if your fried rice does not also come out tasting like (and this was intended as a compliment) Indonesian two-minute noodles