We heard this town had a store, not really needing anything we decided to check it out anyway. Landing the paddleboards we realized that we were in someone’s backyard so Carl headed to seek permission. Thankfully they were okay with our intrusion and soon enough we walked across their property to the road. Three cute little girls probably five years old hollered at us and we stopped to say hello. I was most impressed that they spoke very good English. About this time their father showed up telling them to let us be. All good we exclaimed and chatted a bit more before continuing our trek.
It wasn’t long before we came across Margaret walking with a villager. Seems she landed her dinghy at a bungalow resort and was walking with the owner, Wendy. Chatting while we all walked we learned that she had fresh veggies in her garden so we put in our order and said we’d stop by later as we arrived at her driveway.
It was a hot day, we followed the shade as we carried on to the main road and hung a right, as the villagers earlier had advised. It wasn’t long before we came to the village and couple minutes later realized we had walked right by. Back we headed off the main road down a small path to a very nice football field. Walking it’s length we arrived an “Millennium stage.” They have some weird fascination with the last millennium and we have found many villages with a stage or meeting spot that has a sign stating “Millennium…”
Nearby was the store. Just outside were tables with fresh produce that I assume locals place in the morning. Inside was a small shop with staples, a freezer with meats, some fresh made donuts, meat pies, and one other container I didn’t look inside of. Needing change for Wendy, I bought a donut as did Margaret. We took a different route back while we ate our snack. It turned out to be fried dough with no sweetness. A bit odd but still edible. A short detour to checkout a church on the beach, also let us check that our boats were still where they should be.
More friendly people as we continued through town and finally reaching Wendy’s resort we headed in to get our veggies. She had put together a basket for us of papaya, bananas, and green beans. 1,350 vatu later we were cutting through backyards to our paddleboards. With loaded boards and some incoming swell it made it more interesting paddling out but there were no mishaps. Back safe and sound aboard Skypond.
Carl was keen on moving to our next anchorage seven miles away. So it was “go” time. Up came the anchor and off we went. The first bit we were protected but the last half we were very exposed and a very large swell was lifting the boat, tipping us over, and rolling past. It was a bit concerning but not terrible. However, had we kept a few miles off shore of the final island it would have been not as rough. Oh well. We found our way through a pass and plopped the anchor down in a spot that looks free of coral. I dove the anchor and found that we picked a good spot. And with that it was time to unwind and destress.
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