[password] caesar

[position] 19 08.912s 178 33.945w

[status] 0730 hrs 25 August 2018. Today is our 11-week-aversary in Falaga. No other boat comes close to our tenure. Speaking of other boats. There are some 20 here. With this crowd, Falaga has lost a bit of its sparkle as a quiet, private destination. Many of the boats are remnants of the Island Cruising Association (ICA) rally that originally went to Tonga where the official rally ended. Usually rally groups move on quickly so as to stop in as many places as possible. Shortly after we arrived a number of World Arc rally boats came, but left after less than a week. As this season progresses, I believe less boats will be arriving because most of the fleet will already have moved westward.

Two days ago our friend who travels with his 92-years mother arrived. Met them last year here, so it was very nice seeing him again. Haven't seen the mother. She's more disabled than last year, and stays mostly inside the boat resting. I'm a lot younger than she is, and that's what I do mostly.

I sustained a serious and debilitating sports injury. As a result of playing the board-card game, Sequence, for about 6-hours over two days earlier this week, I suffered OOS in my left thumb & forefinger due to holding playing cards. Laugh if you must. It's a real injury and I've been in great pain, not to mention having difficulty buttoning my shirt and zipping up my shorts. Try doing that using only your middle, ring, and little fingers on one hand. And to make matters worse, my partner and I lost the tourneys both nights. I really hate contact sports.

The cargo boat from Suva came two days ago. Fruits & veggies we ordered arrived, so it was almost like Christmas. I say almost, because one item we anxiously awaited wasn't exactly what we ordered. We ordered five packets of stove-top popcorn. We received microwave popcorn instead. Buttered flavoured. Nonetheless, we cut open a packet, and scraped out the kernals that were drowned iin a yellow-orange, gooey mess, that was no doubt the butter flavouring, and cooked it in a pot with some oil. It actually turned out okay; if you don't mind your fingers afterwards dripping more than had we eaten a juicy T-bone steak with our hands. Cooking tip - if cooking microwave buttered popcorn on the stovetop, do not add oil. Living on a sparsely inhabited South Pacific Island visited by a supply boat once a month, you have to make do with what you get. Particularly when relying on a Fijian living in Suva to buy popcorn for you, which, if you don't already know, is not a staple Fijian foodstuff.

After almost a week of calm, clear, windless days, today is overcast and the wind is up to 12-14 kts. The breeze feels good. Just waiting for the sun to appear. As we do that, I'll sign off.

Sototale
John & leilani

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