[password] caesar

[position] 19 08.912s 178 33.945w

[status] 1000 hrs 5 July 2018. Lest you think visiting a remote S. Pacific island is all about lounging in a lagoon-side hammock gazing at the sea while sipping from coconuts, attending village picnics, and being invited to mekes, you are wrong. Fulaga is also an island of intrigue, mystery, and drugs. Drugs you say. Well, that's been the intrigue and mystery. About a week ago 42 kilos of neatly packaged white powdery substance was found on one of the motus (islets) in the lagoon by fishermen. It had been buried in the sand but became partially uncovered at low tide when the cache was found. Intrigue - what was the white powdery substance? Mystery - who left it and who did it belong to. The village headman tried to keep the find quite, but word got out and it became the talk of the village and the 8 yachts. Yesterday a helicopter from Suva landed in the village with customs officials on board. As you can imagine, the helicopter landing was a major event. We happened to be in the village at the time repairing our host's water tank. Hearing it overhead coming in for a landing in the village square was a siren song that called every villager, young and old, man and woman. The customs officials were taken to the headman's hut, along with some testing equipment. Soon the hut was surrounded by villagers, all anxious to see what went on. The powder was tested, and we learned from those in the know that it was cocaine. After about an hour of the ground, two village men exited the hut carrying two bundles of 1-kilo bricks to the helicopter, followed by the customs officials. The helicopter took off, villagers waved, and everyone sauntered back to their huts to look at the pictures they all took on their smart phones. We've been told this is not the first time drugs have been found on a Lau Group island. Because of their remoteness, and the fact some are unihabited, they are attractive transfer points for international drug smugglers moving their product across the Pacific. At least one of the yachties voiced a concern that if yachties are found to be involved it could result in the Lau Group being closed to yachts as it was until about 5-years ago. Today island life is back to normal. For me normal was doing an oil change on the boat. Work never ceases. And intrigue and mystery continues.

Sototali
John & Leilani

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