Yesterday was so full on we're still tired after a good sleep. Not much to do apart from sail south to Qamea. The name is pronounced Nggamea because Q is ngg as decreed by the Methodist ministers who first wrote the Fijian words. Any d is nd, a c is th. An interesting point we picked up from our guide book is how Fiji got it's name. Our friend in whose sail tracks we've followed, Captain James Cook, visited these islands and asked the local chief what it was called. The chief answered, Cook misheard Viti and Fiji entered the newly emerging world map according to western explorers. Viti Levu is the name of the largest of the islands.
A second explorer we also seem to be following is the Dutchman, Abel Tasman as in Tasmania, Tasman Straits between Australia and NZ, Abel Tasman national park in south NZ, he “discovered” Taveuni and Qamea.
Where these explorers went without aid of engines, cruising guides, GPS and all the electronic paraphernalia we take for granted, to map the reefs and lands we now visit, and the basis of the electronic chart used in the 21st century. You have to acknowledge and admire their superior navigation skills. We are within a 80 miles of Bligh Water which is the pass between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. Bligh traversed this pass in his 8m row boat on his way from Tonga where he'd been set adrift to Indonesia where he knew was a safe welcome. The story is when the Fijians spotted his small craft they rowed out not to meet them but to eat them. Capt Bligh and his crew managed to escape.
Having digressed...we (us and Stray Kitty) arrived in the rolling anchorage of Namata bay where Chamaya, Tahina and Oso Blanco were already anchored. Chris and David went ashore to do sevusevu, the giving of kava, to chief George and I had a sleep. In the evening we were all invited to Oso Blanco for their son's 9th birthday party which was a kid's inside playing computer games and watching TV and adults outside chatting.
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