Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Tuesday January 15th, 2007

Our regular Monday town run yesterday became an epic adventure. The ride in was normal enough, a little wet in the rain, but nothing remarkable. When it came time to head home to Vorovoro, the rain was pounding through some pretty bendy palm trees in Labasa.

Ben rang from home to tell us the waves were breaking big on the beach of Vorovoro and our men of the sea – Marau, Johnny and Api – all concurred that it wasn’t safe to head home yet, so we waited a few hours and eventually made our way up the river at 5 30, giving us an hour before sunset to navigate potentially rough seas.

We were all soaked within minutes, but new arrivals Kevin and Jerome, Chief Sharon, Alex, Adam and Kesa were all cheerfully embracing the weather. I ducked under the tarp protecting 3 laptops, our food and luggage and tried to listen to my ipod, but the rain and wind completely drowned out my sound and I wrapped the little nano up in a plastic bag (!), put it away and popped out from under the tarp to see how we were doing.

We were doing fine it seemed, wet, but smiling and laughing, joking about the possibility of going for an unscheduled swim. When the river met the ocean, conditions changed dramatically. The swells were lifting us high and slamming the boat back down with astounding smacks, but Marau was standing up in the front of the boat surfing, laughing and enjoying the ride. Until he wasn’t.

It all got quite serious very quickly. Looking over the front of the boat as it fell yet again, I couldn’t see any of the landmarks that show us where we are, in fact, I couldn ‘t see any land at all, just big brown churning waves.

A few of the waves were washing into the boat then one very large one washed right over us and we were suddenly sitting in a 4 or 5 inches of water. All the water soon rushed to Kesa at the back as the front of the boat was lifted 5 feet in the air yet again.

I yelled to Marau and Johnny that we had to go back not yet realizing that they were trying, with great difficulty to turn us around. We were sideways to the waves, in a trough, and I silently took stock of who might need a hand if we were to end up in the water. I counted heads over and over even though I knew exactly how many of us were there. I just wanted to be sure I’d have it right if we were bobbing in the ocean.

I like adventure and I wasn’t particularly scared. I generally go all calm when situations get perilous – I think my inner buddha kicks in or something. Also, I’m a strong swimmer and have done enough water life saving courses to feel confident. I was worried about everyone though and concerned panic, if we did tip, might create a very difficult to manage situation.

We didn’t tip though. We got very wet, we wobbled and flew and slammed down a few more times, but our captain Johnny and Marau got us turned around safely while Kesa calmly and quickly bailed the water that collected around her knees.

Once we had our back end to the biggest waves, peals of laughter broke the tension, we did a water meke, sang row row row your boat and tried to remember a few piratey sea shantys. Spirits weren’t even damp despite our drenching.

Naka na safe and joyful ride back up to the Grand Eastern, where the adventure continued …