We came across to Chief John’s mooring ball at 7am to make sure nobody took it, Profasea had left ages ago and John and his son Ishmail helped us onto the ball. Once again quite close to the reef but fingers crossed the mooring is strong. Luckily we are having hot calm days with little wind. As soon as we had settled down, John and Ishmail were back with a welcome gift of coconut drinks all decked out in bright red hibiscus. A wonderfully refreshing touch. Chief John said he would organise some custom music and dancing, plus a meal for us tonight.
Jose and Alice from Alma Feroz, came around for a cup of tea late morning, I guess they haven’t had a lot of company recently as she had loads to say! Around 3pm Lella meandered in, they came across from Honiara, they had no wind, they can’t go much faster than 3knots with their electric engines on a long distance! We invited them to the evening do, with Alma Feroz.
We had a huge clean up on the boat, Rowan did the outside, and I did inside, hoovering and mopping. We were both dripping sweat in this heat, we were very pleased with ourselves and the end result. All afternoon the beach was a flurry of activity with loads of people preparing for the party tonight. A garland enclosure was created for the performance area. So colourful with hundreds of hibiscus flowers, and John’s pot plants mainly orchids, moved into place. They seem to be such keen flower gardeners. All afternoon we had a stream of boats coming over to us, one girl came firstly for an onion for the soup, half an hour later she wanted oil. Various others were selling jewellery, carvings or vegetables.
Finally we went in and had a wonderful experience, such warm hospitality, and effort, especially when John looks like a bit of a rogue! He was wearing a bright Hawaiian shirt with the tightest clam digger shorts, goodness knows where he put all his tackle. It was a very sweet genuine event, loads of kids around loving it, their singing and dancing was a step up from Simon’s place. They don’t use the word traditional here, it is all called custom – custom dancing, custom singing, custom dressing. They also had Ishmail and another guy playing the panpipe drums and one guy blowing on them, it really produced a great sound. I will let the photos and videos describe it.
After they had finished they put on a meal for us, we had said we don’t eat reef fish, so we got presented with clam soup, slightly alarming, but we all ate it, and it was very tasty. It always comes with yam and taro stodge, that only Anthony the Vegan managed to eat as that was all there was for him. We took a big pasta dish for them to eat, Rowan made it with tinned tuna, and tinned tomatoes and plenty of spice, with some purple chillis that had been sold to us. Rowan also made a white loaf of bread, I suggested we take a bit of butter to go with it, it went down a real treat. They finished off the pasta too. To finish off I had taken an enormous bag of marshmallows, that we toasted on a fire. The kids and adults, really liked those too. It was a magical evening.
On our new mooring ball by 8am, in front of a very picturesque beach, Chief John’s home
The view further along the beach
Chief John and Ishmail bring us a welcome present
So many hibiscus
I hung up the clump of flowers on their sticks think it was a decorative thing
Chief John put us right, they were bamboo straws for drinking from the coconuts
The amazing purple chillies we traded for a can of meat
Girls in custom outfits
When I asked what the one necklace was, she said they were dolphin teeth!
Some cute faces
The panpipe drums in front of the hibiscus garland
All those different coloured hibiscus flowers
The tree is a garden in it’s own right too, loads of pots with orchids and other plants
Everyone is enjoying the celebration
The girls doing finishing touches
We are presented with more coconut drinks, and leis made out of leaves. I wore my bislama dress from Vanuatu
A little apprehensive maybe?
The dancers with Chief John behind in his very tight clam diggers!
Pole Pole so close behind
The panpipe drummers use flipflop bottoms as their sticks to hit the pipes
The performance begins
Kids all watching politely, with a lovely hanging basket of orchids behind them
This was my favourite song/performance, Chief John had explained it was about a dog, and how he lifts his leg to have a pee. Charmingly funny
A stunning sunset to end it
Kids all watching from behind the line
Our clam supper, with stodge on the side!
Rowan having a go at the pipe drums
Chief John got a fire built for the marshmallows
Toasting marshmallows was a first for them, the enormous bag was quickly finished
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