Plan for Saturday was a bike ride, I had only my gravel bike so didn’t want to do too many hills but in the Adirondacks even a flat ride has hills!

I biked into town and around Mirror Lake and then did a loop in Saranac Lake. There was a nice art show and farmers market being set up there.

Although I have been to Lake Placid at least 10 times, I had never driven to the top of Whiteface Mountain. Even though it was sunny and 70 in Lake Placid the mountain was shrouded in clouds. Ideally a pure blue sky day is best but I had a schedule to keep so paid the $20 at the toll booth even though the attendant warned me there was zero visibility at the top.

When I reached the parking area it was very windy and only in the 50s. Luckily I had many clothes options in the van.

The Castle building was undergoing some repairs but I enjoyed the small historical section and browsed the gift shop.

There was a “cafe” advertised but just a food truck with picnic tables in the brutal cold. I ate in the cozy van.

Interesting facts about a rare bird….

It is only a 0.25 mile hike up to the summit but 250 feet elevation gain. Wet rocks and strong winds somewhat daunting.

I rode the elevator down through the mountain and then a tunnel to the parking area.

I am not a big Mets fan, my grandfather and father made me a solid Yankees fan. My dad even took me and my sister to the World Series in 1977 and 1978. She was at the Reggie 3 Home Run game but they just heard it in the parking lot in a rush to get home before the traffic on a school night. Several of my friends from medical school are fanatic Mets fans though and since one took Alex and me to a game a few years ago I have started to watch more of their games as I do get the SNY Channel on cable as well as the YES network. Last year I tried to arrange a game for some of us to attend but we couldn’t find a good date. This spring before the season started I had the core 3 fans pick out a date they could all make and then got 15 tickets and sent out a notice to my Albany Medical College Class of 1990 Alumni group.

We chose to get cheap $40 seats in the upper deck but with great views of the infield and Baseball’s largest Jumbotron (Thanks to Steve Cohen, a Great Neck kid like me). It was a 4pm game; there was a risk of it being moved to 7pm if chosen as the game of the week by ESPN but by July 1st the Mets were way out of contention (despite a good start to their season and the largest payroll in MLB at $340M).

It was a beautiful summer morning on Long Island when I woke after a very sound sleep in Scrat’s top bunk.

I went for a long slow run. I plotted a route past a town park and to Adelphi University in hopes of finding water fountains as it was already warm and humid. Luckily the immediate area was below 100 on the air quality index which I use as my cutoff for outdoor exercise on Wildfire days.

There were a lot of gorgeous homes in the neighborhoods near Adelphi.

The town park did have a water fountain (Adelphi did not) so on way back I circled the park to get an extra drink stop. The park was next to a huge old Catholic school and had obviously been the sports fields before the school closed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Turney_Stewart?wprov=sfti1

Wow! 3rd richest American at his death, had never heard of him. Of Solid Irish stock!

There is a mother and 2 (now almost full sized) young red tail hawks living in the trees behind their backyard. The mom brought back a tasty pigeon for breakfast and the feathers drifted down on us!

Rather than parking at Shea (oops, “Citi” field) Alex, James and I drove to our friend Chris’ house in Douglaston as he lives very near the LIRR line to the stadium. Another classmate (also named Chris) and his girlfriend drove down from Albany and met us in Douglaston also.

We got to meet Chris’ daughter (who passed on the game) and their kitten and Guinea pig.

The Mets had lost 3 games in a row but early back to back homers gave them a lead they held onto as they had great pitching also!

We had lots of space as the rows behind us were empty and I tried to spend some quality time with everyone.

With the new rules changes in MLB the game went almost too fast.

With it being not much past 6pm when game ended someone suggested we walk to an international food festival (with live music) in Flushing Meadows Park.

Until I finished first grade (and moved to Lake Success/Great Neck) my family lived on 199th street in Queens and spent many, many days at Flushing Meadows Park. Whenever we drove past it with Alex on way from JFK to Manhattan, I would always point out the buildings that they had seen in “Men In Black”.

And I would always tell Alex how we used to roller blade in the dry fountain at base of the Unisphere globe. Our 4 wheeled metal clip on skates 🙂

If u click on the Times Photo it should take you to the article ….

Here are a bunch of my Dad’s slide photos from 1964. I couldn’t find the one of me in a stroller in the fall there but I remember it well (not).

So next year will be the 60th anniversary so I guess I’ll be 60 also… (and also Tim Hortons!).

And a long goodbye as we later split off to Subways, LIRR, cars …. Next year I will organize a Yankees outing!

Joe had some room in his Tesla so a few of us found it alone in the empty lot (2 hours after game ended) but also found the markers of the bases in Shea Stadium!!

A very perfect day in every way. Weather, Mets, friends, food and drinks. It was nice for Alex to meet some of my oldest friends they had not met before (James they have know since a baby).

We retraced our route back through Amagansett, East Hampton and Bridgehampton… roads still pretty empty this early in the morning. Later in the day Montauk Highway becomes a traffic jam …

The Hamptons’ 11 Historic Windmills Were Built from 17881820. Why?

I always assumed they were built by Dutch settlers…

We got back to my uncle’s (Stephen and Richard) house in time for me to cut the bagels and set the table! My sister and her husband and their dog Snoopy were also visiting.

Stephen is technically on home hospice after a case of acquired hemophilia (very rare) but he seems to be in remission and slowly getting his strength back. Mentally he is back to normal, he seemed confused a few months ago likely because of anemia and fatigue. He is 87 but hopefully has a few more good years to go.

They usually have a huge vegetable and herb garden but I think they got back so late from FL and then NYC where Stephen started hospice that it is mostly what came back on it’s own this year.

We took Stephen’s wheelchair off road so he could visit his gardens.

Their street dead ends on Mecox Bay so I snuck in a swim. The shallow bay was very warm. I was the only one there. It has no navigable outlet to the Atlantic so no big boats but huge mansions with docks on all it’s edges.

On our walk back I took a photo of this ginormous house going up across from my uncles that looked more like a museum than a residence. Alex Zillowed it and found ….

When I was a kid all the land across the street from Stephen’s was potato fields. Over the decades houses kept going up and now there is a continuous row of homes from Montauk Highway to Mecox Bay.

I spent at most 30 minutes pulling some weeks from the gardens, I would have done more but Alex and I had a very tight schedule and had to leave right after lunch.

You know it was a hectic/rushed visit when I did not get a group photo of everyone together 😉

Our next destination was 90 miles to the east in Queens but when I texted my friend James (re: eventual ETA at his house )he remarked that we would be passing right past where his daughter worked in Quogue.

Alex and I love all wildlife so we couldn’t resist!

Home

Alex and I would have been happy just to see all the amazing rescued birds in the outside displays (photos not great because of tight wire screens.

But when we found Rose she gave us a private tour of all the center’s areas.

There were also a LOT of rescued orphan ducklings… the staff was so busy feeding all the animals, seemed like a hard job but obviously rewarding. A lot of the expenses involved food for the raptors, they need fish, meat, etc. The cynic in me wondered about just feeding the squirrels and Robins to the raptors…. Alex did not appreciate me voicing it out loud 😉

Our next stop was to visit my Dad’s grave in Mt. Lebanon Cemetery in Queens. Alex and I try to visit once a year at least. Stopping to see the wildlife brought us to Queens in heavy rush hour traffic but Alex helped navigate and we got to the grave just before the cemetery would close.

Piet Mondrian, Mae West and Jackie Robinson are all buried less than a mile from my Dad. Sometime I want to visit them all.

We then drove back East thru more rush hour traffic and insane NYC drivers to Garden City. My friends James and Trish live in Stewart Manor ( near Adelphi University).

Alex slept in the house but I slept in Scrat … suburban camping 🏕️

ACH! It is July 30th and I was just planning to finish up blog entries for days 2,3,4,5,6 of my camping/volunteering visit to Lake Placid last week and in “drafts” on the WordPress app I found this one that I never even really started, much less finished!

This morning it was peaceful and I could hear the waterfall behind me but after it rained yesterday there are more people here than I have ever seen!

So, not blogging about today. I am just here to cover the booth if the artist needs to take a break and to obtain them any necessary fluids or nutrition and then to pack up with them after 5pm and load the Van….

I actually thought it would be fun to dictate a long voice note about all the people (and DOGS!) passing (a la the Woody Allen narration in the park scene in Annie Hall). But time to travel in the “way back machine” to the end of June and do super quick entry here about Alex’s and my trip to Long Island in Scrat! But first a short movie ….

It is July 5th today. I had hoped to do some blogging while on the road but I was super busy every day and July 3rd and 4th had no time either.

Thursday to Sunday, June 29 to July 2, my kid and I drove from:

Buffalo to Syracuse

Syracuse to Southhampton

Southhampton to Montauk Point to Southhampton

Southhampton to Quoge to Forest Hills to Garden City

Garden City to Douglaston to Garden City

Garden City to Greenwich Village to Syracuse to Buffalo.

Well I actually did all the driving, Alex was a helpful navigator and DJ, they weren’t excited about driving Scrat but would have if I had needed.

On Thursday June 29th Alex and I left Buffalo at around 9am.

After this trip Scrat will have travelled all the way from the Pacific Ocean in Washington state to the Atlantic at the furthest tip of Long Island!

We stopped in Syracuse briefly to visit with Alex’s grandmother Barb who at almost 92 is fading. She was in rehab after an ICU stay but was awake enough to talk a little.

BUT THAT visit was a month ago and now she is closer to the end. I am so glad Alex got to see her still responsive. I think we will be going to Syracuse in August for a funeral but 92 is a good run.

We then drove from Syracuse to Southhampton with just one or two gas/bathroom breaks. The traffic from the Throgs Neck bridge out to Suffolk county was bad but then it opened up and we got to my Uncles Stephen and Richard’s house in Watermill by 6:30 pm in time for dinner!

Well, now it is already 4pm, only an hour until the art festival is over and I help Alex pack up and take down tent at 5 and then wait our turn to pull Van around… hopefully not too long, I am working tomorrow, bad idea. So I’ll write until 5 and then publish what I have. I covered the booth for 40” and sold 2 items!

Alex hadn’t been to the Hamptons since 5 years old and had never been to Montauk Point. As a child my family always visited my Uncle’s in the Hamptons once or twice a year and my dad and I used to fish there. Sometimes we would fish for flounder from a small rented rowboat/outboard, other times just for Sea Robins in the Shinnecock Canal and often on big party boats out in the ocean for Mackeral, Fluke, etc.

Since we are both usually up early I suggested we drive out to Montauk to see the sun arrive from Ireland …

There was very little traffic as we passed through Bridgehampton, East Hampton, Amagansett and Montauk on our way to the state park. About a 45 minute drive. We saw some surfers turn off at a different state park.

It was totally worth the drive! I had never seen the sun rise there either.

I am back in Lake Placid to volunteer at the Ironman. It is 7 years since I did my first IM here and this will be the third time I volunteer. Last year I was up here only Friday to Monday and for a 6 hour drive it seemed too short. This year I arrived yesterday afternoon (Thursday) and will stay until Tuesday morning. I am volunteering at registration today from 8:30 to 12:45 so have an hour to blog. I am also doing two volunteer shifts on race day (Sunday).

I planned to leave at 8am yesterday but it was 9:30 before I left. I did an hour on the bike trainer in the basement and then threw a huge amount of stuff in Scrat (my campervan). I already had both the Buffalo Triathlon Club’s tent and one for my friend’s Love and Sprockets bike shop but Van has more space than I can use. I put some drinks and fruit in the fridge but didn’t bring any real meal food as Lake Placid is not the wilderness.

The thruway was not bad at all compared to recent summer travels. Cruise control on 75 and Waze notified me of the few police.

I was glad not to be stuck in this very long westbound delay for an accident that seemed to involve a boat trailer.

Scrat is very comfortable to drive for long distances (a few weeks ago Alex and I drove from Buffalo to Montauk Point) , I just wish it had lane assist , it just has lane departure warning but doesn’t keep in the lane line most modern cars, I think maybe because it is a Commercial vs passenger van.

While the shortest distance between two points is a straight line there is no direct way to Lake Placid from Buffalo. The quickest is via Syracuse, then North to Watertown and then East to Placid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adirondack_Park?wprov=sfti1

The Adirondacks Park is 6 Million acres!

Last year I stayed at a KOA campground much further away from Lake Placid and in wrong direction for race day driving. This campground has just bathrooms, hot showers (very clean as I always find at NYS campgrounds) and water. But I don’t need electric hookup or a store, pool, etc. that he KOA provides. And at 18$ per night…… 🙂

I locked my bike to my table and headed into town. I did a longish swim, water was around 75 so I didn’t bother with a wetsuit (would wear it in race for the added speed). My swim pace was not great but my rash guard slows me a little and I and biked in the morning and driven 6 hours ….

I had planned to put up the tents on Friday morning but there was a high chance of rain both Friday and Saturday so I set up the BTC tent (only raised halfway and secured with stakes, weights and tied to lamppost in case got windy). This was an extra workout….

My friend Joe was also here early so we met for dinner at the Tail o the Pup which I have driven past 20 times but never eaten at. It was great. Amazing service, great food and live music (it is under new ownership now). It is just a 2 minute walk from my campground!

There was an ice cream shop across from the campgrounds so I got a milkshake to enjoy while I arranged my gear, put a tarp over my bike and got ready for bed. I put the top down and slept downstairs as I knew it would start raining at 3am. The tent top is waterproof but I try to avoid getting it wet if possible to extend its life.

It is 12:30pm on Tuesday June 6th, at home. I am working tomorrow AND Friday this week (although I should do ok as i worked 6 days in a row in Fiji on the medical mission with Loloma Foundation) so i want to at least finish up the last day in Fiji post today.

https://www.instagram.com/linking/fundraiser?fundraiser_id=894077468354435&source_name=SHARE_LINK

The link above should take you to a fundraising page on Instagram I created. I paid $3000 to the foundation to cover my travel and housing costs but all the costs of medicines, supplies, logistics, local support staff depend on charitable donations to the foundation.

http://lolomafoundation.org

It was raining and windy when I woke at 5am and the waves were very loud as the full moon high tide was going to be at 6ish. If it had been windless and blue sky I would have gone out for another surf session in the boat but I was fine with alternate plans. I packed and waited for it to get light enough out to go for a run. Normally it would have been bright out at 6am but it took a little longer as mostly overcast.

I didn’t mind running in a drizzle (especially as it was 79 and humid) but the super high tide left me very little beach only the steep part. The photo above was several hours later with much more beach. At low tide one could walk on dry land around the black rocks in the distance but at high tide that was the end of the beach. I did a few runs back and forth on the sand (very slowly, it reminded me of the sand staircase part of the run at the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon) and then also added loops on the sandy paths around the resort. I got to see the staff quarters inland and the amazing vegetable gardens and numerous papaya trees.

I saw an entrance to a hiking trail in the back of the property but it only took me 20 steps to see that it was too steep, muddy, rocky to “run”. I came back to it later for a 10 minute hike. By now the rain had stopped and it was almost sunny.

After a quick shave and shower I went to breakfast. I took a table by myself after telling the indo-Fijian couple that I was not being unfriendly but just needed my last breakfast in paradise to be just me, my Kindle and some relaxing music. Eggs, toast, fresh fruit including some coconut along with the ubiquitous papaya, coffee, and Mueslix.

I read my kindle, rested, relaxed for a while and then wanted to go out for a snorkel of the reef with my GoPro.

The tide was actually a little too low by now and I had to carefully walk out over the almost exposed reef for a long time before I could actually swim.

After I got my snorkeling gear on and my GoPro and was on the 30 step walk to the edge of the surf i heard Suki barking.

I think that over the 2 weeks in Fiji I snorkeled (or swam over fish filled reefs) for about 10 hours so by this outing I don’t think I saw any “new” fish but I got my best photo of the amazing blue sea stars (Blue Linckia Sea Star per iNaturalist). And all these photos were on a silty, low-visibility day as the waves were just a few feet above the prime coral reefs at drop off (the day before it was 5-6 feet and crystal clear).

The Corals were as varied and gorgeous as the fish, their colors don’t show up as well on GoPro as fish colors though. The bright yellows and purples were amazing. And the Honeycomb Coral growing over the light blue colored coral, next to the blue sea star was one of my best shots.

I saw another Nemo and Nemo’s Dad in an anemone (predatory marine invertebrate, but does not sting Clownfish).

Here are a few photos of the “drop” that Nemo is NOT supposed to swim out past. The barracuda, sharks, etc. tend to stay in the deeper water, they can’t get to a fish hiding in the tight spaces in the coral.

… had to move inside, iPad down to 1%, my editor came with me…

The iPad is starting to get lethargic with updates to draft so I will wrap this post up with leaving the island and include everything else in journey home blog. I really will need to do that on computer.

I thought we were just heading to the boat but instead i was led to the pavilion where all the staff (10-12) were with Rose and Jacob (I think Peter and Amy had left in the morning when I was snorkeling). There was a very nice farewell ceremony and then lots of hugging. Jacob said that Rose would be visiting him in California later this year and that he wanted to also take her to see Niagara Falls and visit relatives in Toronto so I gave him my contact info.

Bonus Video!!! Didn’t post this before because so many other videos in the previous post.

*** I always recommend reading the blog on a computer or iPad rather than phone but especially for this one it has a lot of videos and at least make sure u have a good cell signal or WiFi if use phone or the videos may get glitchy. Enjoy! ***

It is 11pm Saturday June 3rd and I am writing at LAX, Terminal 5, Gate 59. This will be my last blog entry done on my phone for this trip. Once home I will write some more to fill in days I missed but on my computer which is much faster and efficient for WordPress.

When I told my (very few) surfing friends that I was doing a medical mission in Fiji they all asked if I was going to surf there. I had surfed (poorly) when I lived in Long Beach for my residency from 1990-1994. In the last couple of years I had read two great surfing books. A novel by Paul Theroux (author of the Mosquito Coast and many great travel memoirs) and a memoir by New Yorker writer William Finnegan.

I have always loved Paul Theroux’s travel memoirs, one about a trip from “Cairo to Cape Town” by bus, car, train and foot is amazing. I just saw this one listed on Goodreads and have to read it as my next book!!!

As my loyal readers know, I traveled to Costa Rica in November (replacement for my thrice canceled trip to Nepal) and spent a week at a deluxe surf camp on the Pacific coast near Panama. After 30 years off I think the 6 days of surfing got me back to my “peak skill level” of my youth, beginner on long board. I did actually get to surf the green faced waves there that were beyond my ability (or bravery) in CA. Surfing in 80 degree water is much easier and relaxing than in a wetsuit in 60 ish degree water in SoCal.

Argh, hard to keep writing about paradise when the stress/anxiety of America is weighing me down. I initially had direct Buffalo/LAX flights but JetBlue has cut a lot of routes after their “unofficial” merger with AA (just called a “fare share” plan to skirt the regulators). So after my initial plane reservations were made it was only a few weeks later that they emailed me my “changes”, via NYC on way there and Boston on way back. Of course they only gave me a 50 minute layover in Boston for their ONLY Boston to Buffalo flight of the day…. So now my flight to Boston is delayed an hour and will see what happens.

When I made my plans for the medical mission to Fiji the people in the group who had gone before said they liked “Paradise Taveuni” as a place for those with time (and $) to stay on. The resort offered a discounted 5 day all inclusive package for the foundation medical volunteers.

As soon as my plans were set (I actually ended up with one extra night at Aroha planned as no room was available that first night after mission at Paradise) I asked the Paradise staff if there was a place to surf (Taveuni is renowned for its diving reefs, not surfing like some other Fijian islands). They gave me contact info for the Maqai surf resort and I discussed with Maqai surfing one day there. Somehow neither resort mentioned (or seemed to view as issue) the fact that one way journey by car and boat between places was 2 hours (which I didn’t figure out until I was on ground in Fiji and saw how long the drive was on the dirt roads and where the boat pickup for Maqai was).

A cancellation at Paradise allowed me to head there a day early so it made much more sense to overnight at Maqai and then I decided (and am glad I did) to combine my mountain hike with trip to Maqai and then spend 2 nights there.

As I mentioned in previous post the only other 2 guests did not surf. When I checked in with Cathy she asked if I wanted to surf at 6am to get the correct tide for the one mile offshore reef , it is actually best when the tide is rising towards high. At dinner I had no alcohol and passed on the Kava as wanted to be fresh in AM after my very long day of hiking , traveling. Cathy then said “well, u should eat at 6 and can go to surf at 6:30”.

I slept well and was at the pavilion at 6am ….. Peter was there also and we had coffee/tea and chatted.

Airborne, sleep time.

I am logged back into Jetblue FlyFi on my Boston to Buffalo flight at 10:30 am. I slept a solid 4 hours on the red-eye from LAX and then after fretting and rushing this flight ended up being delayed 30 minutes so not trapped in Boston for 12 hours.

So, back to Fiji, it was 6 am and Peter and I enjoying French Press coffee (which seemed the preferred prep tech in Fiji). He had studied biochemistry in college in Canada and then did grad work at Berkeley where he met his wife. He worked for Pharma developing oncology meds and then shifted to more business end of oncology Pharma. His parents want him to move back to Canada if Trump elected again but he and his wife happy in super liberal Boulder. I ordered my breakfast I went with the eggs and toast (other choice was pancakes) and also had some of reg cereal and fresh fruits that were always available. As we are our eggs at 6:45, Peter said “weren’t u supposed to be surfing at 6:30?” I said “I guess that is 6:30 Fiji time and since just me I would go whenever the coach showed up…”. A little later Hulee (?sp) came by and asked if I was ready to surf. I said “sure just let me brush my teeth and I’m good to go”. We went to the surf cabin full of boards and he said “pick any one”, there were about 20 ranging between short aggressive ones to a massive 10 footer. I picked an 8 footer that looked similar to what I had used in Costa Rica. I reminded him (for the 3rd time) that I was NOT a good surfer. His English was great but his accent thick so some words I had to ask him to repeat some things a few times. He grabbed a 5 foot board for himself.

Darn! I guess I didn’t take a photo of the surf shack.

Plane on ground, will finish this later today….

11:13 AM ✈️ on ground in 🦬 …..

The setting Sun looked weird to me, does it look so different at equator that i am not used to the northern sun anymore ?

So, surfboard in hand I hopped in the boat for the 15 minute ride out to the offshore reef.

I followed Hullee to a spot he said was good and waited for a decent wave. I rode the first one on my belly just to get used to my body position on the board and then the next I went up to one knee. I had a few poor pop ups falling off board immediately but then one or two decent rides. It was super easy to just paddle back around the break without having to fight the multiple whitewaters I was used to on beach breaks. The waves were far from the idyllic ones in movies or on Fiji websites as the wind was creating a lot of chop and even at odds to the swell direction.

We hopped back in boat after only 30 or 40 minutes and went to check out another break but the conditions actually had waves breaking in multiple directions. I was happy to head back to shore with a plan to play around on the closer to shore break in the afternoon when it would be optimal.

Here are some photos of the offshore break from the shore when not raining.

When I got back from surfing it was still raining and as I was still wet I went out for a swim and did a nice 30 minutes above the gorgeous fish filled reef right where it dropped off to much deeper depths. It was just as nice as the Rainbow Reef really and I was glad I didn’t have my GoPro or would have shot another 100 fish photos 🙂

After a refreshing shower to wash off the salt I did some beachcombing and then read Kindle until lunch.

I was awoken at 3ish by singing and saw that another couple had just arrived. I headed over to say Bula.

As 4pm approached and the tide was rising towards high I grabbed a super long 10 foot board to practice on the 2 foot waves breaking over the shore reef.

Of course after it being sunny all afternoon as soon as I got board into water it got windy and starting raining. But it was easy to catch the tiny waves and ride the whitewater. I did several nice pop ups but the board quickly would slow down as tiny wave’s dissipated.

Dinner was great. We were now 5! The new couple were really interesting. Both were Indo-Fijians and had gone to college in Australia. They were in a looooooong distance relationship with her living in New Zealand and he in California. They regularly met in Fiji and stayed with their parents. His lived on Taveuni and hers on one of the big islands. They just came to Maqai Island for the one night to have some private time on her birthday.

There was lots of singing and we had hermit crab races !

I am writing “now” at 10am Saturday June 3rd. Last day in Fiji 🇫🇯 :(((

I ended my last blog about Thursday morning hikes at the Matei airport where I was waiting for my car to the dock to catch boat to Maqai.

My driver showed up exactly at 2pm and we had a pleasant 10 minute drive to “dock”. The road was paved for the first 2 miles and then became good dirt road. Passed some nice looking small resorts and homes.

We passed a half dozen cattle roped to trees. I assumed and the driver confirmed it was instead of fencing large areas. He said that he himself had 8 cattle and each day moved them to different trees to graze on property rented from owners. It takes about 5 years from calf to meat. It is a New Zealand breed of cattle.

The afternoon wind had picked up and ocean was a little choppy but waves not too bad. I shot some GoPro video but haven’t edited them yet. Here are just some photos.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g308265-d1631032-Reviews-Maqai_Beach_Eco_Surf_Resort-Qamea_Island.html

And …. If u didn’t notice in photo above , off to left is Suki “resort dog”!

The staff brought my luggage from the boat to my Bure (Chili 1). They have 10 Bures here. Maximum capacity of resort is 25. Peak surfing conditions on the reef a mile offshore is during Nov/Dec or July.

Damn. 1% battery. Stopping!

And I’m back (after 5 hour break), I packed, had nice lunch, showered, was sung to at a farewell ceremony for me and the indo-Fijian couple who are leaving today also. It was then a 30 minute boat ride thru rough seas (and heavy rain last 10 minutes), a 20 minute drive to airport and then a 90 minute flight to the international airport on the big island. Customs and security were fast and polite and I have 4 hours until plane to LA boards.

I had a brief orientation by Cathy, the resorts manager and met the only others staying at the resort, a nice couple from Boulder, CO here for their 20th wedding anniversary while their parents watch their 2 kids (9,11). They don’t even Surf, had just heard that it was one of the most amazing places to stay in Fiji (they were visiting several islands for a few days each).

Great food and they sang a happy anniversary song 🙂

Kava — Integral to Fiji Society

It is 1pm on Thursday and after a VERY busy morning I am settled at the airport in Matei (northern tip of Taveuni). I’ll get picked up in an hour or two when the tiny plane from the international airport on main Island arrives and the surf resort collects me and anyone on the flight. Then it is a 30 minute drive and 30 minute boat ride.

As I suspected, there is good LTE service here for my phone. Not sure about Surfing Island but I actually got best signal previously on the dive boat. The cellular towers are on top of Des Voeux peak that I hiked today and anywhere with line of sight has good signals.

It was 11 days ago that I arrived at the airport with the medical mission group! I am the only one here now except some workmen doing repairs to one of the few rooms in the “terminal”.

My alarm woke me at 4:30 am today which was a little harsh as I had stayed up until 10pm last night blogging and packing. At 5:30 I went to breakfast and set my suitcases outside my Bure. By 6 I was picked up by huge new Toyota pick-up for my tour and drive to airport.

Jeez, 10 minutes of writing and I am ready for a nap…. Despite my being in the shade and a slight breeze it is HOT. The workmen seem to have left as there is no more hammering. The “restaurant” is still closed but if it opens for next flight arrival I NEED a Diet Coke, otherwise will fill my dwindling water bottle from sink.

It was a 30 or 40 minute drive from Paradise Resort back north to the Waievou area where I had stayed last week. It is a dirt road and one lane bridges but a comfortable ride in the Toyota with A/C.

The sun rises and sets quickly at Equator, sunny already. Beautiful windy trip up and down hills. Road is “just” wide enough for 2 vehicles but on the cliff side turns the car further from the edge snugs up to the brush to make space.

When we hit a paved road I knew we were almost back near the Aroha Resort. I had run this area but the driver gave me some details. The Church is 180 years old. The Cinema closed decades ago, she said before she was old enough to remember. The Meridian Hardware store is 85 years old (“first shop in world to open every day”).

A few people showed up. I was asked if I was for “departure” and said “Senga” , no. I guess they are the staff for the terminal.

Maybe I am getting sleepy because of my music selection…. Just heard “California”, I’ll be heading to CA on Saturday but only an 8 hour layover before heading East. Switching to more upbeat music.

Just after the Church property that also had schools, sports fields , etc. we turned inland up a steep dirt road. The neighborhood uphill from the church was poor as were all villages here but many yards had nice landscaping and even a few cars, I saw electricity lines but only a few houses were connected.

It was only a short, slow and bumpy ride to reach the Park Entrance (unstaffed that early, 7am, we paid fee on way out). But it was another 30 minutes drive up a very steep, narrow, dirt trail to the trailhead.

The park is Huge, it is 1/3 of the Island.

2pm came quick and driver collected me. Now it is 2:30, waiting for boat to surf resort island. Not sure if 4 bars 3G is enough to load photos but will do a test one and if works can continue writing.

Argh, that took 6 minutes to load so will just do some writing without photos until boat arrives. Driver called a second time but everything is on “Fiji time” here and I am happy to Chillax by sea with gentle breeze and wavelets lapping at shore …

It is “now” 24 hours later. The boat showed up as Soon as I typed the last sentence. I have figured out that I get 2 bars of LTE in the beach but only 3 bars 3G on my porch (20 steps away) and only 2G in my Bure. I noticed today that the Bure and other structures have metal roofs which is probably the reason. So, having had a busy morning and a nice lunch and then reading my kindle for a while I guess I have a good spot with LTE to finish up this entry …..

After a VERY bumpy drive up narrow dirt roads we reached a gate and the driver stopped and said “u will hike with guide from here”.

My guides name was Sunny and he had been leading hikes for a few years now after being a taxi driver for the tour company for a long time. When I saw him throw his sneakers in the back of the pickup and put on high rubber boots I asked if I should take off my socks. He said that was a good idea as trail was a “little” muddy. I was sooo glad i had worn my waterproof trail, swim sneakers.

My ankles got muddy but after the hike we stopped at a hut where a small stream in back had a pool to wash our shoes and legs.

The description of the hike just mentioned going to the top of the peak, 4000 ft elevation, where the telecoms towers were. I imagined we would drive to the top, walk around and enjoy the views (we left at 6am because later in the morning the peak always gets enveloped by clouds). Both times we went out on Dive Boat it was blue skies and bright sun but the mountain was shrouded in clouds

I was glad I had a water bottle in my back pocket but it turned out that Sunny also had a liter in his backpack for me. After about 15 minutes we stopped for a breather for a few minutes and then were off again. The trail was steep, muddy, logs to climb over or squeeze under, slippery rocks, etc. I started to try to quantify how hard a hike this was at about 30 minutes at second break. If my hardest day at Kiliminjaro or the Winter ascent of Mt Washington was a “Dave 10” this was a good 8. Definitely harder than the Scottsdale or Adirondacks hikes I have done. When we reached the nice lake in 45 minutes Sunny said I had made great time…. “It often takes people an hour or hour and quarter to get here” 🙂

While we drank some water and rested I asked Sunny if people ever gave up after 30 minutes and he said “yeah, all the time” 😉

Unlike Africa or South America though one could just sit on a log and wait for group to reach Lake and collect u on way back. There are NO poisonous snakes on Fiji (some Boa Constrictors in fields but they mostly eat rodents and rarely a chicken). No deadly centipedes or poison plants or bad insects either.

It was not really much easier on way back as hike was up-down-up-down but at least I knew how far I had to go …. 😉

When we got back to the car at 9 our driver Naz said “did u go to the lake?” She wasn’t expecting us back until 10 🙂

Since we had some extra time she said we should stop at a waterfall, when we parked I was happy to note that Sunny left on his flip flops and did not take his backpack. He assured me it was a short hike (it was only 10 minutes round trip but gorgeous).

Naz drove us north to Matei along PAVED road. She had a headscarf and I asked if she was Muslim and she said yes. Her great-great grandparents came with the others from “India” , her family actually was from Lahore that is now In Pakistan after the split at Independence (which Gandhi opposed). The small temple I saw south of the school by Paradise resort she told me was a Mosque. It was built 80 years ago.

As we got to Matei I noticed there were a lot of nice small resorts clustered there. I got dropped off at a cute beachfront restaurant associated with one of them. Had an iced coffee and then lunch while read kindle and enjoyed the view …..

After lunch I was off to the airport… rest of day will have to be separate post….