Wayne Finds His Blankie!
One of my fondest and most special places in the world is 12 29.250 S, 177 07.265 E (you can cut & past this into Google Earth/Maps or Bing to see where this is) This is the lat/long address of the tiny island of Rotuma. Technically and politically Rotuma is part of Fiji even though it is 350nm north of the rest of all the other 328 islands which make up the nation of Fiji. However in every other way Rotuma is a country and culture very much of its own with its own language, history, culture and ways. When sailing into or out of a country you have to go through what’s called a PoE or Port of Entry to do your clearing in/out with customs, immigration and bio security and back in 2009 I had read a little article that Rotuma had recently been made a PoE for Fiji. These PoE’s dictate our routing as we are only allowed to enter and exit via one of these ports and there are often only one or two PoE’s for any given country even though the rest of the country can be spread out over thousands of miles as is often the case in most of the archipelago nations scattered like seeds in the giant aquatic garden known as the South Pacific. Being so remote and unknown Rotuma had been calling my name loudly for a long time and so when I first left Fiji back in 2010 I did so by sailing up north to Rotuma and was ship #6 to have ever done so which added to the specialness of the whole experience. Hence began my love affair with this little dot in the world and I’ve since checked in and out of Fiji every time in the past three plus years since and our stop there last week makes it six times LTY has nestled her anchor into the sandy bottoms of Oinafa Bay on the NE corner or Hapmafau Bay on the SW corner.
Being such a relatively small population of 1928 people based on the last census in 2010 and my habit of mingling with the local people ashore as I both explore their location and culture as well as seek out their assistance in solving the latest of my mechanical and other challenges with keeping Learnativity all ship shape, I have become more and more familiar with individual Rotumans who have become friends. These range from the dozen or more young boys and girls, 8-18 years, who came out to Learnativity when I was anchored in Hapmafau Bay last trip down to Fiji in August and spent the whole afternoon having me show them things like binoculars and chart plotters to playing games of jumping off the high coach roof of Learnativity into the clear almost bathtub temperature waters with all of us giggling the whole time like little school girls. Then the next day, after they had all been relating all this to their respective families over dinner that night with stories of their fun times on this big yacht bobbing out in the bay with this one odd captain and his little dog, the next day four of their Dads came out to see for themselves and we had another grand time together. Or the time when the Police Chief, head of Bio Security and the visiting Australian who was the Economics teacher at the high school for the past two years, timidly suggested I move anchorage from Oinafa to Hapmafau Bay as the wind and swell was swinging around to be out of the North and that why yes, they would be very glad to come along for the ride to be my “official” guides! Or the time I was invited to attend the big annual rugby for the men and net ball for the young women tournament weekend with teams from each of the eight local “districts” of residences spread throughout the island and was their guest of honour at the luncheon for all the chiefs. And then there was the adventure of finding some oil when my turbo hose had been leaking and I was out of new oil as well as being low on gas for the dinghy which I unexpectedly needed when I moved to the SW Hapmafau Bay and had to anchor about 1nm out from shore. I made the rounds from one person to the next in my search for the elusive gas and oil which was in short supply as the monthly supply ship was due in the next week and each one could not have been more helpful when they didn’t have any but thought they knew someone who might and escorted me to them. In the end I found the “Station Chief” who kept his own secret stash of gas and gladly shared 4 liters with me and then had his crew of men who looked after maintaining the four different water well pumps on the island, take me with them for the day of going from one pump station to the next to do the daily maintenance and picking up 4 liter of oil from one of their supply sheds along the way.
I tell you all this today to for several reasons. One to give you a feel for why I continuously feel like I lead such a charmed life of contiguous grand adventures filled with these kinds of “up close and personal” experiences and relationships with the local people I meet along the way and how it always seems like what starts out as adversity in the form of the latest challenge Learnativity or sailing or life presents to me, quickly turns into yet another amazing adventure and set of experiences. And more specifically I tell you all this today to set up some background and context for one of the more wonderful stories which I now have to tell from my most recent return to Rotuma and experience with these beautiful people. I will forever refer to this as “Wayne Finds His Blankie” and here is how it came to pass.
Jack is the young, I’d guess about 30, Rotuman who is the head of Bio Security and thus looks after checking what fruit, vegetables, meat and the like we might be bringing into or leaving Rotuma with. And of course Jack is also the one responsible for checking Ruby in and out of Fiji so Ruby and I have known Jack better and better with each visit and have developed a closer and closer relationship with him. On New Year’s day Christine and I had moved LTY over to Hapmafau Bay after the “grounding & pounding” adventure in Oinafa on New Year’s Eve and we spent the next day ashore in the main village of Ahau which is more commonly referred to as “Government Station” as this is where all the official buildings and resources are located and we had the most wonderful time as I showed Christine around this precious little jewel in my treasure chest of adventures and introducing her to my many friends there as they all seemed to just come out of the woodwork to say hello and welcome Ruby and I back and to meet the mysterious lady who had suddenly appeared aboard LTY on this latest visit. We visited the one little local store, more for the experience than any supplies though we did find a tin of baking soda so Christine can make more breads for us and then we went over to the Station Chief and brought him the 20 liters of gas I had brought along from Fiji to repay his extreme generosity of giving me the 4 liters of gas from his precious supply on my last time through Rotuma. Then we spent a few hours completing all the many many forms required for our clearance out of Fiji and clearance into Majuro. Each in triplicate via carbon paper of course! With some final adieux and bon voyage wishes from all our local friends Vincent drove Christine, Jack and me back to Hapmafau Bay where our faithful dinghy was waiting to take Jack and us out to LTY for his final inspection and signing of our exit papers. Ruby was the most excited of all to see Jack again and after Jack’s quick inspection of our fridge and freezer and fruit hammocks, he and I went back up to sit out on the aft deck in the fresh breeze. While Jack and Ruby they were having their joyous reunion the hostess with the mostess Christine, disappeared down into the galley to prepare a light snack for us as Jack and I chatted and took in the wonder of tiny Hapmafau Bay which wrapped its 270 degrees of protective coral shores around us.
Jack glanced furtively around to check that Christine was out of hearing range down in the galley and then leaned in close to me and softly said, “We’ve all been talking about you since you arrived on New Year’s Eve.” And he went on to tell me the story I’m now finally telling you. Jack explained that some of the people ashore in Oinafa village where we first anchored had sent word via the coconut telegraph on the island that Wayne and Ruby were back AND this time they aren’t alone; there is a WOMAN on board! Oh, she’s probably just one of those things they call “crew” some said but “No!” others corrected “Two of us saw them up on deck and they were KISSING after they anchored!” Later, as we were “observed” with ever more inquisitive eyes from ashore and then in person when we visited Government Station, Jack went on to explain that they could all now confirm that Wayne was indeed no longer that very odd and rare beast known as a “single hander” with is faithful pup Ruby, he now had the loving partnership of a woman in his life! And then Jack looked directly and deeply at me and said “We are all so happy that you’ve finally found your blanket.”
My puzzled look prompted him to go on to explain that in Rotuma, if a man is experiencing the winds and storms of life alone because he has yet to find or has lost the one woman who will be his partner in life, then he doesn’t have a “blanket” to protect him, comfort him and keep him warm. So he wanted to tell me how happy they all were that “Wayne had found his blanket”.
How special is THAT?! A little choked with the emotion of this sincere caring an how truly rich I am and the reminder that I have indeed found my “blankie” I shook Jack’s hand and gave him a hug to say thanks and let him know how touched I am by his friendship, this story and the great kinship I shall always feel for the beautiful people of Rotuma.
For you inquisitive ones out there “my blankie’s” name is Christine Kling and YES! She is THAT (http://www.christinekling.com/bio.html) Christine Kling and THIS (http://writeonthewater.com/?page_id=37) Christine Kling! Christine Kling the amazing Amazon #1 best seller author, Christine the single handed 100 ton licensed Captain, Christine the awesome mother, Christine the adventurer and Christine the truly beautiful person. And NO! I have no explanation other than a momentary lapse of her otherwise great judgement as to why she has chosen to be my blankie. But I no longer ask Why? to the awemazing gifts life seems to continuously bring me and I focus my energies on appreciating and enjoying them to the fullest extent of my abilities.
Lucky for your eyes, I will spare you for now from my more effusive description of this wonderful woman and my feelings for her and instead let you read at your leisure some of her previous blog postings in the past few years about her experiences with sailing and life. If you find yourself shaking your head at weird Wayne and wondering and pondering it all, check out these posts from Christine’s blogs over the past few years and I think you’ll see just how “meant to be” we are. As you will read if you have time, she is a great writer and has such a love of life and adventure which I think you’ll see as I did how wonderfully she captures the joy and rapture only sailors, and perhaps single handed sailors in particular can appreciate with the glorious times she has had on her boat and how much she loves her life in blogs like this one http://writeonthewater.com/?p=7837 or this one http://writeonthewater.com/?p=7266 or this one http://writeonthewater.com/?p=3698 . When you read these I suspect you too will have the same reaction as you wonder if you are reading one of my blog postings or one of hers. I’ll save for another day and posting, our story of how we so serendipitously came to meet and simply say that I when I am able to meet Christine’s little Yorkie “Barney” for the first time in person I will be kissing him full on the mouth and be forever in debt for his posting called “This message is brought to you by my Yorkshire Terror” (http://writeonthewater.com/?p=13834)
With that teaser, I’ll leave you with this portion of the story “Wayne Finds His Blankie” because I’m off to snuggle with my blankie as we enjoy yet another day of bliss out here in our own private cosmos aboard Learnativity and sailing silently on top of the big blue marble called Earth. As soon as you can please go snuggle up to the blankie(s) in your life and remind them and yourself just how much richer, warmer and comfy your life is when you are wrapped in the love of your blankie.
Your blankified no longer single handed friend Wayne
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