Rain!

I didn't have to go anywhere for this. It's been drizzling all day. Cold and raining and foggy.

Permanently fogged up windshield makes driving dangerous, but I finally drove down to the Royal Suva Yacht Club and checked out the bulletins. There's a catamaran bound for Australia via Vanuatu & New Caledonia next week. I emailed an inquiry about that. Got blown a kiss by a girl walking down the road on the way back. I might head back there for dinner. It looks like good food.

I want to find a place to stay besides the Raintree, because, well... it's a dump. And crowded. But it does have the only toilets in Fiji that flush decently. Bear in mind, that's not "well." They don't really understand the concept of "flush" down here. You just fill the bowl with water and it opens the trap and you hope some of the *** goes down it.

The night security guard is cool, and we chat -- he just barely speaks English. He's sorta FOB, studying at the Fiji Institute of Technology with a music scholarship, I think. He's studying computers but has never seen one before. I'm thinking about going out to his tiny island, Yacata, and checking it out. He says there are also two uninhabited islands in the area, and an exclusive resort just across the lagoon on a private island. He used to work there and has met Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, among other celebrities.

But I haven't found anywhere else. I did my research today, and was going to check out a couple places, but the rain is really a drag, and now I'm an hour and a half into the internet and it's almost 5 (get's dark at 6.) I've spent time looking for realtors, property managers, rentals, property for sale, etc.

There's a little one person sailboat for sale at the yacht club for $450., but where would I put it?

I've been making plans to go to the outer islands, and would also like to look at a couple properties while I'm out there. I'm going to take a trip to Taveuni and Vanua Levu (Savusavu) and maybe work in stops at the security guard's home and Koro Island where there is a subdivision with Americans, etc. living there. The only power and water there is what they generate or collect.

I've decided (nudged by Kelsey) to go ahead and spend alot of money. I figured I might as well go Scuba Diving and re-certify. I admit I'm scared to, but when people hear I've been to Fiji and never went diving there I'll sound kinda stupid. That's one of the place's main draws. It's supposed to be epic, and Taveuni is supposedly one of the best dive spots in the world. Jacques Custeau's son lives in Fiji, for pete's sake. (I may certify with him. He's actually got decent rates.)

I'll buy surfboard (shortboard) if I can get a decent one big enough for a 200 pounder for under $300. I'm not sure how I'll get it back, or if I'll just sell it back. If nothing else, I can paddle around. But I figure I'll treat myself to a few days at Nagigia resort at $50/day plus about the same for meals, and throw in an extra day of deep sea fishing. For those of you I haven't shown it to yet, you can see it at fijisurf.com. It's the one place (besides Sigatoka, which I haven't seen) that I could probably handle. So say $500 to surf and $500 to dive (certify) and $500 expenses (travel, food, etc.) That's only $1500, which coincidentally, is the amount of money I've bled through already.