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Spacepunk Zebracorn

A little late blogging my costume...

Rhythms, Ruminants and Raw Food

Yesterday, I had the most fabulous day in Marin County. Waiting for 5rhythms dance to start, some people were playing guitar and singing outside, and I had a nice chat with a fellow dancer. Once inside, it was an amazing dance, with lots of energy and beautiful expression.

After, I went to a favorite lunch spot, and ate with some new friends. Stopping at the organic fruit stand on the way home, I picked up some great produce and homemade pickles made with apple cider vinegar. Pickled unripe strawberries are especially delicious.

  

A petting zoo happened to be across the street; I got to snuggle with some friendly goats, sheep and piglets. I refrained from doing my sheep/goat imitation.

 

Shark diving, waterfall sliding, kava drinking and sea snaking in Fiji

My 2 weeks in Fiji were exciting, beautiful and restorative. Fijians are among the friendliest people I've ever met, and traveling there was an absolute pleasure. This was my first time traveling solo, and I met so many wonderful locals and fellow travelers.

The trip started on Viti Levu, the biggest, most populous and developed island. Though much of it seems quite rural.

Arriving at Club Oceanus in Pacific Harbour, the divemasters immediately plied me with beer and pizza. Clearly these are people who know how to relax.

That evening, my new friend Ash from the resort took me to a big party at Uprising, up the street. The party was a bit frat house, what with its Jim Beam sponsorship, silly dance contests, and heavy Black Eyed Peas rotation. I liked that local people and travelers were mixing it up there, and it had a fun, laid back vibe. A great way to kick off the trip.

The next day I swam in warm water at a local beach, and was joined by about 12 young local boys. They spoke great English (it's required in school), and played Marco Polo with me. They buried an older kid completely in sand, and offered to do the same for me. One boy sang Stevie Wonder songs in a beautiful voice. Several asked to borrow my goggles. Come to think of it, the same thing happened when I swam with local kids in Taganga, Colombia.

 

White water rafting with Rivers Fiji was pretty fabulous (that's me on the left). Driving up a mountain on bumpy roads, our group boarded 4 yellow rubber rafts. A fun little group of Australians was on my raft -- a mom and 2 daughters. Moses, our guide, did an excellent job steering our boat and keeping us safe. Moses and Abraham, another guide, instigated splashing wars, but of course Moses had the advantage in water-related issues.

It was such a gorgeous day out, and the landscape was amazing -- the river had carved deep, curving canyons through the mountain, and lush jungle dripped onto us from atop the steep canyon walls. The whitewater parts were fun, and Moses took us down a few little inlets to swim and splash in small waterfalls. Sometimes we'd float down the river in our life vests. At one point, we got soaked standing under a much larger waterfall. This is one of my favorite kinds of days -- sun, water, adrenaline and fun!

 

The next day, I rode the ziplines at Zip Fiji. The owner drove me there, and it was interesting to hear how he'd applied his airospace engineering skills to building zip line courses around the world. Luckily, my group consisted only of myself and a little boy.

Two guides led us through some rain forest to the first platform, explaining local uses of some of the plants to me. Apparently there's a plant that serves as a fish sedative when you put it in the water, making it easier to fish. And there's even a scuba mask defogger plant!

The platforms and ziplines looked well engineered; each line was actually a double line. I really liked the tour of the forest canopy that the ziplines gave. It was a course of 8 lines, so you could see the landscape change as you went down the mountain.

My final day in Pacific Harbour, I went on a 2 tank shark dive with Aqua Trek. It was pretty fabulous. I've seen and even snuggled sharks while diving before, but never so many at once.

Photo: E. Cheng for Aqua Trek

We all descended to the ocean floor, overweighted so we could sit comfortably and not drift. 12 feet away, divemasters with chainmail gloves removed tuna heads from garbage cans, and the sharks began to swarm and feed from their hands.

Photo: Pete Atkinson

There were black tip, white tip, silver tip, nurse, lemon, and my favorite, the bull shark! I'd seen all the others, but hadn't seen bulls before; in addition to being long, up to 11', they are quite wide and stout. A couple swam over my head. There may have been 20-30 sharks circling and feeding. Giant trevally, jacks, snappers, and other fish joined the fray -- there were hundreds of fish in the frenzy. At one point, Sammy the divemaster came over to give me a beautiful bull shark tooth. After the activity died down we swam around a boat wreck for a few minutes.

While in Pacific Harbour, I met some interesting independent travelers, including a couple guys sailing around the world. One night, I tried kava, along with a couple fellow travelers and the locals who made it for us.

 

It's crazy how many cane toads there are on Viti Levu. They're an invasive species, and come out like a biblical plague when it rains.

My last evening in Pacific Harbour, some of my new friends from Club Oceanus took me out drinking to say farewell.

Early the next morning, I cabbed it to Suva, Fiji's biggest city, for my flight to Taveuni the "Garden Island." The airport cafe had some delicious Indian sausage rolls -- something I haven't tried before.

On Taveuni, I stayed at the lovely Coconut Grove resort, a small bed and breakfast with 3 guest bures (the name for a freestanding native home), and guest room in the main house (where I stayed).

Ronna, the proprietor, and her sweet staff made it such a fun, comfortable stay.

The ladies at Coconut Grove made lovely food; I enjoyed it the whole time I was there. One favorite item was a sweet and spicy papaya soup.

Cats Popsickle and Creamsickle, and Millie the dog demanded daily belly rubs. Coconut Grove felt very homey.

And Taveuni was incredibly beautiful, green and natural.

Though Taveuni's population is quite small, there were many churches of different denominations, mosques, and Hindu temples.

 

Soccer and rugby are super popular in Fiji.

You can walk from today into tomorrow on Taveuni, as it's on the international dateline.

This woman showed me her sewing shop, and accompanied me to the store to buy a sarong.

The local fire brigade did their practice exercises for a crowd.

I enjoyed the samosa shop's marijuana PSA poster.

It was fun sliding down natural waterslides made of eroded rock with the local kids.

I dove for a couple of days on Taveuni's Rainbow Reef with Taveuni Dive, but didn't bother with a camera this time. The coral was gorgeous and barroque; endless shapes and colors of coral were piled atop each other, and all the requisite tropical fish.

 

Photos: Dominic Toledo

I especially enjoyed seeing a very large octopus, a couple unusual shrimp and lobsters, and some nudibranches. At one point, dolphins frolicked off the bow of our boat.

Another day I went on the Lavena Coastal Walk, a very well-built and groomed tropical rain forest trail by the sea. The plants, mountains, coast and waterfalls were gorgeous. Swimming in waterfall-fed ponds was delicious, as was sliding down a 12 foot waterfall into a lagoon.

That night I stayed at a lodge next to a traditional village. I joined Ken, a marine biologist, and his group in giving kava to the village chief. This is a traditional way to ask permission to stay in a village. We walked through the village, took off our shoes, and entered a home where all the belongings seemed to hang from the rafters.

The experience of sitting on the floor in the chief's dark room, as our greeting was translated, and our gift proffered to the chief was very powerful and special.

Later that evening, dinner was cooked by the local women, and included fish in coconut milk, taro, taro leaves (like spinach). Delicious. 

Afterward, Ken invited me to go "sea snaking" with his group. He's an expert on sea snakes, and was counting the population along the shore. Shining flashlights, we waded around a rocky outcropping. The snakes can breathe air and water, and nest in holes at night on the shore. After a long search, a snake was found.

One of his students carefully unearthed it from its hole, and I was able to hold the it! What a thrill. It was beautiful with dark blue and white banding, and a distinctive paddle-like tail. Sea snakes can be 20 times more venomous than land snakes, but I felt comfortable that the people around me were experts. I'm so grateful for this unique experience of seeing one up close.

It was so great to see the more developed (Viti Levu) and less developed (Taveuni) sides of Fiji in one trip. I hope to return and see my Fijian friends one day.

Stilt house and a gaggle of geese

Last weekend, I visited my friend at her stilt house in Marin County. It was overcast, but still beautiful, and there was lots of wildlife on the water.

I'm fascinated by all the communities of people living in houseboats or stilt houses, on various shores here in Northern California -- there seem to be a lot of them (several weeks ago, we went to a party on a Sausalito houseboat, which was very cool -- the houseboat was floating right in the San Francisco Bay). In contrast, my Marin friend's home is in a community perched atop a pretty marshland, and facing out onto a river-like finger of San Rafael Bay (no, that's not it in the picture below).

You walk down a long wooden boardwalk to get to her home. There are several blocks worth of boardwalk, and each home has its own mini boardwalk. As with the Sausalito houseboats, and each home has a different architectural style, and they are in varying states of repair. There are several geodesic dome type structures and A-frames.  My friend's place was originally a small home in San Francisco, built at the turn-of-the-century.

 

A neighbor fed the geese and ducks.

Kitties stalked.

The birds were unafraid.

 I 

Bambi on Market Street

Hawaii Big Island

This summer, we went to the Big Island of Hawaii for a week and a half. Can't believe I'm blogging about it this late, but here goes.

We stayed on the west coast, in Kailua Kona, in a mildewy apartment, with a courtyard suitable for a Filipino inmate new Michael Jackson routine. Fortunately there was a lot to keep us out of the apartment.

 

Tattooing services were offered below our apartment.

And the Islands' oldest church was next door.

Walking around town, we occasionally saw a small weasels running around. They are one of many invasive species on the islands. Regardless, they are cute.

Our favorite meals were at a hole in the wall restaurant called Rappa Nui (which is the Polynesian name for Easter Island). Run by a New Zealand ex-pat and his American wife, they served delicious Asian fusion food with strong Indonesian and Malaysian influence. Really good nasi goreng! And the limited dessert menu was inventive; we liked white chocolate truffles with wasabi and coconut.

It was fascinating how the island's climate varied from one area to the next. North of Kailua, there were lots of lava fields, like this one, with varying levels of vegetation, depending on when the lava had covered the land.

There were also several world class beaches north of Kailua. Sigh.

South of Kailua, the climate was jungle-like, with some of the world's best coffee plantations. This is where Kona coffee comes from. We drove through the verdant landscape to Kilauea Caldera, to see the famous volcano. Unfortunately, there was no lava that day. But the steaming crater was impressive nonetheless; you could feel its power.

Hiking through the jungle near the crater, one trail went through areas that had recently been covered by lava. It was stunning to see the contrast between lush jungle and moonscape lava field -- you could literally stand with a foot in both.

The Big Island has a lot of historical Hawaiian sites as well. As we toured the Place of Refuge, the ranger showed us how to play the traditional Hawaiian nose flute. We loved his tour.

Diving off the Big Island was lovely. The waters are the calmest in the Hawaiian Islands, and it was nice not to deal with any chop. We saw some great underwater fauna, including a few nudibranches. The fried egg nudibranch looks like its namesake. Orange gumdrop nudibranch was my favorite.

A live conch about the size of my fist, had its pink mantle wrapped around the shell. Having only seen conch shells, I didn't recognize the live animal.

On a manta ray night dive, we hoped to see a herd of Volkswagen beetle sized manta rays gliding right above our heads. Unfortunately the mantas were elsewhere; at least we got to see one in the distance.

The daytime dolphin swim was more successful. We swam with a pod of about 50 wild dolphins for an hour and a half. Snorkeling in the clear deep water, they surrounded us. At times there were 10 in a row, swimming many feet below us, or three off to the side, or a mother and baby at the surface. Their staticky calls and R2D2 yips filled the water. I swam hard to be next to 3 of them, and was beside them for most of the minute, before I had to catch my breath. They were close enough that I could see little nicks and scratches in their skin. We didn't bother with pictures that day.

At one crowded public beach, we were immediately greeted by large green turtles, the minute we put our heads under water. Snorkeling in general was pretty great on the big Island. At another site we saw so many adult and baby puffer fish, several varieties of triggerfish, and many other fish.

I spent the last day at a calm little beach in town. Perfect.

Ugly Overload!

Yeah! One of my pictures made Ugly Overload today. Check it out. Or read the original post.

Ladybug Swarm

We went to Half Moon Bay on Sunday, and hiked part of the Purisima Trail. It was an unseasonably warm day, though cool and dark under the redwoods. A couple miles in, we were surprised to find a gazillion ladybugs swarming in a little green meadow between the trees. They were piled on top of each other by the hundreds, covering every leaf, branch and blade of grass.

Blockhead

A couple days ago, I woke to a soft clunking noise. It sounded like cardboard gently hitting a hard surface, over and over again. The noise continued for about 5 minutes, till I got up to check it out. Butters was walking backwards around the bathroom, with an empty tissue box stuck on her head. Yes, she required assistance to get it off.

*Yes, that is a Ratatouille tissue box. I'm not sure why, but that's the kind our bodega carries.

Redwoods and Banana Slugs

Soda Gulch, originally uploaded by devittj.

The weekend before last, Jason and I went hiking again, to help me train for the Avon Walk. We hiked Purisima Creek Preserve, near Half Moon Bay, on a friend's recommendation. Our friend was right -- this is one of the most beautiful places in the area. It was a perfect day out -- 70's, and much of the hike was in the shade of tall redwoods. The water of the creek by the trail sounded refreshing, and there was a cool breeze.

We saw our first banana slugs; they actually look like bananas. They're kind of cute that way. We saw 4 in all.

Banana Slug, originally uploaded by devittj.

Further along, the trail meandered up a hill, and became an idyllic sunny path fit for Winnie the Pooh. We saw birds, including a quail atop a small tree. And many butterflies.

Butterfly Thistles, originally uploaded by devittj.