Board the Tui Tai
Sunday I hopped a tiny plane to Savusavu and had a wonderful day and night at the Daku Resort before being picked up for my week live-aboard on the Tui Tai. Perhaps 16 guests, a bit of an older and more traveled crowd than before, very interesting conversation into the evening. In a fairly amazing coincidence, a guy about my age leaned over and said, “I hear you are on an around the world trip, so am I.” We chatted a bit and shortly found out that he and I are two of the nine people going on the China Spree 21 day China tour on September 9. What are the odds of bumping into one of the nine people for a China tour here in a tiny resort in the middle of nowhere Fiji?
Monday I boarded the Tui Tai, 140 foot long boat with 12 other passengers for a week of “adventure cruise.” A couple of young american guys, a 50’s couple from San Francisco and two families that couple had known from other vacations who came from South Africa. At dinner I asked the owner “Tige” where he was from before Fiji, as he had an american accent. He said Seattle, so I said, “I grew up in Tacoma.” He comes back with “me too, I lived in Lakewood.” I told him, “I lived in Fircrest and went to Charles Wright Academy.” He then says, “I went to Charles Wright too, class of “92, go Tarriers!” Given that my graduating class was 21 people and his probably 40 or so, it is a pretty amazing coincidence again! It really isn’t a small world, but sometimes it can seem like it.
My first dive today really changed my mind. I had come in thinking, “ OK, Fiji has corals, I have seen coral in many dives, and there aren’t too many big fish here, so the dive will be so-so.” How wrong I was. The number and variety of corals is unbelievable. It is kind of like saying I have seen a garden and then going to Butchart Gardens, I have been to a zoo and going to the San Diego Zoo. Truly an eye opening experience. The visibility was only average, but since you are looking up close at hundreds of small corals, anemones and fish it was fine. I am skipping the late morning mountain bike ride and waterfall slide and resting up for the afternoon dive. Last night the crossing was “a little rough” with winds and chop, it rocked pretty hard for most of the night. Sleep was a difficult proposition.
Tags: Travel
James
August 22nd, 2011 at 8:50 pm
A good posting, Jim. From good experiences.
Categorical thinking is a bugaboo in my life. Immigrants and people from the wrong side of the tracks refer to it as ‘prejudice’ when it steps on their toes. So the eye opening experience with the coral reefs sounds like a very good experience. Just the kind of stuff you are looking for on your adventure.
And it might not be highly coincidental, any more than was bumping into a China Spree sputnik or a fellow from your high school. Randomness is a funny thing. One hundred years ago the explorers were having their minds twisted by the quantum-level world which insisted on behaving differently from the world they were used to. Causality wobbled and randomness rushed in. (I don’t know what I am talking about, mind you.) So maybe climbing back up in the other direction will lead us to stubborn behaviours that force randomness out and causality in.
Anyway, or as your mom said – ‘ennaway’, this is the entertaining kind of stuff that we post-treadmill graybeards have the time to think about.
Can’t hardly wait for your next adventures.
August 23rd, 2011 at 7:02 pm
Sounds like a wonderful time! Really is amazing that you ran in to someone from your
Future China trip and from your home town. The world is an amazing place. The story about the lady with the eyes painted on her mask is hilarious. Enjoying the read! Continued good luck!
August 26th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Quinault Valley
This really belongs with the Quinault Valley post, but maybe you don’t look at the older posts, so I will enter it here.
When you look at the results of your Genius Profile (q.v.) objectively and openly, and when you are reintroduced to your inner genius, it can be a wonderful experience. I say “reintroduced,” because this genius
has always been inside you. You knew it well when you were a pure and innocent child who didn’t give any thought to what you should be, or how you should be. You approached the world from your own unique perspective then, without much thought for whether it was correct or not.
When we were kids, we saw things differently. We didn’t have preconceived notions about ourselves or the world around us. Every day we engaged the world authentically, with passion, energy, fresh eyes and a compelling sense of wonder, curiosity and, most importantly, honesty.
But somewhere between childhood and the world of adult work, most of us lost this knack for seeing ourselves and the world around us as a rich soil for unlocking new ideas and opportunities. As we grew older, we began to see ourselves and others for what they appeared to be rather than what
they could be. We began to see things and even ideas for what they appeared to be in the context in which we found them, rather than what they could be in a new context that
we could create for them.
August 26th, 2011 at 11:11 pm
While it is very hard to go back toward that time and place, it is absolutely a worthy goal. If i can get some tiny glimpses of that mindset again I will be thrilled. As always James I appreciate your insights. and you are right, I don’t look back at any of the old posts, but if you comment anywhere they ask me to Moderate your immoderate comments.
August 27th, 2011 at 4:00 am
amazing Jim. i wonder who you will bump into next…..
August 27th, 2011 at 11:01 am
So many beautiful people enter and leave our lives only to return again! How God works all this “randomness” out is awesome! Please take care and I sure enjoyed the lunch with Poe. She is a funny girl! We miss you and pray for your safe travels! Can’t wait to hear about the boat trip… 🙂