The hard.
The sun was just starting to get lower in the sky and the ripples on the water twinkled brightly with its reflection. The breeze off the bay gently pushed my hair away from my face while soft island music played in the background. I had crisp, cold diet coke at my side – a true luxury in these remote islands. And speaking of luxury, I was fresh off a 90-minute couples massage and now, I had a calm Fijian woman tending to my calloused sailor’s feet, painting my toenails a bright shade of magenta, with a layer of glitter on top to boot. I could hear squeals of delight and laughter as Elliot ran around with his friends, playing hide and seek on the grounds of the cozy, casual and cheerful resort we’d found on this island of Taveuni.
I exhaled and thought, “This. THIS is what EASY feels like.”
You see, I’d recently come to realise that this adventure - this expedition – we are on is a lot of things. Beautiful. Meaningful. Sometimes a lot of fun…but very, VERY rarely would I use the word ‘easy’ to describe it.
Just that morning, after sailing in shifts overnight, we’d pulled into this anchorage and after anchoring, we’d found the waves pretty uncomfortable. They were on the border of worrying, in fact. Looking around, we figured that if we could find a spot closer to shore, we might be better off. And just then, we spotted a mooring buoy becoming available as a boat left, and it was much closer to land.
We quickly picked up anchor and inched up the bay towards the free buoy and attempted to pick it up. No luck. We couldn’t lift it far enough out of the water for us to reach it off the bow. So, still a bit bleary-eyed, Zena and I quickly lowered Happy (our dinghy) into the water and jumped in.
Zena steered Happy through the choppy water and David positioned Pure Joy as I hung over the edge of the dinghy, grabbing hold of the buoy. I held onto it as best I could and Martin threw me the thick, heavy lines. One by one, I fed them through the loop on the buoy and then heaved them back to Martin for him to on tie on to Pure Joy. It was heavy work that needed to be done quickly, and the wind and water conditions had us struggling at times. But, we got it done. It hadn’t been particularly easy, so we all felt a sense of accomplishment when we realised that the water was indeed a bit calmer in this spot.
A bit later, we decided to go ashore to explore Paradise Taveuni Resort. The amenities for sailors had been rumoured to be incredible, and we wanted to see if these tales were true.
Sure enough, shortly after tying off Happy at the dinghy dock, were greeted by the bend-over-backwards friendly staff. They were offering us cheap and delicious cooked meals, refreshing drinks, fresh fruit, veggies and baked goods, laundry and rubbish services, a pool and a spa. Our mouths gaped open and we laughed in delight as we learned of these offerings.
We’d been scraping the bottom of our freezer and our imaginations for meals on board for a while now. We would have been grateful for a meal of any kind. But THIS? This was beyond our wildest dreams. This was EASY. And we were here for it.
And that’s what I was reflecting on as my toes started to dry. This place was a moment of EASE, and I was going to soak it up, every last second of it.
A voice with a tone of urgency interrupted my little moment of zen.
“Excuse me. Whose boat is that?” One of the staff came into the area overlooking the bay, where I was sitting, along with several fellow sailors, including David.
“Which one?” several of us asked.
“That one. The one that is floating away,” she pointed.
Something inside of me knew before I even laid eyes on her. It was Pure Joy.
Everyone in the vicinity sprung to their feet, including me in my wet toes.
“Joy, I need the dinghy key,” David instructed in his signature calm-yet-direct Captain Voice.
I pulled everything out of my bucket bag until I found it and handed it over. I ran after him and several other friends, down to the dinghy dock. In all, about 6 friends on 3 dinghies raced off to catch up with our floating home as it started to disappear towards the horizon.
Once Pure Joy was re-anchored, and the entire rescue team returned, David and I reflected on how lucky we were over our spicy margaritas. Lucky that the mooring had decided to break during the day when we could see what was happening. Lucky that Pure Joy hadn’t hit any other boats on the way out. Lucky that we’d been nearby and with friends who could and would drop everything to help when it happened. Lucky to be in a place where spicy margs were on offer to take the edge off after that debacle. And lucky that my pedicurist was happy to repair my smudged toe.
**
So, what are we learning?
Well, that out here, and perhaps in some seasons of life, ‘easy’ is rare, and it is fleeting. And that’s more than okay.
Because ‘the hard’– it’s where the magic happens, even though it usually feels anything but magical at the time. It’s exactly where we learn and grow.
In the beginning of this expedition, I resisted ‘the hard’, the discomfort of it all. A LOT, and with all my might. I was very easily frustrated by ‘the hard,’ even angered by it. Because it scared me. That was draining and at times, all-consuming.
I think I might just be learning to accept it now. And I’m noticing that ‘hard’ is pretty sustainable if I’m not afraid of it.
You might say I’m more at ease in ‘the hard’ than I used to be. Because I trust (myself and ‘the process’) more than I used to.
And it’s changing everything.
TRAVEL UPDATE - Here’s what we’ve been up to since the last newsletter. (Head over to Instagram - @sailingpurejoy - for a visual retelling of the below. The Highlights on our profile page are organised by country.
American Samoa – This island offered shelter from a storm, and we graciously accepted it. We also took advantage of this stop with a Costo-esque shopping experience, a trip to the cinema (Mission Impossible!) and even a meal at McDonalds. We weathered a pretty tough storm as we left, producing a tear in our Main Sail, which will be repaired in Fiji. And, we crossed the International Date Line – it was great fun to clock the time as 630pm on Wednesday and then in the next second, it was 630pm on Thursday! (We celebrated with a dance routine, in true Pure Joy fashion.)
Tonga – We reunited with most of our World ARC friends here and found some beautiful spots for floating in our ‘Relaxation Station’ inflatable island (purchased in American Samoa, obvs), paddle-boarding, walking, snorkeling, kareoking, pub-quizzing, and planning for a nice long period of cruising in Fiji.
Fiji – No shade on any other place we’ve visited, but Fiji is so far, hands-down, the friendliest and happiest place we’ve visited. Some of the most incredible landscape, as well. David got the drone out and got some spectacular footage - you can find this in our highlights on Instagram (@sailingpurejoy). We managed to find another bommie (this is the kind way of saying we ran aground on a hard, sharp piece of coral. CRUNCH.) We might have finally learned to lift our rudders in shallow water. Just another repair for Fiji when we make it to the main island. Another point in the ‘it could have been worse’ column, along side Pure Joy floating away. We toured the island of Tavueni, including swimming in the most beautiful waterfalls we’ve seen to date. It was truly an experience that made us feel alive! We’ll soon head to Viani Bay, where we’ll do some what it is supposed to be some of the world’s best diving and snorkeling.
If past experience is any indication, this next bit will be hard, with moments of ease. And I think I’m finally learning to soak ALL of it up.
Coming up: More Fiji Cruising, Vanuatu, Australia