Day 10 Denarau Island Fiji
We awoke to a peaceful ocean front view with fair sky and puffy clouds, the temperature was in the mid 70's and got up to the low 80's by mid afternoon.  After breakfast we went to the beach to watch a neighbor islander carve wood.  What an understatement- Simon is an artist of classic talent.  He asked the spectators what they wanted him to carve and a woman said a fish, so he examined the pieces of wood he had and started to carve. He uses a carving axe made of a blade taped to a bone for the handle for the majority of the shaping.  Then a couple small chisels to make groves and finishes with sandpaper before polishing with a boar tusk and neutral shoe polish.  The marlin pictured took him about 30 minutes to rough out as shown.  The next block became a turtle finished in less than 25 minutes,  I was captivated.

Next we walked  over to Port Denarau and wandered the dock area and watched people coming and going to neighbor islands, some tourists but many locals with supplies.  Then we walked back and changed our sweaty clothes -  it's really hot, for the first time.

We watched a native weave palm branches into trays and baskets to make the Lovo an entire dinner placed in a fire pit lined with hot stones and covered with banana leaves and a cloth covered in dirt (check out this link, it describes it well: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g294331-c135090/Fiji:What.Is.A.Fijian.Lovo.html). After 2 hours the pit is uncovered and the food is fully cooked and very moist. The pork, poultry, beef and root vegetables became the native food buffet at the hotel dining room. After the food was removed a group of dancers in traditional dress performed native dances and songs with so much energy and passion that you had to become part of the celebration; actually Bill was picked to join the last dance.

We signed up for a wine tasting -15 wines from NZ and AUS - surprised? The wines were great but the company at the table made the evening! A Kiwi with a Brit wife, 3 from US - a couple from FL/PA who live in Guam and a friend from FL. They were off for a shark dive, good luck!
We exchanged contact information with a great group of people.