As remote as it is, Suvarov (or Suwarrow) has been the most
sociable place we have been so far. There are about 12 boats
here right now with boats coming and going every few days, but
we know most of them. There is a big pot-luck party nearly every
night on shore – right on the beach, under the palm trees, and
there was a full moon just a few nights ago so it is especially
beautiful. One of the men on the boats is a very keen fisherman,
and he usually supplies the main course – fresh fish that he
barbecues up for us on the spot. Yesterday it was grouper. Last
night some of the musically gifted people who happen to be here
decided to perform and we had such a great time. Our friends
Alexandra and Peter from “Rishu Maru” had a band in Austria –
she is a singer and he is a guitarist and composer – and they
performed for us. Jazzy stuff. Really nice. Gail, from the boat
“Fifth Season” is a professionally trained singer who
accompanies herself on a mid-sized harp! She sang French, Irish
and American songs of all styles. Another guy, Tom, from the
boat “Rasa Manis” is a musicologist who studied in Indonesia and
was there when Mark was there 30 years ago (his boat name is
Indonesian for sweet,pleasant place). He sang bawdy sea songs.
Another group of people with guitars just strummed along as we
all sang some old corny folk songs. So much fun. All we needed
was for someone like Uncle Itz to be here and the singing would
have gone on all night. The caretakers of the island are very
sweet, mellow people and they come to the pot-luck parties every
night (except Sundays) – and they bring fried coconut pancakes –
very much like potato latkes.
Thanks to a timely e-mail from Frannie we stayed up late two nights ago
to watch the lunar eclipse. It was absolutely breathtaking from here.
Perfectly clear night with shooting stars ,
palm trees in the background and warm tropical breezes. We could
watch it through the hatch right in the forward berth of the boat so we
didn’t even have to get out of bed to watch it. Fantastic.
Mark just hopped in the dinghy to go fishing with Peter. He
wants to try his hand at catching grouper. More later…
L.