The New Boat!!!

Those of you who have been following this blog for awhile may remember that in my old village I had a small outrigger canoe built out of corrugated roofing iron. The name of that boat was the Saga and it was truly a piece of crap. Don't get me wrong; I loved that boat, but struggling to paddle it only short distances only made me really want to build a truly seaworthy boat. Luckily for me, Leslie and I are good friends with an expat named John Caldeira who builds beautiful wooden kayaks. His friend Gary Dierking, who is visiting Fiji for a few months, happens to be an expert at building outrigger canoes and has even written a book on it. The two of them agreed to help me build the boat pictured above. It is 16ft long, has an outrigger made out of bamboo, and is made out of only three sheets of marine grade plywood. It's name is the Dadakulaci. There is an earlier post on this blog explaining the significance of this name. I have already been on several large trips with it, having crossed the bay even in strong winds. This boat has completely changed my experience here. It really is nice to be able to go out to sea any time I want. I think Leslie has posted some more pictures on Facebook. I'll try to post some pictures of the Australia trip.