Yesterday morning I woke up very tired, so I stayed at home went to bed at 9pm and woke up at 7am. I felt a bit better, and did a 3km swim with Sarah and John and Plastic Oceans team.
I had breakfast with the team where John told us about a possible 8am swim window.
We met with boat captain and navy to get permission. We came back for a delicious lunch – Loki bowl which is tuna and fresh salad. We saw a teenage kitten and a few smaller ones too – I was in my element! Just what I needed – some kitten cuddles!
I spent the rest of the afternoon resting and packing. My team were getting food and medical boxes as well as packing everything into boxes, and headed to the harbour to pack the boat.
We then spent the evening at the Toki music school. This lady that owns it grew up playing piano, then left to learn more piano, and came back and started this music school. It’s an amazing school – it’s made out of six years of recycled products, and tyres, plastics glass bottles plastic bottles, etc. All acoutstically made, and is all volunteer based.
They’ve even planted veggie gardens – they are growing herbs and pineapples on the roof. They’ve also got their own water tanks to collect rainewater. It has solar panels…it’s 100 percent eco-friendly, self-sustainable, living-off-the-land with incredible ocean views. The music school is there to create oppotuniry for kids to keep them away from drugs etc. – which is apparantly a big problem on the island.
We then went to a local blessing, where they made this special chicken and sweet potatoes in this big pot in the ground with leaves. It’s smoked and slow cooked, and everyone shares it. It’s almost like a communion thing. They blessed us their local way singing us a song. It was a beautiful setting, and just amazing to be part of their culture and experience. It reminded us of our time in Hawaii where we were blessed by the original elder. Just a very special moment for the whole team.