Written by:
10/14/2010 4:07 PM 

Somewhere between my fifth bowel of Kava and getting my haircut I realized I was in the middle of one of those oh so rare perfect days.  Jargo is tied up to a super cheap mooring provided by Sunsail’s charter base here in Vava’u.  As I sailed in over the reef lined passage the radio came alive.  Voices I knew, but hadn’t heard in ages and almost forgotten boat names squawked at each other endlessly.  It seems almost every boat that set off across this big blue patch of water called the Pacific call in here at Tonga.  It feels like a family reunion and I am having a blast.

The night before last was the Wednesday drag show at Tonga Bob’s.  The Pacific Islanders have a very strong and open tradition of men dressing in drag.  Here they make a huge show of it and cruisers and locals alike come out to have a good time.  Reunited with friends from Sueno Azul and Troutbridge we enjoyed the show and caught up on our various adventures.  Later in the night the crew of s/v Endymion made an appearance.  Steven, a British hairdresser sailing with his dad, had just arrived on the island.  We’d all be getting haircuts later.

Yesterday found us doing what we do.  Steven needed a place to cut hair so we took over the back porch of the Giggling Whale.  Sandy and his wife made us welcome and the day slipped by easily sipping on Maka, the local brew, eating hamburgers, and getting haircuts.  Well lubricated we slid down the waterfront to the Aquarium where we joined the crew of the 120 foot ferrocement ketch, Infinity.  A few locals were picking away at guitars with a big bowel of free kava in front of them.  How could we refuse?

A few bowls into the kava my tongue was well numb.  I didn’t get much of a sensation other than a numb tongue but at least now I can scratch kava drinking off the bucket list.  Steven has tagged me as the coconut man which led us through various discussions.  Eventually it was determined that my minor run of bad luck can only be due to a Jonah on board, that damned coconut that tried to kill me back in huahine.

I am soliciting ideas for means by which I can spectacularly destroy this coconut.  In a few days time I’ll be putting together a big beach BBQ at one of the outer islands.  The plan is to eat, relax, and blow up a coconut.  I just need to figure out how.  It isn’t like in the states where you can walk into a sporting goods store and buy a can of black powder.  Gasoline won’t do, and I am afraid to start googling ideas on how to build a bomb.  I am pretty sure that’s a good way to end up on someone's government watch list.

A former special forces guy says mixing fertilizer and diesel will get the job done, but no one seems to know the ratio.  Please, please don’t put instructions for bomb making on my website, but if you know how I can get this done, send me an email.  I am picturing some combination of a bonfire, flare guns, and an exploding coconut.

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