row by row...

we're envisioning a relaxing sea view from a rounded couch-booth-chill spot with curved steps leading up to it and the bbq. how nice it will soon be to enjoy the fire pit and a sun-downer from this spot!

booths with a view

the first level of a retaining wall and some creative block work... on our way to creating booths with a sunset view!

night time block lay

why stop when you're on a roll...?

the last column!

the eighth and final column has been poured!
a nice milestone and on our first blue sky sunny day in 6 weeks... feeling and enjoying the summer heat!

progress since the storm

We've been making progress in the last couple days again since the storms have passed....

The guys have been doing lots of digging and have started laying blocks for the south side retaining wall for the floor.

They then got the form for the 7th arched column put back together and the column poured. Just one more column to go over on the north side, which will support the roof on the other side of the bbq.

Also on the north side we're putting a seating area, which will be roofed in pola to match the bar area on the south side of the restaurant. We marked the spot and started laying the blocks for the floor retaining wall on this north side.

After a few drainage pipes are laid, the soil tamped, and a few other bits and bobs, we might have a floor poured in the next couple weeks!

surprise cyclone...

The surprise cyclone hit Vava'u on the 7th. It was a low pressure system over Fiji when we went to bed, with a low expectation of becoming a cyclone at all, but at 6am we were clobbered by a category 1 that was packing a punch. We think it had somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 knots sustained, but a fisherman friend of ours claims he saw a gust of 90 knots on his ananometer. Anyway, here's a pic of a wall of rain coming at us around 8am. Normally you'd see the main island and Mt. Talau there where we only see rain. The other pic is of the waves hitting the beach during that wave of rain. It was unexpected so we could have been better prepared... all on the island was well, but we had some damage to all of our boats and dinghies. It can all be repaired, but might prove an expensive fix and a set back in time we would have otherwise spent building. We lost internet for about a week as the aerial was damaged in the storm. Other than that, we're fine; we have an expanded view of the sea now that the trees have all been pruned by the storm and we are back to building again, now with a crew of 3: Soa, Tevita and Una. Yesterday another cyclone hit Tongatapu, but didn't give us up here in Vava'u much trouble. Cyclones be gone!

taking shape

floor retaining wall, steps, and bbq starting to take some shape!