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FIJI. #102
20 March 2011
Departed Auckland noonish on Sunday for a direct flight to Nadi, Fiji.
Transfer was arranged and so taken to the "First Landing" resort. Pretty much just settled in and fiddled around before dinner. There was a Polynesian show that evening, but the room was full, so blessedly, we ate just outside, entertained, but neither overwhelmed by the loud music, nor forced to pay attention for politeness' sake. Good meal. Not what I ordered, but good none the less.
Went to the bar, and ended up drinking w a bunch of Kiwi lads. Seemed like a good idea at the time.....
We have a pleasant little semi-detached "bure" or hut. Several of them form a little half circle around a garden area w a couple of hammocks, past which is the beach. Idyllic in that tropical way, but pretty run down. Has definitely seen better days. We didn't have much of a sunset the first night, as it was heavily overcast.
On the 22nd, we had a quiet morning reading in the shade on our beach and watching the tide go out. You can see it begin to pull away from the beach, and then half an hour later, you can walk 250m out without getting your feet wet. It's impressive!
Quick lunch and then caught our transfer to our boat. Fairly well organized, but we were the last ones of 6 on the transfer (the Swiss couple had been driving around the island for >2hrs), and it appeared that many of the people had been sitting in the embarkation area for some time. Transferred to the boat to find our little bags waiting in our cabin. (We left the big ones at the hotel). Really pleased that our little cabin was nice and cool. Didn't smell too bad either. That can be a problem on these boats. (is a problem at the hotel).
Lots of Canadians on board, at least 10. Most a like age or older. Plenty of Aussies, a few English, some Germans and 4 Swiss. Maybe 50 people? Very enjoyable to have others to talk to! I think we might have been a bit yappy that first night. Enjoyed a couple of beer after dinner chatting w folks, but in bed by 10:30.
23 March
I woke up way too early, so dressed in the dark and sneaked out to watch the sunrise. I was in plenty of time to go for the 6am swim on a nearby beach, but would have had to bang around in the cabin to get my stuff. The morning light is so pretty, and I watched schools of little silver fish breach in waves. In the distance they looked like a big fish. It was only when they came close to the boat that I was able to make them out as a school instead of one large fish.
After a very nice breakfast, we took the tenders ashore to visit a village. The cruise director gave a mildly interesting chat, followed by some songs by the choir, a move to the community hall, a "kava" (local hootch) ceremony, and some folk song and dance. Sorry, but that stuff leaves me cold. Gus didn't even feign interest, and stood outside for all but a bit of it. We took a short walk up the beach instead of waiting for the women's third costume change to sell shell necklaces.
Back to the boat for morning coffee, followed almost immediately by lunch. We had relocated during the meal to the northernmost of Fiji's islands, and went back ashore to swim in bathwater warm water, snorkel, and walk up to the top of the hill for beautiful views of three bays. It's great fun to walk along the beach, as it is covered in Hermit crabs. You can see them scuttling along about 3m ahead of you, but as soon as they feel the vibration of your steps, they drop and cover. This happens in a wave-like fashion as you walk along. Most of the shells they inhabit are about 2-3cm long, but someone found one 8-10cms. One of the crew put his mouth up about the same distance, and did a little whistling thing at it, and coaxed it right out of it's shell. Very cool.
After returning to the boat for a rest and clean up, we had a drink up top w the Canadians to figure out what we'll do for "International Night" where each country on board will do a skit or song (yuk). Does anyone really enjoy that crap? Must we?
(Bah-humbug).
Dinner was fine and then up to the lounge for sing-a-long, which was more tolerable than I expected. They had a songbook full of lots of Beatles and a little bit of everything else. Still, I was in bed by 10.
The next day when we anchored, a boat picked me up for scuba diving. Pretty choppy, and it had rained last night, so visibility was not great. Still, I dove w/o a wet suit, and swam against current for 40 mins., to drift back for 10. Nice wall dive w some great soft coral and lots of fish I'd never seen before. Really tough getting back in the boat w it being so choppy, and I have lost a lot of leg strength, too. I have lots of work to do to get back into shape when I get home!
After diving they dropped me at the beach where the rest of the boat was hanging for the day.
Lovely setting. Good beach and lots of shade under the palms. Had BBQ for lunch, swam, snorkeled and visited w folks. The movie "the Blue Lagoon" was filmed here. Some scattered showers, so we returned to the boat. We were meant to have dinner on shore under the stars, but after we got back to the boat, there was a major downpour. They dug up the earth oven (lovo) and brought the pork on board. Marj's dress was keen to attend the final night's festivities, despite the fact that the boat is casual in the extreme. We survived performing "This Land is your Land" and laughed very hard watching a small group of English do "Old McDonald".
Disembarked noonish the next day, and back to our hotel. I spent over an hour mucking about in the tidal pools. All sorts of neat stuff to look at and poke.
Had dinner at the marina next door for the second time. Great little gal named Georgina runs the show.
Wakened in the middle of the night to a roach scuttling across my neck, and after squishing him, turned on the light to see another sitting on my pillow. Not a restful sleep after that. That's not the first time that has happened to me in my life, but this is not a hostel in Guatemala for $2/night.
Just one more lazy day and then off to Hawaii. Had a brilliant sunset that last night that lit up the tidal pools like they were on fire. The best of it was over by the time I got my camera, sadly. The staff were good enough to leave a tin of bug spray outside the room after we reported the infestation, (for that's what it was). I bombed the room in the afternoon, and came back to find a herd of them writhing their last on the floor. I prefer to sleep with carcinogens than roaches.
Received a non-requested wake up call in the am at 05:50. Seems they were running someone else to the airport at 06:30 and thought we could go along too. Gus refused the offer quite firmly, you won't be surprised to hear! As it was, we ended up at the airport hours early, even by Gus' standards.
Flew Continental to Hawaii in about six hours, and longed wistfully for Singapore Airlines!
We arrived the day before we left, and were delighted to find our hotel had oversold it's studio rooms, and so saddled us with a one bedroom + den with a kitchen nicer than my own for the week. Two balconies, two baths and three (?!) large flat screen TV's. A real hardship to finish off the trip!
Well all, that brings to an end this blogging nonsense. For those of you still awake, (if any of you are indeed reading any of this), we fly home on a red eye, arriving the morning of 04 April 2011. Looking forward to seeing all my friends and family. I hope the snow is gone by then!
Hasta la Vista, or Aloha!
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