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It was dark when we touched down in Fiji, but a nice warm 20 degrees which was a welcome relief from the cold evenings we’d had for the last part of NZ. We had to stay overnight in a hotel as part of the Fiji trip, this was due to our late arrival flight but would mean we were fresh for the next day. The hotel was quite funky in a Fiji way, but a nice change all the same.
Now our trip was 11 nights 12 days of Island hoping, therefore this time we decided to do the blog a little different. The itinery has been listed so you get the gist, then we stuck with the best bits to give you the highlights! So here goes……
Day 1
07:30 picked up from our hotel and driven to port Denaru, to board the Yassawa Flyer and sail to the first Island named ‘Bounty Island’ aka ‘Celebrity Love Island’. The Yassawa Flyer is a large catamaran so unable to get near to the islands so instead a speed boat collects you from Yassawa Flyer and lands you directly on the beach. Here we were welcomed by the staff, who checked us in and showed us to our ‘Bure’ which is basically a traditional Fijian house/hut/shack, this one however was around 30 feet from the sea with its own private hammock and bit of beach that spread out onto the main one. Then it was lazy days in the pool the celebs had used, along with a little beach walk before tea.
Day 2
Today we were to go on a day trip aboard the ‘Sea spray’ which is a classic sailing yacht. However as ever with tropical places today it decided to rain, but this really wasn’t going to bother us as the schedule was a wet one anyway.
Aboard the yacht we were free to do what we wished and drink as much of the 4 giant cool box drinks as we could manage, which were a mixture of soft drinks water and beer!! Wooh hoo. So helping the day along with a champagne welcome drink followed by a beer or two, we were off to stop one which was the Island of ‘Modriki’. Modriki is another famous Island as this was where Wilson and Tom hanks spent there time in the film shipwrecked, the Island is uninhabited by humans and is unlikely to be due to its terrain. Here we stayed for an hour or so with the pleasure of an amazing snorkelling point just of the beach used in the film, in a way it was quite good to be here in the rain as some of the film was shot in very similar conditions and it didn’t spoil our snorkelling as we were wet either way!
Now normally on boat trips its hit and miss if you get good food if at all, but on this trip we had a dinner that was fit for any restaurant. The crew had done bbq fish, various meat, and prepared several types of salad and pastas which were fantastic, plus after 3 helpings there was still more left!!
Stop 2 was a non tourist island in that tourists don’t stay here, the Island was ‘Yanuya Island’. On the Island is a traditional Fijian village where the Islanders still live, here we all took part in a ‘Kava’ ceremony. The ceremony is to welcome the visitors to the village and is a sign of the chief and the village elders accepting the visitors to the Island and village. Now it is called a ‘Kava ceremony’ as the root from a “Kava’ plant is sundried, crushed, mixed with water and then drunk by all members of the ceremony with a few claps and Fijian words. It is very chalky tasting but not so bad its undrinkable. The bowls used to serve the Kava are half coconut shells that have been cleaned and sanded smooth, the bowl which the Kava is in until served is about the size of a small round table. The Kava has the opposite effect to alcohol, as it is a suppressive and is also used by doctors in UK and USA on high blood pressure patients.
The rain kept up all day but didn’t bother anyone much as the people on the trip including the crew were all friendly and happy regardless, like we said we would all be wet anyway so what the hell.
The Village visit was the last stop on the trip before we headed back to our Island transfer boat, the journey back was pretty rough as the wind and waves had picked up a fair bit.
By the time we returned to Bounty Island it was almost time for tea, so after a shower and a change we had our tea on the beach under cover of course, followed by farewell songs from the staff as several of us would be leaving the next day.
Day 3 & 4
The rain had stopped early on the 3rd morning for our Island hop to ‘Waya Lailai’ Island, which is amongst the most southern islands, so with the rain gone we lazed around following our busy previous day. On day 4 things were very different, in the morning we took ourselves off on a reef snorkelling trip but this one was with a difference. It was the reef shark feeding snorkelling trip! Now reef sharks tend to be 1 to 2 metres long and not too dangerous, however when the Fijian’s are feeding them with the fish they have speared and you are in the vicinity you obviously end up smelling like feeding time! So the reef sharks decide to have a nibble and check, it is quite amusing to see each other spinning round following the sharks movements to get your timing right so they nibble your fins and realise that it is not a good lunch!
We had arrived back to shore from the snorkelling trip just in time for lunch, but following our lunch we took up the challenge of the ‘swim to the island’ trip, this is basically what it says swim to the island opposite the one your on or in our case get dropped on the one opposite and swim back due to the current. Now even this way round the tide of the ocean is strong and you have to keep an eye on a marker point on the beach to make sure your heading the right way. The swim took us around 30 minutes and had a lot of the time looking straight down at the deep blue, with what seems like no bottom. With all this time to think you cant help but wonder what is down there that you cant see! Everyone is knackered after the swim but it’s a damn good challenge to which some cant make it and get picked up by the boat, three in total were picked up on this trip.
Day 5 & 6
Time to Island hop again to the Island of Korovou, this transfer was around mid day so we would arrive just in time for dinner. Each Island you go to or leave normally has the staff waiting on the beach with guitars and banjos, accompanied by a welcome or farewell song that most times sounds pretty good. But either way good or not it’s a nice touch and something out of the ordinary. Again day 5 was a lazy day after the busy day prior, and as it happens the next day turned out the same, just spent round the pool as there was little to do on this Island so that was that 2 days done.
Day 7 & 8
Island hop number 4 was to ‘Coral view’ and as soon as you set eyes on this place even from a distance you know you have struck gold! This place is beautiful with perfectly clear water and crisp sandy beaches. The Bure’s which are fantastic are set in lush tropical gardens that overlook the beach and sea, the dinning room offers a similar view without the obstruction of windows as there is no glass, just big square holes! This was definitely the place for hammock time and even Norman the elephant managed to get out for this bit of Fiji which he was very pleased about.
In the evening of day 7 the entertainment was bingo night much to Carina’s delight, combined with a crazy Irish girl on our table this was set to be a funny night, especially as the bingo caller was a beasty Fijian with a deep booming voice. His accent tainted the call of the numbers that were already tainted by his adapted adjectives! We won b***** all but had a good night of laughter which we would say was far better.
Day 8 was another trip day which took us 45 minutes from our resort to another Island, here we were guided through some rocks and down into a concealed entrance to caves. You have to jump from the rocks to get into the water that leads to the caves and its bloody freezing when you hit it as there is no sun to it. The first cave is open roofed but sheltered by the rocks standing tall around it, the real mystery though is held in a closed cave only accessible under water. Yep that’s right we had to take a few deep breaths and swim the few feet under water, through a narrow tunnel and ascend slowly so not to hit your head on the roof as its only about 1 foot from the surface at the entry point. As we swam into the belly of the cave it was dark but obviously very high by the reverting echoes of our voices, once our eyes adjusted to the bit of light that came from the water through the tunnel, the cave is very church like in its roof shape. We couldn’t stay in long as there is nothing to hold onto so you need to tread water a lot and it is very cold in there so your muscles get tired pretty quick.
The cave is situated on an Island around a very big reef area that provides some interesting waves for the boat trip in and out as the placement of the reefs makes the waves and currents cross over each other!
Day 9
This would have been the day we went on a boat overnight had it not been taken out of service at the end of March, so instead we were put on ‘Manta Ray’ Island overnight. Now as we had to share our tree house hut with ants and all the other woodland creatures, plus only have long drop toilets into the ground this was the true Island style life at its most basic. The food here though was amazing, and the staff tried really hard with the dancing entertainment in the evenings. Other than that the Island had little going for it so nothing else to say on that one.
Day 10 & 11
The last two days of our Island hoping trip were to be spent at ‘Beachcomber’ the so called party Island of Fiji. Now this did worry us a tad as the rumours were that this place attracted the people solely intent on getting wasted every day all day. Which for this particular trip didn’t seem fitting, the reality though was some what nicer. The Island was packed but had a real chilled feeling about it, and it is an absolutely stunning island that needs no party to make it good. Our days here were lazy with a dash of small time party at the night, more of a good bar buzz than party but it was perfect for us.
Having lazed around and strolled time away on the beach it was day 12 and time for the romantic notion of Island hoping to come to an end, our final boat journey back to the mainland was sun quenched. The three nights following it were the same as most of our end of trip time which is sort the blogs, pics, bags and get ready for the next chapter, with the good fortune of seeing the best sunset we have seen on this trip! Take a look and you will see what we mean.
We took in a show one night with the highlight been the fire dancers which are extremely fast and do some crazy stuff with fire sticks, the youngest of the group been around 12 was also one of the best!
We had met several people on the trip that were on the same tour as us and purely by chance ended up in the same hotel we were in passing on days until our flights came, so this made life a little easier.
So that’s that and Fiji is done, we did learn that in Fiji on the Islands everything works on Fiji time which basically means there is no time. Things get done when they get done! As that went for meals as well we were constantly hungry, but that’s Island life for you!
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