Fiji & A Day at Sea

Sunday, January 31st – Lautoka, Fiji

Fiji was not quite what we expected after having visited the beautiful islands of French Polynesia. Can’t wait to get home to do some Googling to find out more about the Fiji Islands. We docked in Lautoka which is primarily an industrial city (Sugar) with a totally industrial wharf. Perhaps it is the other side of the island that has all the aspects we’d anticipated.
Tom was still not up to getting off the ship so we turned in his shore excursion ticket but I chose to make our planned excursion… a visit to an out island with an option of snorkeling. I’d not snorkeled in probably 20-25 years and do know how to swim so took the snorkeling option! Well, my excellent swimming skills of years ago have faded along with the rest of me! No more attempts at Olympic swimming medals!

The waters were pleasantly cool compared to the extremely warm air but somewhat murky due to the runoff from the mountains during the recent rains. However, as I approached a large reef area, I could make out some of the bright blue and bright yellow fish that before, I’d only seen in an aquarium. The most amazing sight was that of bright blue starfish! Had not even heard of those before! Once again, I thought, “So much to learn, so little time!”.

Some folks skipped the snorkeling and went straight to the island. The others donned provided gear some 2-300 yards off shore and swam to the island. The “island” turned out to be what we would call a sand bar with a few scrub trees on it. They’d erected a 10’ pole (looked like a cutoff telephone pole) and strung coverings out to other smaller poles for shade.

Back at the ship, I freshened up a bit, had a bite of lunch and took the ship supplied shuttle into town to the only store open. It was a department store and I’m guessing they’d opened only to accommodate the tourists from the ship. There were however, quite a few locals taking advantage of having a store open on Sunday! We’ve learned that the islands all have high religious beliefs and still follow the old rules that many of us grew up with… Stores close at noon on Saturday and don’t open again until Monday. While the French Polynesian islands are primarily / heavily Christian, the Fijian Islands are primarily Buddist.

Monday, February 1st – At Sea

A lazy day at sea! Tom’s much better and we actually went up for breakfast and lunch! There was nothing on the day’s agenda that excited us enough to get involved so continued another lazy day!

Tomorrow (2/2) will be Port Vila, Vanuatu. I didn’t do any research on it but it does have an exotic sounding name! We shall see!
To date, one piece of advice: If ever you’re planning a trip to the South Pacific, do it in their “summer” / dry season which, I think, ranges from late June to mid-September!
R