Day two on Viti Levu. We stayed at an amazing resort called the Sofitel. This is a view from the lobby looking down on the pool. I spent every free moment I had there. It was kind of weird relaxing that long, as when we are home, its rush rush rush! I actually read 3 books while away!
It was Wednesday on our 2nd day in Fiji, as we traveled over the international dateline and totally skipped Monday, very strange. We decided that would be our big adventure day. So we booked a sailing excursion with our friends Bill and Tammi Oakley whom we met on the Alaskan Cruise, they were some of our table mates.
So off we went at 8:30 that morning and took a type of ferry boat 1 1/2 hours to rendevous with the schooner, The Seaspray, we'd be sailing on her that day to Mondriki Island (among others). The islands we sailed through are called the Mamanuca Islands. If it looks familiar its most likely because you saw the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks. This is the island they filmed it on, and it was truly deserted! Fiji is made up of about 360 islands, you could take years visiting each one.
We got to hang out for awhile and snorkel. The tide was super strong but once you get past a certain point it was so so nice. The boat you see behind me is The Seaspray, it was so much fun traveling around the islands on it. It wasn't huge and not alot of people on it. And all the beverages your heart desired, from beer to soda.
While we snorkeled and explored, the crew cooked us an awesome BBQ lunch, with all the fixings. It was wonderful.
If you look at the top of this next picture, you can see where someone spelled out Help Me in rocks. Very funny....
After our yummy lunch, we were taken to another island to visit the native village of Yanuya. It was super poor, but oh so beautiful. The people called out "Bula" as we walked through their village. Bula is kind of like Aloha in Hawaii. I'll never forget the sound of the children calling out Bula from the doors of their homes. In a sing songy way. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. We were brought to their tribal hall for a Kava Ceremony. Kava is a root, that is pulverized and mixed with water and drank. In this case as a welcome. It is a type of drug and your tongue tingles a bit. And of course if you know Edwin, he was picked as the "second chief". The second chief is also the spokesman for the people that are being welcomed and again if you know Edwin, they picked perfect. But because Edwin likes to talk, he spoke at the wrong time and said "Vinaka" which means thank you in Fijian. But in this setting it meant, "seconds please" and he had to drink another bowl of it! Refusing would be considered rude~ Of course that made me LOL. You can see in the below picture the Chief is mixing the Kava in that big wooden bowl. And its scooped out with coconut shells to drink it from.
Most of these types of villages support themselves with fishing and tourism. We saw the handicraft wares everywhere we went. And yes, I bought way more than I should have, as it just broke my heart to see the poverty and I told Edwin, I could never complain about my house again. Hmmm....how long do you think that will last?
This is the couple we went with Bill and Tammi Oakley and we just had so much fun! I could of snorkeled and explored each island every day!
Thanks for stopping by!
Email me at robynscherzer@hotmail.com if you have any questions!
