Due to jet lag, we woke up in Fiji around 5 a.m. Monday morning (2/11/18), so we FaceTime'd Jared and Sienna to make sure they were going to wake up for church, since it was 10 a.m. Sunday morning back in Utah. It was really fun to talk with them.
Our hotel room had a back door that opened onto a lawn that led right to the beach (I've never experienced that before). There was even a foot-washing station right there. So while Linette went jogging around the whole resort, I sat on a lawn chair by the beach and wrote a letter to Erika on my laptop. A few people walking by commented on what a nice spot that was to work.
Then I went for a walk along the beach.
The breakfast buffet there was great, and this guy would whip you up an omelet, complete with some oil or something that would catch on fire and look really cool while he made it.
We weren't sure what the weather was going to be like in Fiji, since there was a cyclone in the forecast, but it turned out to be beautiful, so late the night before we finally booked passage on a tour to Vitua Island with Captain Cook Cruises.
It was a beautiful, warm day and the wind on deck felt wonderful.
There was some ceremony that involved drinking muddy water or something, and somehow an Australian guy and I got selected to participate while everyone watched.
Then Linette and a couple of other people tried it, too.
The boat was mainly powered by its engine, but they did rig up the sails as well.
So of course I yelled, "I'm sailing! I'm a sailor! I sail!"
As we floated along, a guy played the guitar, and various people sang along with him. Some of the songs were Fijian, and some were English (including Country Roads at one point).
The island is really tiny. You can walk from one end to the other in 15 minutes.
Once we arrived, we put our stuff in a little bure (shaded hut), and then went snorkeling, which was the main thing I had wanted to do while in Fiji, since it was supposed to be amazing there. We had brought our own mask and snorkel, but used the fins provided there.
It was fun to snorkel around.
We did see a lot of fish, but I was disappointed that the visibility wasn't better. I don't know if it was the location, or if it was the recent stormy weather they had had a couple days before.
Rob and Melissa Lym got full-face masks that were supposed to make it more natural to breathe. They seemed to like them.
At one point, as I was messing with my life jacket and camera, my snorkel disconnected from my mask and sank about 10 feet to the bottom. Fortunately, a scuba guy was right there, so I asked him to go down and get it for me, which was handy.
My biodegradable sunblock worked well and protected the environment, but it made me look like a vampire.
The island had kayaks and standing paddle boards to use.
One of the guys in charge took a special interest in our group and went on a walk with us to the other end of the island. He pointed out which island in the distance was the one where he grew up, and which one was where the movie "Castaway" was filmed. (He also kept saying, "Wilson! Don't go, Wilson!")
I also had a nice long chat with a lawyer from mainland China and his wife. I talked with him about my recent work trip to Beijing and Shanghai.
On the ride back, the crew put on quite a show with their singing. Here's an example of how they sounded as they sang along in harmony.
And then they got the audience involved in a Fijian version of "Old MacDonald." Linette and I did the dogs, and then a guy really went for it on the third animal...
It was a glorious day. The island itself wasn't too impressive to me, but the boat ride was lovely.
The sailing also did wonders for my hair-do.
That evening as we waited for the sunset to kick in again, we went for a swim in the reflection pool.
The sunset was almost as nice that night, too.
Jon and Shauna brought their new drone along, but it took until about the last day to get the video feed figured out. They flew it at the island, and it went really high and way over to the other side of the island, and there was that little moment where they were trying to figure out how to get it to come back, and everyone on the boat was waiting for them. But it all worked out.
We pretty much only ate at places that were rated over 4 stars on Yelp, and it did pretty well for us. The first meal was at an excellent Indian restaurant (Mumbai Dhaba). The second was at a great Korean restaurant (Grace Road Kitchen). I had fun speaking a little Korean with the lady, and she had apparently created an organic farm to grow their food, and it was really good. Afterwards, we bought a tub of ice cream.
At first, only Jon and I were eating it. Soon, however, everyone else pitched in, and we demolished the whole thing.
Tuesday morning we awoke early to finish packing, check out, and sneak in a quick breakfast before we had to head to the airport. The weather had turned stormy and it started to rain. Apparently, Cyclone Gita, which had brushed by just before we arrived, had pounded Tonga, and then turn around and would be brushing by Fiji again just after we left, so we really lucked out with the only 2 beautiful days with storms on both sides.
On the way to the airport we saw kids on their way to school, most of them wearing uniforms.
We also saw a truck full of guys heading to work. They were excited to have their picture taken and mugged the camera.
We had to pay an extra $60 for a hub cap that had gone missing on our van, but given that we had been driving on the wrong side of the road and up into the mountains, I was glad we had returned the van in reasonable condition at all.
While we waited in the airport, I noticed that Linette was excited about wearing the comfy pants that Erika had sent her from Peru.
And with that, we boarded our flight and off we went.
Fiji was beautifully green, the people we met were all kind and friendly, and the sunsets were amazing. Vinaka, Fiji! [That means "thanks"].
In our next episode, we arrive in New Zealand, and visit Auckland and Hamilton.
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