Day 1 - Monday, January 23
I thought with my trip starting in Fiji that I would spend some of the first days of my trip relaxing on the beach and getting some much-needed sun. So when we landed in Fiji to weather befitting a mild hurricane and the flight attendant announced as we landed that Fiji was currently experiencing very heavy winds and rain due to a "slow-moving tropical depression," it was not exactly welcome news. It also made for quite the ferry boat ride out to my initial island destination (Octopus Resort, on Waya Island, on the southern end of the Yasawa Island chain). I went immediately from the airport, which is on Fiji's largest island, Viti Levu (the mainland), to the ferry because after a little research, it seemed the best of Fiji was found in the small island resorts to the north. I opted for the Yasawa islands, which are a little further away, and tend to be more popular with the backpacker crowd. The ferry ride was a bit of a disaster because the sea was angry that day, my friends - about 8-10 ft swells from what I could tell. I opted to ride outside in the rain and fresh air, rather than inside with all the pukers, and managed to avoid getting sick personally, but I was very ready to get off the boat when we got to Waya Island.
As you might imagine. There's not a whole lot to do at a remote island resort when it's pouring rain outside, but it did seem to force everyone into the communal covered areas, which allowed me to meet many of the other travelers, who were all very friendly. Just the interactions during my first half-day on the island made me a lot less worried about the prospect of traveling alone for an extended period. The first night was highlighted by "International Crab Races," which not only provides great entertainment, but also doubles as a fundraising mechanism for the local schools and scholarships for the local kids to go to high school and college off the island. Guests were allowed to select the crabs they wished to enter/sponsor for a nominal fee (~2$ US) and then crabs that were eliminated in early rounds could be revived by paying the same fee. Sadly, my crab was about as good a racer as I am singer, so I opted not to buy him back in to subsequent rounds.
The Registration Table:
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| From Fiji |
The Arena:
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| From Fiji |
And they're off:
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| From Fiji |
Day 2 - Tuesday, January 24
It literally rained the entire day. Apparently, we caught the outer bands of a cyclone that passed nearby. So again, the day was spent mostly reading and socializing. But after the hectic couple of days getting everything ready for my trip before I left, just relaxing without a to-do list a mile long was a nice change, and again everyone I met was very friendly, so it wasn't all bad. The view from where I spent most of the day:
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| From Fiji |
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| From Fiji |
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| From Fiji |
Sadly, to this point, all I had seen and all I had pictures of was rain. But at least on the islands, we didn't have to worry about the massive flooding that occurred on the mainland, which basically brought the island to a halt, and even resulted in a handful of deaths.
Day 3 - Wednesday, January 25
It finally cleared up a bit on day 3, so I walked over the hill to the neighboring Fijian village. Here's a view from the hill on the way over:
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| From Fiji |
At the village, which was I guess about what I expected for a remote island in a developing country, I was greeted by a lot of smiling faces. This kid wasn't smiling quite as big as the others; I guess they put them to work early in Fiji.
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| From Fiji |
I was also greeted by a lot of animals roaming free in the village and on the beach, including pigs, chickens, dogs, and cats.
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| From Fiji |
The sun came out for about an hour at midday, but apparently that was enough for me to get sunburned - oops. Turns out Fiji is lot closer to the equator than California or South Carolina. It also turns out I was a lot paler than I realized. I have also since learned that apparently the hole in the o-zone is above NZ and Oz (and surrounding areas, including Fiji), and as a result they have the highest rates of skin cancer in the world.
Day 4 - Thursday, January 26
On Day 4, the weather was finally what I was expecting: hot, sunny, and perfect for enjoying a beautiful beach on a remote island. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, I was a tad sunburned. So I spent most of the day in the shade, which wasn't so bad. I did however venture out to do some snorkeling around the reef less than 10 feet** from the shore which was pretty awesome for being so close to shore. I also went on a dive, which seemed like a good way to stay out of the sun (Fiji is known to be a great spot for SCUBA diving). The dive site was Octopus Reef, where I saw one of these guys:
There was also a ton of amazing coral and fish all around as well. No underwater camera for that dive, but if you google image search for fiji coral reef, it should provide a pretty good idea of what I saw
I also ventured out into the sun long enough to take a few pictures, and took in a nice sunset as well.
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| From Fiji |
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| From Fiji |
**America really needs to switch to the metric system -- I've found I've already started converting lengths from feet to meters in my head before talking to people, which is a little annoying. Same goes for Fahrenheit and Celsius, which is actually more annoying because the conversion is more complicated.
To see the rest of my Fiji photos, you can just click the "Fiji" link underneath any of the pictures above.
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