We had in mind that our few days in Fiji were going to be a little beachy respite from our action packed previous five weeks. It definitely started that way – from the minute we arrived at Denarau we were spending most of the time deciding whether to sunbathe, eat, or maybe both. Our schedule looked something like this:
8.00 – wake up
8.30-9.00 – gym
9.00-9.30 – swim
9.30- rest of the day – lounge a lot.
But I made the same mistake I make every single time we go on holiday. See, I have the face and arms of a 16th century peasant girl – three minutes in the sun and they go brown, and stay brown. What I always ALWAYS forget is that I have the torso and legs of a 16th century nobleman. A redhead nobleman. So while my upper body went brown, the rest of me has gone a very painful red. WILL I NEVER LEARN??? This meant that, while Saf was happily gambolling about in the sun, I was confined to the shade where I had to cover up my embarrassingly burned chest and legs. I’m the worst.
So anyway, after a few days of not doing anything at all, we booked to go snorkelling at some of the islands around Fiji. I’ve never been snorkelling and I honestly had the BEST DAY!!! We were driven to the Marina where the crew met us. I think they normally take about 15-20 people at a time, but there were only 7 of us going that day. The sun was beautiful so Saf and I sunbathed (well he did. I had to huddle under a tshirt and culottes. Ugh) on the hammock net at the front of the boat as we sailed for 90 minutes to get to our first stop. A couple of the sailors did a little fishing on the way and caught a giant Spanish mackerel to go on the barbecue later.
Finally the sailors weighed anchor so we could do our first batch of snorkelling. After a splashy start, and a mouthful of sea water or two, I got the hang of it. Our guide took us over amazing coral reefs (reeves?) and from the second we hit the water, there were thousands of beautiful fish swimming around us. The guide had brought some bread with him, and the fish must have recognised him because they flocked to him from a mile off. At our second diving spot, he handed us some of the bread so we could feed them ourselves, I’ve never felt so godlike. Hundreds of fish surrounding me while I hand feed them – amazing. Even if some of them were a little bitey.
Obviously I have no pictures from underwater, so here are some highly realistic artistic recreations of the events.
Although the day started off completely clear skied, by about half two, the heavens opened. It really didn’t matter to us, as we were heading to our second diving spot, so a little rain was like a prelude to jumping in the ocean. But about an hour later when we had all re-embarked and set off for home, it really started to Rain with a capital R. This was true biblical, flood sent from Jehovah type rain. The other passengers were sat under the canopy in the centre of the boat, where it was cosy and dry, but since the rain was warm, Saf and I stayed on the top deck to watch the boat sail. We were offered wind cheaters (I accepted, Saf boldly declined) as the storm whipped itself up, and once the boat was happily sailing on its way, the crew beckoned us to the hammocks at the front, to sit on the net suspended about 50cm above the sea. Every time a wave hit the boat with any kind of force, we were smacked by the water, and jacket or no jacket, we were all soon drenched. It was the best. The crew were crazy, yelling at the captain to hit bigger waves, which he happily obliged. By this time, a few of the others had crept out to join us as we took on the storm.
Having been assaulted by the sea for the returning 90 minute journey, we had to climb into the transfer cab soaked to the bone, but on a high. We were a bit less amused when we walked into our apartment which had the air con on full blast, absolutely freezing us. Tea and a hot bath fixed this though, and so we headed out for our last dinner in Fiji beyond happy with our day. The restaurant we picked had a group of men and women performing Fijian folk songs and dances which we saw the end of – I only wish I would have gotten out of the bath earlier to have seen more. Even so, the songs were beautiful. I had been recommended a traditional Fijian dish called Kokobe by one of the sailors, so I gave it a go at dinner. It was a huge bowl of white fish, cucumber, and lime in coconut milk – so tasty but SO rich. I was pretty much falling asleep face first into the bowl.
Best day ever.
Our last day was a little disappointing, as the rain just kept on coming. Our flight to LA wasn’t until 9pm, but check out was 11am, so we had hours on end with nothing really to do. If the sun would have been out, we could have happily just waited the day out on the loungers by the sea, but there wasn’t really anything to do or anywhere to go in the rain, so we just had to huddle in the coffee shop, then the general store, then the bar, then back to the coffee shop for ages, while trying not to be a nuisance. Finally, four hours after check out, we headed to the spa for an adios massage. We definitely forgot our troubles for an hour while our backs were being kneaded like bread. Definitely the way to prepare for a 10 hour flight. After this, the last few hours went by pretty quickly until we set off for the airport.
Our flight brought us a little drama though. Not long after everyone started heading for sleep, a girl started calling for the cabin crew because a woman had fallen down, and the girl thought she was having a heart attack. The crew made to help her, and radioed out to see if there was a doctor or nurse on board. It was a tense half hour or so, in which none of the passengers could really do anything, but we felt a little callous going to sleep while there might be a woman dying behind us. It turned out she had fainted, and presumably was fine as the crew soon returned to normal.
We’ve just now got settled in to our very last accommodation of the whole trip, and it’s a good one!! Looking forward to see what LA has to offer us.
Byeeeee
X
Claudia Bow 