Sailing, Sailing......

Still in Fiji
Saturday, August 7, 2010

After a couple hours of sleep we got up, got packed and were prepared to set out on our final day. Some of us would be heading directly to Nadi for the evening ( I had to say goodbye to Tex and Christina and most of the boys from England) and some of us had one more boat trip to take. After breakfast (the pancakes and fresh made omelettes were quite good) a handful of us headed out on the Seaspray Sailing tour. Of course the boat doesn’t actually sail……that would be way too slow, but we were on a sail boat. The Seaspray was actually built in 1928 in Scotland and some how made it to Fiji (sorry I missed that part of the story). Obviously it has been upgraded since then and was a nice trip. Did I mention it was all-inclusive? That made some of us happy and others.....well others wish they had gone to bed earlier.

Franzi and Joe (from England) aboard the Seaspray.

Everyone on board the ship.

Christian didn't really recover from last night. He was totally regretting volunteering to teach me about rugby at 4 am.......oh and whiskey....he was regretting the whiskey.

Loving being on the water.

We had a couple stops along the way. The first one being on the Cast Away Island. That would be the island where most of the movie was filmed….but not where we were. It appears the side of the island the movie was actually filmed on is closed to most tourists…..unless you pay money.

A look at the Island from the ship.

It doesn't look so bad does it? I guess if I was stuck here with no way to escape I wouldn't like it either.

The trees were pretty but the ground was not very soft.

Anyway, we were doing some excellent snorkelling and then I saw it…….a sea snake. Well at first I thought it would be ok. It was way down at the bottom of the ocean and I am told they are very friendly unless you really piss them off (venom but no fangs) but then everything else that I saw that moved freaked me out so I had to get out of the water. It is a really good thing it was the last day when I finally saw one or else I would have had a hard time getting back in the water.

Some of the non-sea snakes I saw in the water.

More non-snakes. I liked these guys.

Eventually we had to leave Cast Away Island and enjoyed some wonderful lunch on the ship on the way to our next stop.

One of our hosts cooking up a little BBQ for us. Fish and chicken.....so good.

Our next stop was at Yanuya Village. We had a very small tour of the village but then we got to take part in a very official Kava ceremony.

A small look at the village. There was no hat wearing in this village was many Fijians feel the head and hair is very sacred and nothing and no one can touch it. This village was much larger than the previous villages I had visited having a permanent population of between 400 and 500 people. They collect rain water for their fresh water supply and also have no direct power source. I guess that makes for some dark nights.

Unlike my previous experiences with kava, this was a very specific ceremony with protocols to follow and stuff like that. Basically it was about us being welcomed to the village and us thanking them for their hospitality. Once the ceremony was over though I did hang back, share a few more bowls of kava with our tour guide and one of the village Elders. Our conversation had to be translated for each other at times but everyone knew Canada very well.

One of the elders who so graciously sat and answered my questions. I learned from them that you can get Kava in a pill form and it is often used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure). I guess we can start looking for it in the alternative medicine section.

I then made my way over to the shell market and then stopped by the Nurses' Station. Unfortunately the village nurse was in Nadi after having to take a patient in for more acute care. It would have been interesting to talk with her. As you can imagine though, once it was discovered I was a nurse.....I was offered a job.

A few of the village kids entertaining themselves on a boat anchored just off shore.

Once back on the Seaspray we made our way back to one port so that we could catch a ride into Port Denarau. Yes, that's right, my week in Fiji was about to end.

My final sunset in Fiji.

Once at Port Denarau I said goodbye to Christian and Franzi and few other people as we headed off in separate directions for our last night of accommodation. I was staying right at the Port while many others we heading into Nadi City for the night. My hotel turned out to be a bit excessive. I was booked into a very nice two level, two bedroom, two bathroom town house right on the golf course.......for not very much money I might add. It came complete with a full kitchen and a washer and dryer. So I spent the evening repacking bags, washing towels and then had a few beers with some local musicians. Not a bad way to end an amazing week.

The view from my hotel room. It was very nice.....and the first warm shower I'd had in 7 days.....although the weather was so warm, a warm shower really wasn't needed.

I just found this funny. I hope this is targeted at tourists because I truly feel there is no need for an UGG boot in Fiji.

And that concludes my week in Fiji. It was nothing short of spectacular. One of the greatest places I have ever been. Hopefully I will find myself back on those friendly islands sometime soon.

Julie