February 02, 2019

Saturday 2nd February 

Nadi- Fiji. 

Have to say… sat by the pool again.. very hot. Don’t know the number but have to go into the pool every 15 minutes. 

So.. Thursday evening we ate an early dinner in Denarau Port nearby. This is a short ride on the Bula Bus from the hotel forecourt round Denarau ‘island’ (FJ$ 8 each). The port is small but busy and has shops and dining establishments. We chose a classic Fiji restaurant and enjoyed Walu fish steamed in palm leaves with yet another paddle of drinks to try. Rum shots this time..

On return to our resort later we had a half hour nighttime swim in the South Pacific. Pitch black. Warm as toast. No scary critters…apart from me!  . Soooo relaxing. 

Yesterday was one of the most memorable and fun activities of our trip so far. We booked a snorkelling trip to a private tiny island 🌴 (imaginatively named snorkel island.!). At FJ$200 (£80) each we dismissed it until we discovered they provided a large sailboat for the 90min trip, champagne (cava) breakfast with fruit, pastries etc, bbq lunch in the island, savouries and cakes on the return leg. PLUS all the alcohol one can consume. Game on. …They actively promoted a ‘party boat’ mentality though once again professional otherwise. Not sure how wise it was to drink heavily before open water snorkelling but many gave it a good go..! They didn’t count us back into the boat for the return trip so we may have lost a couple! 

As we were offloaded from a tender boat onto the island we were in amongst dozens of reef sharks…! However they were only about two foot long. Baby Shark, dit do do do do do…. Baby shark dit do do do do do… 🎵  🎶 (if you have no idea what that is about..google it..sorry) 

Once on this little golden sanded island  we had an official Fiji welcome and briefing before grabbing snorkels once again and off out onto the reef. It was a little windy and choppy so we were encouraged to follow one of the many guides initially. It was also pretty intense as they were feeding the fish causing a bit of a frenzy. Managed to see our first Nemo of the trip. Most of this part was overcrowded with too many snorkellers. My underwater footage was more about flippers (sorry-fins), legs and snorkels than fish but good fun anyhow. 

Then called in for lunch inside a beach Bure. Chicken, beef, fish, rice, potato, salad, pasta, fruit, wine, beer…. absolutely loads. It rained for twenty mins as we ate then cleared up. Some crazy dudes just stayed outside at the picnic tables eating in their swimmers.. why not. It wasn’t cold. 

Then back onto the reef (sorry mum but we didn’t wait an hour for our food to go down..!) on the other side. Bit more more freelance this time and chance to see more varieties and better looking reef. Probably the best fish of the trip so far and plenty of coral. Would have liked to have met daddy shark but delighted with the days snorkelling. We then just lazed around in the sand and the sea whilst others kayaked or played volleyball. It was just chilled and fun. 

Eventually time to head back but not before leaping off the side of the yacht into the warm sea. Nice..

As we returned it started to rain quite heavily so we all got a bit gloomy..however these brilliant Fijians turned it around and made a most enjoyable and memorable trip. Sitting in the kitchen (galley….) and lounge (anyone know the nautical equivalent?) with guitar and banjo banging out great tunes and singing together. Bloody brilliant. We were hanging our heads in through the portholes on the (lea) side drinking, clapping, singing. Wow. The crew consisted of ten men and women (for about 40 guests) and they genuinely wanted us to have a good time. And it was indeed a perfect day. 

Rain stopped as we got back to shore and the sun came out. 

On return to the resort we went back to the pool, back to the sea, back to the pool..phew this is hard work. (It is so hard to do these blogs as we are spending 80% of our waking hours in water!)

Dinner in the restaurant and back to the room for East Enders… erm.. no. 

Not sure what is happening in that..we will have loads to catch up when we get back..!

So.. Last night was our last at the Radisson. We have an early flight tomorrow so will move out to the Fiji airport Gateway hotel later. After one more swim, sun, swim, sun. Well you get the picture. 

We see there is snow and ice at home and we……….

Did you know..British established the Colony of Fiji in 1874. Fiji was a Crown colony until 1970, when it gained independence as the Dominion of Fiji.