Join us as we talk about our recent trip to Fiji where we toured the islands on a yacht.
Her View
When we had to opportunity to spend a week on a small yacht in Fiji we just could not turn it down. We originally had intended on finding a location that has the above water huts and when I did that search using our RCI timeshare this popped upped first. I felt for the point value we just had to do it. I mean how often are you going to get the offer for a full all-inclusive offer to ride on a boat from island to island for seven days in such a beautiful area! We started planning early by booking in July of 2018 and purchased our plane tickets shortly after that in August. So we were very excited but also had a bit of a wait.
After our wonderful and fun flight into Fiji we spent the day at the Essence of Fiji Rejuvenation center (you can check out that article here). We headed over to the dock about 2 PM, figuring we could walk around for a bit and look at some of the shops and then stop and get a cocktail somewhere while we waited for our boarding time.
When we arrived at Rhum-Ba, which was our meet up location for Trade-Winds, the hostess said welcome and then asked if we would like to meet our ship mates. Side note here, we booked knowing that we would be sharing this boat with 4 other couples that we did not know. We are chatty folks so we were not too shy about this type of adventure. We most certainly wanted to meet our new friends so we went over and introduced ourselves and began a nice getting to know you conversation with all of them.
We were spending our week with folks who were slightly older than we are, roughly ten years, but really great folks. They were pretty chill and had a good sense of humor. Also they enjoy cocktails and wine, much as we do, so there was a good time had by all.
At about 5 PM we were able to meet our crew, Bex and Nofo (short for Aunofo) You should know this about Nofo, the movie Moana is loosely based on her life. Look her up, she has a full documentary on her as well. They greeted everyone, we signed our waiver paperwork and headed to the boat. We had a bit of a sprinkle coming in so we hustled onto the boat and had our happy hour drinks and a light snack. We all chatted amongst ourselves getting to know one another and finding our comfort level. We had an introduction to the boat and our rooms and then we quickly unpacked as the boat left the dock. We wanted to be sure we got to see our first sunset in Fiji so we really rushed it.
Also we found that the cabins on this particular boat were very small, eventually we decided that these cabins are too small for our taste, but still have everything that you will need for those who prefer more of a camping lifestyle. Each cabin is different but ours had one large drawer where we ended up basically dumping our clothes into and spent the whole week trying to find stuff, it was difficult to organize it because of the size of it. We also had our own bathroom, a queen size bed and a very small closet, we made do, but really feel like we need more space than that for an entire week. Did I mention I am a little claustrophobic?
Our first night we went about twenty minutes out so that we could watch the sunset and have dinner. We got some great photos like the ones here. We chatted with our new boat mates and got information on how the trip should roll out. They did mention that the plan was all based on weather. Because Fiji was so far away everyone had been up for the better part of 24-48 hours, so we needed sleep and were all in bed early. By early I mean around 9:30!
We wanted to be up early enough to see the sunrise, so we were up and about very early in the morning. And did we see the sunrise. This trip was off to a fantastic start!
Shortly after sunrise we began our route to Waya, Octopus Lodge. I had my doctor prescribe me some anti-nausea pills just in case, and thank goodness I did! The winds were blowing about 46 knots which is roughly 53 mph and rockin the boat all over the place. The skies were dark and you could see that wall of a storm rolling in.
We started to have breakfast and that is when it hit me. I was like, uhhh, I gotta go, ran downstairs...big mistake, it was super rocky down there! Grabbed my pill, ran back up and grabbed a ginger ale! I sat by the captain where the wind was blowing plenty so that I could get the nausea to go away. Bex also brought me a ginger gummy, which was extremely potent, but I could feel all of these things kicking in and the nausea was going away. I did NOT vomit….woo hoo! Bex says usually the sea sickness goes away in a day or two, but it went away once the waves were not so bad!
As we headed to our destination the torrential rains poured in and you couldn’t help but be wet or hot. Those were your options. We were essentially trapped on the lower deck, so the board games broke out and so did the cocktails! We had lunch and when the rain finally cleared we were able to go snorkeling. The waves were still pretty strong, so I was a little nervous since I am not a strong swimmer. But what I saw was really cool, even with the somewhat cloudy waters. Here fishy fishy!
I snorkeled for about and hour and then headed back in, Derek went back out for a bit and got some photos. I started drinking!
Once everyone settled in we had dinner (did I mention we will talk about the food later, spoiler alert, it was fantastic).
Everyone settled down pretty early again and the same thing happened the next morning, sunrise, breakfast, snorkeling and then off we go to our next destination. The trip mostly goes this way so I will break it down to moments and some of the days at this point.
On Monday night we have a lot of rain again and I am starting to get concerned that we may have a very wet week and by the end of the trip I would be going out of my mind. But then she clears up again with enough time for us to head over to the village for our welcoming ceremony. In Fiji if you want to stay in the waters near a village you have to ask for permission and then have a welcoming ceremony, where we dance and drink Kava (pepper root) with the tribe.
We have to appoint one of our boat mates as a Chief and one as a Bodyguard, and they have to be men. So we assign Bruce as Chief and then one of the younger kiddos, Seth, as the bodyguard. This led to a funny moment, Seth is about ½ the size of Bruce and when we tell the tribe members our selection, they had a good chuckle that Seth was the bodyguard!
The task of the Chief and his bodyguard were that they have to sit criss-cross applesauce in the front row of our group and accept the Kava offering. The Kava offering entails them mixing the Kava in what looks like a dirty bowl using a dirty sock to mix it all. Now, I am bit of a germaphobe, so I am having a little chat with myself that I have to suck it up, I cannot say no and not drink it or I won’t be welcomed. They offer it to the Chief, aka Bruce, he says BULA (Fiji greeting, similar to Aloha), claps once and then drinks from the Kava bowl, claps three times and then says Vinaka (thank you) and hands the bowl back. They then take the bowl to the bodyguard and the same thing, actually we all have to do this, but they have to do it twice. Once we have completed that, we listen in Fijian to the welcoming praying ceremony and then the singing and dancing begins! Honestly they sing so beautifully and dance with such passion that I got emotional. Once they have completed that we get to dance with all of them. It is great, fun and exhausting.
I noticed while at the village that all of the natives speak both English and Fijian, so I asked Bex about that. Did they learn it for us or did they already know English. She said they teach it at all of the schools so they group up speaking both English and Fijian. Which I thought was fantastic. Already they are smarter than most Americans!
I forgot, when we first got to the island they had a little market set up for us to shop for items that the village folks make themselves along with the little kiddos singing us a bunch of welcoming songs. Super cute kiddos. The items they made were so unique and very well made. I am not much of a buyer of stuff, but I wanted to support the village so we bought a fan and then a ceramic turtle thingy made of shells. Spent about 50 fijian so about 25 american dollars. Worthwhile. I did love that the village folks all had traditional clothes on as well as modern clothes. The men were wearing basketballs shorts under their traditional Sulu (a skirt) and sport jerseys for tops when they were just hanging around. So you can see how the funds help them live a bit of modern of a lifestyle. Also you should know that everyone has a cell phone, even the village folks. I had no idea that they would be that modern, but the whole world is clearly ruined by technology (or spoiled...lol).
We had dinner and drinks on the boat and again, in bed early. I feel like they were wearing us out with the time change and the constant moving about, so that they can get some good rest at night as well. I mean these ladies never stop moving or doing something. They have to be exhausted at night time!
Because you are on a boat, you are limited with your water supply, not a bad thing, but showers consisted of wet yourself, soap, rinse. Toilet usage, although you had as much water as you needed because it was salt water, you were limited to no more than 5 sheets of toilet paper per flush. So you fill the toilet and then use your 5 sheets (this is NEVER enough) then flush and if you need more you gotta fill it again. I washed my hands ALOT. So my point is, by the third day I really wanted a real shower and to use a pile of toilet paper. To fix the shower issue I started showering twice to make myself feel cleaner, I was kind of over the not being able to feel clean with all of that salt water. The toilet issue, I just had to deal with...I did NOT want to be the one who stopped up the whole sewer system on the boat!
Wednesday night was our night out at the resort and I thought we were going to get to spend the day at the resort, but apparently it was only dinner. We moored about ½ mile from the resort and we were surrounded by other boats who had also moored for the night, which was kind of coolio. We had to get in the dingy all fancied up to get to the resort. A true yacht life moment and it was fun!
When we got to the resort we bought more sunscreen and attempted to buy rash guards, but they were out of them so we had to buy very expensive plain t-shirts because we were very burnt. We had a really good sunscreen it just was not strong enough for Fiji. You need a 50+ in Fiji for good protection.
After shopping in the very cool resort store we headed for dinner and I was really hoping for an indoor restaurant with air conditioning because it was almost unbearably hot! No such luck, it was all outdoor, gorgeous, but outdoors and there was no breeze so it was stifling. I ordered a big ole’ pina colada to cool myself off. When everyone saw what I had, it became the theme and almost everyone ordered one, we needed to cool down!
After eating such good food on the boat I found that the food at the restaurant just did not compare, as a matter of fact I didn’t come close to finishing mine. I ordered the Fiji version of pork belly and it was overcooked, dry and chewy. I was a bit disappointed so I drank more wine, I should have taken a picture of the wine, party fail on my part! #partyfail
We took a nice trip back to the boat, they had cocktails waiting for us, which was an amazing feat in my opinion! See, this is the night they turn the rooms, so they change our sheets, give us fresh towels and fresh amenities, they did this for FIVE rooms and still were able to make us cocktails. We were only gone about 2 and a half hours! They are crazy good at their jobs. I had one of the cocktails, but cocktails are often too sweet for me to have more than one, if I can even finish that, so I moved to wine.
On this night, there was a very nice breeze on the top deck so we all chatted for a bit and I leaned back to look at the stars and fell asleep! That is how relaxed I got, I fell sound asleep in front of 8 other people that I hardly know and did not even care. All in all this trip was half over and I was truly enjoying myself. Psssssst, Derek fell asleep too! We woke about an hour later and Seth and Kate were sound sleep next to us, we snuck downstairs and went to our room. I have no idea how late they slept up there, but Seth said a couple of times he slept up there in the middle of the night because it was cooler and more refreshing.
This is a really long blog but there are so many things to share. So I am going to sign off here, with a little note saying, so far the trip has been an experience, both a learning and exciting experience. Next week will be even better, we round up the trip in a much unexpected and exciting way with NO REGRETS! So don’t miss out on the rest of the story. See you next week!
— Taunya
His View
If you are a repeat guest to our blog, by now you know that in mid March we had the opportunity to utilize our timeshare points and do a group charter with Tradewinds. The Tradewinds experience is basically an all inclusive group charter on a yacht. You book one or more cabins using your RCI points and unless you book all of the cabins you will share your adventure with other random guests. So let's kick things off with talking about what I know you have all been waiting for, the sailing trip itself.
After getting off the plane we spent the morning at the Essence of Fiji Rejuvenation Centre which we’ll feature in a future article. After a few hours, we made our way to Port Denarau where we were boarding the boat. Our meeting place was The Rhum-Ba bar and restaurant. We got there a little bit early, and discovered that all but one couple had already arrived. So we introduced ourselves, and had a little snack while we waited for our boarding time. Turns out two of the couples, Bruce and Penny, along with Steve and Ann, were traveling together from Ohio. The other couple, Noel and Glenis, were visiting from England. Everyone seemed nice, and we chatted about where we were from, et cetera. We also got absolutely dumped on by a tropical storm that we watched come in from the east. It only lasted for about forty five minutes or so, and was beautiful to watch. The last couple arrived just before five, Seth and Kate, who were newlyweds on their honeymoon. Oh, and they were from Cleveland!
A little after five we started the onboarding process, which started with a crew introduction. That Saturday was actually International Women’s day, and we had an all women crew which was pretty cool. Our First Mate/cook was Bex, a bubbly little thing. Our Captain, Aunofo, was from Tonga and was actually the inspiration for the character Moana. Yes, that Moana. The movie was loosely based on her life. The next step had us signing our lives away. Well, not really, but we did have to sign a waiver which was reasonable given the fact we were sailing over open ocean. Once we all signed on the dotted lines, we loaded our luggage onto a cart and we all made our way to the boat which was named Dream. We all sat down at the dining table, and did a meet and greet kind of thing. One by one the crew showed us our cabins and explained how everything worked, like the marine toilets, and light switches. Our ship was named Dream, and it was a cruising class boat. I have to admit, the size of the cabin was a bit of a shock. We had done research and we thought we were going to be on a luxury boat.
We later found out that when using the RCI exchange, you are only able to book a cruising class yacht which is the smallest and least elegant. The cabin was very clean, if not a bit spartan. The bed took up the entire width of the cabin, with a small shelf to either side that could be used for storage. Under the bed was a large drawer where you could stow your clothing. There was also a small closet where you could hang some things, however most of the lower space in there was taken up with the two life jackets. We didn’t really use the closet except to store our dirty laundry and collapsed suitcases. Boy am I glad we packed in soft sided luggage! The cabin was tight, both of us could technically stand at the foot of the bed, however there wasn’t much room to move around. When one of us was changing clothes, the other had to either sit on the bed, occupy the head, or head outside the cabin. I will admit though, the bed was way more comfortable than it looked.
Since the boat was so small and had such limited space, they usually take the luggage off the boat once empty and store it. We decided to store our own since our soft sided luggage collapsed down quite small. We were in the middle of unpacking when I realized we had left the dock. Wow, I thought to myself, we’re missing it and we can unpack later! So we headed up to the deck to enjoy the start of our adventure. We sailed out of the harbor and around the point. We had only motored for about 6 nautical miles or so before stopping for the night offshore of Akuilau Island. We were close enough to the main island to hear the DJ at one of the resorts. 🙂 But, we were still on a boat, still on the ocean, and we were having a great time so far. We had a boat meeting on the open bow, going over the safety briefing, and such. We also found out why we stopped where we did. Apparently at dusk sometimes you get to see the fruit bats heading from the island to the main island to hunt. If you’ve ever been to Austin you probably have an idea on what this might look like. Alas, that night was not one of the times. We did have a great dinner, chatting with the crew and guests. We are going to cover the food in more detail in a future article, but suffice it to say that meal set the bar pretty high. I think pretty much everyone was exhausted from traveling and called it an early night.
After about an hour, the waves started to get more rough, and the horizon got dark. Eventually it was bad enough that Aunofo had to drop the sails. The weather started getting rough, and our tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of our fearless crew, the Dream would have been lost! Not really but it sure seemed like it at the time. Pretty much anyone that was below deck had come upstairs, and Taunya had to break out her anti-nausea medication. Eventually the rain came, and we all huddled in the covered aft dining area. The clouds were slow and low enough that it seemed like we could touch them. This ended up being the longest distance we traveled in a day for the entire week. We went about 28 miles I think. We finally anchored in Octopus Bay for a late lunch. Eventually the weather calmed enough that we got to snorkel for the first time. It was cloudy and there was a light rain, but you hardly noticed since you were in the water. Dinner that night was a really excellent lamb shank, with a baked papaya for desert which was really interesting. Just after dinner Aunofo said based on the wind, we’d probably not have great weather the next day.
The next morning we got up really early. Like it was still dark outside early. But, we got to see a beautiful Fijian sunrise our first morning while enjoying our coffee. After breakfast, we headed up to the Island of Waya, which is the first large island in the Yasawa chain. It started out a great day, and we had wind, so we got to sail for the first time.
The next morning we woke up to another sunrise, and because it had rained most of the night we got to see an early morning rainbow. After breakfast, one of our boatmates Bruce was able to go on a dive, and the rest of us got a chance to snorkel again. The weather was still not great, so we didn’t spend a lot of time in the water.
After lunch we started the motor and headed to the large southern bay on Waya to experience our cultural day. It is customary in Fiji to not anchor or fish in tribal territorial waters without permission. Tradewinds has a great relationship with one of the local villages, so we were able to experience an authentic welcoming ceremony. Bex showed us how to wear our Sulu, which is a traditional South Pacific garment worn by both men and women. They also explained how the ceremony would go and what we were supposed to do. We all elected Bruce to act as our “chief’, and Seth to be his “bodyguard”. Seth probably weighs about a buck fifty. We also were to bring an “offering” of Kava, which is a dried plant that is used to make a drink.
We all could not fit in the dinghy, so Taunya and I waited with another couple while both crew took the first group to shore. We are sitting there and we hear “Dream, Dream, shore Dream”. We look at each other, like “did you hear that”? After a second, we hear “If anyone can hear this can you pick up the radio”. We all laugh, and I walk into the salon and pick up the mic and say “Copy”. Then Bex asks if we could make sure the oven was off (it was). So I key the mic and say “Copy”. Everyone stares at me dumbfounded. Ann asks me how I knew how to do that and what to say, and I’m like “I’ve seen Below Deck.” and we all started laughing. To be fair, I have also used CB radios before, so a marine radio wasn’t a stretch.
Once we all got to the shore, we headed up to the village where the kindergarten aged children sang for us. After a few songs we walked up to where the village had setup a crafts market of sorts. I think pretty much everyone bought something. Personally, I thought it was very respectful to at least buy something small. Now we got ready to head into the tribal ceremonial hut. We had to line up with our chief leading, followed by the bodyguard and finally the rest of us. The tribe was already seated in the hut and shouted “Bula, Bula, Bula” as a signal for us to enter. If you have ever been to Fiji, two of the first words you will learn are “bula” which means hello, and “vinaka” which means thank you. We enter and all sit cross legged while the tribe began the ceremony. There was a few minutes of chanting, all in Fijian, although I did recognize the word “Tradewinds” thrown in. Next, the dried Kava was placed by the tribal chief into a tan bag and dipped into a large bowl shaped wooden vessel filled with clear water. Using his hands he continued to dip and wring the bag to create a beverage of sorts. All the while I am thinking, this is an experience, ignore the fact he is making this with his hands and we are going to all drink out of the same bowl! Once the Kava was ready, we each got to partake. Bruce went first as chief, then Seth “the bodyguard”, and finally the rest of us. As the bowl was presented you say “bula!”, then take the bowl and drink it down in one shot, then you clap cupped hands three times and then say “vinkaka”.
After the ceremony, the tribe performed several dances. We found out that it’s actually good for the tribe, as they use these visits by Tradewinds to practice their heritage, while teaching and passing it down to the younger generations. Finally, the last dance was participatory, where the male tribe members would grab women (and the women would pick men) to dance together. Finally we did a sort of conga line dance. It was a truly amazing experience, and quite frankly nothing I say could really describe the experience.
We headed back to boat to get ready for dinner. Aunofo shouts the pool is open, and we all laugh. Most of us grabbed a beer or cocktail while we floated behind the boat using pool noodles. About this time another boat, a dinner cruise I think, came into the bay and anchored which was actually pretty disrespectful to the tribe. We all hung out a bit later that night, enjoying cocktails on the upper sun deck well into the night. Aunofo pointed out the Southern Cross, and few other constellations, and described how to use the cross to find true south. Seeing the Southern Cross was one minor thing on my bucket list that I can now check off.
The next day dawned clear and beautiful. We moved to the “sacred islands” and anchored between Vanua Levu and Navadra. Here the water was clear, bright and warm. I noticed that since it was less cloudy the colors of the coral and fish were much brighter this time around. We also got to swim with some black tipped reef sharks which was pretty cool. Even though we were only maybe 50 yards offshore at most, the reefs were too close to the surface to swim to the beach, although Seth did take the paddleboard for a short beach excursion. Once we all had a fill, we ate lunch in that gorgeous setting. It was a this point we realized the sunscreen we brought was inadequate. Taunya found this really awesome liquid based sunscreen that absorbed into the skin and was not oily, however we accidentally ordered the 20 SPF and didn’t realize it until we noticed how burned I got that morning.
After lunch we set off for our next destination, and I was sick. Not sea sick, but more like heat stroke. Aunofo was awesome, she had me sit next to her on the bridge as we left the anchorage, and described how the GPS worked, and the other instruments. She showed me how to plot a course on the display, and how to read each of the readouts. I know she was trying to distract me, and I thought it was really cool of her to do that. We had enough wind, so she was able to hoist the sails again. The boat makes about eight knots under the motor, and averages about maybe five under sail, but when she shuts that motor off everything goes quiet, enough to hear the water passing the hull and it is just glorious and downright magical.
After a bit she asked me if I wanted to take the wheel. I’m like, sure, hell yeah. She showed me how to read the ribbons on the jib sail. Well, I’m not actually sure if that is the right name, but dammit Jim I’m a programmer, not a sailor. For the first twenty minutes or so Aunofo coached me when I got too far upwind or downwind. The seas were not exactly calm and I kept a relatively straight course. After a bit she asks me if I am ok, and I say yeah I was good. Then she left! I’m like ok, I guess I really am driving the boat now. Of course she never strayed far, and was always in sight, but it felt really cool to be the one sailing the boat. I even got to navigate around a couple of reefs with Aunofo’s help. What a great experience! I think I was sailing for most of that leg of our trip. After a bit I could see we were nearing the island she had marked, and I could see weather on the horizon, so I gave up the seat to the true Captain and headed down for a cocktail.
By days end, we had left the Yasawas behind and moved on to the Mamanuca Islands. That evening we anchored in the harbor on Mana Island. I thought we anchored in an odd location way offshore, and after asking about it we found out that Survivor had basically leased out the entire island and was set to begin filming the next week. From what I understand, because of the weather report they could not prevent us from using the harbor, although we were not allowed onshore. That night during dinner, we saw some sort of fire dance on the beach, but were too far away to really see anything. We also saw a lot of flashlights on shore, and I joked that maybe it was security because someone had snuck ashore.
The next morning we headed out to Monuriki Island. This was about a three hour trip, and we passed the time having some great conversations with our boatmates. Eventually we hear Aunofo shout out “Wilson!”. We had arrived. For those of you who don’t know your movie trivia Monuriki is the island they used in the movie Castaway. Spoiler alert, the reefs featured in the film were all CGI, and although Tom Hanks wasn’t there the boat did have a Castaway edition volleyball we used for pictures. We anchored really close to the island, maybe 30 yards away, and this was the point truly became to appreciate how talented and experienced Aunofo was. She knew just where to put the anchor to optimally position the aft of the boat since it was an incoming tide, but knowing it would be outgoing before we left.
Taunya and I decided we wanted to touch dry land for the first time in days, so we swam to shore for a little excursion. We loaded up our dry bag and swam the short distance to the beach. As I was getting out of the water I had a spot on my knee that really hurt, and I thought my swim trunks were rubbing on it or something. We wandered around Castaway beach (yes that is the real name), and I took a plethora of pictures, since I mean, how many times do you get to visit the Castaway island…
It was getting really hot on the island, so we decided to head back to the boat. We swam back, and Taunya was ahead of me so I slowed to give her time to climb the ladder to the swim platform. As I was slowly swimming, I started feeling a slight pain in spots all over by body. On my legs, chest, arms, back, pretty much everywhere. Through my snorkel mask I could see what I thought was maybe plankton in the water. I climb out of the water, and casually mentioned my pain to Bex who said it was probably baby jellyfish. WTF! The boat had a vinegar neutralizing solution which helped tremendously. No peeing on this guy! As I am drying off, I look into the water at the aft of the boat and see a fully grown jellyfish “swimming” by. Man are they amazing to watch in the water, but I’d rather see them in an aquarium, or from the deck of the ship. Not a fan of swimming with them, at least with the ones that sting!
After everyone was Wilsoned out, we headed out again. Our next stop was the Sand Bank. Our faithful crew told us it was Mana Sand Cay, however on Google maps it is listed as “Sand Bank”. I could not believe how beautiful it was. We were anchored in a depth of around 8 meters or so, and the water transitioned from a deep blue to a light turquoise near the cay. Right after we anchored, we saw a shoal of squid swimming just under the surface (apparently this is the correct name, believe me I checked). This was definitely our best snorkeling to date. Because I was so sunburnt, I was not able to stay in the water for too long. It was at this point I wished we had thought to buy a UV blocking rash guard.
The water was really calm, so we went pretty far from the boat. We did really enjoy ourselves immensely, and we did get to see some different sea life. On the way back to the boat, we looked down and saw a couple of squid swimming. We stopped swimming and started treading water, and next thing we knew there were like a hundred or so squid swimming below us! We started swimming slowly again, watching them swim, and I got some good video with our GoPro. Turns out they were leading us right back to the boat, oddly enough. I don’t know that much about squid, but it made me wonder if the were swimming in some sort of course through the reefs near the cay.
Once we got back to the boat, it was cocktail time while we waited for the rest of our party to finish up their swim. The next leg of the day’s journey had us continuing south. We had the sail out, but were still using the engines to assist because the winds were not very favorable. We anchored in Musket Cove that night, and it was the first time we moored to a buoy, instead of dropping anchor. There were several other boats there as well. That night we had dinner at the Musket Cove Resort at the onsite restaurant called Dick’s. The company had made a reservation for us, and when we headed up from our cabin getting all “dolled up”, we found that only Steven and Ann were present. Apparently there was a sense of urgency because the ferry was coming, and Aunofo had to meet it to get more ice. Ice is hard to come by in Fiji, at least off the main island. They asked me if I was comfortable using the shore radio, and I took it. See, Below Deck is useful! So the four of us loaded up in the dinghy, and headed to shore. We picked up some stronger sunscreen at the resort store, and although they were out of UV blocking swimwear we did buy a couple of [expensive] shirts we could wear in the water. We got there a bit early, so we order some drinks while we waited for the rest of our party. For dinner, we sat in a table under a huge tree. Dinner was enjoyable, and the atmosphere was great, but the food was not outstanding. After dinner, I used our trusty shore radio as instructed to call for a pick up. “Dream, Dream, Shore Dream”. “Copy” (response). “We are ready for pickup, and making our way to the dock”. More incredulous stares from our fellow guests. Those were the ones on shore when I used the radio before. 🙂 That night we hung out for a bit, but everyone seemed to call it an early night.
Speaking of early night, I hate to break it to you if you are entranced, however this is the point were I need to pause this story, as there is way to much for a single article. Stay tuned next week though, where I promise I will pick up right where we left off!
— Derek
Conslusion
That's all for now, but rest assured we'll continue our saga next week. Now go! Go, live life, love life, drink life and travel for life!
You can read part two of our adventure here.
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