Adventures of Beth and Dan: “I travel because life is short and the world is HUGE.”- Stephanie B

Today is day 65 of our cruise. Our next port is Lautoka , Fiji.

There are tours to surrounding small islands where you can find a quiet spot and hang out. The Hilton is also here and you can go to their resort and be spoiled. You can snorkel here going out by tenders to Great locations. They entertain you and serve food, drinks and music! They have kayaks , canoes and paddle boards. They also serve lunch. There is zip lining here and cave tours. There are 16 platforms with the most scenic views. This island also offers fire walking Warriors with a cultural show but this is not fire but rather warm coals. There are natives that also open up their homes and show you how they live providing a light snack. A tour goes to Nadi which has an active temple. Legend says the names come from a battle cry meaning to spear something. There are 52,000 people there. We dock there. Sugar here is their life. It is their largest industry employing about 4000 people in all aspects of work. Their market there they say is delightful with handmade items, spices and pottery. The Queens Road there is the most developed on the west side while Kings covers the east. There is a magnificent Swami Temple. The Gardens if the Sleeping Giant has 2000 varieties of orchids. Raymond (Perry Mason) Burr started this!! The flowering season is now so a great tune to go there. They even have mud holes here and hot springs! I’ll skip it :).

The day we take the tour is overcast and humid. Our tour is in a real bus with AC!! :). We have 40 people in this tour. The port is very commercial. The people are extremely friendly and dressed in colorful shirts and skirts. Everyone waves and smiles. There are 333 islands in Fiji. This is the sugar cane city. Half the population is Indian ( Hindu) and the othe Fijians. The unemployment rate is 14%. After sugar cane tourism is the next biggest employer. About 7 ships come per month except in April when none came. Most people are subsistence farmers with extended farmers. Our first stop is the Sleeping Giant. The entire population of Fiji is about 837,000.

The gardens were lovely and the orchids beautiful. Our next stop was the Mud Pools! The area was well manicured and was interesting but we skipped that. Two ladies in our group did the mud bath. They both loved it and said they felt revived! Our next stop will be Smugglers Cove to a resort beach. The resort is ok. The beach is gravel and the pool smaller than what we have on the ship. Most people sit around the outsider pool bar or are inside ordering a cold drink and getting internet. It definitely isn’t a resort most would come back to but more like a stop for just a beer!

A Sulu is a mans wrap around here and some wear them for church and special events. Police wear a white Sulu for tourists when the come. Many people here including our guide wear the Sulu.

We have one hour at the resort then on to shopping at the famous Jacks!! Our tour guide lives in Suva and had to leave at 3 am to get to Lautoka. We may see them tomorrow. Jacks was disappointing to us... A nice small store but not what we thought. Our free shuttle is there at Jacks and they have chairs outside the store for passengers and a small little guitar band serenading folks coming and going into the store. So after perusing the store offerings we head back to the ship for some cool air and maybe a cat nap!

At the Gardens of the Sleeping Giant we see the small pineapple plants growing.