Fiji - Nadi and the Mamanuca Islands

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Bula!

Sunday 16^th September – Nadi, Fiji

It was light outside by the time we arrived at 6.30am ish from Samoa and we had a really bumpy landing. The whole arrivals process was much much quicker than when I arrived in Fiji last November. They did insist on starting to search my luggage because they could see fruit on the scanner… there was no fruit! I sorted out a new Fiji SIM and found my transfer to the Smuggler’s Cove hostel. We had a couple of stops on the way through Nadi to pick up supplies.

The people were so friendly and welcoming at Smuggler’s and although it was so early I could check straight in. The girls dorm was really nice, I’d normally stay in a mixed dorm but had chosen the girls because it had 8 beds… the mixed dorms were either 32 (too many) or 4 (too few) beds. And they were all singles, not a bunk bed in sight! It looked like there’d been some sort of flood though… there was dripping from the ceiling and a bin filled with water. I got some of the free breakfast and met Laila, the lovely Irish girl in the bed next to me (she confirmed there had been a flood, water cascaded through the ceiling last night!). We had a chat before I went back to bed; I was so tired that the room was spinning! It was a random sleep as people kept coming in and out to sort the flooding, there were so many of them and I’d have a half asleep chat with each just to be polite…!

I got up at about 11am to do washing and had lunch with Laila before sitting on the beach. We had a lovely afternoon, the sun wasn’t out but we chatted away for hours. The hostel is right on it so a perfect location. It was really amusing as there was lots going on… a dog befriended us and kept moving around to sit in difference places around our sun loungers… and a crazy horse was running up and down the beach on its own. There were people taking rides on a grey mare and a few minutes after they went up the beach the crazy bay would go galloping past to catch them up! The grey mare would come back and a minute later we’d hear galloping hooves and the bay would come flying back past. It was quite dangerous really… I swear at one point the bay almost jumped our sun-loungers… it turned out it was the grey mares grown up foal.

We headed back to the room for showers etc and went out onto the deck to watch the Fijian cultural show. Leila had been staying at Smuggler’s for a while so she’s somewhat of an expert. We had different dances from the different Fijian islands and fire dancing! They were pretty good. Laila had heard they cover themselves in Kerosene to protect themselves from the fire. We headed to bed early but I bought some internet and stayed up too late doing lots of jobs. I slept quite well, even though I was a bit concerned about tsunamis as there wasn’t an immediate way out.

Monday 17^th September – Nadi to Port Denarau to Bounty Island

I was up early to check out and be ready for the bus pick up to Port Denarau, where I’d board the Awesome Adventures/South Sea Cruises boat for the islands. I met a nice Canadian girl who was starting at a different island to me… and sat behind a couple from Liverpool (mention them now as I meet them again later). I was impressed with Awesome right from the start, they were so organised. The check in was so smooth despite the big numbers of people and Port Denarau is a nice place to spend the wait… there are some lovely shops and cafes. I just sat on the floor waiting. The whole set up reminded me of Thailand (the surrounding scenery was similar to Thailand as well) and Malaysia, when I was with Maff and Em. We boarded the big boat and set off out of Port Denarau, passing the super and smaller yachts in the marina. We were heading for the Mamanuca Islands, a group of 27 small islands and hour or two off the coast. Some islands have tourist resorts on them, some locals and some nobody at all because of the lack of freshwater. Our first stop was South Sea Island which was tiny and a lot of people got off (I later learned it was because it was popular for day trips, there could be over a hundred in the day and there were only 4 people one night). It was a really slick operation, the big boat slowed down and was met by little transfer boats that flew out from the resort. The next stop was Bounty Island (aka Kaduvalailai Island) which was only a bit bigger than South Sea… my first thought was where the hell do you go if there’s a tsunami?!! Anyway, I was called off the big yellow boat and onto the little Bounty boat for the quick transfer over. A British Fijian Indian family were with me (Mum, daughter and son) and we had a nice chat. The staff were waiting for us onto the beach and singing us a welcome song, it was lovely! They talked us through the activities and meal times and then settled us into our rooms. I was in an 8 bed dorm and there was nobody else in there… so I could choose a bed. They told me some more people would be coming later which I was glad about, didn’t fancy sleeping in there on my own especially as the door hardly shut let alone locked!

I headed out to the beach for a lovely hour and a half. I had the whole beach to myself. The tide was going out and the reef was becoming exposed so it wasn’t deep enough to swim. The gong went for lunch and I chatted to a Swiss girl who was on a day trip from the mainland. I sat by the pool for the afternoon thinking I could at least go for a dip in there when I got too hot. It was absolutely freezing though! Seg, the daughter from the family, and I chatted and went for a snorkel (they time the tides well… literally as soon as the low tide time passed we could see the water coming back in and it came back in quickly) with her which was nice but the reef was dead, they say the recent bad cyclone damaged it. The most interesting thing we saw was something that looked like a bomb…! We arranged to go for a walk around the island to watch the sunset and whilst changing in my room I met some new friend; Sergio from Russia and the lovely Leonie from Germany. We all headed out to meet Seg and started on the path through the island. We passed the Gardens of Bounty where lots of herbs and local plants are grown for the island and the Bures (private accommodation right on the beach). The island was full of chunky tall palm trees and the sun was flowing through them. There were little paths leading out to the beach every now and again so we’d check them out to find a good spot to watch the sunset. We found one with a good view and tried taking some pictures; the ones of me are typically TERRIBLE! Seg and I carried on walking around the island, getting quicker as it got darker because it was a little spooky… it only took 10 minutes to get back to the resort; 20 minutes in total to walk around the whole island! We met up with Seg’s brother Naj and her brilliant Mum who had been born on Fiji and liked a cocktail! We all had a happy hour cocktail and dinner at the restaurant on the beach; we had various curries and POPPADOMS! I was ecstatic! The staff sang to us throughout dinner, it seemed like every time we looked over to them more and more people were joining the chorus! The lady that ran the little shop was very enthusiastic. There are pictures on the wall from Celebrity Love Island, of which the first 2 series (the first one being with Calum Best etc) was filmed. The set was on the other side of the island and the resort was closed for 3 months for it. Once it was finished the building and pool were moved over from that side of the island to the resort, so we were using them. We couldn’t name everyone on the list. I’d now been to both places it was filmed, the Beachouse on the Coral Coast (hosted the 3^rd one) and Bounty Island. We all had an early night after spending a while developing a plan for ‘what to do in the event of a tsunami’ (basically climb onto the top of the dorm building… if there was time run and get life jackets and kayaks). It was quite amusing in the room because Sergei was sleep talking, Ivo (we’d met him at dinner, lovely Estonian) was snoring and Leonie kept thinking someone was outside! I just read my book, tried to ignore the cobwebs on the underneath of the bunk about me and after one random dream about a red and black spider I had a good sleep.

Tuesday 18^th September – Bounty Island and Mamanuca Islands

I was up early because I was going on a daytrip on the Seaspray... mainly because it went to the island where they filmed Castaway. I went back out to the big boat and onto Mana Island Resort, the entrance to which seemed pretty hairy because there was only a small channel through the reef so the boat had to go very slowly and precisely. The 20 or so of us on Seaspray were transferred from the big boat to Seaspray, a small sailing ship. I sat up the front in the sun and met Anton and Jonathan from Christchurch and we were served with champagne. We sailed out towards Monuriki Island (where they filmed Castaway, it wasn’t on the nearby island called ‘Castaway’) and had a nice chat. We passed a small sand bar in the middle of nowhere, it looked nice. We were joined by Louise who was also British and said hello because she’d heard my accent; she’d been sat in front of me on the big boat out yesterday and was staying at South Sea Island. Louise told us how South Sea had started as a sand bar and just grown… and how Bounty had once been the same size as South Sea (I’d thought that sea levels were rising).

As we approached Monuriki the excellent compare gave us a short synopsis of the Castaway script to remind us where everything had happened. It all made perfect sense and some parts of the island were instantly recognisable, like the outcrop where Tom Hanks (we all kept saying Tom Cruise!) originally washed up and the big rock he climbed up. We transferred to a little boat and were taken right onto the beach. It was really lovely. I was expecting hundreds of tourists but it turned out that Seaspray is the only boat that goes so it was all ours. We took pictures and had a snorkel; Chris a nice American could remember more of the film so was able to point out where Tom and Wilson had lived etc. There were plenty of islands around… so they cut them out for the film. The only disappointing thing was there was no sign of Wilson!!! I thought they could have put him somewhere; it would have been nice for him to make his way home! We had a good hour and a half on the island and then headed back to the boat for the most delicious BBQ lunch. It was all you could drink but none of us wanted alcohol, it was too hot.

We headed onto an island to visit a Fijian village. The little boat couldn’t take us right onto the beach so we had to wade through this horrible green seaweedy stuff and then walk along the beach which wasn’t very nice as I didn’t have my shoes with me… it was either walk on sand where broken glass had washed up or really sharp rocks. Jonathan offered me a piggy back but it was hard going for him even with shoes on so I didn’t think that was very fair! I enjoyed the village visit… again I was expecting it to be full of tourists but it wasn’t. It was interesting, there’s clearly a lot of poverty maybe not on the same scale as some places in Africa but it’s definitely poverty. The guide gave us lemon leaves which is popular in tea and pointed out the houses water fresh water tanks, reminded me my studies in Uganda and their desperate need for a freshwater supply. We had a Kava Ceremony, where the chief and his men welcomed us into the village. Kava is a made from the roots of the Kava plant; the grind it down and mix it with cold water so it looks like muddy water, and then drink it. It’s a bit like a sedative, makes you very sleepy and chilled although some of the Fijians say it makes you hyper. We all sat behind the two men who had been chosen to be our chiefs (no toes facing the chief, women to sit on their knees slightly to the side, no hats as only the chief has the privilege of wearing a hat) whilst they took their bowls. The idea is to drink the bowl in one, with each drink proceeded by and accompanying clap and a Bula (welcome/hello) and followed by 3 claps and a Bula. We were all given the opportunity to try some afterwards and only me, Anton, Jonathan and another guy took them up on it (I’d heard it was rude to decline). I spilt most of mine down me; it wasn’t as bad as it looked but it wasn’t pleasant. It just made my tongue tingle. We had a look around the village market where there were some nice locally made things; some said Made In China which was a shame, I still bought some as they’d have had to buy them. We headed back to the boat along the painful beach and I made it back without cutting my foot!

We had afternoon tea on the boat and then a coconut opening demonstration. I paid careful attention as you never know when you might need it! To get the nut out of the shell seemed quite straightforward…0020using a sharp stake pieced through to the edge of the nut to gradually break the husk off. You can push a straw through the mouth to drink the milk and then hit it between the eyes VERY hard to open it (if only Tom Hanks had been on the tour before landing on the island!). I was typically the one chosen to take a drink from the guide and had to look into the wind while it was poured into my mouth; the guy had good aim and it went right in! He then embarrassing put the shells against my chest like bra cups. I was eventually allowed to return to the guys and we sat chatting whilst the crew had a good sing song. We had a quick wait at Mana Islands Resort for the big boat and then headed back to our own resorts… we all sat up the top chatting and it was lovely as the sun was going down. It just looked pretty stormy and there were several big fires on the different islands and a big cruise ship just off the mainland! I said bye to the guys and arranged to meet Louise on the transfer boat to our next islands the next day.

Back on Bounty I said hi to Sergei and Ivo and had a quick shower. I stupidly didn’t wash my hair, for getting how important it is if you’ve been in salty water because it makes your hair feel disgusting! I headed to dinner and sat with the family, Igo and Sergei watching the waves roll in. We were sang to again, some staff were loving it… some seemed a bit self-conscious… J The sea was pretty rough and each wave was coming closer and closer to the restaurant… even though there was an hour before high tide. We were taking bets on whether it would come in whilst watching the crazy crabs trying to dodge the rubbish (and the ‘bomb’ we’d seen yesterday… turned out to be a bowling ball) that was being swept up with the tide. Once we knew high tide had passed (a couple of waves came into the restaurant!) we headed to the bar where Seg, Naj, Ivo and I ended up playing pool and having a dance. We didn’t have a late night… we had to run back to our rooms because it was raining heavily… I watched a bit of TV in bed on my computer then slept well.

Wednesday 19^th September – Bounty Island to Way Lailai Island

I was up to pack, check out and have breakfast before my 8.30am pick up to get the big boat to my next island. I was really said to say buy to Seg and Naj, lovely people and I’m gutted I didn’t exchange contact details with them. As soon they could see the big boat at South Sea picking up their passengers we headed out in the little Bounty boat to meet it. It’s such an exhilarating precision operation! I met up with Louise and we caught up on the nights events… they’d only had 4 people on South Sea last night… I thought Bounty was quiet with 8. We concluded how lucky we were to be on such a tropical island paradise with so few people without paying a fortune. Our first stop was the famous (for partying) Beachcomber… didn’t look that crazy but there was more activity on it than on any of the other islands. And after the last of the Mamanuca Islands (Vomu) we headed onto the Yasawas… which weren’t too far away in the distance. I was getting off at Way Lailai and was most concerned that I’d be on my own as I’d chosen a quiet local resort. There were 3 stops with people going to the 2 resorts on Way Lailai and 1 on Kuata. I said bye to Ivo and Louise and headed down to get my little boat.

To be continued on Way Lailai…

Love you all.

Xx

NOTE: I use these updates to capture my memories and share what I'm doing on my travels with friends, family and anyone who’s interested enough to read. The views are my own and I try my best to ensure any information I share is fair and accurate but I do sometimes get things wrong. I welcome any feedback so I can make improvements and corrections for future readers. Thank you.

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