Fiji – Don’t rock the boat baby!

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On the eve before the Sapphire Princess arrived in Fiji, a Canadian passenger, through the cruise critic website, had arranged in conjunction with Princess cruises to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with a traditional turkey dinner in the Santa Fe restaurant. Chris and Roisin had signed up for this event weeks before and were the only 'outsiders' in attendance. Chris was quick to advise others that his great grandmother was Canadian so that makes him 1/8th Canadian and Roisin was his ‘+1'!!

The evening started with a ‘happy hour' in the Wheelhouse bar. On entering, Chris and Roisin were immediately spotted by and invited to join a couple they had met on day 1 of the cruise critic role call ‘meet and greet'. This now seems eons ago.

Colin and Barbara are from Toronto and are both keen divers. They have had the opportunity to scuba dive in several places during this voyage. They both had minor injuries as a result of arguments with coral! They told Chris and Roisin how the marine life was so varied and colourful and had swam with such creatures as manta rays and sharks. Colin mentioned that coral is one razor hard SOB. Chris had visions of this piece of coral with a shaven head, tattoos and a sawn off starfish waiting for unsuspecting divers to venture too close!!!

DJ Thomas came in and sat with Chris, Roisin, Barbara and Colin for 20 minutes. He had lost that Professor Pat Pending look but kept repeating how he was proud to be Canadian as he sipped his piña colada chatting about how proud he is to be Canadian.

Other passengers had an array of clothing from Canadian sweatshirts to woolly hats with the maple leaf and a collection of T-shirts depicting various Canadian based designs.

Rosie's quartet broke in to ‘Oh Canada' and then a quick version of ‘God save her maj' then it was off to the restaurant for the turkey dinner.

Apart from a lone Canadian flag in the corner of the restaurant it would be hard to identify that this was a special occasion. The staff handed out menus, the same as any other dinner. This consisted of the usual cuisine that is available to all. The turkey dinner was not on the menu but was an option if requested.

Chris opted for the pumpkin pie for dessert. This is not at all what he expected. The pumpkin pie served was a cross between a custard flan and a tiramisu. It was delicious nevertheless.

Chris and Roisin enjoyed the company of Colin and Barbara and learned about Canadian Thanksgiving, it's origins, the differences between the American Thanksgiving and the Canadian and about home life back in Canada.

Chris advised Colin and Barbara that in Fiji they intend to take a taxi to a National Park called Colo-I-Suva where there is a rain forest lodge and trails leading to waterfalls and rock pools and lakes. This would provide the opportunity to see some of the countryside in the limited time they had ashore.

Colin said that this sounded interesting and as they had nothing specifically planned, would it be OK for them to accompany Chris and Roisin. Chris and Roisin would be happy for the company and agreed to meet by the gangway at 9:30 the following morning.

The Fiji archipelago is about 1200 miles north of Auckland and consists of over 300 islands, ranging in size from more than 7,000 square miles to tiny atolls that hardly break the surface of the water. The 2 main islands account for over 85% of the landmass with Suva, the capital of Fiji located on the south east corner of Viti Leva. The average is over 200 inches of rainfall annually. (can you see where this is going??!!)

That evening Chris researched Colo-I-Suva and found out that it is a cesspool for crime due to the isolation of some of the walks. The Fiji national website also stated that at the ticket office, one can ask for the security status and pay extra for a personal guard if required. There have been a number of muggings and sexual assaults already this year. Suddenly this didn't seem such a brilliant idea.

Whilst discovering this newfound info, Roisin found an attraction called the Orchid Island Heritage Centre. This was a working village and provided an insight into Fijian Village life. As it was only 10km from Suva, this seemed to be the best bet. All the talks and papers on Fiji advised passengers not to walk the streets alone but in groups or at least pairs. Chris thought that if things are so bad, why are the ships still going there. Tonga is only down the road (well 1100km down the road!!)

The new plans were conveyed to Colin and Barbara on the following morning.

A Police band was blasting out on the quayside. The sound they generated was breathtaking. Those Fijian coppers can really knock out a tune!! Their uniforms were also very colourful. The zigzag hem of their lava lava skirts reminded Chris of the BRPD – the Bed Rock Police Department from the Flintstones

Now a few sentences ago I stated that Orchid Heritage Centre WAS a working village. This is not a grammatical error. Chris asked at a tourist info booth, ‘What was the best way to get to Orchid Island Heritage Centre?'

‘Why do you want to go there?' she replied'it closed down 2 years ago!

Plan C took our intrepid travellers via a Department Store shuttle. These shuttles are free but one has to enter the store. The store is down town so is a free, if not cheeky way, to reach the heart of the city. The gang alighted from the shuttle, entered the Department store in single file, did one quick circuit of the store then quickly exited through a different exit!!

They headed for Thurston Gardens. This is a park that contains many unusual flowers and fauna and also houses the world famous Fiji museum of Suva!

The streets of Fiji's capital contain a mix of older colonial building together with some modern structures but no building appeared to be more than 6 stories. There seemed to be more poverty on the streets than on other islands and taxi drivers line the streets in some sort of taxi driver cordon.

‘Bula' is the Fijian for hello and Chris, Roisin and friends were greeted in this fashion by many passers-by as they headed down Victoria Parade towards Thurston Gardens.

Opposite the Thurston Gardens is the Pacific Palace Hotel. This is like something out of a Poirot/Miss Marple novel and would have been very grandiose in its day. It was where the Queen and Lady Diana stayed during the state visit in the early 80's

Walking through the gardens admiring the weird and wonderful species of trees and shrubs, they entered the museum and entered a world of mutiny, cannibalism and post boxes!! One cannibal-era exhibit was a round handled implement with 4 6-inch prongs at 1 end. This is a cannibal's cutlery and is used for scooping and scraping the brain from a human skull. It brings a whole new meaning to ‘can I pick your brains?!!'

Barbara and Colin mentioned about the possibility of taking a tour in the afternoon. As Roisin finds confined spaces with people for lengths of time uncomfortable Chris and Roisin explained that it's unlikely they will take up this offer. On nearing the ship, Roisin stopped at a store to buy a pair of hair straightners whereby Colin and Barbara headed back to see what tours were available.

After lunch Chris and Roisin wandered around the port looking at the tours. ‘Any that don't involve mini buses or long drives and I should be OK.' Roisin said. They got talking to a tour guide who offered 1½ hour tour around the city and to the rain forest lodge. The minimum requirement was 10 persons. Chris and Roisin explained their predicament.

‘That's OK', said the tour guide. ‘We'll take a car. ‘Same price! 90 Fijian Dollars'

‘Well actually', piped up Roisin, ‘we've seen that, that and that', pointing to various attractions on the map. ‘so how much for 1 hour? Just to the Rain Forest Lodge in Colo-I-Suva?'

'60 Fijian dollars' (£23), replied the tour guide.

This was great. Chris and Roisin had a taxi to themselves and their own personal tour guide. Unfortunately while closing the deal the heavens opened and this was a downpour that was not going to quickly pass.

They passed through several villages which all still have elders and everyone works the land to survive. Everything is shared. The system seems to suit this way of life.

Shortly before these villages they drive through Princes Street where most of the high commissions and embassies were situated.

‘A house on this road', started the guide ‘would cost '150,000 Fijian dollars'.

3 bed detached, own grounds thought Chris. Blimey! That's only about £60,000. Roisin could see the cogs of retirement click in to action in Chris's head although they soon ground to a halt when he remembered the many reasons NOT to live in Fiji.

There is still a coup situation in Fiji and it is currently under military control. This was evidenced by the high presence of military vehicles in the forecourt of the Pacific Palace Hotel.

The Rain Forest Lodge is a varandahed wooden building with reception, restaurant and bar and is the main building for this picturesque resort. The lodge backed on to a lake and beyond that, the rain forest. Some bright spark had come up with the idea of putting all used bottles to good use so made a rowing boat out of the empties. It seemed abandoned there in the middle of the lake as if the person who made it said to the others, ‘Go on then. I'm not trying it. You try it. Who's the eldest??

‘Well I'm the elder if that's any good??!!'

‘Where are the oars?' Someone else said

‘Bugger!!' said the man who had made the boat!!

The Sapphire Princess set sail at 17:30 heading due south to arrive in the next port of call, Auckland in 2 days time.

Chris had been warned that the weather, after Fiji would turn for the worse. They didn't realise what a sudden change this would take.

The entertainment this evening was an ABBA tribute band called FABBA. They would have been better to put on some fat suits and have a tribute to Star Wars and call themselves JABBA!! Embarrassing was the only word for it.

From the 3-minute introduction of a medley of ABBA instrumentals with the curtain down lost most peoples interest. It was far too long to stare at a curtain. When the curtain was finally raised both girls stood there with long straight hair. Obviously they both wanted to be Agneta!! Their voices were very weak and to be perfectly honest, they looked uncomfortable on stage. Cues were missed, dancing was out of time. The list goes on. Simon Cowell would have had a field day. On the plus side, it was ABBA tunes and the backing band, the Princess orchestra were the reason why Chris and Roisin didn't walk. Unfortunately other members of the audience didn't share this view.

And the boat rocked (although not due to the entertainment!!)!! The Captains log now officially recorded the seas as ‘rough' En route to Auckland, the Sapphire Princess will traverse a section of the Pacific Ocean known as the Tongan trench. This is over 35,000 ft deep. This is deeper than Everest is high. These depths are unfathomable (excuse the pun!!)

Roisin woke at 2am and couldn't get back to sleep due to the motion of the ship. The best way to describe this sensation is to imagine you are in an aircraft on a landing approach. The plane steadies itself then drops to a new altitude before steadying again. Imagine a plane on a constant approach but never actually landing and encountering small pockets of turbulence on the way down.

At 5.30am Roisin checked to see if Chris was awake (a sharp dig to the ribs did the trick!!) They were up on deck by 5.45 having breakfast. There was a distinct chill in the air.

13th and 14th October will be at sea. The forecast is that the sea will calm down (this is what the first scouse explorers had hoped as well and where that famous expression originates!!)

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Comments

[LondonSwede]

i think they know what the weather's going to be like for your voyage between Fiji and NZ - did anyone say "Cyclone season"?