Hot and Humid in Fiji!!
We are now finishing up our 2nd day at the Neviti Resort. We just finished dinner and made our way to the open air lobby to their computer station. Naomi is on a computer checking out our Roger's account summary wondering why our Roaming bill is so high!
It has been a bit of a challenge finding opportunities to connect to the Internet so our blogging has not been as consistent as we hoped.
The last 2-3 days aboard the Fiji Princess did not go as planned because of the weather. Cyclone Gita did a huge clockwise circle around Fiji so we were never completely clear of the bad weather. This meant we did do a lot of Plan B's. This does happen to be Fiji's rainy season, which we knew that when we planned this trip.
We did have a fantastic excursion to the Sawa-i-Lau Caves on one of the islands. The cave system is in a huge mountain-size rock that juts out of the water. The entrance is kept locked shut by the locals and opened up for approved tours.
Apparently the local legend tells of how the cave was discovered by two young lovers from different villages who were looking for a secret place to meet. Our guide Sefu also said that the local village chief claims there is a Moray eel and two big Groupers that are the supposed Gaurdians of the caves that were first seen by him when he was just a young teenager....how long do those critters live....who knows...?
The cave system is so huge that divers have been, so far, unable to reach the end. The first cave has natural sunlight coming in through fissures and cracks in the rock. The depth does fluctuate with the tide but the water is very clear and the bottom is about 25 to 30 ft down. Inside it almost appears cathedral-like with stone "buttresses" on the walls supporting a domed ceiling.
The entrance to the second cave meant traversing through a short underwater tunnel. We had our guides assisting us which was basically one pushing us down and another pulling us through! There was no natural light there so our guides all had dive lights...very eerie feeling being in the dark...wondering where the eel and 2 Groupers were...?
The second cave did have many side branches to explore. The back of the cave was where the vertical shaft was...apparently this is how the cave was first discovered. From that point all the rest of the cave system was underwater.
The trip back through the tunnel was much easier as you could make out the terrain with the sunlight coming through the tunnel. While back in the first cave someone said they were sure they had spotted an eel down below! It did speed up the exiting process ...!
There was a bit of excitement trying to get people onto the tenders for the trip back to the ship. It was a rock shelf for the beach and the surf had come up significantly. Crew member Wati was trying to keep the tender off the rocks while we loaded but stalled the motor which meant a boat load of people came close to getting dumped into the surf! He finally got it going but had a prop strike so the trip back to the ship took awhile. That motor was out of service for the rest of the voyage.
Later that afternoon we stopped at another island and went ashore to visit the area's only Primary to Secondary School. A lot of the kids were from the other side of the island and it was a 40 minute hike each way. Most students, even the beginning grades, came from other islands and boarded there, going home by boat on the weekends.
To get to the school we first landed on, again, a beautiful nice white sandy beach!
We toured the school and the students put on a show of dancing and singing. I did sit in on one Biology class. When I told the teacher that my dog ate my homework she made me do Detention!! Thankfully one of our guides rescued me and I was given a severe reprimand and allowed to rejoin the group.
The school was a regular weekly stop for the Fiji Princess as were all our island stops. It allows us tourists to see and experience the native culture and the donations we leave behind go to improving and maintaining their existing infrastructure.
They are trying to replace many of their wooden structures, houses and schools mostly, with concrete block buildings. Fiji was hit by a very destructive cyclone 2 years ago that destroyed most wooden buildings on the islands so there is a big push to rebuild with concrete. Our guide told us that our donations make a big difference but the real problem is getting the material to the islands themselves; the Fijian government having limited resources. Here the Primary grades were done in large tents set up on their school soccer field. We did not tour through there but one of our fellow passengers, Shane from NZ donated a bunch of kids story books to them and they were very happy to have them.
Another issue on the islands is access to fresh drinking water. Some of the smaller islands rely on rain water solely and with a gradual but steady population increase it has become a problem. Another major roblem is that when it rains, it pours so now add in the flooding that occurs which wipes out a lot of their natural rain catchment areas. Japan did supply a huge amount of large plastic storage bins and PVC piping that has improved the situation but they still preach water preservation to all inhabitants of the islands.
We did notice that in all the villages we visited there were very little young adults of college age. After completing their Grade 13 most of them head off to mainland Fiji for post Secondary education or just to join the work force.
Late in the last afternoon a Marine Biologist from the Vinaka Fiji Trust came aboard to talk about the coral reef conservation efforts that they have been doing in the islands. One huge problem world wide is bleaching. The temperature increase in the planet's oceans being they number one cause. Other issues include a type of spiny starfish that eats the coral. Their numbers are usualy kept in check by those large clams that have now become popular tourist souvenirs, so their numbers have started to decrease world wide as well.
He did paint a grim picture of our ocean environment but remained positive as more people are becoming more aware of the problems facing our coral reefs.
We got off the Fiji Princess on Friday Feb 16 and met our driver Ali as planned and made our way down the Queens Highway to the Naviti resort. The trip took about 90 minutes with traffic speed not exceeding 80 km. The trip was almost like taking the scenic route down the C&E Trail down to Innisfail.
The resort has a small Par 3 nine hole golf course so we did a round. Fairly cheap for green fees and bag rental. No carts available, just the pull carts. The course was in rough shape as it had been raining so much thay could not mow the grass up to that point. Naomi and I almost quit on the 6 th hole becauseof the heat and humidity but we preservered and finished. It was so hot that I forgot to take some pics....maybe later.
Now we get to relax for 2 weeks and actually unpack our suitcases. We will see what day tours are available and plan on taking in more of the local culture.
Goodbye for now!
It has been a bit of a challenge finding opportunities to connect to the Internet so our blogging has not been as consistent as we hoped.
The last 2-3 days aboard the Fiji Princess did not go as planned because of the weather. Cyclone Gita did a huge clockwise circle around Fiji so we were never completely clear of the bad weather. This meant we did do a lot of Plan B's. This does happen to be Fiji's rainy season, which we knew that when we planned this trip.
We did have a fantastic excursion to the Sawa-i-Lau Caves on one of the islands. The cave system is in a huge mountain-size rock that juts out of the water. The entrance is kept locked shut by the locals and opened up for approved tours.
Apparently the local legend tells of how the cave was discovered by two young lovers from different villages who were looking for a secret place to meet. Our guide Sefu also said that the local village chief claims there is a Moray eel and two big Groupers that are the supposed Gaurdians of the caves that were first seen by him when he was just a young teenager....how long do those critters live....who knows...?
The cave system is so huge that divers have been, so far, unable to reach the end. The first cave has natural sunlight coming in through fissures and cracks in the rock. The depth does fluctuate with the tide but the water is very clear and the bottom is about 25 to 30 ft down. Inside it almost appears cathedral-like with stone "buttresses" on the walls supporting a domed ceiling.
The entrance to the second cave meant traversing through a short underwater tunnel. We had our guides assisting us which was basically one pushing us down and another pulling us through! There was no natural light there so our guides all had dive lights...very eerie feeling being in the dark...wondering where the eel and 2 Groupers were...?
The second cave did have many side branches to explore. The back of the cave was where the vertical shaft was...apparently this is how the cave was first discovered. From that point all the rest of the cave system was underwater.
The trip back through the tunnel was much easier as you could make out the terrain with the sunlight coming through the tunnel. While back in the first cave someone said they were sure they had spotted an eel down below! It did speed up the exiting process ...!
There was a bit of excitement trying to get people onto the tenders for the trip back to the ship. It was a rock shelf for the beach and the surf had come up significantly. Crew member Wati was trying to keep the tender off the rocks while we loaded but stalled the motor which meant a boat load of people came close to getting dumped into the surf! He finally got it going but had a prop strike so the trip back to the ship took awhile. That motor was out of service for the rest of the voyage.
Later that afternoon we stopped at another island and went ashore to visit the area's only Primary to Secondary School. A lot of the kids were from the other side of the island and it was a 40 minute hike each way. Most students, even the beginning grades, came from other islands and boarded there, going home by boat on the weekends.
To get to the school we first landed on, again, a beautiful nice white sandy beach!
We toured the school and the students put on a show of dancing and singing. I did sit in on one Biology class. When I told the teacher that my dog ate my homework she made me do Detention!! Thankfully one of our guides rescued me and I was given a severe reprimand and allowed to rejoin the group.
The school was a regular weekly stop for the Fiji Princess as were all our island stops. It allows us tourists to see and experience the native culture and the donations we leave behind go to improving and maintaining their existing infrastructure.
They are trying to replace many of their wooden structures, houses and schools mostly, with concrete block buildings. Fiji was hit by a very destructive cyclone 2 years ago that destroyed most wooden buildings on the islands so there is a big push to rebuild with concrete. Our guide told us that our donations make a big difference but the real problem is getting the material to the islands themselves; the Fijian government having limited resources. Here the Primary grades were done in large tents set up on their school soccer field. We did not tour through there but one of our fellow passengers, Shane from NZ donated a bunch of kids story books to them and they were very happy to have them.
Another issue on the islands is access to fresh drinking water. Some of the smaller islands rely on rain water solely and with a gradual but steady population increase it has become a problem. Another major roblem is that when it rains, it pours so now add in the flooding that occurs which wipes out a lot of their natural rain catchment areas. Japan did supply a huge amount of large plastic storage bins and PVC piping that has improved the situation but they still preach water preservation to all inhabitants of the islands.
We did notice that in all the villages we visited there were very little young adults of college age. After completing their Grade 13 most of them head off to mainland Fiji for post Secondary education or just to join the work force.
Late in the last afternoon a Marine Biologist from the Vinaka Fiji Trust came aboard to talk about the coral reef conservation efforts that they have been doing in the islands. One huge problem world wide is bleaching. The temperature increase in the planet's oceans being they number one cause. Other issues include a type of spiny starfish that eats the coral. Their numbers are usualy kept in check by those large clams that have now become popular tourist souvenirs, so their numbers have started to decrease world wide as well.
He did paint a grim picture of our ocean environment but remained positive as more people are becoming more aware of the problems facing our coral reefs.
We got off the Fiji Princess on Friday Feb 16 and met our driver Ali as planned and made our way down the Queens Highway to the Naviti resort. The trip took about 90 minutes with traffic speed not exceeding 80 km. The trip was almost like taking the scenic route down the C&E Trail down to Innisfail.
The resort has a small Par 3 nine hole golf course so we did a round. Fairly cheap for green fees and bag rental. No carts available, just the pull carts. The course was in rough shape as it had been raining so much thay could not mow the grass up to that point. Naomi and I almost quit on the 6 th hole becauseof the heat and humidity but we preservered and finished. It was so hot that I forgot to take some pics....maybe later.
Now we get to relax for 2 weeks and actually unpack our suitcases. We will see what day tours are available and plan on taking in more of the local culture.
Goodbye for now!
Glad your having fun, we are back home now. Hope to catch up again. Take care and enjoy your time. We had a great tour guide show as around Fiji on our last two days. Went to see the waterfalls (great for a swim after the 2 km walk) really refreshing. We also went to the mud baths - a definite must do.
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