Friday, January 9 – Nadi, Fiji

No significant plans for today as I still attempt to get acclimated. I think I’ll do one of my favorite things when arriving in a new place: roam.

I have to say that Nadi is not all that picturesque, at least in terms of the areas I could visit within walking distance of my hotel. The cloudy day may have influenced this analysis however. (Note to self: I’ll be using Nadi as a base while I bounce back and forth between the nearby islands; better come up with some day trips or rethink where I’ll be calling home)

Speaking of the cloudy day, I’m an idiot! I say that because, due to the sky conditions, I figured I didn’t need sunscreen or a hat. Wrong! I didn’t receive a flaming hot burn, but enough to be uncomfortable. Ugh! Nice start to the trip…

I ended up doing 20k steps today, which I felt pretty good about. And while we’re on the subject of steps, I can pretty much guarantee that there will be no average daily step count record this year. Due to a few different reasons – with the main one being I’m feeling like a wimp at the moment! (Plus, my average was messed with right off the bat when January 7th was stolen from me!)

I only have a couple pictures worth sharing from the walk…

The typical high temperatures are in the mid 80s here, with a fairly high humidity. So I took advantage of the hotel pool after the walk!

Travel Note: This is considered the low season in the region, with generally cloudy days and brief rain showers in the afternoons. Basically I consider this a good thing for me. There are less tourists, and therefore the costs are lower (love that!). The downside for me is that the photos may not be as impressive. (Keep your expectations in check! – assuming they were high to begin with!)

Saturday, January 10 through Monday, January 12 – Wayasewa Island

Today I’m heading to Wayasewa Island for a two night stay at a rustic accommodation run by the local villagers. To get there, I’ll be catching a ferry out of Port Denarau in Nadi.

The ferry was scheduled to depart at 8:45am, and the 20 minute ride to the port was arranged by my hotel. The driver, Hamzah, was a nice guy and only charged me 25 FJD (11 USD).

I booked the ferry in advance, and even splurged for entrance into the Captain’s Lounge (don’t worry, it wasn’t much more money). This provided more comfortable seating, with A/C and free snacks & drinks (including beer and wine). The scheduled duration of the trip to Wayasewa Island is about 2 hours. The round trip ferry ticket cost 225 USD.

This is a map of the stops made by the various ferries in the South Sea Cruises fleet. My destination was one of the nearby islands to the west of Nadi.

This is the Yasawa Flyer III, the ferry I’ll be taking to Wayasewa Island. The upper level glass enclosure is the bridge, and just behind that is the Captain’s Lounge, where I’ll be sitting. And this is a relatively new ferry, having just been entered into service in August. Nice!

This is the Captain’s lounge. Pretty nice, right? And there were only 6 of us booked during my portion of the trip. I ended up sitting at the far window. The women across from me is Katja, a medical student from Bern, Switzerland. She’s spending a couple weeks in Fiji and then joining friends for a 4 week trip in New Zealand. We talked for most of the trip, which was fun.

(And I felt it was a little early for wine, so went with tea instead. And some carrot cake! Katja did have a beer after her coffee, but she had further to go than me!)

There is no dock on Wayasewa Island to disembark from the ferry. So, upon arrival, we were met by a small open boat (12′ long), with an outboard motor operated by hand at the stern. I was the only passenger, and the ride took about 10 minutes. I would have liked to take a picture of the boat, and the island, but it was a quick passenger exchange from the ferry, and I was pretty much holding on with both hands during the ride.

My stay was at the Waya Lailai Eco Haven, which is located in a clearing on the edge of the island. Upon arrival, I was met on the beach by a group of 5 staff members who serenaded me with a Fijian greeting in song. Very nice!

I think I mentioned that this is a rustic place. That means:

• No Air Conditioning
• No Hot Water
• Power shut off during various times throughout the day (it is provided by a generator). Although, power was available all night; which was critical so that the fan next to my bed could run!
• Very weak Wifi when the power was on (I didn’t even bother trying to use it. Being disconnected for 3 days was kind of nice!)

Don’t worry though, we did have indoor plumbing!

I will say that despite the lack of A/C, I slept great throughout my stay. Perhaps the after effects of jet lag may have been a factor. And the white noise of the fan next to my bed probably helped too.

Instead of providing a blow-by-blow of my visit, I think I’ll just go with a kind of semi-chronological photo essay to describe the stay…

Yes, I did use the mosquito netting. There were holes in the window screens! (and I only ended up with one bite during my stay!)

All meals were included with the cost of the room. Meal times were:

• Breakfast: 8am
• Lunch: noon
• Tea: 3pm
• Dinner: 7pm

The banging of drums announced the meal was ready.

Sidenote: One of the things I was told when I arrived at the resort was to not leave my shoes outside at night. Apparently dogs from the nearby village will come over and take them!

The beach isn’t very long; a round trip walk from the compound and back took about 40 minutes (at a slow pace!)

The resort offered a few planned excursions (for a fee), like snorkeling, scuba, hiking and a visit to a nearby village. I pretty much just stuck around the compound though, happy to relax, do some reading, eat, and socialize with the other guests.

While I’m on the subject, I’d say my two favorite parts of the island visit were meeting the other guests and conversing with them over some great meals. While I was there, I met people from:

• Minnesota
• Arizona
• Denmark
• Austria
• Australia
• Germany
• France
• United Kingdom
• Slovenia (family of 6 that stayed on the island for 25 days! Left the day before me)

A mother & daughter from Germany arrived the morning of my last day. When talking with them I discovered that they had just been to Samoa (my next stop). Very lucky; they gave me some good suggestions!

No activities were planned for Sunday; however, we were invited to attend church at the neighboring village. I definitely wanted to check that out, even if it did necessitate me wearing jeans and a polo shirt (the only long pants and collared shirt I brought with me on the trip).

It took about 10 minutes to walk to the church. Five of us from the resort attended.

This picture was taken after the service. The church was full during. We arrived around 10:15am, to the sounds of the choir singing prior to the start at 10:30. Women sat on the left, men on the right.

Most of the sermon was spoken in Fijian (iTaukei), but that’s okay; it was still very enjoyable. And the choir was amazing. The service concluded at 11:30, and by then I was sweating like crazy!

The shade covering the hammocks is provided by the Vutu Tree (also called fish poison tree or sea poison tree). Its nut can be seen in the center of the picture.

The nut produces this beautiful flower.

The ferry was scheduled to arrive near the island around 4pm, so I was ready to head out right after the afternoon tea. But before I left, the staff once again sang me a song, this time wishing me a fond farewell. Very sweet!

I really enjoyed my time on the island. It felt like an authentic Fijian experience. I will say though, for me, two nights was probably the right duration. (I’m not a big “roughing it” guy!). The cost of the bungalow and meals was 110 USD per night.

I’m back in the Captain’s Lounge for the ferry ride back to Nadi. And after my rustic experience, I had to go for a glass of wine (or two!).

I was the only passenger in the Lounge for the entire journey back to Nadia. I I felt a little guilty about that too, because the ferry was packed and the passengers seated outside had to deal with some rain showers along the way.

Well, I guess I didn’t feel THAT guilty…

The ferry company offers free shuttle transfers to passengers staying at the major hotels in Nadi. I was able to take advantage because I booked two nights at the Ramada Suites on Wailoaloa Beach (I referenced the beach in my Friday entry above).

I arrived at the hotel around 6:30pm and was ready for some A/C and a hot shower!

Notice the washer and dryer in the background? I decided to do a load of laundry before calling it a night…