Lautoka, Fiji

Photos

This is my 87th country visited. It will be many weeks before we visited another new place. There is on 1 new port for us in Western Australia. It will be even longer before I can claim a new country.

Clay was up first this morning. I know he set an alarm but I think he was up before it sounded. The sun was already up and we were already at our anchorage before 6am. We were scheduled to arrive at 7am. We were having breakfast up in Marketplace when Sun Princess arrived and sailed past us to dock. They are a bigger ship so I don't know why they got the dock and we got to tender. But from the looks of it the people walking from the port to town were from Princess and Crystal ran a complimentary shuttle on the hour and half hour. Also, the tender ride was smooth as glass so all in all it was a good trade off tendering.

Our tour departed Stardust Club at 8:15 am and it was not the first departure! Pasted below is a description of our tour. We paid $119 per person for a 4 hour tour.

GARDEN OF THE SLEEPING GIANT & FIJIAN VILLAGE EXPERIENCE

Unfolding along the foothills of Sabeto Mountain, the Garden of the Sleeping Giant is home to Fiji’s largest orchid collection. Discover the natural beauty of this serene garden and its environs during this half-day excursion.

From the pier in Lautoka, board your motor coach and set off along the Queen’s highway, first traveling through the city and then past fertile sugar cane plantations. Reaching the foot of the Sabeto Mountains, you will find yourself in the shadow of the ridge known as the Sleeping Giant.

Your first stop is the Garden of the Sleeping Giant. Nestled in a shady valley, the gardens were founded by Raymond Burr, star of television’s Perry Mason and Ironside. Originally established to house Burr’s vast orchid collection, the garden has grown to become one of Lautoka’s most popular attractions.

You may choose to explore the garden independently or in the company of a knowledgeable guide. While the orchids are stunning, the garden also features manicured grounds characterized by a canopy-covered boardwalk and lily ponds at the edge of a densely vegetated jungle.

Departing the gardens, next visit Viseisei Fijian Village, where the first Fijians landed 3,000 years ago. During your village experience, you will meet the local families, view a range of authentic Fijian handicrafts and participate in a traditional kava ceremony. Normally accorded to chiefs, the ceremony involves the preparation of the traditional kava drink, made from the root of a cultivated plant, the piper methysticum, which is pounded into a powder and mixed with water. With kava as the main ingredient, the beverage is thought to have medicinal properties, including relief of anxiety and improvement of sleep.

Enjoy refreshments of juice and local seasonal fruits accompanied by Fijian serenades sung by the village men before returning to your Crystal ship.

Important Notes: As this excursion involves walking over uneven and sometimes steep surfaces, including an approximately 300-foot slope that will need to be walked both up and down, it is only recommended for our more agile guests. It is recommended that guests wear a hat, sunscreen and flat, comfortable shoes.

We actually ran our tour in reverse order. Unlike American Samoa, we had large air conditioned buses and regular tour guides. Also, unlike American Samoa the tour's kava ceremony actually took place today. Clay told me he was going to take photos and he went and had a bowlful! You had to clap once with cupped hands, say "Bula", take the cup and drink the "muddy tasting kava" and then return to cup and clap 3 more times. Clay said he did all that and I missed it. About "Bula", our guide told us it means welcome, but that isn't how they use it. They use it like Hello. They say Bula to you and you say Bula back. (Boo-La) I mean they all say bula to you. Every single person from toddler to grandparent whether you even make eye contact. The guide did tell us that Fijians love to say Bula. They offered small chilled square bottles of Fiji Water supposedly to rinse away the kava. I took one just to compare it to the Crystal Geyser I'd carried off Serenity. We couldn't tell any difference! They did not offer any fruit.

Next we went to Garden of the Sleeping Garden. We had about an hour there and we were guided on a very short walk through 100s of orchids. We were offered seats in the shade with glasses of juice to cool off before reboarding our ACed bus. All they were missing here was a gift shop!

Not to worry. On the bus ride back towards the port, we took a wrong turn we thought only for Mere (Mary) our guide to announce that they were taking us into Lautoka city proper to Tappoo Mall for a 20-minute shopping stop. This was also the location of Crystal's complimentary shuttle. Since there was a predicted 96% chance of rain by 2pm, no one on our tour bus offered to stay and take a shuttle back. They dropped us right at the door of a Fiji Souvenir Store. It had a wide variety of products. I found my 1st embroidered patch of this trip. Clay found a really attractive white on white patterned shirt made in Fiji. He bought both with $24 USD and got back a dollar or so change in Fijian coins.

Since it was after 1pm when we got back onboard, we went to Silk where I had pizza and Clay had Chinese chicken salad. We both had ice cream for dessert.

Tonight we sail at 5pm. It is a casual night. We have a 6 pm dinner reservation at Umi Uma. It is our last reservation of this segment which ends 2/5 in Auckland, New Zealand. I think we were allowed 4 reservations at each specialty restaurant with the ability to only book 1 per segment before boarding. We had to make the remaining 3 after boarding Serenity in LA. We'll have to make our extra allowed reservations for the next segment after the new passengers board in Auckland. This process will be repeated for segments 3 and 4 as well.

I had my favorite meal of the trip so far at Umi tonight. For variety, I ordered the Australian wagyu filet steak. I had never ordered it before because in the past I haven't liked wagyu beef. I must have only had original wagyu because I loved this tonight. Umi also has one of my favorite desserts, chocolate souffle cake with sesame ice cream.

The captain said we'd hit 8 foot seas when we sail tonight. It is definitely rougher than it was last night. We turn the clocks FORWARD 1 hour tonight. Hopefully this is the only time we lose an hour this trip as those many 25 hour days are the beauty of a westbound trip. We now have 2 sea days to get to Bay of Islands, New Zealand.

Photos