So here we are on day one of our cruise aboard the Fiji Princess. Not an enormous ship, a maximum of 68 guests on three decks, and we were told that there are 29 guests on board for this five day, four night cruise around the islands in the Fiji Group.
Having consumed probably more champagne than we should have (it was complimentary after all), we were transported to The Fiji Princess via high speed catamaran and rendezvoused in a pretty, albeit a very rolly bay in The Sacred Islands, we were transferred to the Fiji Princess by tender boat and the crew directed us straight to the dining saloon where lunch was waiting for us.
There are already other guests on board on either a three day or week cruise, and they are ashore enjoying the delights of the Sacred Islands. After lunch, the usual safety briefing is given, and a glimpse of what the next few days ahead will entail and then off to our cabins. A quick change and freshen up before the tender boats whisk us off to the beach and to the first of many snorkelling expeditions.
After an afternoon of swimming and sun bathing, we are back on board, showered and changed for happy hour on the rear deck Saloon Bar, as the captain heeds our own thoughts and picks up the anchor to go to a less rolly anchorage. Unfortunately, by this time an early evening rain shower has started and the view of the islands is obscured in a grey misty haze hiding what we are sure is a stunning view.
Soon after our second happy hour drink, Johnny, (the main man on this voyage) invites us to the dining saloon for the Captain's Dinner. We sit with a very nice New Zealand couple, Carolyn and Brian, and also have the pleasure of First Officer Sai and the Entertainment Manager (Johnny) joining us. We have been on board for approximately six hours and most of the staff have not only introduced themselves, but have memorised our names and room number. After a long day, we are back in our cabin by 10pm and asleep by 10:10pm.
The following day's itinerary has been left in our cabin and Johnny tries to explain to the guests as to what is about to happen. The Fiji Princess is going to ‘take a line ashore’. For those who don’t carry out this practice on a regular basis in Greece, let me elaborate. This normally entails lining the boat up, stern to the shore, and then a crew member drops the anchor (that would be my job). Immediately after the other crew member (that would be David), dives in and swims ashore to find a suitable rock or tree to tie the
first stern line to, he then swims back to get the other and repeat the process while I am tightening the first line. In the case of the Fiji Princess, they have a permanent buoy (huge), onto which one crew member is dropped off on a tender. Another crew member retrieves the huge bow lines and brings it back to the buoy. Meanwhile another crew member drops yet another crew member on the beach with an even bigger stern line, which he in turn ties this round the base of a palm tree.
Meanwhile, back on board, two more crew members pull in the stern lines while the captain gives commands on his radio for more a less slack.
After watching all this hard work, we are expected to spend the day on the beach doing "activities". These include coconut husking and basket weaving demonstrations or a snorkelling trip. Although, I would have enjoyed watching these demonstrations, it’s snorkelling for us. Back at the beach, we are treated to an air display, or two, from the sea planes that fly around dropping off and collecting tourists from the myriad of islands that surround us. David thinks he's died and gone to heaven!
After lunch on the beach, we somehow missed the volleyball game and the burying of the Lovo dinner.
Lovo is a traditional method of cooking food under the ground. They start by digging a hole, in which a small fire is started, to which rocks are added.
Into this are placed traditional coconut palm leave woven baskets, filled with meat and vegetables, which are placed on top of the hot stones. This is then covered with more palm fronds and then with sand and left to cook for over six hours.
The uncovering of the Lovo is watched by all who will attend the feast. The sand is dug away, the scorched palm fronds discarded and the baskets lifted out of the ground into serving trays, to be served to all who attend the dinner. It was delicious.
After dinner, we watched "Meke" entertainment from the local village of Matacawalevu. Traditional dance and beautiful songs, followed by the usual "craft market" offering all manner of "local" goods from the village ladies. Unfortunately, I do not believe very much was made by the hands of these ladies, but we walked by their stalls and looked interested all the same. It may be that we have now been to so many "so called village craft markets" and seen exactly the same goods on offer, that we no longer believe their hype, even in this far off land…which incidentally is only 3 hours flight from NZ or Aus (a bit like us going to Spain where we stopped buying big sombreros a long ago... )
On Wednesday (UK time), our morning alarm call to breakfast is announced over the ship's tannoy, and we slowly gather ourselves together and head to the dinning room. We decline the hike over to Lo's Tea House, and instead take in the beautiful surroundings and the novelty of being on a boat without having to worry about the anchor dragging, who's going to anchor next to us or what the weather forecast is predicting...NMP...as David has become fond of saying...not my problem.
Lunch is served on board as the captain steers us expertly through the islands and reefs to our next destination Sawa-i-Lau and a trip to the caves hidden behind the rising limestone that forms this island. Up a few steps and entrance appears, down some steps and your only option is to jump in the cool semi rainwater pool, or go back. In the humidity and heat, the choice is simple and like lemmings, we all follow each other into the refreshing water. The temperature causes a small intake of breath, as compared to the bathwater temperature of the Pacific, this cave pool is decidedly chilly...but nothing compared to any UK water! On our return to the beach, the staff have set up a table for afternoon tea, fresh fruit juice and homemade cookies, before we return too the ship to refresh and get ready for afternoon and evening entertainment.
We anchor off the beach of Tamusua Village, and once ashore the village Chief greets us. He gives us an overview of his village, and how we would like us to behave in the confines of his village. Most importantly, all hats and headgear must be removed, as the head, and especially the top of your head is sacred and nothing must go above or on it. Secondly, no-one must show their shoulders or legs above the ankle, including men, and trousers or shorts are not permitted, everyone must wear a sarong. But thanks to David Beckham, it is almost an accepted option for the men to tie their sarongs in an attempt to look as cool as he did in one...
The Chief explains that the population of the village fluctuates between 80 and 100, as once the children finish primary school they are then sent boarding school on the mainland. At the end of this Christmas holiday, twenty children will be leaving Tamusua. In this increasingly small world in which we live, it was hard for the Chief to say how many will return.
There are no jobs on these remote islands, and life is hard, whereas, on the mainland tourism provides a new way of life for many of the children that leave. Although the village is remote, most of the houses are stone built, some of which were provided by the cruise ship company, for allowing them to bring us tourists to visit every week. The rest are funded, two thirds by the government, one third by the villagers. The money for which they get by selling craft goods to passing tourists (yes you've guessed it, another craft market) or from money sent back by family and children who have moved away and work on the mainland. The village has electricity provided by a generator, but is only allowed to be on at night time. Except when there is a rugby match on, then the Chief will make an exception. The houses have plumbing and toilet facilities and their waste goes into sceptic tanks which then biodegraded into the ground. The social structure of the village is determined by the village green. Every village event happens on the green, and as such, the further away your house is from the green, the higher your social standing. The Chief can choose who he wants to live around him, so if your "in" with "the big guy" you could well get a better house position! (reminds me of politicians the world over).
We are told about the Kava Ceremony that we are about to attend and for this we must choose our own Chief from our party. Murray, a larger than life, New Zealander, clearly the eldest if our group is chosen, and this a good thing, as being Chief means you get the largest bowl of kava and must drink it down in one go. When we approach the village hall, we must request entry by chanting Dula Dula Dula in unison, and as long as the village elders reply "oooooooooo Dula" we will be permitted entry. After being accepted, we all remove your shoes and take our places on the cushions on the floor provided, facing the elders. The ceremony begins with prayers (they are Methodists) and then singing and clapping as Chief Murray is presented with his bowl of kava. The elder claps three times, Murray must reply with a single clap and swallow the liquid in one. After this, the rest of us are invited to take kava. Each recipient must be presented with a fresh bowl, clapped three times to which we must respond with a single clap, but we are at least allowed to take our time. This can be construed as either a good or a bad thing...the best way to describe kava is that it looks like they dirtiest dish water, and tastes like I image the dirtiest dish water would taste like, with the added benefit that it numbs your lips, mouth and tongue! A chilled glass of Chablis it is not.
After the ceremony we are allowed to wander freely around the green and see what the ladies have on offer at the craft market. This time there were a few things that looked authentic among the imports, so we indulged and bought a hand printed bit of tree bark!
To end the time at the village we are treated to a traditional Fijian feast, eaten sitting on the floor with no cutlery. This would not normally be a problem apart from the fish curry, the spinach sag aloo and a number of other semi soft options. But we did not let this put us off and we entered into the spirit of the occasion, even when we were asked to get up to do a conga line around the hall to "work off our dinner". Like all good tourists, we obliged, but I'm going to take a good look at Facebook to see if I can see photos of us on there... #gullabletourists. Of course, to end the proceedings a "basket" was handed round for donations to help support the future of the village, which considering there had been no charge for this excursion or dinner, we all obliged happily. Back on board one of the evening’s entertainment options was to watch a young Brook Shields in the film Blue Lagoon as it had apparently been filmed in these islands, (the Yasawas Islands) along with Tom Hanks' Castaway. We declined this cinematic delight and instead had cocktails on the Sky Deck.
The following morning we chose to stay on board and finally have a morning doing nothing. After lunch, a marine biologist gave a talk on the coral reefs, the marine life and the conservation work being carried out in the islands. After which David went off on his first dive of the trip and I headed to the spa for a massage and then up on the Sky Deck to write this blog and sit in the cool breeze watching The Pacific pass by.
Later that evening, after cocktails on the Sky deck, we were delighted by the BBQ the chef had prepared, again high up on the Sky Deck for our last night on board. In addition, it was one of the guests 40th birthday as well as the Captain’s birthday. Many renditions of Happy Birthday, and many slices of cake later, the crew set up the kava bowl for anyone who wanted to indulge in this tongue numbing experience again...many did... I still prefer my white wine. Rachel, our birthday girl got the dancing going and it was all a bit downhill from there on in (as you all know, it takes a lot for me to get up and dance, but for once I just went with the flow..... ).
Today was our last morning on board as we packed our bags, had one last breakfast and said our farewells to our new found friends of both guests and staff. I can honestly say this has been one of the best experiences/holiday excursions we have had for a very long time. The staff and crew on the Blue Lagoon Fiji Princess were so attentive, warm and friendly it really was difficult to say goodbye without a tear in your eye. I cannot recommend them highly enough.
www.bluelagooncruises.com
Our last two days are spent back at the First Landing Resort. After another faultless transfer (all transfers have been provided by a company called Rosie, which is a local company, established 50 years ago by a half Fijian, half Chinese lady. She is 84 and still signs the cheques we are told), we are directed to our room which has a beautiful view over the open ocean and to the islands in the distance. Unfortunately, rain threatens to spoil the hotels planned BBQ, and we finish the evening watching ‘Meke’ once again, inside the confines of the restaurant. Our final day is spent lazing (oh and doing a bit of hand washing!!!), around the pool and on our veranda.
Our final evening at First Landings is completed by a spectacular display of Polynesian Dancing (my can those girls wiggle their bottoms), and climaxed by the Fire Dance out on the beach. Stunning.
And so, as our week in Fiji draws to a close, we fly off to New Zealand today, I believe I can say that we have discovered one of the world's most wonderful places.
We're not sure what the next three weeks will hold as we set off on our camper-van adventure through the north and south islands of New Zealand...at least we’re being met by sailing friends at the airport…could be a late night!
Take care and stay in touch
Michele and Dave
Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean
Having consumed probably more champagne than we should have (it was complimentary after all), we were transported to The Fiji Princess via high speed catamaran and rendezvoused in a pretty, albeit a very rolly bay in The Sacred Islands, we were transferred to the Fiji Princess by tender boat and the crew directed us straight to the dining saloon where lunch was waiting for us. 
first stern line to, he then swims back to get the other and repeat the process while I am tightening the first line. In the case of the Fiji Princess, they have a permanent buoy (huge), onto which one crew member is dropped off on a tender. Another crew member retrieves the huge bow lines and brings it back to the buoy. Meanwhile another crew member drops yet another crew member on the beach with an even bigger stern line, which he in turn ties this round the base of a palm tree. 
Lovo is a traditional method of cooking food under the ground. They start by digging a hole, in which a small fire is started, to which rocks are added.
And so, as our week in Fiji draws to a close, we fly off to New Zealand today, I believe I can say that we have discovered one of the world's most wonderful places.
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