Fiji: Where screen savers really do exist

Disclaimer: This is going to be a long post. But bear with me... I have a lot to share. Fiji is very desolate so I have compiled my notes from the trip and now that I have wifi it's just gonna come all at once. From now on, I will keep them brief.


The title of this post is actually perfect (not just because I thought of it) because I really can't think of a better way to provide a visual for the country of Fiji. See photo below

I decided it was a mix between Jurassic Park, Avatar (if only those mountains were floating), and a beach screen saver

Fiji is an incredible country filled with gorgeous beaches, turquoise water, and some of the best people you will ever meet. I was fortunate to spend seven days travelling through the Yasawa Islands, staying at three different islands total. Map below

We landed in Nadi where we took a boat (similar to the one pictured) to the top of the Yasawas

Arrival

After being dropped off in the airport on Sunday, I met up with two other students from my program, Alex and Adam, who were also going to Fiji before Australia. We first flew to L.A. and after getting off the plane in Cali we ran into nine other Madison students (from a different program) that were on the same flight and going to Fiji the exact same days as us. It was basically a miracle but I was so happy because it was nice to be travelling with a bigger group. Total there were twelve of us, and I would say we all got pretty close within one week. Here is a group pic

Left to Right: Larry, Matt, Me, Molly, Dave, Andrew, Josh, Paul, Evan, Adam, Alex and Rachel in the front

Day 1: Tavewa Island Arrival

We arrived in Nadi, Fiji on Tuesday morning after a 10.5 hour flight from L.A. The flight was really easy actually. I basically did all of my favorite things: ate, slept, and smiled at friendly Fijian people with flowers in their hair (okay, that is a new found favorite). It was about 6 am or something when we landed and already 85 degrees. We collected our luggage after going through the most laid back customs I have ever been through. Seriously, the man was more concerned with teaching me how to say "hello" ("Bula") in Fijian than he was with making sure I wasn't bringing in the forbidden beetle depicted on the poster behind him. All twelve of us hailed some cabs and that's when I had my first Fijian adventure: driving. Because islands are secluded from neighboring countries, they are allowed to drive on the "wrong" side of the road. Naturally, it is a bit alarming watching cars flying by you on your right when you are on the left, not to mention the fact that the front seat passenger sits on the left side of the car. To add to this unfamiliar chaos, the taxi drivers are of course reckless and the roads are "loosely" kept. From dodging potholes, swerving around other cars, and the bizarre heat at 6:45 am, I couldn't wait to get out of that car. We ditched our bags at Nadi Bay hotel which is where we would return on the last night of the trip. From there we took only the necessities to Port Denarau where the real adventure would begin. We boarded a huge yellow yacht which took us on a five hour boat ride to the very top of the Yasawa Islands (see map) where we would then slowly island hop our way back down to the port.

Spending five hours on a yacht is not as pleasant as it sounds, by the way. It is especially less pleasant when you are hungover and there is a cyclone causing eight foot waves to toss the boat back and forth. That story is coming...

The yacht came to a stop near Tavewa island where we would be spending two nights at Coral View resort. We got off the big boat and climbed into a significantly smaller, less stable boat (essentially a row boat with a motor). As the boat approached the shore of the island a group of about 15 Fijian people lined up on the beach and began to sing a welcome song. We were greeted with handshakes and many "Bulas!!" from everyone. After lunch, we spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach and swimming in the beautiful ocean. By beautiful I mean really warm and crystal clear turquoise water, just to clarify. Although the resort had an awesome socializing area and 24 hour bar, we all went to bed around 9pm that night. Something about "sleeping" on a plane and frolicking in the ocean all day can really wear a girl out.

Day 2: Tavewa Island Activities


At this point I would like to say "we woke up on Wednesday morning around 8 am for a beautiful breakfast yadda yayay..." but by this point in real life I had lost all track of time and date. There are no clocks in sight, or calendars. The staff literally bangs a drum when it is time to switch activities. Anyway, we woke up some day at some time and were quickly whisked away on another small boat to a different island. Here we were greeted by a local who debriefed us on what was planned for us that morning. We were about to jump into a fresh water underground cave beneath a mountain.... so normal. We climbed up before climbing down in the mountain, careful to dodge the rocks above us.

I can't really explain the caves that well, mostly because I don't know if I have a wide enough vocabulary, but also because there is nothing else I can really compare them to. Basically, you walk down these steps and it is like a pool, will rock all around you and some openings at the top where light shines through. The water was warm and not salty because it came from mountain run off. You could see right through it but could not see the bottom which was a little creeping. After playing for a while in the first cave, a Fijian came and asked us to form two groups to go to the second cave. The second cave, mind you, is also inside the mountain but has only one entrance: under the rock. Here is a brief dialogue: "Okay, hold your breath, dive down, and swim toward the flashlight, the other Fijian will grab your head and guide you up". To spare you all the details about me basically shitting my pants at that point, I did it. I held my breath and swam under a rock into a pitch black cave where some random dude was holding a flash light and guided me up to the clearing where I was greeted by the rest of my group. We were then led by the Fijian man through very narrow straights in this completely pitch black under water cave. The experience was unlike anything I have ever done and probably will do again.

After lunch, we decided to take another trip to a very famous area in Fiji called the Blue Lagoon for some reef snorkeling (I didn't bring my camera but here is an idea):

No, we were not on that boat. We were again travelling by a small row boat+motor

After being abandoned on the beach, we ventured to the designated swim area. This was my first time snorkeling with real wildlife and it was pretty awesome. I saw so many fish from Finding Nemo (Dory, Nemo, Peach, and Gill, just to name a few). And in case you were wondering, clown fish really do live in anemones. They love them. Also, the fish look right at you. It is kinda bizarre, like they know you are examining them so they just give it right back. Not to mention we probably look freaky as hell with those masks on. While we were swimming about, the winds seemed to pick up and blew in a pretty big rain cloud. Side note about Fiji: it rains quite sporadically and quite frequently. So we snorkeling in a quick tropical rain shower and by the time we got back on the boat it was sunny again. Beautiful.

At night, we were feeling rested and ready for a party. We met some other travellers at dinner who were curious about where we were going next and after we told them the name of the island they immediately told us not to go there. Apparently they (the resort, not our new friends) had bed bugs. And an extremely unfriendly staff. And bad food. All things I hate. We continued to ask around and various other people confirmed the bed bugs which was enough to get us thinking. We continued the night with drinking games among foreigners (Canada, Denmark, England, and Australia), but clearly had some thinking to do about the rest of our trip. By the way, the Canadians like to sing before playing flip cup. It is quite catchy acutally and if you like the movie Cool Runnings you will appreciate it. After singing "ole, ole, ole" a few times, you start the game with "Feel the rhythem, feel the rhyme, let's get fucked up, it's flip cup time!"

Crazy Canadians...

Day 3: Tavewa Island and the Great Bed Bug Fiasco

Okay fine, it wasn't a fiasco. We simply decided not to go to the bed bug invested island (don't worry Mom) and just forked over the money to stay another night on our current island (again, don't worry Mom). It rained a lot that day anyway so we didn't have a lot of activities planned. During low tide we walked along the rocks to the other side of the island. Here is a pic of me with a weird island tree that we discovered along the way.

While it was raining we played a lot of cards. I learned how to play Hearts which I am not very good at. We also had a very intense volleyball match in the afternoon, which I am also not very good at. I had a lot of fun though. It started pouring when we were playing but it was 80 degrees and I was already in my swim suit so it was actually quite nice. The local Fijians are pretty good at volleyball, but then again they don't really do a lot during the day so I am sure they are secretly practicing. I got two rug burns on my knees.

That night was also really fun. Followed with more drinking games, the foreign variations, and mingling with other travelers from all across the world. Fiji is actually a much more travelled country than you might think. We drank a lot. Again, I blame the  crazy Canadians

Day 4: Kuata Island Arrival

We woke up all pretty hungover (naturally) and boarded the big boat around 12 to take us to the next island: Kuata. The ride was about 3.5 hours and it was raining. The rains the previous days must have also conjured up some fierceness in the ocean. Regardless, there were eight foot waves tossing the ship about, we were cooped up in the inside cabin due to the rain, oh, and I puked. I have never been sea sick before in my life, but let me tell you... it is a weird feeling. I want to spare the details but also I just want to tell you. You basically puke until you can't puke anymore and then you still feel sick and you just sit there and wanna die. Don't worry, no PDP (public displays of puking) I went to the bathroom. But still, quite traumatic. 

We arrived at Kuata and I have never been so happy to be on land. The resort here was significantly less "fancy" than Coral View. There was minimal running water, basically no electricity, and more simple dorms. It was really nice though, more authentic I suppose. The people were incredible which is what made it so wonderful. We arrived in time to eat dinner at basically begin our nightly activities. I was drinking Sprite (dumb boat). And then, all of a sudden a small group of Fijians started gathering on a mat in the main dining area. Eventually, we were all gathered around listening to a Fijian man play Bob Marley and John Mayer on his guitar and then we experienced something truly Fijian. They begin to make excessive amounts of Kava, a traditional Fijian drink. Kava is a non-native plant brought to Fiji and has been grown there for the sole purpose of making Kava drink with it. They beat the plant to a powder and put it in a bag then put the bag in water to essentially steep it like tea. In sum, it is basically mud water.  Regardless, it is a very big deal to drink Kava with local Fijians. As they passed the cups around everyone had to try it and we all had to cheers with "Bula" before drinking it. Kava is basically like alcohol, except that and I quote the Fijian leader "alcohol will make you dizzy when you lay down, but Kava is much better. When you lay down you just fall in love with your pillow" This is exactly correct. Plus it makes your tongue numb. Either way, I was still drinking mud water. I was happy with just one night of Kava.

Day 5: Kuata Island Activities

Thankfully, we woke up to relatively clear skies which means our activities that were planned for the day weren't cancelled. And it was a big day! We left right away in another small boat to basically the middle of the ocean for another snorkeling trip. Apparently the reef was very abundant there, as I was soon to find out. We were the second group to go out so we approached the other 10 or so snorkelers already in the water. We came to a stop and started to put on our snorkeling gear. Suddenly, someone shoots their head up and says "Guys! There is a shark right here further down by the reef" then the man in the boat looks right at me and says "Okay jump in". I looked at him with that very distinct "Are you nuts??" face, which he must be immune to by now. Again, he said "get in"... What the hell I thought, and jumped off the back of the boat. Immediately after putting my face in the water and looking down I saw the shark about 10 feet below me. It is an apparently "harmless" breed known as a reef shark. Still, it was very shark looking. Here is an example pic (thanks Google)

I stared at it for a while and then I realized I was staring at a shark... so I began to swim away (duh). The coral and the fish were really beautiful and the water was so wonderful you didn't even feel like you were in the ocean. I swam and swam and then again another shark. This one was very "friendly". It was swimming along the bottom pretty far down but then it started to come up near the surface, right towards me. Well, I froze. I literally stopped flipping my flippers and stopped breathing and just watch it. The shark swam right underneath me (probably because it didn't realize what that stiff, lifeless floating thing above it was) proabably about 2 feet. It was really awesome, once I started breathing again of course. By the end of the snorkeling trip I had actually become pretty comfortable with them. The Fijian guide hoped into the water and started releasing some sort of food for the sharks. Next I know I am looking under the water at four of these sharks just swarming around a group of snorkelers. Then, the Fijian dude just reaches down and grabs the shark by its head (mind you there are like 4ish feet long) and holds it above the water. I have no comment on the sanity of these people but they sure do know how to give you yours moneys worth.

Meanwhile, a cyclone was brewing to the north of us and greeted us with a gentle rain storm. Soon, it became less gentle, and then painful. We all piled back into the small boats and began our 20 minute or so ride home. The waves became quite violent actually and I was sincerely afraid for my life. As I was getting my shit tossed in the front of the boat, the two Fijian men were arguing across the boat. A conversation I assume went like "But we can't expect all of these Americans to swim for their lives in this ocean, there are sharks out here!" We approached the other boat with the rest of our group and one of the Fijians tapped the guy next to me, Alex, and said we needed to get rid of some weight. Alex then jumped from our boat and swam to the next one. That's when I thought "Dear god if he looks at me to jump next we are going to have some serious issues". He made some other dude jump. We continued to drive back toward our island among rain and wind and very large waves when all of a sudden we went in a different direction towards a smaller lagoon. We slowed to a stop and one Fijian man starts hustling about in the front of the boat. He grabs a snorkel mask, some flippers, and a spear gun (yes, there was a spear gun just casually laying at the front of the boat). He looks at the rest of the passengers and says "Okay see you guys tomorrow!" and jumps into the ocean. We had fish that night for dinner. Correlation? I think yes.

In the afternoon, we had an ocean kayaking "race". This really isn't that good of a story so I will keep it brief. Basically, we got paired up guys and girls to race kayaks from one island to the other for the grand prize of free beer. I was paired with Larry, who was pretty buff (not to mention he was Krystal's "type").  I didn't realize how the buffness would benefit me until the Fijian dude leading the race told us that the men would paddle. I asked what the girls were going to do since we weren't given paddles too. He said "sit in the front and hold your teams flag". They are very sexist (I gave him a lot of sass don't worry). To wrap this up, it rained, there were 50 mph winds (or whatever), the current was so strong you couldn't go straight, I complimented Larry's muscles the whole time because he was doing so much work and I was doing jack shit, the race was called off half way through due to weather, and we were picked up in the middle of the ocean by a motor boat.

We ended that night with a very interesting entertainment performance by the "Bula Boys" who were basically just a bunch of really tall, half naked Fijian men dancing around and shouting.

Oh yeah, they're ripped too

Arrival at Beachcomber Island

The next day we basically lounged around on the beach at Kuata and did nothing. We were waiting for the boat to come pick us and take us to our next island: Beachcomber. Beachcomber is apparently the best party island of the entire Yasawa islands so we were all pretty excited. Needless to say, this made the day go extremely slow. We lounged in the sun, read a little, had in depth conversations about what we want to do with our lives, played cards, and waited. Finally around 3:30 the boat came and took us to the next island. No, I did not get sick this time. We arrived at Beachcomber about an hour later and we were totally excited. As soon as we checked in we went right to the bar. The facility was so nice and fancy and really was designed for a party. I drank two red slushie drinks and was just loving my life. After dinner we finally showered and got ready. The night was greeted with lots of dancing and drinking and heart-to-hearts (since it was our last night together as a big group). The next morning we all woke up late with headaches and rather large bar tabs.

The Last (incredible) Day on the Seaspring

Alas, it was the last day to spent in Fiji. We left Beachcomber island around 10 am where we were taken to a more exclusive resort. Although not allowed into the exclusive resort, we waited by their dock where we soon boarded the Seaspring, a giant ocean sailboat which we would be cruising on all day. We departed for our first stop: Castaway Island. Yes, where Tom Hanks and Wilson filmed the movie. It was so beautiful and somewhat familiar. See if you can tell:

We snorkeled and explored the island all morning. After returning to the boat, and having a fabulous on-water lunch, we headed to our next island where we would experience yet another truly Fijian encounter. We went again to another Kava ceremony with the chief of a local village. We were then able to roam the village, shop at the local shell market and finally, visit the local school. The children were so sweet and happy and truly excited to have visitors. They were obsessed with the cameras and loved looking at pictures of themselves. It was a really humbling and unique experience to mingle with locals and an incredible way to end my week in Fiji.

We arrived back to port on the last day around 5 pm. After wonderful Fijian meals all week, the group unanimously agreed on 10oz burgers from the Hard Rock Cafe as our last meal. I love being American.

Summary

As I said earlier, Fiji is a truly incredible country. The landscape is unreal and the environment that surrounds you seems completely untouched. The thing about Fiji though that really made it beautiful was its people. I think the most enlightening thing for me was how we all just trusted them so much. I don't know what it was, but they made you feel safe, even when you are theoretically unsafe. Trust is a tricky thing too, especially when you are a foreigner. As a traveller in Fiji, you have to put complete in the Fijian people. You trust them to pull your head up from an underwater cave, you trust them drive you home in a cyclone, you even trust them when they serve you their mud water (which I am sure was not made with purified bottled water). All I am saying is, (and this is only legitimate because I didn't die) Fiji is full of adventure and beauty and people that you can genuinely trust even though you would never trust them if they were running around in a skirt in the US.

Bula!