VIP customs and immigration

these are some of the places you get to go to when you are a tourist traveling by boat. forget about any VIP waiting rooms or the air-conditioned airport rooms. this is an example of the government offices where the cruisers have to go to clear in! that is what we call traveling in style don’t you agree?!!

finding nemo!!!

just when my husband was giving me hell for clogging the manual pump action toilet in the boat, a.k.a “the head” from throwing good soft double sheet tissue paper (instead of buying the very thin one), we discovered that the trouble maker was not me or the quality of the paper used… it was actually little nemo who found the end of his days inside the toilet pump of our boat

suva

we left the island of vanua levu and sailed south 120 miles, half of which we had to motor and the other half we sailed wonderfully and had just enough wind. i saw a snake in the water… i do not know what is more bizarre, to have a long snake swimming in the middle of the ocean close to the boat or to actually see it!! When we approached suva, the capital; we saw all the tall buildings and the impressive barrier reef surrounding this southern island.


we entered the harbor and made our way through many fishing vessels, mostly from korea or eastern nations with southeastern looking crew. It is fantastic to see such a clash of cultures in this city. from the very blond tourist (my husband of course!) to the local fijian, the people from india and the asians, and all the different foods!!!


It is great. they have so many chillies here of different colors and sizes and the vegetables and fruits are so good and cheap.




another great advantage of this city is the macdonald’s of course!!! we were already missing their ice-cream cones and caramel sundays!!! Uhm!!!

labasa

while in savu savu we decided to explore the island of vanua levu by bus. this was a good idea only to the way to labasa. after that town, it was not the greatest of plans. labasa is a crowded town in the north of the island where most of the Indian population lives. historically, this is where the indians were brought to work in the sugar cane plantations. the sugar cane still exist and according to our 1992 guide it is the major economic activity of this island. we have never been to India but being in this town made us feel as if we were there and certainly not in fiji. they have maintained their culture and do not mix with the local fijians. they dress to their traditions, listen to their music, eat their very spicy curries, etc…. seeing this mixture was interesting, however the town was not the best of places.




i had the terrible idea of getting a cheap haircut in that town. it was dreadful. at the end i cried… maybe that is why i also did not fancy this city very much… coming back was hard. we took the same bus which did not seem to have other gears different that “first” and we went slowly back to savu savu sitting patiently on the wooden chairs with very little foam and breathing up all the fumes because the wind was faster than the bus itself…. then we did not feel so bad of our average boat speed of 5 knots per hour!

the landscapes however were wonderful.