Where's Grayleen?

Paradise (photo by Ed Erwin)

overall impression: Sun, amazing diving, friendly people.  What more could you want?

what we did: We spent two very different weeks in Fiji.  The first was a sort of second honeymoon.  We stayed in a wonderful resort and spent our days lounging by the pool, scuba diving and snorkeling, and eating delicious foods.  The second week we stayed in a little cabin at a very economical campground and spent our days lounging in the garden, scuba diving and snorkeling, and eating delicious foods.  OK, maybe the two weeks weren’t that different.

exchange rate: US $1 = 2 Fijian Dollars

country name: The emphasis in Fiji is on the second syllable, not on the first as us Americans pronounce it.  Despite a whole lot of practice, Gray still can’t get it right.  Aileen says the secret is to pronounce it as you would “Fijians” but drop off the “-ans”.

Diving the Rainbow Reef (photo by Ed Erwin)

government: Military dictatorship since 2006.  The courts got a little uppity in 2009 and declared that the coup had been illegal.  What’s a dictator to do?  Declare the constitution – freedoms of speech and press, due process, and all that – null and void.  We were surprised that we saw no evidence of anything unusual while we were there other than locals and expats joking about their silly government.

relative cost: For a reasonably affordable country, we sure did manage to spend a whole lot of money!  We splurged on honeymoon-quality accommodations the first week and lots of scuba diving.  You can do Fiji on a small budget (we did this the second week), but it’s hard to avoid the draw of paradise-like accommodations.  Luckily, we’re categorizing this as a vacation from our travels and as such it doesn’t count in our budget!

the food: We ate a lot of great food, but almost no Fijian food.  What we did try of the local fare was very tasty: fish in coconut milk (yum), taro leaves in coconut milk (sort of like creamed spinach – yum), bread fruit (not like bread and not so yum), and kasava fries (super duper yum).

the people: Wow, these people are friendly!  Everywhere we went, we were greeted with huge smiles and boisterous calls of “Bula!”, the local greeting.  There are three pretty distinct communities of people: native Fijians, Indo-Fijians (who still speak Hindi at home even after 4+ generations since being brought over as indentured servants), and global expats out for some sun.

the climate/weather: Warm, sunny, and humid: exactly what you want from a tropical getaway.  February is supposed to be the rainy season, but you could have fooled us; we only had rain two days out of two weeks.  Rumor has it that it normally rains just about every day this time of year.

we recommend:
- Lots of diving

We think it would be a grave mistake to visit Fiji and not experience the world below the water’s surface.  Fiji has some of the best diving in the world, with incredible soft corals, an astounding variety of sea life big and small, great visibility, and warm water.  We felt like we were in another world.  Annie’s Bommies (off Taveuni – see post) and Dreamhouse (off Savusavu) were two of our favorite sites, for the soft corals and the big fish (hammerhead sharks, white tip sharks, grey reef sharks, huge schools of jacks, etc.) respectively.

- Nakia Resort and Dive (website)

Ah, Nakia.  We love this place.  A total of five guests were waited on by four owners (retirees Robin and Jim, daughter Julie and boyfriend Aaron) and a staff of seventeen.  It’s not hard to imagine that we received unparalleled service in a honeymoon-worthy environment.  Robin is the face of Nakia, making sure that all of her guests are treated as family and watching after all the details.  We were delighted by her scrumptious carrot cake (her own special recipe) made as a birthday surprise for a fellow guest.  Jim is the man behind the scenes handling much of the complexities of running an eco-resort powered by sun, wind, and hydro.  Julie and Aaron run the dive operation and take obvious pride in striving to provide the best possible diving experience in the world.  On each dive the two of us were led on a personal tour by one of the two as they pointed out all the creatures we’d never have seen on our own.  In between dives they serve up fresh fruits and juices and delectable baked goods.  Yum.  We highly recommend Nakia Resort and Dive!

we absolutely hate: This is the second country (Bolivia was the first) where it’s culturally acceptable, even expected, to throw your trash straight out the window of your bus.  Not sitting next to the window?  No problem.  Just hand it to your neighbor who will graciously dispose of it for you.  This pains us so much we can’t hardly stand it.  Your country is beautiful – cut it out!