Viti Levu
Fiji smells like burning trash and curry. Neither of which is a bad thing, really. The burning trash, which seemed to be the primary waste disposal method, smells like a campfire and is actually pleasant if you don't think about what you're actually inhaling. And it’s worth putting up with so that you can enjoy the intermittent smells of curry and ocean air.
My journey began with a flight into Nadi, a town where I actually spent little to no time. I took a shuttle to Sigatoka where I went on a village tour and hike to a nearby waterfall. Apparently Fiji is laden with waterfalls, this one just happened to be one of the more accessible. See pictures below. This was a great way to begin my trip as much of Fiji is geared towards pleasing the western tourists, rather than preserving the traditional Fijian lifestyle.
After the tours I bussed to my hotel for the night, Mango Bay Resort, and made SCUBA arrangements. It seemed that most of the resorts were on the ocean and as a result most had their own SCUBA shop. I had two dives at Mango Bay, one was very near the beach and not very deep (around 20 feet) and the other a little further out and deeper (closer to 45 feet). The second dive was markedly better than the first, probably because it was a path less traveled. A criticism of diving on the Coral Coast, with which I came to agree, is that many of the reefs are dying because of excessive and often careless divers. But, because I really had no frame of reference at this point, I was still very pleased with the dives.
Although Mango Bay is situated on a beautiful ocean-side plot on the Coral Coast (Viti Levu’s southwest coast) it, like most resorts, is completely disconnected from the surrounding villages. When I asked if the resort van would be able to take me into town to get dinner I was told that town is very dangerous at night and that I was better off staying at the resort. I took this to mean that they thought my money was best spent with them, rather than with the locals. It seemed pretty clear that these resorts were catering to the beach going, packaged tour crowd. Not my bag. I only stayed one night, primarily because I had to much to see in so little time.
After my stay at Mango Bay I took a bus to Suva, where I stayed north of town on a resort near the Colo-i-Suva Forest Park (read: very lush, very quiet). I spent little time at this resort, the Raintree lodge, as I also only had one day in this area. I spent most of the next day in Suva, the capital city. Suva is amazingly different from the Coral Coast. While I think the city has more of a touristy feel with its souvenir shops and fast food restaurants, the local culture was much more pronounced than in the beach resorts. Suva harbor is a point of importing and exporting, probably on of the largest in Fiji. It reminded me of Seattle but on a smaller scale.
I walked around the city, had a traditional Fijian lunch: Fish in lolo (coconut milk) with boiled greens and casaba, a root vegetable that was similar to a potato. It was a hot day, so I stopped often for drinks. Luckily for me, per my hotel’s suggestion, I was able to leave my bags at the police post near the bus station. I was a little hesitant, but much to my delight the police were happy to keep an eye on my things while I explored their city for a few hours. I later found out that there was an official luggage storage across the street from the bus station, but I think I got a better deal.
Suva was the only Fijian city where I spent any considerable time and as such is where I learned a lot about the local culture, particularly the tension between the people of Fijian decent and those of Indian decent. So I was told, the Indians slightly outnumber the Fijians and as such are able to elect a mostly Fijian government. The conflict comes when the Fijian military routinely overthrows the Indian government. A new election is held, inevitably a new Indian government is elected and the cycle repeats. While this is certainly a point of contention between the locals I did not notice it much in practice. The Fijians and Indians got along well as far as I could see.
From Suva I took a bus along the King’s Road, which extends from Suva to Nadi around the east side of the island. The 6 hour ride was slow and dusty as the road was being repaved (all at once, so it seemed). It was a nice way to see the Fijian highlands, but by the time I got to my hotel in Rakiraki I was ready to crash.
The Voli Voli hotel was probably the best inadvertent discovery of my trip. Under the same ownership as a recommended SUBA shop, I only booked there out of convenience. Similar to Mango Bay the resort was right on the ocean and sat on a beautiful private cove. Voli Voli had the advantage of being a little more private and a little less concerned with pleasing the western tourist crowd by eliminating many of the tacky elements that Mango used to please their guests. For example, Mango has a drum that they use to announce there daily activities. The Fijian staff members bang on the drum and shout the activity that is commencing. I felt like the written schedule was more than sufficient and the drum, likely intended to be evocative of tribal Fijian rituals, was more a cheap attempt to look authentic. It had the exact opposite effect.
I spent two days at Voli Voli, again because it was completely impractical to leave the hotel ($10 cab rides each way to the nearest city). I went diving here as well and much preferred these dive sites to those at Mango Bay. The reefs were so much more alive; more colorful, more fish, interesting swim throughs, etc. We had two dives, both of which were about 20 min from shore. These dives were much deeper than my previous two dives, my deepest point being around 80 feet. Honestly, there’s not as much to see down there. I just wanted to see how deep the bottom was.
After two days of relaxing at Voli Voli I was ready to move on, and took a cab from the hotel to Lautoka. The $20 I paid for the ride was well worth it. I don’t think the driver actually made any money on the trip, but they set the price so their profit margin isn’t of my concern. It was Sunday, so most of the shops were closed when I got to Lautoka. The pleasant waterside town was quiet – probably much more bustling during the week. After lunch I took a bus to Nadi where I checked into my hotel. I didn’t go into town because the busses were not running all that often and I did not want to be stranded in a ghost town. Nomads Skylodge was about as far from luxurious as you can get. But it was only for one night and they had a good Indian restaurant. They also had air conditioned rooms, which was a first for me. Serves me right for staying in cheap hotels, I guess. After I did a load of laundry it was off to bed.
Overall impressions: I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Fiji. The people were amazingly friendly and eager to help. The food was fresh and interesting, and beer (Fiji Bitter – the sportsman’s beer) was cold and in no short supply. I would have liked to have been able to travel to some of the other island groups - Fiji is comprised of dozens of little islands and two large ones. Fiji is one of the few places I have visited that is almost completely unspoiled by outside (read: western) influence, which made me appreciate the local culture that much more.
