When visiting a beautiful island country like Fiji sometimes you
have to get away from it all and head to a tiny island a few miles from the
mainland for a day of relaxing and watching the blue waters curl over the white
sands of the beach as well as your toes.
Wait a minute – Fiji itself is a country of over three hundred
islands all straight out of a travel magazine’s article on ‘the most awesome’
beaches to visit.
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| So many to choose from |
The tourist city of Nadi (pronounced nandi) is a locale worth
spending days in visiting shops, restaurants, blue waters, and everything else any
traveler could desire. It’s a city with sights, sounds and views to delight the
most particular visitor.
Fiji itself is a wonderful destination and that is why this blog
may seem a bit odd.
While sitting on a beach in Nadi enjoying cold libations native to
Fiji J and L discussed and commented on this and that about the people and
scenery of the islands surrounding them. Nine days on Viti Levu relaxing and
doing business had been time well spent but what was needed was a true getaway
from the busy hub bub of Nadi. As we sat on the beach looking west over the
South Pacific we saw many little dots on the horizon and decided we had to
visit one of the destinations off the coast.
Leaving one island to visit another made sense to us.
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| Bored ? Just find a more deserted beach perhaps |
Not ones who love tours we knew there was no other way to visit the
off shore islands without renting a boat and navigating waters we were not
familiar with. This would not work since we had an early flight the next
morning to glide back to LAX.
After researching and exploring (that’s what we do) we chose South
Sea Cruises as our choice for the day.
The place we would visit was the South Sea Island thirty minutes
west of Nadi. The entire island was only three or four acres in size and maybe
ten feet above sea level and the surrounding blue waters rippling over
spectacular coral beds made it seem much larger. Crystal clear water to snorkel
in, catamaran sailing, a submersible to discover the mysteries of the undersea
world, and a large pool were only some of the amenities being offered on this
small South Sea island.
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| South Sea Island - tiny, tranquil and tantalizing |
If all the fun in the sun activities were not enough a full bbq
with fish, steak, ribs, starches and unique salads were offered at lunch with a
great entertainment provided by a local dancers. Fiji beer, wine and soft
drinks were part of the deal rounding off the day as pleasant as any visitor
could ask for.
The South Sea Island is part of the Mamanuca Island group of Fiji
west of Nadi and south of the Yasawa Islands – in other words there are a whole
lot of islands in the South Pacific. South Sea Island was just one of twenty
that made up the Mamanuca’s. Of course
thirteen of these islands are totally under water at high tide which made the
idea of spending any long term time not very advisable.
With a back pack filled with cameras, beach towels and sun screen
we jumped aboard a very handsome three decker boat of about seventy feet in
length and full of excited tourists. The boat was packed.
How were all these tourists going to fit on such a small island as
the South Sea? Had we made a mistake on this cruise?
A moment or two later we realized that this boat, comfortable as it
was with snacks, drinks and an indoor lounge was nothing more than a very fancy
water taxi.
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| Nice little water taxi to the islands |
This yacht would be dropping folks off on various islands
through-out the next three hours from day trippers to those spending a week or
more on the farther islands off the coast of Fiji. We were destined to the
first dropped off on South Sea and then hours later the last of the visitors
would be holding up on Mondriki, Mana or Yanuya – it should be noted that
Mondiki was the host island for Tom Hanks and a volley ball by the name of
Wilson for the film Castaway.
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| It's always better with a friend |
But we were only gliding over the blue waters a short thirty
minutes when the Captain slowed the engines to a crawl as we approached a low
lying palm treed island of white sand and somewhat rough surf. Quickly two
aluminum twenty foot tenders raced out to our large boat and within minutes we
were escorted off the larger boat into the smaller and tore off for a day of
relaxing on another beach not far from the one we had been relaxing the
previous day.
A moment by moment description of our day won’t be necessary since
it may be rather boring for the reader to view a day spent laying beneath a
palapa sipping on cold drinks and enjoying the slight ocean breezes. The sun
filled the sky only occasionally being hidden by a soft fluffy cloud leaving
the day toasty warm.
Dips into the waves were cooling and refreshing enough to give the
dynamic researchers the energy to climb into a submersible for a forty minute
cruise around the island and the colorful reefs.
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| Not completely submersible but just enough |
But with that said it is always a bitter sweet moment when that elusive thing called time slips away and reality steps in.
Sunset was not far away and it was time to climb aboard the tender and power back to the luxurious water taxi for the return trip to Suva.
Not much more to write – the photographs are proof enough of how J and L spent their last day in Fiji
Well, we hope it’s not our last day on the enchanting green islands
of Fiji and the wonderfully warm people who call it home.
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| About that Sunset! |
