We would make some pretty good advance-men for all you travel bugs out there. I think we were shanghaied the other day on Fiji. We had breakfast the day earlier with this couple from Australia, who own their own farm, and we started to talk about Fiji and what the plans were going to be for the day. Now these people are well traveled. They've even been through Arkansas antique hunting. They told us when they use to come to Fiji they'd take the bus out to Nadi (pronounced Nandi - another stealth language) where all the resorts were and visit the beach. After talking with them, we thought, that sounds pretty good. Go out get some 'resort' time, beach sun and a little internet to continue downloading the first episode of "Lost" for Candice on her i-tunes card. Then come back into town and do some shopping. In the bag!

So much so 'in the bag' that I didn't even consult my personal research notes that I put together before we left the US. The only thing I remembered about my research was that Vijay Singh (sp?), the big Fijian golfer, was from Lautoka, Fiji. (PS - we didn't bump into him. He was from the other side of the island).

So, just to confirm what the hell we were doing, we got off the boat and went to the information booth to confirm our plans. We thought we covered all the pertinent questions; Are the beaches good? Yes. Do you just pay a day rate for use of the resort facilities? Yes. Does the bus go out there? Yes. What resorts are out there? Westin, Fijian Royal, etc. Sounded good to us. So we caught the shuttle into town, stopped in a grocery store for some Coke and to get change for the bus and walked over to the stop.

Nice drive out to Nadi. We knew the resorts weren't on the bus line, so the closer we got to Nadi, I asked this lady which stop we needed to take to walk down to the resorts. She was very helpful and rang the bell for us and we were on our way down the road to the 'resorts.' As we were walking in the hot sun a taxi cab driver approached us and asked if we needed a cab. We told him we were headed to the beach and that we'd need a ride back to the ship around 2:45 p.m. He said he'd take us to the beach and return at that time to take us back to town for $35. We accepted the offer (no time to dicker in the heat) and piled into his car across the street. On the ride to the beach he told us that we was taking us to the best beach. We said 'alright' and were thankful that we took a cab out to the water because there were some turnoffs on the road, it was a pretty desolate road and it would have been quite a hike out there.

So we drive up to this small resort and get out. We're looking for the big resorts but they don't seem to be anywhere around. We're told that we can use the hotel facilities and pool as much as we want. We walked out to the beach and grabbed some shade and chairs by this Australian dude who was waiting for the wet season to be over so he could go back home. Needless to say, the beach is not much to look at. Dark bits of sand mixed with brown made it look dirty but it wasn't. This Australian guy proceeds to tell us this is the worst beach on the island. I said, "Is that so? Our driver told us that it was the best." This guy continues telling us that we can hike out to the Garden of the Sleeping Giant or take a horseback ride on the beach for $20. The conversation turns back to the beach and he tells us that the really nice beaches are on all the surrounding 320 smaller islands that surround the two main islands.

Well we spent so much time getting our money changed, taking the bus and getting out there that we had no time to reconfigure our plans. So, we sat there with our Aussie dude, a little dumb struck, and asked him a few more questions about the beach situation. He pointed out in the far off distance the harbor where all the ferries and boats to the other islands operate out of and said there was shopping too but no beaches at the marine. He said we were better off at this beach than over at the marina. On the other side of the marina were the nicer resorts where we thought we were headed. We debated getting a taxi all the way out there but also realized we'd be that much further from the ship. So after getting in the water we grabbed our stuff and headed up two more 'resorts.' We stopped at the largest, Smuggler's Cove, and went inside to purchase some internet time.

Slow doesn't begin to describe the speed of this internet on Fiji. So slow that Candice decided to give up on the download and on top of that it was draining our battery pretty quickly. We did bring the power source BUT their outlets have a third slit instead of the round hole that the US works off of. So we kept to the email and blog posting. After that we grabbed two chairs out under a shade hut on the beach and relaxed a bit. I started talking with some girls in the pool from Canada that were staying there about this 'beach' situation. They confirmed that you have to get a boat and go island hopping for the really good beaches and even the Westin's beach wasn't much better than the one we were on now.

I ended up taking a walk down the beach towards the marina and on my way back i discovered that the beach we were at really was a nice setting with the mountains in the background and the group of palm trees by the 'resorts.' I went back and got the camera and walked back out to the sandbar for some shots.

Needless to say, we would have needed a lot more time on Fiji to do what we wanted to do since the ship was 1.5 hours away from the marina where these day trips went out of. Fiji is not quite what they advertise in the glossy travel magazines for people visiting by cruise ship. Exotic means not on the mainland not just out in the South Pacific. None of the research I did prior to the trip ever mentioned this fact either. Even after the 20 question session, research, and referrals we still didn't get it right. But all-in-all we salvaged the day, had a good laugh after the shock wore off and came to appreciate the beach we were on despite the fact that it was a FAR cry from what we had envisioned.

Next time we come back we'll know better but for now let us be your advance man -- GET OFF THE BIG ISLAND if you ever decide to visit Fiji!

Sandy

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