Lautoka Fiji

Sunday 11/2/2010 Lautoka

We docked and were allowed off the ship at Lautoka, Fiji at 8:00 am. Lautoka is situated on the western side of the big island Viti Levu, opposite of Suva. Vita Levu is the largest island in Fiji, and approximately 250 km from Suva, the capital. Not real far but considering the roads in Fiji it would take a while to get there. We had a welcoming party of Fijians dressed tradition garb and holding "CALI’s" or war clubs. These people were once cannibals so we weren’t sure if this was a greeting or a question of “Guess who is coming to dinner” :)

Lautoka is surrounded with the blue Pacific Ocean on the western side and green gold sugar cane together with pine trees on the other sides. We had no real plans for this stop so we got off the ship at 8:00 am and found a tour booth that had a tour to Bounty Island the sister island of Treasure Island. They said the snorkeling was great and the beach was white… sounded great to us so we booked it.

We took a 20 minute bus ride to the boat dock where we caught a motor boat for another 20 minute ride over to Bounty Island. Now this place had it all… crystal clear blue waters, large areas of reef, white sand beaches, and a nice bar on site… this is the life.

From Bounty Island you could see treasure island off in the distance. We snorkeled here for several hours before they fed us a grilled lunch that included maji maji, beef, lamb, chicken and sausage along with the complimentary sides of salads, rice, and vegetables.  To top it off they had cut freshly picked bananas and papayas and man were they absolutely delicious.

After lunch we snorkeled a bit more since the water clarity and diversity of sea life was spectacular.  After tiring we then went to the bar and consumed a few Fiji Bitters and Fiji Gold beverages before heading back to the ship… another excellent outing in Fiji…