We awoke in the city of Suva, Fiji this morning. Holland America dropped off a letter to passenger staterooms stating “we’ve experienced a full satellite outage for internet and phone services” - so as a result - posting on my blog will be spotty at best! We are in Fiji for the next three days - so I will faithfully write, but you may not be able to read this blog until October 25th!
We booked an independent excursion with River Tubing Fiji. What a way to fabulous experience Fiji. There was a van and a small bus transporting 37 guests from the ship by land for about 32 km. One guest on our bus asked if we could stop at a roadside fruit stand so the bus driver obliged. I hopped out and bought a mango and banana for $1 and 2 bags of roasted peanuts, and one bag of boiled peanuts for $2 - perfect snacks and we supported a couple of local Fijians!
Once we got to the starting point on the Navua River where River Tubing Fiji has a home base, we were given lifejackets and sorted what we wanted to leave behind (dry clothes) and got organized into longboat groups. We were assigned a longboat with V & R from Vancouver (Abbostford really) and a couple from the USA. Our longboat had a Yamaha 40 hp engine and a driver named Delse as well as a guide named Patrick. There were at least a half dozen other boats heading upriver too. The scenery was breathtaking! The boat tooks us up the Navua River about 20 km through meandering rapids, passing cascading waterfalls, tropical rainforest through a deep gorge.
Our furthest destination upriver was to stop and visit a typical Fijian village - it was home to 30 people. Rosie told us about ordinary life here. The men stay in the village, women leave the village when they marry. The youngest in the village is a few months, the oldest is a man who is 54! I suspect most people on the tour were older than their oldest man! She talked about the crops they grow including fruits and vegetables, including cassava (a root vegetable that we have eaten before in bread) and guavas. They eat fish from the river and we saw a fish jump about 6 feet out of the river when we were paddling downstream. They have wild boars in the forest so when one is killed the entire village must eat it so it doesn’t go to waste!
Delse our longboat captain!
The local children go to school two villages upriver, where the medical centre is located. Children must stay at that village Monday through Friday with care provided at the dormitary by the villages on a rotating basis. They all learn English. Most students who end their education at grade 13 stay in village. Those who continue with University move to the city. About half of the students stay in the village, continuing with traditional ways of life.
We then left the village and returned to the longboats travelling downstream to a waterfall where Holland America would allow organized tours to visit. A number of people chose to swim in the pool underneathe this waterfall, J included. I thought getting soaking wet would make me cold as the sun wasn’t shining (it was cloudy and a bit rainy). The path had been built up with lots of concrete and rope handrails to make you feel more comfortable approaching the waterfall!
A view of the village as we were departing.
After the waterfall we hopped in the longboats again and went to our lunch destination alongside the river. Our lunch was a classic Fijian meal that they would enjoy themselves. It included chicken drumsticks, sausage, Fish stew served over Fijian fiddleheads, cassava, salad, bread and pineapple. It was delicious - I ate every last morsel.
After lunch we had a safety briefing about tubing down the river. Feet first when entering rapids, paddle backwards when trying to cover a distance. It was such fun! We spent about an hour floating down the river. At times the guides would gather us together to go over gentle rapids together. At the end when the river was more gentle we all joined together in a big group and the Fijians sang about several songs in four part harmony - all while we are floating down the river in this amazing scenery (used to film the second Anaconda movie!). Once our floating came to an end, we carried our tubes back up to the River Tubing Fiji ‘office’ and changed into our dry clothes. We gave all the money we were carrying as a tip - there were probably 20 people that helped make this an incredible day - and we wanted to let them know we appreciate their efforts! We learned that this company makes a donation to the village every time they bring a group tour as a way of thanking them. The company also invites all the guides to come for breakfast before their day of work - so they really treat their employees well.
Our bus driver returned us to the ship where we hastily showered and had a cup of tea to warm up before supper.
And supper was again a sterling affair. John had the lamb, I had turkey dinner with a wonderful chocolate dessert. Tonight’s Mainstage is the playing of the movie Castaway - filmed in this region. We have watched it while on the ship so I will instead write my blog and get an early to bed night.
If you ever visit Suva Fiji, we would highly recommend booking River Tubing Fiji!
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