The Wyndham by Worldmark where we are staying (since my parents are Worldmark point owners) has kayaks we can take out for free, but this morning was a guided tour. They didn't get our reservation, which annoyed me, but all who wanted to were soon paddling along with the activities man to a nearby island. It got a bit choppy in parts, and I got to use some muscles that I don't usually while pulling myself along.
Fiji has these gorgeous inland hills (mountains?) that just show the greenery rising out of the sea. The resort's slightly silty beach gets covered at high tide. As you continue north along it, it begins to get a bit wider. There's a rocky point the we walked to yesterday that we passed in the kayaks today. Offshore was some shallower water (maybe a meter or so) but without a lot of color. A few sponge coral, and quite a few rocks.
Looking out from the resorts are a few more islands, but we were headed to a mangrove-made island that continued north after the resort island turned back east. The water there was chest-deep, so we jumped out on the sandy floor (with a few rocks, shells, and coral pieces) to hear a little bit about our guide's tribe.
Theirs was the firewalkers, that also had a healing ability with just their hands. He talked of other tribes that could call to the red prawns and make them emerge from their hiding places (to become a snack). He comforted us with the fact that there are no shark attacks in Fiji. The Fijians believe that it isn't right to eat sharks; he went so far as to say if it even touched his tongue he'd start getting rashes and white spots.
We paddled back to the resort, then hopped in the sea water for a bit. After some rinsing, it was time to walk over to the port.
Port Denarau is on the same man-made island, and has a building for ships to pick up passengers for different cruises. It also has a little "strip mall" with different boutiques, restaurants, and a salon or two.
Walking there was mostly fine... It was the warmest part of the day (noon) since the clouds often roll in after lunch. And it was a wee bit sticky and around 90. But... Exercise?
It was time for lunch when we got to the port buildings, and we chose a traditional Fiji restaurant. Maybe we could figure out some of the foods that Mom and Valerie found in the market on Thursday!
We ordered family-style. Catch of the day, grilled (called a "coral trout" but the reddish skin and underbite made me think snapper); chicken and pork lovo (baked in an earthen oven); lamb shanks; mixed seafood kovu (steamed in banana leaves); and coconut milk sauce, toro, and stewed greens to go with everything. There were "ota", which were a wild fern buds, that were a bit crunchy like asparagus and a crowd-favorite. (I might have also had a blue banana shake drink... Very yum.)
We were at the port to make reservations for a boat tour later in the week, but as we were exiting the hotel, I'd asked a taxi driver if he knew of a driver that could hold seven people. In fact, his car was a large van! So we made plans to meet with him for a day's adventure tomorrow.
So it was Monday we had to plan for (and Tuesday and Wednesday, but I'm sure we'll get to those). Dad and I went to the two outfitters we recognized from the Internet, and got their brochures and their prices. Valerie came in and decided our research wasn't good enough, so asked a charter fishing outfitter what he could do... We ended up back with the one that would give us a champagne breakfast and Maria a slightly early birthday cake.
The next task for the day was to get fruit and vegetables, and lots of them. We grabbed some of the dairy and meat at the port, which Dad took with him as the bus dropped him off first.
Mom, Maria, Chris, Deanne and I took the bus into town. (There's a timelapse for those interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGtyUcZDaU4 ) We started at a tourist shop, which delayed us a bit (but got us delicious orange juice!) so when we got to the fruit market, it was closed.
The rain had started to fall, so we scurried around back and found some sellers on the sidewalk that could get us what we needed. The droplets were heavy, so it was a quick stop in a pretty crowded supermarket to grab a few final necessities before speed walking in the direction of a bus stop, according to a passerby.
Turns out it was the bus terminal for the entire island, and we just found the farthest corner as our local bus was pulling away. It stopped for us (hooray!) and we hopped on, damp and in the humidity.
We played a few rounds of Seven Wonders before dinner (all my practice with Mark has paid off - I've won all three games). Val and I were in charge of dinner.
I was definitely more sleepy than hungry by 7:30 when we finished dinner. We wanted to use up the cassava, so we ended up with "buttery curried baked cassava balls" (the fried patties didn't really work), with yogurt and chopped tomatoes, green onions, and cucumber. It was kinda Mediterranean. The roasted eggplant and pineapple were safe. The cooked spinach was past its prime, so everyone took a bitter taste then left it on the plate.
Conversation lasted late into the night... 9pm! I pretty much called it quits after clean up. 9:15 and it's bedtime! (You see why I blog in the mornings here.)
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