Month: June 2013

June 29, 2013

June 29, 2013

June 29, 2013

Turns out the Waitavala Waterslide was close by where the boat was anchored. Jack got us a cab, and it was only a short ride to the trail leading to the waterslide. What a beautiful walk!  (click to enlarge and scroll)

We soon found ourselves at a lovely pool, above which were a series of falls and rushing water. We jumped into the pool and while I don’t know what temperature that water was, it could not have felt more refreshing.

Not content to just swim in the pool, though, I continued up the path to check out the waterslide area, accompanied by Rich who went along to talk me out of doing anything stupid. I looked at the water rushing over smoothed rocks and decided this had potential for broken bones if I just tried it on my own.

Our Lonely Planet Guide had suggested if you come to the waterslide, ask some local kids, often hanging out here, to show you the ropes. After sitting and assessing the situation, I noticed three local boys had arrived. They were maybe 10 or 11 and headed my way. They spoke little English, and I spoke no Fijian, but they saw I wanted to slide down the falls and motioned for me to follow them. When the rocks got slippery, one of the boys took my hand and helped me along.

When we reached the top pool, they demonstrated what to do. One went first, showing me where to sit to start, while the others followed and urged me along. The lead boy would go and land in a pool, then turn and wait for me. We descended about 3 falls into pools before getting to the longer, wilder, and more intimidating slidey part. The first boy went, then the next one got into position. He spoke enough English to tell me it was important to relax, then he pushed off and I watched as he careened down the slide and into a lower pool. Now it was my turn. I was nervous looking at the water rushing over rocks ahead of me, but I trusted the boys.

I got in position, relaxed, and off I went. It was like being on a log ride where the log just flows with the water. There is one wild corner that was so fast, and then a big splash as you get shot into a pool. After that you swim across to one more drop, and then down into the bigger pool. I did it and it was so much fun! Seeing my success, Pat followed me up for the next round, the boys demonstrating for both of us this time. We were all smiles as we splashed into the final pool, having had so much fun Rich and John now had to try it. We all went again and again. By now a tourist couple had arrived and gave it a try, and some local men made a show of jumping off the rocks into a pool below.

After I’d had enough, I enjoyed swimming in that heavenly pool. I could have stayed there all day, but time was getting on and we thought we’d better head back. It was maybe a mile back to where the boat was, and a very pretty walk.

After arriving back at the boat and finding the group not there, we decided to walk up to the nearby Garden Island Resort, a small, casual hotel nearby, and see if they had a bar. They certainly did, and we sat in a large open-air dining room with a view of their pool and the ocean beyond. It was just what we needed: nice enough to have a bar with a pretty view, yet casual enough they didn’t mind us coming in all wet from our swim. We had originally planned to get coffee but couldn’t resist the idea of umbrella drinks served with the resort’s homemade potato chips. After a second round of drinks and chips, we were very happy campers. When the main group finally got back they had to send someone to find us.

The main group never did make it to the waterslide, but they reported that the falls were beautiful and worth the trip. They had just come from another round of shopping in Somosomo and looked hot and tired. The four of us were cool, rested, happy and two-umbrella-drink buzzed. We had a fun time motoring back to the anchorage on this gorgeous evening, the cocktail group singing tunes from old TV series, the other group probably vaguely annoyed but who cares? It turned out to be a pretty great day today! –Cyndi

June 29, 2013

We had beautiful calm weather for our next group outing with Jack. We were headed to the island of Taveuni about 5 miles away from Viani Bay. The island is large, but the population is small and with its lush vegetation has been nicknamed the Garden Island. It’s famous for its waterfalls and a natural rock waterslide. Cruisers staying in Viani Bay also like to visit the town of Somosomo and stock up on fresh produce.

Since this is a big island and everything is far apart, and the anchorage near Somosomo has iffy protection, managing to do all these things is difficult. This is where Jack comes in. He makes the itinerary, hires a van and a driver for the group, ferries everyone to shore by dinghy, then stays by the boat all day to watch over it.

Today, Pat and John from The Rose had volunteered their boat for the outing. Since they’d already seen the waterfalls, they generously offered to accompany the group to Somosomo, then hire their own cab and take everyone’s groceries back to their boat.

After getting anchored and ferried to the beach, about 12 of us settled into the van for the ride to Somosomo. Rich and I sat up front with the driver. The first discussion of the day ensued when the driver wanted to know which we wanted to do, the falls or the waterslide as there wasn’t time for both. He gave in when everyone wanted to do both, but then later asked again what we most wanted to do, probably knowing there wouldn’t be enough time for both.

Meanwhile, I had what had become a secret plan. It wasn’t really a secret in that we were supposed to stop for coffee and a quick breakfast at a little eatery owned by a friend of Jack’s, but I noticed the group seemed to have forgotten all about this and was anxious to get to the market. I was anxious to get that coffee and breakfast! My plan: jump out of the van as soon as we stopped, and by the time people realized what was happening, I’d have already ordered coffee and food. My problem: Rich was sitting between me and the door and had no idea what was going on. My solution: try to shove Rich out of the van as soon as we pulled up. My theory: spouses should trust each other, and if one suddenly tries to shove the other out of a vehicle, maybe the one being shoved should trust there’s a good reason and voluntarily jump out just to be helpful. Rich unfortunately doesn’t subscribe to this notion and asks things like, “What are you doing? Why are you pushing me?”

Meanwhile the van came to a complete stop in front of the little eatery, and the group, distracted by chatting, began to become aware we’d stopped and starting asking why. I thought about crawling over Rich and taking a dive out the open window, but when the diver innocently answered that this was the breakfast stop, it was too late. Nooooo, everyone said, we want to go to the market first, then we could come back! I knew we wouldn’t be back; we’d have to backtrack to get here. My Shades-of Grey Inner Goddess glared at Rich: it was almost as if he didn’t care about breakfast pastry as much as I did.

We continued on to Somosomo, where the group got out and headed to the various produce stands. After half an hour our so, we started to reconvene. Once again there were discussions about the falls vs the waterslide vs both. One person had gone AWOL, apparently deciding to visit shops in town. Discussions ensued about whether we should wait and how long and who should go look for her. Rich, already not looking forward to hours riding in the overloaded van and worried about its ability to last the trip, was now growing weary of all the discussions and worries and the psychic weight of glaring inner goddesses with no coffee or pastries. He asked me if we could please do the falls another time and instead stay with Pat and John, who planned to go to the waterslide after taking groceries to their boat. I reluctantly said yes, knowing that Rich’s claustrophobic feeling would only get worse as the day went on, and hoping we could make it back for the falls another day.

And so with that, the AWOL person showed up, the van headed on without us, and Rich and I went with Pat and John to cart groceries to the boat. We made a detour on the way, driving past the anchored boat to the very small town of Wairiki to buy their good bread and visit their little market, the Meridian Store, “the first shop to open in the world.” (They lost that claim to fame when Samoa and Tonga opted to leap the dateline. Samoa is now the first place to see the dawn of a new day.)

The town did have a nice little curry place where we bought stuffed rotis and baras, little fried vegetable and dough balls with a savory sweet sauce. This lunch gave us the strength to cart many, many, many bags of groceries to The Rose. After carrying, ferrying, and loading in the hot sun, a lot of work even with Jack helping, Pat rewarded us with a cold beer. Now we’d go visit the Waitavala Waterslide. Things were looking up. –Cyndi

June 28, 2013

Here are some pictures and a snorkel we made at a spot called “The Cabbage Patch” on the Rainbow Reef in Fiji.

I think you can see why they call it the Cabbage Patch.  The shallow reef in the video is just to the east of the Cabbage Patch.  The video and pictures are taken with our re-focused GoPro 2 camera.  It’s OK but overall, I’m not a fan of GoPro.  -Rich