AND THEN THERE WAS FIJI

As the first successful Residential Cruise ship that is actually working its way around the world, there are always surprises. For instance, several months ago, we (the Residents) were told that we were not going to be spending 6 weeks visiting the waters or coastal vistas of China. Who would have thought that they have a restriction against ships older than 50 years old entering their waters. VVR team tried for several months to present proof that we were a safe vessel and that our Residents were people who would spend their money as would the Odyssey. All to no avail. That is why later in mid-2026 we will be going back to new locations in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Japan.

As Yachting Cruisers, we would often say "our plans are cast in Jello as they need a lot of wiggle room" and I'm fine with that. I like impromptu. Recently, our itinerary planners had another surprise. Our plans were to spend a couple of days visiting the Wallis-Futuna Islands. Another group of islands that I had never heard of, but supposed to be beautiful. They are actually French Territories northeast of Fiji and west of Samoa. Turns out they are considered part of Polynesia, but not part of French Polynesia. OK, if you say so. This itinerary was probably set up over a year ago and early approvals were received. However, as the scheduling team discovered, plans do not always go as planned. Two years ago Wallis-Futuna was hit by a typhoon and the dock and the anchorage were severely damaged. They, of course, had hoped to be ready to welcome ships but they didn't really tell anyone that it wasn't happening. No new dock, wharf, and no dredging of anchorage. Opps, sorry Odyssey. So, we have had to spend much more time visiting small islands within the South Pacific and it has been spectacular.

But before we got to Fiji we had a quick stop in Papau, New Guinea and a 2 day stop in Honiara, Solomon Islands. Who knew, I didn't, that Honiara is the Capital of the Solomon Islands and has 92,000 people living there and is on the island of Guadalcanal. This was near the area where JFK 's PT boat was rammed and sunk by the Japanese in 1943. One more place I've heard of and now I have been there.

Again we surprised a town with our arrival. We found a really nice Yacht Club that opened their doors (bar, restaurant, grilled lobster), music, local dance troupe, and fire dancing all for us. And over of 100 of us descended on the Point Cruz Yacht Club and probably made their financial month in one evening. Our Captain Val exchanged ceremonial plaque and a T-shirt with the Commodore of the Yacht Club and one of our residents exchanged a Villa Vie Yacht Club Burgee.

I spent some time talking with a gentlemen who had retired from the Vanatu Coast Guard after 37 years of service. He was born and raised and lived his entire life on this island. Elayne and I shared a scrumptious chargrilled lobster. The Tepuke sailing boat has been built based on an original design passed down through the years. They hope to sail it to Australia. That thing on the post is a Coconut Crab. Yes it was alive.

Then we moved on to the islands of Vanatu. Amazing history especially for you history buffs. You have to visit 3 different places:

1. The small but fascinating WW11 Museum in Espirtu Santo

2. Million Dollar Beach on Espritu Santo

3. Mystery Island

A few reasons for visiting these places are:

1. Lots of WWII artifacts.

2. At the end of the war, the US had millions of dollars of equipment at the base - trucks, planes, machines, boats, bull dozers, etc. Offered all this to the Brits & French and they turned us down. Supposedly because the US wanted to be paid for it and the Brits/French figured if they said NO, then we would give it all to them. Instead, in over 2 days, the US threw everything into the ocean and left. Hence, Million Dollar Beach. Great snorkeling & diving around the equipment and coral reefs.

3. There is a small island about a 30 minute boat ride from Luganville that was and is uninhabited. During the war no one (supposedly) ever went over to that island. However, the locals often wondered what happened to those small airplanes that they would see fly around the island and then disappear. It was a mystery to everyone. It turned out that the US military had built a small runway in the middle of the backside of the island and you couldn't see it from town or the water. And it was "off limits" during the war. It is now a tourist stop for walking the lovely path around the island and the runway is still a perfectly mowed grass runway for those who want to arrive for a Day-visit by small plane. I walked, swam, snorkeled around the island.

Fiji is another place that I have heard of, dreamed of visiting, and had no idea where it was except somewhere in the South Pacific. And now I am leaving after spending over 2 weeks visiting 7 different places within the Fiji archipelago. There are over 330 islands (only about 100 of them are inhabited) - some are volcanic but they all have coral reefs, white-sandy beaches, clear blue waters, and the friendliest of people. These islanders make their living on tourism, sugar cane, and the island resources. Each island may have only 2-4 "towns", but they have communities which are usually within walking distances of each other and close to the water. They have a Chief (like our Mayor) and this Chief may be the leader of his community or often for economies of scale, the Chief may not rule, but will oversee or represent 2 communities. Sometimes his rank is inherited and other times he will be selected. His house is normally the tallest house in the Community because it is built on taller blocks/stilts. The Communities homes are built in a large circle encircling a large green space which is their meeting, playing, and organizing area. Much of the vegetables are grown, cooked and shared together. The chickens and hogs seem to wander around freely and fishing is done by the men and boys. Much of this we saw 1st hand when we visited the Community of Nacekoro.

Our first stop in Fiji was Suva which is the capital and largest city in Fuji. I'm sad to say that my first impression was not welcoming or enjoyable. It was not what I was expecting. Granted, it was a Saturday and the beginning of a 3 day week-end so the town was a mad house. Tons of people, car horns blasting, and the taxi driver leading me thru the masses to try to find an ATM so I could get Fijian money. He kept telling me to hold my bag close as there were "lots of bad people in town today". He would stand right behind me as I withdrew $ because the corner was so crowded with people and he didn't want anyone else close to me. At least that was what he said. He mentioned that the "bad people" came down from the mountains to town and he did not like them. So, guess what, I traded some of my Fiji money to a friend who was heading to the airport, and I went back to the ship. I spent that day and the next at home on the Odyssey. Lots of folks got tours, went snorkeling/diving and had a wonderful time. I was happy with my decision.

One of the things that I enjoy while at home (the Odyssey) is watching American football and my Dallas Cowboys. Sometimes the timing gets a little confusing...Sunday afternoon games are on in the early hours of Monday morning. The later Sunday games start from around 9am - noon on Monday. Monday night game is on Tuesday morning/noonish and of course the Thursday night game is on Friday morning/noon all depending on which time zone the Odyssey happens to be in. We change time zones a lot out here. LOL Last week the Cowboys were playing the Chiefs on Thursday night - my Friday morning. So I set my alarm to get up for the game. Only to discover it started here at noonish. I did bring out my last bag of Fritos Scoops (purchased 2 months ago) and Herdez Salsa to share with my 5 other Cowboy fans. What a Game.

From Suva, we had a gorgeous overnight trip to Lautoka, Fiji. This is a big city - 71,000 people but it is very mountainous and sugar cane is grown and processed here. Three of us took a tour together and it was interesting. It is always challenging to try or do something very different, at least to me. The Fijian dollar is worth a little less than 50 cents to the US dollar so everything is pretty cheap. The 3 hour drive/tour was 80 FJ$ total. This area really only has 2 iconic things to see so that was where we went. The Sleeping Giant was our 1st stop. It is supposedly a garden with beautiful Orchids, but no one mentioned that is isn't Orchid blooming season. And, to see the Sleeping Giant rock formation, you have to climb up a bunch of steps to reach the top of the big hill in 85 degree humidity to say "Ahhh, I see the Sleeping Giant". So, we turned around and went back down to the Visitor gathering spot for our free glass of Fruit Punch and cooled off. Cost was $13US each and we all agreed to say the Sleeping Giant was awesome, if anyone asked. No one did so I'm assuming most didn't go to the top either.

And then it was on to Stop #2. Oh boy, the Hot Mud Baths. This was a $10US experience that many people felt was good, cleansing, and fun. I, personally, thought it was too hot, dirty. and stupid! Been there, done that and don't have to do it again.

Step #1 Attendants bring you a bucket of hot mud that they just pulled out of the steaming hot mud hole.

Step #2 You take handfulls of the hot mud and smear it all over your body, face, and hair. The attendant or friend will smear mud on your back and back of legs.

Step #3 You stand around for 20+ minutes letting the mud dry. Air temp around 85 degrees.

Step #4 You gingerly walk down the slippery steps into the original Hot Mud Hole.

Step #5 You convince yourself that this very hot water feels good as you proceed to return the mud to the hole from which it came by trying to rub the mud from your body. Remembering that you just spent 30-45 minutes rubbing this mud and letting it dry all over you.

Step #6 You climb up the slippery steps and walk over to another hot less-muddy hole and get into that water. You continue to find muddy spots on your face, hair, and crevices - which you attempt to remove.

Step #7 You walk over to a warm mostly clear swimming pool to cool off and be refreshed and invigorated.

Step 8 You have now spent 1.5 hours having a Mud Bath that your Mother would have spanked you for doing. Wasn't that fun?

On to another town, Port Denarau, on the same island. Today 9 of us jumped on a small sailboat to go snorkeling. It was a fun quick 3 hour trip. Holly & I managed to drink 2 bottles of Prosecco. On the return to land we called a friend who was still aboard the Odyssey and went out to his balcony and shot these pictures as we went sailing by. Starving by that time and we had heard about a Mexican restaurant near the Marina. Yahoo...Tacos and a margarita. It was a very good day.

On to a town on the other side of the island - SavuSavu. Population 8,000. I joined a tour that offered local history, traditional local dinner, and a Bonfire. This is where I learned most of the history about Fiji Communities that I mentioned earlier. Not only were 50 of us getting to meet a group of indigenous local people, we got to have dinner with them. And what made it even more special, was that it was the 1st time they had ever done it too. One of their Community members had heard that a Cruise Ship with 300 people were coming to their town and going to spend the night. None of the 2-3 cruise ships that come ever stay overnight. The Community talked with a Tour Guide in town about doing something and then voted to ask their Chief to ask the Council of Chiefs if they could do something. The Council said yes. So the Community of about 100 people put this together.

1. They caught fish to cook in their kitchens the local way in coconut sauce

2, They killed one of their chickens to cook in a spicy sauce

3. They dug up Taro, cleaned, sliced, and baked in coal pit. Taro is like potato

4. They cut, cleaned, chopped, and stir-fried Taro greens, which then tasted like spinach

5. Dessert was melons, mango, and pineapple.

The Chief was the Cook, and the rest of the community did everything else. Everything we are was caught or raised on their island. The man that built the Bonfire said they had never built one before and it fell over a couple of times before we saw the final product. All of our chairs were in a circle around the fire and he said that is the way they always set up their gatherings. Our Host on the tour bus and our History teacher all evening was actually a PhD History teacher at the University. He said that he received a call from a Member of the Council of Chiefs telling him that he was to be our Host for this very important event. His family has lived on this island for over 500 years. He explained that Men sit on the ground and he showed us how - he described their attire (skirts) and mentioned that YES, they do wear underware. Above is a picture of a 1.5 inch hole that we thought were from the legs of our chairs. Nope, they were Crab Holes. They have really big crabs in Fiji too.

After dinner and the Bonfire, our Odyssey resident who put the tour together introduced the Community to S'Mores. They were a little hesitant when their marshmellows caught on fire at the end of the stick. but then they loved them. It was really fun sharing traditions. When it was time for us to leave, part of the Community of about 20 people gathered together and sang their traditional Goodbye song. We, of course, didn't understand a word, but it was lovely. Then they led us out to the road using flaming torches and waited until our bus arrived to wave us good bye. Awesome evening. And to top off the evening it was a Super Moon. So a gorgeous evening sky.

A couple of Sea Days, and a couple of small island stops to go before we leave Fiji. I hope to get in a few more days like yesterday on Leleuvia before we head to Samoa, then American Samoa, and French Polynesia. Leleuvia was a small uninhabited island out in the middle of nowhere. No one lives on the island but the closest Community (30 minute boat ride away) has taken care of it. It has a dozen little cabins you can rent - some electricity, running water, etc., but the locals leave at night and there is nothing there but the stars and palm trees. There is a Tiki club house where the Resort was set up to welcome us. We laid in hammocks, snorkeled, drank from fresh coconuts, ordered from their 4 choice restaurant and bar and played in the beautiful water for about 6 hours. Then we got back in our Shuttle Crafts, raised the anchor and departed.

This is definitely the life I signed up for.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful exciting New Year.