The Jewel of Fiji

I went with most of the group on a tour called the Jewel of Fiji.  We took a boat to the Koronakawa Village in Pacific Harbour.  The water was very brown, almost reddish-brown, like some of the soil there.  Once we arrived at the village, they performed a traditional welcome ceremony for when a chief arrives in their village.  We all drank some kava, which is the national drink of Fiji.  They performed some songs and dances for us and cooked us lunch, Fijian style, as well.  In Fiji, they have these earth ovens where they wrap food and cook it in a hole in the ground.  The guide gave us some history of their village, their people, and their country.  It was great to see them giving us a taste of their culture, very informative and definitely a highlight of the trip.  I could see why it is consistently a favorite among visitors.  That same day, after we left the village, we saw a waterfall and got to swim a bit as well.

Another day, I went with a few other people to a rain forest and waterfall walk.  The scenery was great.  There was a pool area where we did some swimming.  Some Fijians came to swim in that area while we were there, making it more fun.  They were doing flips and diving off of a rope used to swing into the water.  They were quite good at it too!.  The map we received for that walk wasn't the best though.  We ended up walking the wrong way and had to get someone to drive us back to where we started.  Regardless, it was fun.

The next day, I went for an introductory scuba dive.  When I first put on the equipment for the practice session in the pool, it felt weird because it was so heavy.  Some of the techniques I learned in the water took a little time to get used to.  But once I went for the actual dive in the open water, it was amazing!  The coral reef and fish were really colorful.  Everything (including me) moves a lot slower down there.  There's virtually no noise.  It's a completely different world.  I saw some clams, seaworms, some nice coral reefs, along with some fish of course.  I was in the water for about 40 minutes and went 11 meters deep.  I felt like an explorer of a new world.  It's definitely something I'd like to do again.

Fiji was definitely worth going to, even though I was only there for 5 days of activity.  The last day, I took a 3:30 AM shuttle to the airport (2 1/2 hours away) for a 9 AM flight to Sydney for a a day before returning to New York.