DAY 35---LAUTOKA, FIJI

                                    LAUTOKA ON THE FIJIAN ISLAND OF VITI LEVU

        Our location (yellow arrow in lower right corner).  Mostly sunny in the morning for my tour but clouding up in afternoon and 88 degrees.  My guide thanked us for bringing good weather as it rained here last couple of days.

Historical/Background Info:

        Fiji is 1500 mile due north of Auckland, New Zealand.  We were here on our 2010 & 2017 world cruises also.  Fiji is an archipelago of more than 330 islands, of which about 110 of them are permanently inhabited.  The total population of the islands is 925,000 with 87% of them living on the two major island of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.  A majority of the islands were formed by volcanic activity starting around 150 million years ago.  Fiji has one of the most developed economies in the Pacific through its sugar, abundant forest (mahogany trees grown now), mineral, and fish resources.

        The British ruled Fiji from 1874 to 1970 when it was granted its independence.  The British influence still remains as they still drive on the left side of the road and the car’s drivers sit on the right side.

        Today we are visiting Lautoka which is on the west side of the island of Viti Levu and lies in the heart of Fiji’s sugar cane growing region and is known as “Sugar City”.  It is the second largest city in Fiji with a population of 71,600.  The first European sighting of the Lautoka area took place in May 1789 by Captain William Bligh of “Munity on the Bounty” fame.  Back then Fijians were cannibals. The city is the birthplace of PGA golfer Vijay Singh.  We were here in 2010 and 2017 on world cruises back then.

LAST EVENING

                              Sommelier Murphy serving my South African pinotage red wine.

                                  We both had the chicken & vegetable spring roll.  Very good.

                                    We also had the crispy duck ala orange with broccoli.

I also had a baked potato and tried another entree the slow braised pork belly.  We both liked it so will have it as our entree next time it is on the menu.

                                                              Tonight's Christmas tree

                        I had two of the three chocolate profiteroles with chocolate ice cream..

                                            This is Chef Edward the Compass Rose chef.

                                              At the table next to us were all of our friends.

TODAY

Some photos of the market in Lautoka.

                                                            Tour buses ready to go.

We are docked at a commercial pier.  Regent will provide a free shuttle bus into town just a couple miles from the pier.

This is my 3 hour tour today.  The buses were very nice and AIR CONDITIONED!  Our guide said these same buses and guides will be driving to Suva for tomorrow's tours there.

This is our guide Epeli.  Also on my bus was Marge and Greg & Susan Jones.  We have cruised with them before and Greg & Susan are just a few door down from ours.

Exiting the port there were huge piles on pine chips.  They will be loaded on ships and exported to Japan.

      This broken down building was the first sugar cane building dating back to early 1900's.

Sugar cane field.  The plants are good for 10 years then have to be replanted.  Minimum wage here is $4 per hour.

                                                                    Muslim Mosque

                                                  It took us an hour drive to arrive in Nadi.  

This is a Hindu temple.

The bus let us off at a Jack's souvineer store.  I walked around the corner and down the street  to this pharmacy.  I got Rebecca some Nasonex and some antibiotics.  Nasonex in the US sells for $125.  Here I paid $25.  My guide told me to be very careful as Fiji has crime issues.

                                                     Greeters as we entered Jack's.

        Jack's has several different specialty stores.  Across the street was a sports wear store.

                                                              Found him outside a cafe.

                                                               Found her outside Jack's

                                            Marge, Linda, and Susan.  I did not know Linda.

They call this the "sleeping giant".  Can you make it out?  Marcia was taking a tour to a garden there today.  Apparently, there is an orchid garden there.

                                          The 330 Fijian islands were formed from volcanoes.

Roofs on the island are low profile (flat) so as to withstand cyclones (hurricanes in our hemisphere).

Oil and gas are imported here from Australia.

                                         We are arriving at our final stop here at Vuda Marina.

         Our guide must have yelled "Bula" a hundred times today on the bus.  Bula means "hello".

                                       Here we were served fresh fruits and cold drinks.

                                                              Views at the marina

                          Looking out at a mangrove area.  Mangroves can grow in salt water.

Here is where we had a demonstration of coconut husking and offered coconut water and coconut milk.

He is removing the husk from a coconut.  He said "don't try this at home".  The skirt he is wearing is called a "sulu" and normal for men to wear.

Green coconuts is where coconut water comes from.  Coconut milk comes from the more mature brown ones with white meat inside.  He is opening the brown coconut with his hand.  Slamming hand to a certain spot on the coconut.

                      The above two photos show how the pine chips are loaded on ships.

I had this baked salmon with small rice in a pastry for lunch.  I make a better recipe of it at home.  It has sauteed shallots, garlic, spinach and cream cheese in with the salmon then wrapped in pastry.

        The satellite antenna parts and technician showed up today and was working on it this afternoon.  I managed to get all my photos taken today uploaded (above) and put on this blog post before they started working at 1pm.  So I could not work then so took the shuttle bus into town to go to a pharmacy.  There was one close by the shuttle drop off place.  I had what I wanted (except they had no nasonex).  Bill was $40 but they did not take my credit card (their equipment was broken) and I did not have that much cash on me.  So it was a wasted trip.  I will try again tomorrow in Suva as the pier is just next to downtown.  Not sure if I'll have any luck as tomorrow is Sunday.

        Mariner Lounge again for cocktail hour then Compass Rose for dinner.  Last night when Chef John passed by our table I asked if we could have French fried soft shell crabs tonight for our entrees.  Of course he said yes.

                                                Regular Compass Rose menu for tonight

        We will be going to tonight's show as it is featuring Bruce Hammond.  We loved his first show as he is a great singer.

        We are sailing again at 6pm and will be in Suva tomorrow morning by 8am.  It is on the other side of this island.  More about it on tomorrow's post.  There are only two tours offered tomorrow and neither appealed to me.  I will walk into town.