Lautoka is situated on the west side of Viti Levu, the same island as the capital of Suva. It is Fiji's second largest city after Suva. The population is around 50,000 people of mixed origins. Native Fijians, Indians, and Chinese worked in the sugarcane plantations in the early 1900's, and many of them stayed. And sugarcane is still grown, milled, and exported from here. In fact, Lautoka's sugar mill is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.
More of a "1950's" look about it, the town has ethnic shops and restaurants, as well as a gigantic produce market. The highlights in town are the sugar mill, a botanic garden, a Hare Krishna Temple, and a Sikh Temple. The largest department store was Jack's of Fiji, again with the nicest clothing and souvenirs. They are a chain that we have seen in every Fijian city, with the exception of Dravuni Island. And they did accept most credit cards, although not all of the shops did, we heard.
There were 10 ship tours offered which included firewalking, visits to nearby trendy Nadi, a day at a mudbath spa, and more cultural villages. Adventure and beach tours included two sailings to a private resort with lunch, and one zipline. We have seen the firewalker show and thought it looked painful. The fire pit was dug out between 12 to 15 feet in diameter, and 3 to 4 feet deep. Large smooth river stones were placed in the pit, then eight hours before the ceremony, a log fire was lit over the stones, heating them up. It is considered a sacred celebration and definitely part of Fiji's charm.
The Amsterdam arrived around 7am, and when we were cleared, Justin, the cruise director, came on with the usual warning about no fruit, sandwiches, meat, or animals were allowed off. And in addition, he had another warning concerning passport stamps. It seems that some folks in town will offer to stamp passports with the Fiji stamps that are unauthorized. Most folks do not realize that this infraction can make your passport unacceptable and void. Who knew?
When we were here in 2007 and 2016, the store, Jack's of Fiji, supplied buses to shuttle the passengers to the center of town (and their store) for free. But last night, the shore excursions staff offered a round trip ticket for $15 per person. They stated that the distance to town was 2 ½ miles, but we remembered it was closer. More like 1 ½ miles. So around 11am, we went off the ship, picked up a map, and headed to town on foot. Yes, it was warm but there was a breeze. And as far as the thunderstorms predicted, it never happened. Of course, we did have one umbrella with us just in case.
This was a very commercial port with a pine wood chip factory near the pier. Also close by was the sugar cane factory where huge trucks were bringing their loads of cut canes from the plantations. We even saw a train arrive with several cars full of cut canes. In the mountainsides, we could see smoke coming from the fields being burned. It sure put a haze in the air, along with other factories spewing smoke from tall stacks.
Along the main road were murals depicting the history of Lautoka and its part in the success of the sugarcane plantations and factories. Most interesting. Had we taken the shuttle, we would have missed all the info and photos. And the street trees were beautiful…in full bloom. Vibrant reds of the flame trees and bright yellows added much color to this industrial area.
A popular spot in town was McDonald's, and the only recognizable fast food restaurant we saw. It had the most traffic even this early in the day. Within 15 minutes, we reached the center of town and the busy main street of small businesses and cafes. Most every restaurant was either Indian or Chinese food. Our main destination was the gigantic produce market…even bigger than the one in Suva. They had most every veggie and fruit you can think of, even some apples, which have to be imported. They cost about 25 cents USD. The fresh cut pineapples looked the best to us. Heaps of peppers and coconuts were numerous. Imported sacks of spices were sold by the kilo, like we might find in Mumbai for instance. The vendors and local customers greeted us with "Bula" over and over. Many asked where we were from, and liked to hear about the United States. After taking a gazillion photos, we made our way to the main street, ducking into some larger department stores, mostly to cool off in their air conditioning or fans.
If there were any suitable restaurants, we might have looked for some cold beer. But we did not find any in this part of town. Heading back down towards the water, we found a nice bayside walkway with trees for shade. But the best part was the strong breeze coming off of the bay. This stretch of tree-lined walkway continued almost all of the way back to the pier.
Checking out the pier souvenirs, we found nothing we needed. Usually Jack's had a collection of their clothing and wooden products, but we did not see their products here at all. With Lautoka being the fourth stop in Fiji, we think the folks are shopped-out.
Back on the ship by 2pm, we relaxed on the veranda until time for lunch at 3pm. The Lido was pretty busy, since the dining room was closed once again, and many folks had just returned from their tours. The line was a bit longer for custom salads, but well worth the wait. Pizza was not ready, so we skipped it today.
Before we left the ship this morning, we noticed that there was a major leak in the ceiling halfway down the hallway. Water was coming out of one of the light fixtures outside a room. That cannot be a good thing. But there were at least four crew members beginning to fix it. We hoped that the water would not be turned off in our section, as sometimes they do. Probably a good time to leave, although it was still being worked on when we got back and our water supply was never affected.
Working on photos and reports kept us busy until all aboard at 4:30pm. The Amsterdam left on time, and the Captain mentioned that we might be headed into some rough weather. If he kept the speed at 16 knots, we might be able to outrun it. He did not elaborate beyond that, but we heard that the dining room waiters were told to put everything on the floor tonight after dinner service. That says it all.
Dinner was good with another new fish entrée of mahi-mahi. One of us ordered the pork piccata with spaghetti and marinara sauce. Really good. Philip stopped by, as he does quite often, and since we missed the swordfish last night, he said he would try to serve it tomorrow if there is some left. Tama, our waiter, said it was covered with a banana leaf and grilled with spices. Everyone who ordered it was pleased with the flavor and the moistness. So we shall see.
Crossroads was the theme of the performance of the Amsterdam entertainers in the Mainstage. We caught some of the show, but it had been a long day, so we turned in.
Tomorrow will be a most welcomed day at sea before we arrive to Vanuatu. And since we are traveling further west, the clocks went back one hour tonight.
Bill & Mary Ann
