Today's port of call was Lautoka, Fiji on Viti Levu Island. It is far different from the capital of Suva. You will not find the high-rise towers or the colonial government buildings here. Far from it, this city is much more rural, 1960's industrial, and multi-cultural. Going back to the late 1800's,sugar was grown here. The demand for the product sky-rocketed and the industry took off. But in order to hire people to work the plantations and mill, the country had to recruit cheap labor abroad. So workers came from India and China and have been part of the population along with the native Fijians ever since. Things were not always peaceful, but today they all seem to get along well. Each group kept their identity and there is a Hare Krishna Temple, a Sikh Temple, and a Catholic Church and school.
Like on past visits, Jack's of Fiji, a major department store, provided complimentary shuttle buses to their downtown store starting after 8am. For some reason, they did not provide that ride last year. We chose to walk to town after leaving the ship around 11am. Even though it appeared to have rained heavily last night, it never did rain all day. The skies were completely cloudy, and it was hot and humid, but it stayed dry. Of course, we packed the umbrellas and some bottled water anyway. When we saw most of the locals packing umbrellas, we knew we were not alone in expecting to get wet. Actually, it might have felt good.
A big operation was taking place in the harbor. There was a dredging vessel sucking sand from the harbor, and transporting it through pipes to the outer bay. At the end of the pipe, there was a fountain of sand blowing high in the air. At first, we thought it looked like they had struck oil. We have seen similar dredging operations in the Panama Canal Zone, but in that area, the sand and debris is loaded onto floating barges and taken far away from the canal.
Leaving the gates of the pier area, we walked past a huge pile of wood chips from a lumber mill. We know these are not used for heat, but might be used for landscaping or cooking. Once we hit the main road, we turned left and read the series of signs that depicted the early history of the sugar industry in Lautoka. In contrast to that, the next big building we passed was a very nice McDonald's. And this is where the main part of downtown was located. It only took about 30 minutes to get here.
Two days ago while we were in Suva, local tour guides were selling excursions for Lautoka today. They included four versions of a beach tour. The most expensive was a ride to Beach Comber Island with lunch (all- inclusive and no hidden costs) 5 hours and $90. First Landing Beach Resort was 2 – 3 hours for $50, while Natadola Beach was 5 hours and $40. The last option was Denarau Island (Hilton Resort) for 3 hours and $30. Most all of them required you to bring your own snorkeling gear. A few places had them for rent. We thought these options were pretty reasonable. Lautoka site-seeing and Country sites with a mud pool stop were both 2 – 3 hours for $50. Or site-seeing with a beach stop for 4 hours was $70.
The ship's tours included Kula Eco Park for 5 ½ hours for $120 or Sail to Tivua Island on a beautiful three-masted sailboat was $200 for 6 ½ hours. A trip to a natural mud pool was $150 for 3 ½ hours, or Tau Cave and zipline for $190 and 5 ½ hours. Leisurely Nadi was a long drive to another city for shopping and refreshments for 3 ½ hours and $80. Anyway, this gives you all an idea of what some of the extra costs may be when cruising. We happened to be coming out of the Pinnacle after breakfast, and almost got run over with the guests barreling down the stairs to be the first in the sailboat. Things never change, do they?
During the early morning after the arrival, Daniel had to repeat the mandatory message about bringing food over to the island. There could be stiff fines involved if you ignore this. For the first time on this trip, one of us was stopped and asked what I had in my bag. It was two umbrellas and a bottle of water, but the local official did not take my word for it. I gladly opened the bag and showed him that I had no foodstuff. It was obvious to us that some passengers before us did take off food despite the stern warning. If we were in New Zealand or Australia, for instance, you would be subject to a fine.
We made our way to the Lautoka Market, which rivaled Suva's Marketplace in size and huge assortment of produce. This warehouse is so big, one could get lost in there. Not only are the vendors located inside the building, there are almost as many outside, selling their food stuff while sitting on the sidewalk with tarps under their produce. On one side of the market, is a closed-door fish market. Inside there is a row of sinks with tile counters where the fish are displayed for a quick sale. All types of fish are sold here such as small tuna, barracudas, red snappers, and even the tropical fish, like the pretty parrotfish and striped groupers. Most of the catch was fresh, because the smell was not that bad. We figure by the end of the day, most all of it will be sold. At another end of the building was where the fresh fruit was prepared and sold for snacks. The little pineapples they grow here are cut in neat strips and sold on a stick for 50 cents Fijian or 25 cents USD. Some of the food things were foreign to us, so we asked what the pile of brown grass was. Turned out to be a type of seaweed that when cooked, tastes like custard. Really? The vendors were most friendly and welcomed us to take all the photos we wished. One nice lady even offered us a taste of her kava brew, but we said no thanks. Been there, done that. It is an acquired taste for sure. One common vegetable we did not see in Suva or here was corn. Not grown in this climate, it is not part of their diet.
From here, we back-tracked and passed by dozens of shops that carried mostly traditional Indian clothing like the saris and punjabis. One whole street was filled with kids, women's, and men's clothing and shoe stores. Another block was electronics and housewares. And we happened to be here close to the Indian feast of Diwali, which is the festival of lights. Many signs were posted in the store windows, but we did not see the sidewalk chalk drawings or votive candles lit like we have in the past. Bet they banned the candles due to fire safety.
There are a bunch of cafes and restaurants in this downtown area, but they mostly cater to the Indian and Chinese or Fijian cuisine. We have never found a good place for lunch, but our luck was about to change. At the end of downtown, there is a park where we head down to the waterfront promenade. For one thing, it is much cooler along the water compared to walking the main highway back to the ship. We always passed a very nice hotel by the name of Tanoa Waterfront. Part of the hotel features a restaurant that always looked closed or appeared to be a buffet-style café. Perhaps we were always too early, and it was closed. But today we went closer to see if there was a menu posted on the door, and a waitress came outside to ask if she could help us. Well, yes she could. We went inside, checked out the menu for their full service lunch and discovered they had a full page dedicated to pizza. How about that? She seated us at an inside table with air-conditioning and brought us two Fiji Gold beers. Then we ordered a 14 inch Hawaiian pizza. It was close to 1pm, and we would guess the restaurant was half full with local customers.
Then all of a sudden, a line of guests formed at their counter where a buffet had been set up. It appeared that a convention of educators were beginning their lunch break and there must have been up to 100 hungry people filling up the room – inside and outside. The Fijians are known for their hardy size, and these folks were no exception. We never saw plates heaped so high with mostly rice, veggies, and some kind of fried chicken and fish. They were good eaters, and even enjoyed a bowl of ice cream and maybe cake in the hour they were given to dine. The staff did a great job accommodating this group, as well as the existing customers like us that were already there. By the way, the pizza was really good, loaded with ham, cheese, and sauce, and quite ample . So now we can put his place on the list of "must-return" restaurants.
We followed the seawall walk on the way back to the pier, then checked out the vendors that had tents of souvenirs for sale. Last year, one of us bought a one-size-fits-all silk-like pullover tunic from the Jack's of Fiji collection on the pier. Today, there were some racks of generic island clothing, but nothing to match the quality of the one we already have. However, there were a few tables of jewelry and one necklace and earring set that caught our eye. The seller said she made these herself and they were one of a kind. The price was right, and of course, we did buy one set for a keepsake.
It wasn't long after that the ship left the port and is now headed towards Dravuni Island, a private little island that is only big enough for one ship. It looks as if rain is predicted there as well. But like today, maybe their forecast is wrong.
Dinner was good and we even had our Caesar salads, although the lettuce was not romaine. It was definitely Fiji lettuce which is leafy green and almost the texture of butter lettuce. We shared an appetizer of sesame breaded chicken tenders as well. One entrée was oxtail bourguignon with a creamy type of potato, and the other was panko-breaded shrimp on a bed of rice, which I added some soy sauce. Really tasty. Desserts were one orange sorbet and a panna cotta served in the cute one cup mason jar.
Planning on sleeping quite well tonight after three days of long walks.
Bill & Mary Ann
