Our fliight was delayed an hour not a problem it gave me the time to update my blog and emails at the airport. We spoke to Jacqueline and Kiera on Skype great to see them and catch up and I was able to phone my sister Annette on Viber for free . when we were in Picton, NZ we spoke to Michelle and the kids on Facetime and was able to show them where we were. How did we manage before all this new technology?
We arrived in Nadi at 12:30pm the ship was due to leave at 1pm !!!! They were paging us while we waiting for our luggage and of course ours were near the end. They had phoned ahead and the captain said he would wait for us we are on Fiji time then we were rushed in a taxi to the dock by a crazy driver who overtook every car he met which were many. After the usual checking in procedure we quickly put our stuff away and grabed some lunch. Within an hour we were at our first Island so mad rush to get suncream on and into our swimsuits. I had decided I was going snorkelling so before I knew it there I was in this small boat heading out into the Pacific. Kevin chose to swim and relax I should have done the same had I known what was ahead. My only experience snorkelling was at the Great Barrier Reef in very calm waters I was not prepared for Fiji. We arrived at what appeared to be the middle of the ocean in high waves and I felt very sea sick however I got that far and figured if I got in the water I'd feel better. My first shock was they told me jump of the edge of the boat and go in head over heels like those with me who were all used to snorkelling I refused so they opened the front gate of the boat! With Water rolling in I got in from a sitting position. By now all the others were out of sight I said well I have a life jacket on so relax which I did and started to snorkel. The reef and fish were really lovely purple star fish everywhere the coral was not as colourful as the Great Barrier Reef but the fish were more abundant and beautiful. When I'd come up to check where I was I'd see nothing but big waves and nobody in sight however i knew the boat was following me to make sure I was ok so I didn't worry. Then after an hour I had to get back on the boat! This time they put a ladder over the edge but because of the waves I had a hard time all I could do was laugh at this point. We arrived back on shore to collect Kevin and other people when it started to rain and I mean rain a tropical downpour. We set off to our ship which by the way is small with 60 cabins and 35 Crew. The ride was crazy 20 people in a small boat and we had to gather at the back to stop the water pouring in the front gate it was pouring rain with high waves but we felt totally safe and the laughter from everyone made it a memory to last. We became instant friends with everyone. At 7:30pm there was a welcome dinner and dance. By now we were up since 3am, flew 4hrs and lost 2hrs with the time change and still felt wonderful. When we were ready for bed we discoved a flood in our cabin a pipe had burst so we had to pack our stuff and we were upgraded to a suite with a separate bedroom and living room and two bathrooms and to top it off they gave us a bottle of champagne for the inconvenience a perfect ending to our first day in Fiji. The Fijian people are lovely always smiling and saying "Bula" very time we meet them. The only draw back is this is the rainy season so we can expect many more tropical downpours but the good part is the rain is "hot" and the ocean is 30c we are in Fiji at last. Mary Rose
No comments:
Post a Comment