Fiji Feb 20th

We woke up this morning remembering 45yrs ago today when Jacqueline was born in London! Happy Birthday Jack where have the years gone?

Breakfast was at 7:30am which I had no problem getting up for because at 8:30am we were off again in our little boat to another beach. This time I declined the snorkelling while Kevin went out on a glass bottom boat to the reef. I swam and sat in the lovely warm water with a crew member Manasa and had a great chat with him learning about his life and the coral and telling him about Ice fishing and snow which he has never seen. Kevin really enjoyed the reef and the different fish. Unfortunately the rain came again and we had to head back to the boat which this time was a calm ride not like yesterday. The rain continued on and off all day so we sat on the deck reading and enjoyed a well needed rest. At 5pm we took a bigger boat this time to a local village called Gunu to Join the locals for a traditional evening. By now it was pouring rain the boat had a small canopy which kept dripping water on us so the crew provided garbage bags to make a poncho to keep dry we fortunately had our rain jackets. Normally the villagers meet you on the beach with a welcome ceremony this was not possible in the rain so it was held in their meeting house which was hot and humid we really enjoyed joining learning their traditions and in particular the "Meke" which is a celebration of song and dance . A drink called Kava was offered to the men first which Kevin drank then the women were offered some and I was one of the few to try it is brewed from the Kava root and served in a coconut shell. It tasted like dirty water and is 58% alcohol !, A Lovo Feast was planned which is a traditional Fijian dinner cooked in an earth oven but this too was cancelled because of the rain so we went back to the ship and had a wonderful Fijian buffet. I was afraid the rain would ruin our Fiji experience instead it has made it so enjoyable everyone getting soaked looking like wet rags laughing it off and saying so what it's all part of been in Fiji. Mary Rose