South Pacific: Part Two

Fiji, Samoa, American Samoa

In my last post I said we would update the blog in the New Year after French Polynesia, but I had the itinerary mixed up in my head, so we've actually got more to share before we reach French Polynesia. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Suva, Fiji

Suva is the capital of Fiji and sits on a point.  We were docked right in the heart of the city, and we spent the first day walking all the way around the point.  There was a path along most of the waterfront, and it was full of parks and greenspaces.  Thurston Gardens had a tree that was full of bats. It was interesting to see so many during the day. When we reached the other side we stopped at Cost-U-Less, a very Costco like store and then walked through the city to get back across the point.  It was a pretty long walk, but lovely.

Our second day in Suva, we explored the downtown area and the market next to the ship.  It was a Saturday, and I wasn’t prepared for just how busy it would get.  Downtown was bustling!  We wandered out a bit further to get away from the crowds.

The people of Fiji are very friendly and most offer an enthusiastic ‘Bula’ (Hello/Welcome) in passing.   

Lautoka, Fiji

In Lautoka we were docked at the Queens Wharf which was only a ten-minute walk from the Lautoka Sea Wall.  We walked from the port and followed the Sea Wall into town.  It was Sunday when we arrived, so there weren’t a lot of shops open, but the grocery stores and the TappooCity Mall were open.  We did a nice big loop through town and back the ship.  Oh, and I wandered into a random parkade full of murals to pet a cat.

On the second day we wanted to check out the Botanical Gardens; it wasn’t open on the weekend.  Honestly, it was basically just a large park, but it was still pretty.  The highlight was the mongoose we saw chasing birds around.  On the way back to the ship we stopped at the mall again to pull out some cash for our next few stops. We also wandered through the market which was much bigger than we were expecting.

Port Denarau, Fiji

Denarau Island is a man-made island just outside of Nadi off the west coast of Viti Levu.  It is known for its luxury resorts and as a gateway to the outer islands.  Many tours leave from the Port Denarau Marina.  For us this was a tender port, and we were anchored a 30-minute tender ride away from the marina.   I wasn’t super excited about that, but luckily the water was calm, and it was tolerable.

The first day we walked from the marina to the Hilton where we popped through the lobby, so we could reach the waterfront.  We walked all the way to the point and then turned around and headed the other way down the coast.  When we ran into construction, we popped out of another resort lobby, bypassed the construction and headed back to the waterfront via the next resort down the road.  By the end of the day, we had wandered most of the waterfront along the resort properties.

On the second day we stuck to the sidewalks outside of the resorts but covered a lot of the same ground.  The sidewalks are nice and wide and the whole area is beautifully manicured.  It’s definitely not the wild, untamed Fiji we saw in other ports but beautiful, nonetheless.  We also walked to the bridge that connects the island to the mainland and stopped at the Fresh Choice supermarket for ice cream.  Back at the marina we hit up the bakery for a chili chicken pie before catching the tender back to the ship.

There are a lot of tours available from the Port Denarau marina, but most of them are all day excursions and they aren’t particularly affordable.  It was nice to just be able to walk for a couple of hours on sidewalks that were fairly well maintained.  I was able to look around and talk with Mike without feeling like I was going to trip on cracked concrete with every step.

Savusavu, Fiji

Our arrival in Savusavu was later than usual and tender operations did not start until around 2:30pm.  Given the small size of the city and the timing we opted to spend the day on board instead.  We caught up on some housekeeping and made a couple of calls home instead.

The second day we walked the half hour from town to Koko Manu Chocolate Farm where we did a tour and a tasting.  Not only was the chocolate amazing, but they also have a rodent removal department on site.  We spent the day eating chocolate and petting cats!  Apparently, rats are a big problem for cocoa farms, and the cats make a big difference.  Koko Manu makes their chocolate with only two ingredients: the cocoa beans they grown onsite and brown sugar made from Fiji sugar cane. They are also growing different fruits and spices on the property for diversification and to use in flavouring the chocolate. 

Our final day in Savusavu was spent hiking.  The owner of the chocolate farm told us about a hiking trail that starts right by their property, so we headed back that way to do the Daku Loop.  It was a bit rainy and wet, but still worth it.  Along the way we spotted some pink bananas. We got some great views form the ridgeline and it was nice to be out hiking again.  Although, I could have done without the massive spiders we saw along the way. On our way back through town we stopped at the Nakama Hot Springs which were used traditionally for cooking.

Leleuvia Island Resort, Fiji

The original itinerary had us going from Savusavu to Wallis and Fortuna; however, it turns out you need zodiac boats to land on the islands we were scheduled to visit.  Our tenders do not have the same capabilities, so Wallis and Fortuna were cancelled, and two new Fijian stops were added to the itinerary.  The first stop was Leleuvia Island which is a tiny island that just has a resort on it.  We spent the day snorkeling and walking around the entire island. 

Levuka, Fiji

Levuka was also added to the itinerary.  Up until 1877 this was the capital of Fiji and in 2013 it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The town is quite small, but charming.  We spent two days here and the first day we wandered through town and walked down the coast past several other small villages.  Later we realized that we turned around a short distance from the geographical center for Fiji…we were so close.  We returned to town and climbed the 199 Steps up Mission Hill which offered some nice views.

On the second day we walked the other direction out of town and again just wandered down the coast.  The people we passed were very friendly and the views of the mountains were stunning.  When we got back to town, we stopped in at the Ovalua Club for a beer.  This is supposed to be the oldest bar in Fiji.  Afterwards, we hit the bakery and the grocery store to use up our Fijian cash before taking the tender back to the ship.

Apia, Samoa

We had three days in Apia which is the capital city of Samoa.  On the first day we went for a really long walk through town and around Apia Bay to Mulinu’u Road Sunset Viewpoint where we ran out of road.  This point separates Apia Bay and Vaiusu Bay.  At the point we saw the Malietoa Tomb of Tanumafili I, the Apia Observatory, and the Samoa Meteorological Service.  Along the way there were multiple churches and some nice views of the bay.

On our second day we walked the hour and a half to the Vailima Botanical Garden and then hiked up to Robert Louis Sevenson’s Tomb.  The former home of the Treasure Island author is now a museum and is next to the botanical garden, but it wasn’t open on the Sunday.  You can access the trail to the tomb though by passing through the botanical garden, so that’s what we did.  It was a short, but steep climb up and once we reached the top the clouds rolled in obscuring the views.  If that wasn’t bad enough it started to rain…a lot.  We waited at the top for a bit because there was a small pavilion that was keeping us dry.  After about 45 minutes we gave in and started down in the rain.  There is another longer more gradual trail down the other side, so we took that down.  It was wet and slippery, and our waterproof shoes were absolutely soaked by the time we reached the parking lot.  The walk back to town was soggy and the rain didn’t completely let up until after we were back on the ship.  It was a fun adventure, but we didn’t get many photos thanks to all the rain.

For the final day we went with a group to do a tour around the island.  We got up early and headed to the Giant Clam Sanctuary to see giant clams and turtles.  Mike saw a turtle, but I missed it.  We both got a good look at the clams though and the photos don’t do the size of them justice.  They were absolutely massive. 

Our second stop was the To-Sua Ocean Trench, a clear-water swimming hole surrounded by a beautiful garden.  The trench was very deep, and you climbed down a ladder to get to the swimming hole.  It’s connected to the ocean, but the have a line out to dissuade people from trying to swim through the cave to the ocean.  I wasn’t keen on the ladder, so Mike went down on his own and I opted to just take pictures.

Shortly after we left the trench our van ended up with a flat tire and the spare was no good. After a few phone calls someone from a nearby resort came and picked us up.  They took us to the resort where we had pizza for lunch and by the time we were done our driver had returned with the van repaired.  We had one final stop for the day which was the Piula Cave Pool.  It’s a natural spring water pool right next to the ocean.  The water was actually pretty chilly, so we didn’t stay for too long, but it was lovely and refreshing. 

The tour took us almost all the way around the island, and it was great, but it made for a long day.  I was grateful that our breakdown happened early enough to not cause too much stress and that we made it back to the ship with plenty of time to spare.

Pago Pago, American Samoa

After two pretty long, physical days we wanted to slow down a bit, so we decided to take a long flat walk around Pago Pago Harbour.  The harbour is one of the world’s largest natural harbours and is considered to be one of the deepest deepwater harbours in the South Pacific.  It is over 400 feet deep and 3.2 kilometers long and it sits in the Pago Volcano caldera.  Because it is technically a caldera the harbour is 50% land locked.  The ridges surrounding the harbour are very high and steep which doesn’t leave much land for development. 

That evening after we had returned to the ship and cleaned up they had a group of fire dancers perform shoreside.

On our second day in Pago Pago we hiked the World War II Heritage Trail.  The trail starts at the Blunts Point Battery and then follows the ridge line over and across to Solo Hill where the Tramway line used to run.  It was a somewhat challenging hike just because it was quite overgrown and the trail back down was pretty steep.  We had fun though and that is what’s important. 

Back in 1965 the tramway was built to carry technicians to the transmitters on Mount Alava and the cableway spanned Pago Pago Harbour.  It was damaged by Hurricane Val in 1992 and deemed too expensive to repair, so it was decommissioned.  Tourists used to be able to ride the tram, but I’m not sure I would have wanted to.  It was 5000 feet across the harbour and very high up.

The third and final day we walked along the coast to see Futi Rock and Fatu Rock which sit just off the coast.  There are a few different local legends surrounding the rocks, but the most common is of forbidden lovers.  The UV was extreme and it was really hot, but there is a sidewalk running along the highway and it was a nice walk.  Afterward we popped back into Pago Pago for a quick shopping trip and then returned to the ship. The biggest difference we've seen from Samoa to American Samoa is the number of full size trucks and SUVs in American Samoa.

Sea Days

We are now looking at four sea days as we sail to French Polynesia.  Starlink is technically not available in French Polynesia, so we figured we would post the blog now and then catch up with you after we leave French Polynesia in mid-January.

Thank you for reading and keeping up with our crazy adventure.  We would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year.