SUN PRINCESS-4: Hedonism and Indolence in Fiji

The last four days in Fiji have been an exercises in complete and total self indulgence, with the hardest decisions I've had to make being along the lines of "which paradise beach resort should we go to today?" or "should I get another beer or a margarita?". The Fijian islands have no shortage of idyllic beachfront holiday resorts that a cruise ship crewmember with too much time on his hands can really enjoy spending the whole day at, vegetating on the beach for hours on end, lying in a hammock or just sipping cocktails until it's time to go back to the ship.

In this order we've visited Savu Savu, Suva, Lautoka and Dravuni Island. The first three are all what I've come to expect from a South Pacific tropical island (ie. utterly sublime) and there has been no shortage of spectacular beaches to spend all day lounging around on. However, the fourth stop: Dravuni Island, is something else altogether.

Dravuni Island really is the closest I've ever been to setting foot on a true desert island. It's less than one mile long and about a few hundred feet wide. Roughly 150 Fijian natives live on board this perfect little island and I can certainly think of worse places to live (such as everywhere else). I have to admit that there really is something egregiously wrong about a tiny 200 person island being overrun by a cruise ship full of almost 3000 passengers and crew. The locals seemed happy enough to sell us food and drink as well as souvenirs but I'll bet they're glad that ships don't come around and crash their party very often. We've only been here three times in the eight months I've been working on the ship and there aren't that many other ships in the region.

Now if you've read my introduction to this journal then you might recall me saying that I wouldn't necessarily update it when all I've been doing is vegetating on the beach all day. Well I'm sticking to that because the main reason I wrote this entry is because me and some of my band buddies have been getting a bit more kayaking done recently. In the last update I mentioned that my cabin mate Carl (our band pianist) had come up with the genius idea of purchasing an inflatable kayak. This marvellous device can be packed to a manageable size and carried around with relative ease and yet it's surprisingly stable and fast, especially when you consider that it's mostly full of air. Having broken it in while in French Polynesia we took it for a couple of test runs in both Suva and Dravuni island. For Suva we were staying at yet another perfect little beach resort but we decided to get some exercises in and so me and Wieland (our drummer) rented a two person Kayak while Carl followed in his own. We actually managed to paddle a good distance down the beach far enough to reach a completely different resort so we went in for a quick pint before returning to our original beach.



Dravuni island was the most spectacular day for me though. Me and Carl took turns kayaking and snorkeling. Once again, I'm still waiting on my underwater camera photos but I should have them soon. The snorkeling around Dravuni island is amazing, almost as spectacular as the Great Barrier Reef. The water was so clear that it was even possible to see coral formations and fish from the Kayak.

One problem we faced was that the water was so shallow that one of us had to act as a spotter using our mask and snorkel whilst the other paddles along slowly behind with the kayak. Leading Carl out through the narrow rock formations like an air traffic controller we finally made it out into the deeper waters and spent some time cruising around. When the time came to swap places we decided to see if we could successfully change places without returning to shallow waters. Mounting a normal kayak in deep water is tricky enough (I've tried it before) but mounting an inflatable one is even harder, due to it's tendency to buckle or capsize when you put all of your weight on a particular part. Eventually we figured out a system whereby one of us would tread water and hold the kayak steady, making sure to support the base of it, while the other mounted it. I managed to get on board although I ended up flooding the bloody thing with more water than I would have liked to! After scooping the excess water out we were on our merry way. When it was time to return I followed Carl as he led me in through the shallows.

So there you have it, that's what I do all day long when I'm in this corner of the world. When my underwater camera photos are developed I'll post some of the best ones up here so keep an eye out for that. Until then I'll just leave you with my sarcastic cruise ship motto: "It's a tough job but someone has to do it!"