Day 19 - 10/21/22 - Suva, Fiji

 It's so nice to do an overnight in a port.  With our pact from the day before, no alarm was set and we eventually woke up around 7:30am and just before Rachel read the oft repeated biosecurity announcement from the Fijian government about bringing no food ashore.  We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, packed up our things and headed out for our second day in Suva.  I desired to visit the Thurston Gardens, a botanical garden which was about a mile and half from the ship.  We walked along the sea wall as far as we could go and then made our way to Victoria Street.  We passed by the Parliament Building, the Polo Grounds and Grand Pacific Hotel.  There was a line of motorcycle policemen there and they gave me permission to photograph them. They were all riding fairly new white Yamaha motorcycles and dressed in beautiful riding gear including full face helmets..  There must have been a dignitary in the hotel as there was a new SUV in front of the door and an additional police vehicle in front of it.  

Thurston Garden is on the opposite corner across the intersection from the Grand Pacific Hotel.  While this is not the flowering season there were a few flowers.  But the treat was the fruit bat colony that was easily viewable from the clock tower.  There were hundred of bats hanging in the top of the trees and they swayed in the wind like leaves on a tree.  Occasionally one would commence flying and move to another location.  Others would inch themselves along the branch.  It was fun watching them.

Returning to the city center, we walked Victoria Street.  Along the way we encountered an Indian restaurant, Maya Dahba, and decided to try a real restaurant and not a food court.  We were the first ones there for lunch.  I had tandoori chicken and Angela had chicken tikka masala.  We accompanied both with garlic naan bread.  Once again the flavors were delectable and strong, yet it wasn't so spicy that it burned our mouth.  Our lunch there was leisurely and we watched the activity pass by as we ate.  Eventually two large groups of Indian folks arrived along with a number of passengers from the ship.  The restaurant became quite full,  If you are ever in Suva, we highly recommend it.  It's located across the street from the Carnegie library on Victoria Street.  As we continued our walk into town we passed by a number of other Indian restaurants.  There's lots to choose from.

We made it back to Taboola City and there was a small guitar/ukulele band playing and accompanied by them were store guards dressed  as Fijian warriors including fierce looking weapons. Inside Taboola City I went to look at the shirt I had spotted yesterday.  After looking at it, I decided on a different shirt of the Bula print design.  Everywhere one walks somebody will invariably say or shout, "Bula" which means welcome or greetings.  One returns the greeting with the same word,  So it was an appropriate reminder of our time in Suva.  Angela bought a similar color and print, but in a ladies style.

Our wandering next took us to the fruit market where yesterday Angela saw a shopping bag with the word Bula on it.  The vendor wasn't there, but I encouraged her to step inside and a few minutes later we found a similar blue shopping bag with the words Bula & Fiji on it.  Score!  We continued our walk through the market and back to the ship.  Just before boarding, the Fiji Police Band were set up to play.  So we found a seat on a bench and listened to them for a while.  They played mainly standard western music (not country western), and did it very well.  I requested that they sing some Fijian music, and they obliged.  They continued to play until the ship departed at around 4:45pm.

Back on board, Angela went to the hot tub and I assumed a position on deck 3 to watch us leave the berth.  Eventually I made my way to my secret place on deck 9 forward.  The Captain made his departure announcement saying the the 1st officer would be making the departure through the narrow channel and past the two shipwrecks in a stiff breeze.  He also commented that there may be gale force winds at Dravuni Island tomorrow, but for the moment we are still planning for a stop there and moor on the leeward side of the island.  I'm not confident we'll make the stop, but I'm ready for it.

Berthed perpendicular to us were three Chinese fishing boats and I photographed them extensively.  They sure seemed to have a lot of radio antennas.  

After our mooring lines were released, the ship's horn let go with long blasts from the horn. And we moved away from the dock parallel with the dock.  Eventually the ship turned slightly to the right and began forward motion passing by a third wreck and some other boats moored in the harbor.  The first officer lined up the ship with the exit buoys as the ship gained forward speed.  With a slight turn to the port side we gained much more speed as we passed through the opening in the reef and past two bigger shipwrecks.  A Fijian Navy ship coming into port passed us on our port side, but soon we were out to see.  A rain squall that accompanied us in our departure soon moved out of the way and we were in the open sea.  It got pretty windy up there, so I adjourned to find Angela for a very light dinner.  I found her with Erik and Marilyn and over dinner, we shared about each other's day.

We all went to the new Australian comedian, Gavin Baskerville, at 7pm.  While his material was funny, I struggled a bit to keep up with him because of the accent. My ear just isn't tuned to that accent just yet.  Afterwards I left Angela in the room and I went to the Lido to update my blog and download pictures from my P900 Nikon to my iPhone.  Two and a half hours later that was done and I was current on those tasks.  

Suva is a worthy stop although many of the natural attractions are outside the city and require a tour or a taxi to see,  We enjoyed the stop and would do it again.