Heading Back to Nadi

This morning, knowing that we were heading back to Nadi to attend the Bula Fiji Tourism Exchange (the official reason for my trip to Fiji) I knew that I had to maximize my final hours at the resort.

A few macadamia nut cookies, and I was fortified for an early morning snorkel off the reef. Sadly my equipment leaked, badly, and I wasn’t really able to see too much, so I splashed around the pier playing with the many fish that reside there. I was a little nervous about this, as we’d seen a little reef shark swimming around the pier the night before, but today only the Sweet Lips came to play with me.

These fishies were clearly looking for a food handout and surrounded me like puppies at a pet adoption.

A quick shower, a few macadamia cookies more, and I was ready for breakfast. Tempted as I was by the pineapple pancakes and the crostini bread baked with cheese on a bed of mushrooms, I decide to stick with my old favorite--the mud crab omelet.

A Song In My Heart

Before I forget, let me just say that the number one reason that I love Fiji so much is the music. People are always, always singing here. At most of the resorts they have musicians strolling the lobby, and most of the smaller places, like the Likuliku, are required to welcome guests with singing. Whenever guests leave a place , the Fijians sing “Isa Lei” a traditional good bye song. Meals, recreation, events are all accompanied by music. And all the staff, whether they are massage thereapists, activities directors, wait staff, housekeeping will join in the music at any chance they have.

This morning we hung out on the jetty waiting for the Catamaran to pick us up and had the chance to enjoy the lovely serenading of the staff. The video attached is abbreviated, since I ran out of memory on my camera.

Back to Nadi

The boat ride back to Nadi was about the hottest thing I’ve ever felt. Seriously, I wasn’t completely sure that I would make it back without melting into a big pool of human wax.

The afternoon was spent networking and making new friends at the Bula Fiji Tourism Exchange (hereafter known as the BFTE). While this was a fabulous event, workwise, it probably doesn’t merit a lot of description on these pages, so I’ll spare you the descriptions of the countless meetings I held while broasting under the the hot Fiji sun.

Thank God, though, for Fiji Water.