First off, I wanted to mention how different this South Pacific cruise is compared to our Alaskan cruises. For us, it's more like a vacation and we feel like guests. The reason is that our shows are so spread out since we only have six shows and it's a 26 day cruise. We'll perform and then have four to five days off. I've been filling the time reading, catching up on good movies, both rented from the crew office and at the onboard movie theater (since now the movies are different every day rather than repeating every week) and attending the cooking demos and guest speaker lectures.
The food is also better from our perspective because it's different every day, rather than the same menu repeating each week, and there's more of an international selection. One night they had a German buffet with homemade spatzle, brotwurst, knockwurst, seafood chowder in puff pastry and German desserts. If I'm not careful, I'll be the cover model for Weight Watchers soon - the before picture. The cruise passengers are also more diverse with a lot of Dutch, Germans, Asians, Aussies, Kiwis (New Zealanders), English, Indians and Arabs. However, the majority of passengers are still Americans. Another difference is that the pools are constantly filled with swimmers, rather than being a mere decoration in Alaska, and the outdoor decks are over-populated with sun worshippers on lounge chairs. Also, the general disposition of everyone on board is a little more laid back, cruising on "Island Time."
And now for Fiji. Jeremy and I recently met another young married couple, Chris the "tech-spert" (On-board computer geek for the guests), and his wife Candice. They're from Seattle and we immediately hit it off. They invited us to join them at a waterfall park so we hopped in a taxi together and started our adventure. The Forest Reserve Waterfall park was called Colo-I-Suva and it was, for lack of a better word, AMAZING. We were out in the middle of this rainforest with rock carved steps, rural but walkable trails and about 8 different waterfalls and natural pools. I felt like I was in Adventureland in Disneyland because it was so pristine and perfectly manicured - but this was the real deal! It was a surreal experience. Honestly, I'm fumbling for the words to describe this place but we took a lot of pictures and as soon as I can upload them you'll see what I mean. After hiking downhill, passing the "Upper Pool" and myriad waterfalls, we reached the main attraction where we spent most of the day: the lower waterfall run-off naturally enclosed pool. A large tree branch extended out over the middle of the deep pond and attached to it was a rope swing! We played "Tarzan" swinging from the rope into the water! Chris has a sophisticated camera so we took a lot of fast shutter motion shots that I can't wait to upload. The best and most surprising part of our day was that we were the only four people in the entire park! We had this secret hideaway paradise to ourselves. I still can't believe it. On the hike back, Jeremy of the jungle was joking about starting conversations with, "When I was rope-swinging across waterfalls in the Fijian rainforest..." Haha!
We hiked to the main road and caught a local bus back to town. Right next to the ship was an enormous, two-story warehouse farmer's market. We walked around a bit, bought fresh pineapple spears that literally tasted like candy, and then walked upstairs to the spice market. To all our foodie family members-you would've been elated at this vast array of spices! Chris and Candice bought a huge bag of curry but we opted out because Jeremy reminded me that we can get pretty much anything at ethnic markets in Los Angeles. With our last minutes before having to board the ship, we tried some Fijian food from stands outside the market. I couldn't tell you the names of what we ate because we just pointed at different dumpling-like foods through the glass cases. We got what tasted like fried potatoes, tarot root, spinach balls and doughnut type balls. We surmised that meat must be a delicacy for the impoverished people because everything we tried was basically fried dough and vegetables.
I know I've said this a lot and am losing all credibility with this statement, but in terms of a truly once in a lifetime day in a place as remote and romanticized as Fiji, this port experience takes the cake. That is until we get to New Zealand. I need to stop quantifying our experiences don't I? They've all been special and memorable in their own right and it's of no importance which is the best. But, even with my bad long term memory, I can say with confidence that I will never forget our day in Fiji.
Much love,
J & J
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