Switch your phone off and start roaming

Last Saturday we flew from Sydney, Australia to Nadi, Viti Levu, one of the more than 300 islands in the chain of Fijian Islands. We're currently staying just outside of Nadi, in the tourist area of Denarau Island. On Tuesday we'll board the Reef Endeavour for a 7-night Colonial Discovery Fiji cruise with Captain Cook Cruises.

our cruise ship

We've now had two full days on Denarau Island. On our drive from the airport, our taxi driver gave us lots of background information about the area, the people, and their culture. He explained that Denarau Island is a manmade island, specifically created to cater to luxury tourism. If you look at the homepage for Denarau Island, you may recognize the names of many high-end hotels, and these primarily surround a beautiful golf course. 

yesterday - late morning - blue skies again!

Looking into the history of the island, I learned that the island project was first started in 1969 by an American developer. In 1988 it was bought by a Japanese property developer. In 1995 that corporation went into receivership, and the development was bought by a consortium comprised in part by the Sheraton hotel chain and Air Pacific. Throughout the more than 20 years, more luxury hotels were added and the development expanded significantly.

late morning - cloud cover over the maintains, but no rain!

By the end of the century, luxury waterfront residences were also being built. In 2007 a large commercial complex of restaurants and stores was added to the port area. The latest development, The Palms Apartments, was added last year, across from the port, and that's where we're staying. We selected it purely because of its proximity to where we would board the cruise, but we love the location.

Since our arrival we've mostly met native Fijians at the hotel, stores, and restaurants. Although the official language of Fiji is English, most Fijian service industry workers, when speaking to each other, speak one of the more than 300 dialects of iTaukei, the native language of Fiji. When they speak different dialects of the language, they resort to speaking English to each other. They also need English if they work in tourism.

At school they must study English, iTaukei and Hindi, and so most Fijians are trilingual to some degree. We were pleased to see the prevalence of the Fijian language and that it was thriving amongst the native Fijians. The Fijians are very friendly - and patient - as we try to pick up some Fijian words. We already know  'hello' (bula) and 'thanks' (vinaka). Hopefully we'll learn more.

a beautiful sunset last night

This island had received steady rain for the two weeks before our arrival, which is apparently unusual here. Usually rain comes late in the day or overnight. Sunday was the first day with no rain for a while and we hoped that would continue. No such luck. Yesterday afternoon we had a thunder and lightening storm and heavy rain for a while. We're just hoping it doesn't stay with us for the cruise.

private ship in dock with helicopter on the back

The title for this post was taken from a guide book for Denarau Island; I thought it was a clever play on words. Although we don't have a phone while we're here, as you can see we're still using the internet. Some habits are hard to break!