Mental Geography

Leaving the white sands and turquoise waters of Fiji, I board an Air Pacific rainbow striped 737 to Sydney, Australia’s Kingsford Smith International Airport. From there its a 14 hour and 35 minute flight aboard Emirates Airlines largest passenger plane in the world, the Airbus A380, to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Finally, dirty, tired and incredibly jet-lagged I board an Ethiopian AIrlines 777 and fly the remaining 2 hours and 50 minutes of my journey to Addis-Ababa the capital of Ethiopia. 

So moving out from Nadi I decide I want to see the capital of this nation, Suva, which is on the opposite side of the island. I really want to take in the scenery so I decide to rent a car and drive the really one main highway on the island connecting the two biggest cities in Fiji. The drive takes about 2 and a half hours and will take me 188.7 km southeast along Queens Rd. which eventually becomes Kings Rd. before entering Suva. 

“Suva is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in the Central Division, Rewa Province, of which it is the administrative centre. In 1877, it was decided to make Suva the capital of Fiji when the geography of former main European settlement at Levuka on the island of Ovalau proved too restrictive. The administration of the colony was moved from Levuka to Suva in 1882.” - Wikipedia.

So I arrive in Suva some 3 hours after landing in this tropical paradise and decide to take in the capital’s sites. I see the Presidential Palace / Government House, and half a traditional Fijian lunch of Palusami…..

A combination of corned beef, onion , 
garlic and tomato wrapped in taro leaves.

Delicious! But since my stay on this island has to be short lived I decide to do one of Fiji’s greatest attractions SCUBA!

TOP 5 SCUBA spots on Fiji:

1. Morgan’s Refuge: A giant Maori wrasse at 80 to 90 feet. Scarlet sea fans, flatworms, nudibranchs and starfish. 40-100 feet. Light to moderate current.

2. Side Streets: This legendary dive site is difficult to describe - difficult to take in! More than a dozen superb coralheads with more to see than the diver can absorb. Lush canyons of gorgonias in vivid reds and yellows, tunnel walls festooned with multi-colored soft corals and ancient black coral trees. Imperial angel fish patrol through the stands of sea whips, while white tip reef sharks and coral trout lazily circle the coral heads. Days could be spent at this one great dive spot, which an experienced diver recently described as ‘the closest thing to paradise that I have ever seen’. Even the living clam shells are lavishly decorated with brilliant soft corals!

3. Frigate Passage: Sea fans up to eight feet across. Colorful soft coral. Schools of jacks and baitfish. If you’re lucky, you’ll see - Gray reef sharks. 40-120 feet. Moderate to heavy current.

4. Wreck of the TASU No. 2: In September, 1994, a 200-ton Taiwanese fishing vessel was intentionally sunk at 75 feet on a flat, white sand bottom, just adjacent to the very pretty dive site called ‘Yanuca Shallows’. The site is well protected from current and wind chop, and the crystal-clear water means that the divers can usually see the full length of the vessel from the bow! As the years go by, the wreck gathers more fish (both tropical and pelagic) soft and hard corals, sea fans and other tropical underwater scenery. The vessel sits upright on the sand bottom and it’s a great photo opportunity for still or video. 

5. Crusoe’s Channel: 3 huge leopard sharks residing in a swim-through, eagle rays, shovel-nosed rays, schools of barracuda, and more!  This is a fantastic “big fish” dive!

-Pacific Island Travel . com

And as quickly as I arrived, I’ve decided this tiny island nation is just not what I’m looking for. I need something a little more adventurous! 

Bula! That’s how they say hello in Fiji, the next destination on my wild wayfaring web wanderings! I’ve decided the best method for choosing my next location is a sort of a “pin the tail on the map” kind of thing. I spin around as many times as I can without getting sick and chuck a dart at a map of the globe hanging above my bed. As it were the dart landed somewhere in the archipelagic spiderweb that is the Republic of the Fiji Islands. So from Mexico City I head to Los Angeles to catch an Air Pacific (Fiji’s national airline) 747 flight 6,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean to Nadi, Fiji. This is the city any traveler visiting this island nation will likely start. It is located on the western side of the main island of Viti Levu which comprises 57% of the nation’s land area and 69% of its 849,000 people population. Fiji on a map is mainly Viti Levu and Vanua Levu (to the north) with a bunch of smaller islands sprinkled around and in between them.

Ok! So I’ve arrived at Nadi International Airport, hopefully gotten lei’d, and now I’m free to head off into the Fijian sunshine.  Right now as it stands all I know of this nation is: It makes a great desktop background on people’s computer, the drinking water’s bomb, and any place with three dotted letters in a row can’t be half bad. TO BE CONTINUED!