Day 20, Year 2: Glimpses of Suva
Date: Monday, May 14, 2007
Weather Today: Sunny
Location: Suva, Fiji
Mark and I spent most of the day in downtown Suva and we both arrived back at the Yacht Club feeling like we had just watched a film from the 1940’s set in a very large city with a very diverse population. Somehow things here don’t seem quite real to us yet. When we figure out what movie we are “watching” we will let you know.
We took the dinghy into the Yacht Club around 9 AM. Paul and Marie on Ranger towed Colette and Jean-Pierre on Safina to the dock. Safina’s dinghy needs repair, so they hitched the ride in so they could leave the motor on Safina. We were right behind them and by the time we had our dinghy tied to the dock, the folks had come to take Safina’s dinghy to a shop for repair. Marie, Paul, Mark, and I then took a taxi to town. Mark and I went to the Ministry of Health to pay a $35 entry fee for us and for Ranger, and Paul and Marie went downtown to get bus tickets for leaving Suva tomorrow. We paid our Ministry of Health fees and then walked through downtown, stopped at the Fiji Visitor Center, and then traveled on through town to the Government Center. Our next stop was there at the Ministry of Fijian Affairs. We found our way to the Native Land Trust Building where we hoped to secure a cruising permit for visiting all islands in Fiji. We didn’t get that, but we did a permit to cruise all islands except those in the Lau Group. This is a group of islands to the east where the people still live a very traditional life style. In order to get a permit to visit there, we were told that we needed to go to the Lau Provincial Council Office in a different part of town. So off we went. We walked through the back streets, visited the Roman Catholic Cathedral, one of Suva’s prominent landmarks, made a stop at the internet cafe, and then went to the Lau Provincial Council Office. The woman there told us that we could get a permit but that we first had to go to the police station to get an official clearance. Of course, the police station was back the way we had just come, so we backtracked to the police station and filled out the forms for clearance. We had to pay $45 and will have to wait 10 working days for the clearance, but we are making progress. We have to write a formal request to submit to the Provincial Office, but once that is done, we should get our permit. We called it a successful day and returned to the Yacht Club via bus.
Our stop at the internet cafe was to catch up on finances and to call our daughter and wish her a Happy Mother’s Day. She is visiting with Jed’s parents in DC and we got to talk to Jed, and to Marti and Donald as well. Grandma and Grandpa Goldstone assure us that our grandbaby is the most beautiful and most alert baby in the entire world. I’m sure they are right about that! He had a great plane ride to DC from Massachusetts and seems to be enjoying the hot weather in our nation’s capital.
Now for the glimpses of Suva. It is a big city and it reminds us very much of parts of Panama City. The shopping area is bustling but a little run down. As in the market area of Panama City, there is no continuity in architecture. Here there are old colonial style buildings standing next to modern buildings. The population is very diverse, with the Indo-Fijian influence everywhere. There are many shops devoted to selling Indian saris next to shops selling Fijian sulas. The smell of curry is in the air and like New York City, you have to be on guard at all times. Most people are just friendly but some are there to hustle you.
As we were leaving the Yacht Club, Paul and Marie were coming in. They are leaving on a bus at noon tomorrow to head to the airport in Nadi and they were delivering the contents of their freezer to the little restaurant at the club. They are going to keep their frozen food for them so they can turn off the refrigerator and freezer while they are gone. We are keeping most of their refrigerator contents, and what we couldn’t fit into ours was distributed among Safina and Scott Free II. Donna and Jerry on Scott Free II arrived during the night after hand steering for seven days. I’m sure they have never been so glad to reach a port. Paul and Marie stayed for dinner. They supplied the fish, freshly caught on their way in. We had a delightful evening with them. We will still be here waiting for our Lau permit when they return, so we hope to be able to do some of our Fiji cruising together. Mark and I plan to spend the next couple of days more seriously planning our Fiji cruise. With over 300 islands as possibilities, we have to narrow down the possible ports. Now that we know we will be here for the next couple of weeks, we can settle into a routine of boat maintenance and cruise planning. We can also do a little exploring on the island of Viti Levu. Bus service is great and cheap, so we might travel across the island to see what’s on the other side.
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| 070514 Day 20 Viti Levu, Fiji–Glimpses of Suva |
