Day 83, Year 2: Arrival in Lautoka
Date: Monday, July 16, 2007
Weather: Sunny, Hazy Day
Latitude: S 17 degrees 35.98 minutes
Longitude: E 177 degrees 26.54 minutes
Location: Lautoka, Viti Levu

I’ve decided that we are just too easy to please. No matter where we go, we love it. Lautoka is the second largest city in Fiji, and it is just a city with a huge wood mill and an even larger sugar cane mill. Both mills have lots of ugly black smoke rolling from them, so it is not the most beautiful anchorage we have ever been in, but we did enjoy our afternoon here. We arrived at 12:30 PM and got ready to go ashore immediately. We arrived at the same time as our friends Jean-Pierre and Colette
on Safina, so we all went to shore together. Our only reason for stopping here was to check in with Customs and get proper approval for visiting the Yasawa Islands. Unfortunately, Customs was out to lunch when we arrived, so we walked into town to have lunch. We had read about a place named Jolly Good where we could get fish and chips for $2.50. We found our way there and enjoyed the “best deal in town” lunch. Mark then went to find an internet cafe and Steve and I went to the vegetable market.
From the outside, it looked like most of the markets we have seen, but once we walked inside, I could immediately see that this market was a notch above others. It is a big open dome, like a stadium. It is all on one floor, and the ceiling goes up to a midpoint with lots of skylights. Most markets are a little dark and dingy, but not this one. Steve really enjoyed seeing the market and all of the wonderful food under roof and I was able to buy some fresh fruit and veggies for us. We then walked
to a store called Jack’s of Fiji. Jack’s is a US type store, very upscale, that has Fiji clothing and novelties. We actually had a great time shopping and then headed on up the street to find Mark. We hadn’t gone far before we found him and we hailed a taxi to take us back to the marina.

We took the food we had bought back to Windbird, and then started walking back into town to get fuel for the dinghy and to make a visit to the liquor store to refurbish the necessities of life. By the time we returned, it was too late to move to the anchorage south of here for the night, so we made the decision to stay put and leave early in the morning for Waya Island in the Yasawas. We are looking forward to white sand beaches and turquoise water. The search is on.

070716 Day 83 Viti Levu, Fiji–Vatia to Lautoka