Fiji, Clocks and Platters

Fiji sounds like the most romantic place in the world to be. Right? When we arrived, we never set foot on the island of Fiji. Instead, having been here before, we choose to take a 'romantic' sail to the island of Tivus to spend the day in Paradise. Tivus is a small island - a sand island, where if you take a leisurely walk, in seven minutes you will have walked completely around the island. Nothing prepared us for the reality of the day. Our vision of swinging in hammocks, in the shade for a few hours, turned into slight panic when we tendered in. This tourist island had no chairs, no hammocks, and little shade. This was where we were to spend the next five hours. Luckily, we claimed the only two chairs on the island ,on a porch, facing the ocean. Everyone else had sand, sun and a few palm trees overhead barely shading them from the menacing sun. The water surrounding us was breathtaking. It was beautiful, I admit. It was hot. It was humid. We sometimes felt a light breeze. Was it Paradise? Debatable. We were served lunch. We enjoyed musical entertainment. When it was time to leave.....everyone was more then ready to reboard the tenders and head back to the ship. We met some overly friendly birds flying around our porch who seemed to know that lunch would soon be served.

At night, we once again were entertained by the Platters. Everyone did the Soul Train around the theater and danced to the music. I overheard some people talking that they had no idea who they were. Perhaps because many in ths goup grew up before the Platters became popular. We lost Saturday due to the International Dateline and went from Friday to Sunday. Our Captain then, again,had us turn back the clock another hour so we have no clue what time or day it really is anymore. All I know is that is it Monday and we are watching the Sunday news. It must be fun to be The Captain. He decides to set the clock back ...Oh let's do 30 minutes today...Oh let's do an hour back today.... Oh let's just skip a day.....and we all just adjust as the rules are laid down........I now have a reason to be clueless.....

After a day of sun and water and skipping a day, we had a leisurely day at sea. For the first time in many days, the weather cooperated in every way. It wasn't overly hot and humid. We had a perfect day with gentle breezes. After bridge and the usual lecture, this was my day to be beached. I finally got a lounge chair in the shade and saved one for David. This kind of day is exactly what cruising is all about. We enjoyed each moment, each minute, and each hour as the afternoon progressed. Cruising is great.