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FIJI

Flying and Arrival

My first South Pacific long flight ~11 hours
First light at dawn arriving
The lovely pool of Sofitel Nadi
Signature Sunset

Tivua

Spoiled with lovey meals
First boat hop to Tivua Island

Our first excursion was to Tivua for snorkeling and getting our island hopping bearings

Tiny Tivua
You can see the island daze and joy has already come over us
First Kava ceremony was right on the boat. A lovely welcoming ritual and beverage shared with honored guests. Always very lovely moment of connection.
Beautiful blue starfish
Sea Eel
Showering in Fiji water and drinking it everywhere 😀
Our boat back to Nadi
Our lovely host on board Eva
Reef around Tivua

Ziplining

They said Several hundred people had lived in this cave up in upper the rainforest
Posing with the rock that was used for cannibalizing enemies
Cool
Dork

Mud Baths and Hot Springs

We coated ourselves in mind and waited until it dried. Then we got to wash it off in the muddy pond, then soak in the hot springs.
BULA is the universal Fijian greeting (akin to Aloha) and VINAKA means thank you.
Tifajek Hot Spring
Screenshot

To this point we’d remained with a home base in Nadi on the big island.

The lovely Waitui Beach Club at Sofitel Nadi

Another snorkeling excursion – the best – by castaway island

That blue blue
Matamanoa
Matamanoa Kava ceremony
My favorite photo of the entire trip. Moonlit view of the Northwest side of Matamanoa
Screenshot
The main pool at Matamanoa
Boat tour to Castaway Island
Can you believe Tom Hanks left Wilson there all alone all this time?
Matamanoa
The longest sweetest goodbye watching Matamanoa island disappear to be just a dot on the horizon