Fiji! - Castaway Island - Day 5, 6, 7

We were lucky enough to be able to stay at two different resorts during our trip. The second location was an island called Castaway Island and the only thing on the island is the resort. We had a nice boat ride out to the island. We got to see a bunch of other little islands along the way. Fiji has over 300 little islands around it.

Castaway Island with the resort on the right side.

We had to get on a smaller boat to get to the island.

Big boat.

Small boat.

The resort staff were standing on the shore singing to us to welcome us to the island. It was really cool.

This island was where the crew of the movie "Castaway" stayed when they were filming. One of the other small islands nearby we where they filmed the movie.

We each got a little hut as our room. Ours was right in front of the ocean. They were so luxurious and we felt like we were in a dream. This was such a cool island to stay on and everything and everyone made you feel special.

It didn't take long to see and become familiar with the resort because it was the only thing on the island...or so we thought. We walked around a little, got some food, and relaxed.

The next couple of days were spent sleeping, relaxing, snorkeling, kayaking, paddle boarding, sitting by the beach, eating, sailing and exploring. Anthon also learned how to scuba dive. It was really hot there and it was pretty much a guarantee that you would be going in the water, so everyone pretty much just wore swimsuits all day, every day.

We bought these snorkel masks that cover your whole face. A much more comfortable way to snorkel.

Plate #1 of an Anthon breakfast. 

The only plate for a Marie breakfast.

Anthon learn how to sail.

Every trip I vow not to get on a boat and go snorkeling and yet every trip I get on a boat and go snorkeling. And I get sick every time.

Happy and feeling good on the way out to snorkel. Quite the opposite on the way back.

Anthon really loved learning to scuba. The highlight of the island for me was when we woke up before sunrise one morning and kayaked around the island to see the sunrise with our friends the Rockwells. It was so beautiful.

After the sun rose, we continued paddling the rest of the way around the island. When we were on the side opposite our resort, we saw a little building hidden behind some trees. We decided to check it out.

We tried to find out about this little house thing, but all we could find out was that it might have used to belong to the owner of the resort, but it was ruined in the hurricane that happened about 5 years ago and then abandoned.

We continued around the island and found Wilson.

And found a beautiful tree.

We ate beautiful food.

Our last day was Monday. We weren't leaving the resort until 3pm so we had most of the day to spend there. Anthon went fishing early in the morning and caught a shark!

We caught the boat back to the main island, got on buses to the airport and boarded the plane around 9:50pm Monday. We flew through the night and arrived in LA around noon on the same Monday. Around 6pm we got on the plane again and arrived in SLC at 9:50pm on Monday. We lost a Sunday completely on our way to Fiji and we had the longest Monday of our lives on the way back from Fiji.

It's always nice to be home. Since we had only been in our new house for 2 months, it was also kind of a nice surprise to be back in our new house after being gone for almost 2 weeks. Our kids were happy to see us and just wanted to know what we brought back for them. We gave Monson and Damon necklaces with shark teeth on them, Jr. got a key chain that said "Bula Fiji" and Sophie got a little hula outfit.

We loved our trip to Fiji! It is definitely one of our favorites. The people there are all so kind and happy despite not having much.

Fiji! - Outrigger Resort - Day 3 and 4

Most of the excursions involved water, which I do not do well with, or visiting a village. We decided to mostly hang out at the resort by the beach or by the pool and scheduled one excursion on Wednesday night to a separate island for dinner and a show.

Wednesday morning we got up early enough to see how low the tide was. Normally all this area is covered in water.

We were able to walk really far out an only be less than waist deep.

It was really hot there so we mostly tried to stay in the shade during the day. We had lunch by the pool.

That night we rode a bus for an hour and a half, picking up other people at other hotels and then getting dropped off at the place our boat was waiting to bring all of us to Robinson Caruso Island.

When we got there, they did a traditional kava ceremony. This is something that every village does before they welcome you into the village. Kava is a drink made from a root. It looks like watery mud and we heard that it tastes like mud too. Our driver, Jobe, told us that it is kind of like an alcoholic drink so we knew we weren't going to drink any.

After the ceremony, they showed us where they were cooking the dinner and then a few of the men stepped on the hot coals. We were told there would be a "fire walking" part of the night, but this was hardly that.

Then we had a little free time before dinner so we enjoyed the beautiful sunset.

The dinner was ok, not great. It didn't help that our legs were getting eaten alive by bugs. Then came the show. The dancing and music was entertaining, but the best part with the fire dancing.

And the very best part was when we all went to the shore and they did some kind of fireworks with their fire sticks.

By this time is was 10pm, we all got back on the boat, had a 40 minute, water-filled boat ride back to the main island, and a 2 hour bus ride back to our hotel. All in all, we were not super impressed with the excursion, especially for the amount of money it cost.

On Thursday, we slept in and spent the whole day hanging out at the hotel. I didn't get very many pictures because we were just relaxing in our room and out by the pool the whole day. Anthon's favorite thing to eat for breakfast every day was a freshly made omelet. My favorite thing was oatmeal topped with honey, blueberries and a bunch of freshly shredded coconut. They also had amazing waffles and their fresh fruit was always perfectly ripe.

Friday morning we left the main island and got on a boat to go to Castaway Island.