Fiji time: no hurries, no worries

The flight to Fiji was easy and we were ready to slow our pace and relax a little more. Not yet. I had reserved a rental car a few months back and should have realized earlier that they were not a “top-tier” rental car company. My first clue was when they called me at home at midnight 1 month before my pick-up date, wondering where I was – “you’re late.” “No” I replied, “I pick-it up next month”….”Oh, yes. I see that now.”

Second clue: No one to pick-us up at the airport…..a couple of calls later someone showed up and drove us to the agency office.

Third clue: the beat-up Prius wasn’t exactly what I wanted but tired and ready for the resort, I relented.

The resort was only 26 miles from the airport but it took nearly an hour and a half of very slow driving, some in the city and some on very rural dark roads. The beautiful sunset kept our anticipation high.

Arriving at the front gate to the resort, a large Fijian lifts the gate and startles you with a very loud “ Bula Bula Bulahhhhhh! If you are anywhere near the gate/reception area, you hear it quite regularly. We even heard of a frustrated mom who switched rooms because their napping child kept waking-up crying……

It’s been a couple days and we’ve settled in easily. There’s a great local massage on the beach close-by. Next to it, two very good restaurants.

The best part about Fiji are the people. They are truly warm and accepting of everyone and very eager to please, they always pause to talk and are willing to spend time even when they appear busy: no hurries, no worries.

Our first major outing was a 2 tank scuba diving trip from a local provider. The water was warm and clear. Terri and I were really enjoying the dive, Terri just cruising along checking everything out and me trying out my new Pho-Pro underwater camera, ( similar to a Go-Pro but a-lot less expensive). Everything was great , seeing turtles, eels and beautiful fish, and then the first shark showed up. I looked at Terri and gave her a thumbs up and an Ok? gesture. She nodded Ok but swam a little closer to me. Then the shark’s buddies started showing up. They were small, maybe 4-5 feet, but there were too many for Terri to keep an eye on them all. With our air supplies running low, we had to surface. While bobbing in the fresh sunlight, Terri quickly asked our dive master, “ where’s our boat?” It took about 10 minutes for our boat to show, probably, seaming, to be the longest 10 minutes for Terri in a long time. All the while, the sharks casually circling beneath us.