TO REALLY ENJOY FIJI YOU HAVE TO STAY AT one of the resorts. And spend a lot of colorful money. Or maybe Savusavu is where it’s all happening. We’ll never know. After the ‘missing day’ and a day at sea we hooked up with Bruce and Linell yesterday in our unplanned stop in Suva, pretty much reprising Pago Pago. Sir John, our taxi driver, took us to Colo-i-suva Resort on the way to the Forest Park to look for parrots but even so we were there long before the ship’s buses arrived.
Vanikoro Flycatcher
Cardinal Myzomelo
Orange-breasted Myzomelo
The birding was so-so, so we returned to the Resort where the birding was better and had the added benefit of cold beer. When Connie checked my photos against her list back on the ship, she discovered —thanks to the marvels of digital photography — that we had seen ten new species, one of our better days.
Pacific Imperial Pigeon
ISLAND PARADISE was the phrase most heard today. And if you are visiting Dravuni’s two miles of coconut palms and sand for, say, four hours you you might be right.
One man's paradise... is another's coconut
Any longer, however, and you would notice that the island’s 199 residents—we were told the population was 200 but there was a funeral today—don’t have electricity or running water. We didn’t see any grocery stores or even a market. There are no cars or motorbikes—no roads either. The kids even have to attend school!
And you have to learn your ABCs
Paradise, it seems, is in the eye of the beholder
