Lautoka

,Lautoka, the second largest city of FIJI, is located in the west on the island of Viti Levu. It is nicknamed The Sugar City due to its expansive sugarcane plantations producing the island's most important crop. Its soft sand beaches are fringed with swaying palm and coconut trees reflected in the crystaline turquoise waters. A drive through city center allows glimpses of tree lined streets, colonial houses, colorful markets and a vibrant local culture.

First Look

There were no dancers this morning but they were playing local music and there were lots of vendors.

For this port we have decided to head to a resort and a beach. We will be visiting the Hilton Resort which is based on the 2.5km beach on Denarau Island . This will give us a chance to unwind and enjoy sun, sea and sand. This tour is inclusive of transfers, sun loungers,

umbrella  and towel.

The journey to the Hilton Resort will take approximately one hour each way. This will also include lunch and a beverage so we are all set. I am looking forward to a good day.

We made our way to the buses and discovered that it is the same company as yesterday. These bus drivers spent 4.5 hours to travel from Suva . We were pleased to see that the buses were not the 3 on a side but were the usual 2 and 2. We saw Tim but he would not be our guide today. The guides name was Jone, pronounced Johnie. He did a good job of pointing out the places of note. 

We arrived and did not get a real good view of the outside of the resort because of all of the trees. There was a bright, modern open air lobby, lovely grounds and pools and restaurants.

It is very modern and reminds me of a time share.

The location of our buffet was rather grand. It was open air with breezes and a wonderful view of the beach.

That orange looking thing is actually a lime comquot. Actually I don't know how it is spelled. 27 years ago I had to come up with a name for e-mail purposes. It was before the day of putting numbers with your address. After several unsuccessful efforts I thought of the word comquot and tried that. It was successful. I knew it was a fruit of some kind but I had never seen the word so I could not spell it. Today I saw a real comquot for the first time. The staff member told me what it was and told me to squeeze it and put the juice on my vegetables. So now I know what a comquot looks like but I still can't spell it correctly.

Our time at the resort ended around one and the trip back included more information on the area.

When we returned to the ship I considered doing some shopping with the vendors who were on the dock. However I decided that we really did not need anything so instead we went up to Swirls and got some raspberry ice cream. It was creamy and delicious. Each day they have a different special. Once it was eggnog flavour and I liked it also

Originally sale away was to be at 3:30 but they changed it to 4:30. We enjoyed the sights and sounds from our balcony , and got ready for dinner. As the ship moved away the people on the dock waved and shouted good bye as we left.

We have 3 sea days coming up until we get to French Polynesia.