Forum Index > Trip Reports > Part 5 – Fiji after Cyclone Winston
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Gimpilator
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Joined: 12 Oct 2006
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Location: Edmonds, WA
Gimpilator
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PostWed Mar 23, 2016 10:23 am 
I was telling someone in New Zealand how we were looking forward to going to Fiji and I could tell from the look I got in return that something was seriously wrong, "I guess you haven't heard, but Fiji just had a category 5 cyclone. The worst ever. You better look into it. Lot's of people lost their homes. I'm not sure you can go there now." eek.gif Our first thought was that we could not go. Even if things sorted out, how could we go lounge on tropical beaches during a time when the country was struggling to rebuild and experiencing such remorse and grief? The media was all we had to draw on initially and it sounded like a nation wide catastrophe. We began looking into changing our flights, but Heather suggested we at least speak to our reserved hotels.
strange local flowers
strange local flowers
Heather in her new sari
Heather in her new sari
Telecommunications were down for several days, but eventually we got through, “What damage? There's no damage here.” Could it be true? We called other locations in Nadi to confirm. Apparently the worst of the storm had hammered the northern part of the country. Furthermore it was brought to our attention that if all tourists canceled their vacation bookings, it would only worsen the situation by reducing income in the tourist industry during their time of need.
fetching coconuts
fetching coconuts
common Fijan palm sentinel statues
common Fijan palm sentinel statues
But Mount Tomanivi was now out of the question. Originally we had planned to travel to the interior villages and hike up to the highest point in the country. Instead of that, we explored downtown Nadi as well as the Hindu temple where we had the best masala dosas of our lives (better than Rishikesh). There was no visible damage in town and business appeared to be going as usual.
the bures (pronounced booray)
the bures (pronounced booray)
When we had researched Fiji from home we learned that the beaches and snorkelling on the main island are not the best, so we booked 3 days on Bounty Island which is small enough that you can walk around the whole thing in 20 minutes. As it turned out, Fiji was our favorite part of the whole trip and the fun we had snorkeling in the coral reef around Bounty more than made up for some of the struggles in New Zeland. We spotted sharks, giant clams, jellyfish, blue starfish, puffer fish and other fish of just about every color.
baby hawksbill turtle
baby hawksbill turtle
baby hawksbill turtle
baby hawksbill turtle
baby hawksbill turtle
baby hawksbill turtle
yearlings ready for release
yearlings ready for release
yearlings ready for release
yearlings ready for release
turtle video link One morning while I was sitting on the porch of our bure (Fijan word for beach hut), I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and was floored when I realized it was a baby hawksbill turtle which had just hatched. It was crawling towards the sea as fast as it's little legs could carry it. I called Heather over and she walked it down to the water warding off some birds that were in the air. She accompanied the little one until she was chest deep in the ocean and then he was on his own.
I lay in the hammock...
I lay in the hammock...
while Heather runs laps in 90 degree heat / 90 percent humidity
while Heather runs laps in 90 degree heat / 90 percent humidity
more hammock time back on the main island
more hammock time back on the main island
Later that day we learned that there had been a hatch in the night and that 54 baby turtles had been captured by staff that are part of a Hawksbill protection program. They keep the endangered turtles until they are one year old and then release them. This greatly increases their chance of survival. We were able to see last years batch just before they were released and replaced with the new babies.
time to go home
time to go home
This concludes our 6 week trip to the South Pacific. Thanks for reading along. smile.gif Part 1 Hawaii - Mauna Kea, Loa, Ulu, lava tubes, petroglyphs Part 2 - New Zealand South Island, Kaikoura, Edoras and more Part 3 - NZ South Island, Single Cone, Sebastopol, Torlesse Part 4 NZ North Island Taranaki, Ruapehu, Mt Doom, Tongariro

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Anish
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Joined: 07 Sep 2014
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Anish
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PostWed Mar 23, 2016 10:25 am 
Snorkel Treasures
Snorkel Treasures
best running views of the trip
best running views of the trip
our little bure
our little bure
hammock time ::)
hammock time smile.gif
I rather enjoy the tropics with you! Indonesia next? xo

"Our way is not soft grass. It's a mountain path with lots of rocks. But it goes upwards, forward, toward the sun." -Ruth Westheimer
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reststep
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reststep
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PostWed Mar 23, 2016 10:43 am 
Thanks so much for the reports and pictures. It is trip reports like this that help make this a great website. How about Mt. Wilhelm in Papua New Guinea for your next trip.

"The mountains are calling and I must go." - John Muir
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Brushbuffalo
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Joined: 17 Sep 2015
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Location: there earlier, here now, somewhere later... Bellingham in between
Brushbuffalo
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PostTue Apr 05, 2016 11:15 am 
Gimpilator wrote:
“What damage? There's no damage here.” Could it be true? We called other locations in Nadi to confirm. Apparently the worst of the storm had hammered the northern part of the country
Good for you for investigating and going to Fiji despite the rumors of widespread major destruction. I don't know how large a radius the Cat. 5 winds (minimum of155 mph sustained winds) were for this storm, but in general there is not a direct correlation between severity of wind velocity and size of a tropical storm. That fact probably explains why you experienced little or no direct effects of the storm.....you visited areas that were outside the radius of damaging winds and storm surge. btw I visited Fiji on our way TO New Zealand in 1969. A lovely place!

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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Gimpilator
infinity/21M



Joined: 12 Oct 2006
Posts: 1684 | TRs | Pics
Location: Edmonds, WA
Gimpilator
infinity/21M
PostTue Apr 19, 2016 8:54 pm 
reststep wrote:
Thanks so much for the reports and pictures. It is trip reports like this that help make this a great website. How about Mt. Wilhelm in Papua New Guinea for your next trip.
You are very welcome! smile.gif I had actually never heard of Mount Wilhelm until I just looked it up. It looks pretty neat. It's the 100th most prominent peak in the world and apparently my friend Rob Woodall has done it. But really I have no wish to visit Papua New Guinea. The next international climbing trips in our near future include, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Indonesia.

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Jetlag
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Jetlag
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PostTue Apr 19, 2016 11:58 pm 
Great to see a TR to Fiji, one of our favorite places to travel. Despite cyclones and the occasional bloodless coup, we continue to go back. The hawksbill encounter you had sounds wonderful! Now that you've caught a glimpse of what Fiji offers, I hope you can head back and enjoy the outer islands, with incredible beaches, people and sea life. If you ever need any info. about Indonesia, I have friends on a few islands there who can improve your visit. I have enjoyed Komodo, North and South Sulawesi and Bali most of all.

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