Don is the honoree...	Mixing the kava	Ready to serve the Ratu	Byron has kava

Naigani Island/Resort...

Naigani (pronounced Nahn ga' nee) Resort was our 2nd stop.  Beqa Lagoon put us on a taxi for a one hour ride to Suva (the capitol of Fiji).  From there another one hour plus ride to a boat jetty on the eastern side of the island and a 30 minute boat ride to a tiny island.  Naigani is only about 540 acres with one native village and the resort.  The island does have its own fresh water springs and the local people do some farming and grow most of their own food.

This was our bure, a 2 bed 2 bath house with a large front & back yard.   

We had a small welcomer in the main bathroom when we arrived. 

Diving...

Diving on Naigani was different as we were the only divers this week.  A number of other guests, but none were divers, so we had the boat and the dive masters to ourselves.  The diving was better than at Beqa.  More color, more fish and less current.

A huge crinoid clutching the coral	Hard coral feeding	Bright soft corals	A large school of barracuda waiting as we jumped off the boat	Little tiny fish hiding in the coral
This guy followed for 2 days	An elusive pair	Blue soft coral	More coral	One of many swim thrus
More sea fans	This is a Stone Fish	He's not too big, but he puffed up when we arrived	Another of the varied nudibrandts	Giant clam, there were many of these
Fan, coral, crinoid & fish	This couple stuck together	Starfish	A tiny coral out feeding	Soft coral variety
Huge white sea fan	Just lovely	Saw lots, but hard to get a picture	Fan & crinoid	Another star variety

 

A trip to the old capitol...

We had an opportunity to take a boat trip to a nearby island where the old capitol of Levuka is.  A trip experience not to be missed.

Tide is out so we have to wade to the boat	We dock at a small village and this little guy was the first to greet us	This little one was the next to greet us	The village we docked at	One more greeter
This is our taxi across 2 small mountains and the island to the capitol	See the road below	We're almost to the to	Going down to the town	Site of the initial transference of the Fijian Islands to Britain
Commemerative spot	Don & Donna at the commemorative site in Levuka	Beautiful island	Local flora	City streets
Not unlike many other places	Oops as we leave we have to stop for waves over the road as the tide comes in	Our taxi is for us and for locals	Rain has muddied the road for the return trip

 

Nightly entertainment....

Every night the local group played.  Not only local music, but Dylan and other western artists.  It was an eclectic blend and very enjoyable.

Sam, Toka and David take a kava break	Now we're playing again

 

A visit to the village...

We took a visit to the local village.  Most enjoyable and informative.

Don is in his sulu as we are walking to the village	Our guide Stephen leads us into the village	Our welcoming committee	Romoly gives us history and culture of the village	The village conch
The women are working the the community center when we arrive	The men are drinking kava and Don is made Ratu AGAIN!!	The walking path back to the resort

 

They sing as we depart once again...

First, our favorite guy David...  and this is most of the staff including our local host, Epi...