Wee Wee!! We’re on Fiji!!

I don’t know why but I was compelled to find something that rhymed with Fiji. Maybe because it feels like a sweet happy word to me. Plus it’s a sweet happy place. I’ve never been to the South Pacific before. The three dots are cool. Fiji. FIJI. It turns out there are a lot of obscure, odd words that rhyme with Fiji. So in the end I came up with … Wee wee!!! We’re on Fiji!!!

Justin found us the most perfect low key place. It’s on a sweet little peninsula that a couple bought twenty five years ago. A Brit and a Fijian. A few homes have been built but mostly it’s 20+ acres of wild, lush land with a road, surrounded by water, of course. The couple are gracious hosts and property managers. I walked by their home the first morning and they invited me in for coffee and a scone. A Fijian family with kids lives here too. We launch kayaks and SUPs from the cove outside their home. It is super chill and secluded. Our house is a few hundred feet above the ocean. On Ishigaki I discovered I looooove this vantage … being a bit above the ocean lets you see more of it. Endless views. This is a view from our deck. Obsessed.

One evening we had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows with another family staying nearby. Coconut trees provided the firewood and the marshmallow sticks!! I will miss all the random things I search when we get home … like … “are coconut trees and palm trees the same thing?”. Answer: Coconut tree is a specific type of palm tree. So all coconut trees are palm trees, but not vice-versa.

I’ve been traveling with a SUP I bought in Australia because I never got around to selling it. First order of business was paddling around the paradise island we see from the deck. It was hard to tell what existed on it. A resort? Some wealthy person’s villa? It turns out it’s a bunch of Fijians living their best life. There were about 20ish very small homes. A few larger buildings. Maybe a school or community hall or who knows. A few fishing boats. I took zero photos. Just paddled. People all waved and called out “Bula”, the greeting here. The whole scene was sooooo lovely. They have a cable running to the island for electricity that is propped up on about a dozen fifty feet tall posts that stretch to the mainland. When tide is low they walk to shore to do errands, go to school, etc. I saw a handful of folks making the crossing this afternoon. What a life. A few days later I discovered they actually host tourists on the island for day trips to show them Fijian life!!!

One morning I paddled over a bunch of water that was super murky. Sand was getting stirred up. I didn’t think much of it until an absolutely massive manta ray swam right next to me and bolted off into the distance. Such power, grace and speed. That kind of thing just takes my breath away. Sitting on the deck also takes my breath away.

There’s a lovely little walking loop on the peninsula. Always so much to see. Wee wee!!

We swim in the pool at the host’s house … a lot. Hazel says it has the best poolside view ever. All peninsula dwellers are welcome but so far it’s been Hazel’s Pool.