Viti Levu - East | Budget Bucket List

Viti Levu - East

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Fiji started with a bang.

Extraordinary people, impeccable landscapes, perfect weather and new food discoveries. I more or less expected to proceed with this excellent state of affairs... however, when one of these factors ceased to exist this seemed outright impossible. Weather, I’m talking weather.

Man, does rain ruin everything.

From brisk Sigatoka I progressed to lush Pacific Harbour. Lush, because its abundant forests are daily watered by endless downpours. I decided to not be bothered by ‘a few drops’ and bravely tightened the hiking boots. Pacific Harbour sure has lots to offer to the outdoor enthusiast, its swirling dirt roads clawing far into its thick timberland swallowing the core of the fertile Vitu Levu. Two hours I managed to withstand the cloudburst, until finally the entrance of the night and absence of street lights forced me back home.

Home is in this context a swanky deluxe villa inhabited by a sassy local lady listening to the name Laisani Vinubola. I would sign up or a title like that. The homestay principle had made quite a good impression on me in this country of the kind-hearted, so I didn’t see any reason why not repeat this accommodation-arrangement for the rest of my time here. Especially not considering the fact I didn’t pay a dime for it. Something with friends of friends and free vouchers... hey, luck is a lifestyle! Whereas previously I got to experience daily life in the humble home of a Fijian Indian family, I now got the taste of the indigenous nouveau riche.

Not that I spent much time in that fancy swimming pool you’re jealously staring at right now. The entire night I was kept awake by the sound of unimaginable amounts of water slamming vertically against the walls I was sleeping next to. And it was going to do so for the next 48 hours. I waited for a few hours to give the weather a chance to cut the bullcrap and apologize, but it never did. Incapable of living with the idea of having wasted a precious vacation-day in a country yet unknown to me I forced myself out again, ready to be swept away by the monsoon.

No, it wasn’t fun. Yes, I willingly tolerated this torture for at least three hours. My brain has many secrets I myself even fail to understand.

The (only) upside is that in generally tourist-raided Fiji there was no one there. Of course, no one is that crazy to dive right into the cyclone, but also because Fiji mostly attracts a certain kind of traveller... the one that rather pays off the possible likelihood of any surprises. Not many go actually out there on their own to see what happens. I noticed most foreigners only leave their fancy resorts for a heavily marketed ‘kayak adventure’ or ‘jungle safari’, all of them supplied with an outrageous price tag... because these agencies can, exactly because of this target group being sucked into Fiji. Chicken-egg-dilemma. Overpricing aside, I’m not claiming in any way these tours aren’t fun... I just know these are quite non-place-specific activities that are 20x cheaper in most other places in the world.

There’s however one thing in Fiji, right in Pacific Harbour, that’s absolutely unique.

Shark diving.

Photo credits: Shark Diver / BBC / Adventure Sports Unlimited

No, and now I’m not referring to these pussy-endeavours of going down in a cage... It’s a face-to-face encounter between you and the shark. Oh, and did I tell you feeding them would be a part of it? Mental!!! Who the hell does that?! Well, me of course. This was the one thing I had booked far in advance, how can I possibly miss out on this mindbending-pants-wettening-madness-of-an-experience?

Yes. How possibly. Well, I give you one clue: Weather.

My timing was so unimpeachable that on the exact day my potential wet dream would become an actual one the weather was so incomprehensibly sheite that not one boat could possibly sail out to Beqa Island, home of the bull sharks, tiger sharks, sicklefins, silvertips , grey reefs, white- and blacktip reefs, tawny nurses and lemon sharks. F. M. L.

So I missed what would have undoubtedly been the highlight of my entire Fiji-stay. Therefore, I escaped the Rain Capital of Fiji and exchanged it for the actual capital: Suva. Now, as I didn’t have high expectations of the biggest city in the country (rightly so), I had used my Air BnB voucher to book an apartment north of the urban area, bordering the Colo-I-Suva Forest Park, one of the two on this island. Hikes around the corner, yihaaa! In theory, yes. I assume by now you guessed it: eat a dick, weather.

I did it. I hiked. Not for fun, merely to proof a point. What point I’m still trying to figure out.

Eastern Vitu Levu, it just wasn’t meant to be. Back to the wild wild west.

Increase your chances on good weather in Fiji? Explore western Fiji Levu where there's another micro-climate!

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