Florida to Fiji

 

We visited our first Bucky's in South Carolina
on our way north. You start seeing signs for the
next Bucky's hundreds of miles before you 
reach them!

We leapt from Florida to Fiji in just over a week! On the 22nd we left our Santa Rosa RV Resort and drove north - one night in Madison, GA and the next day we were with our old friends Walt & Honoree in Carthage, NC.  After two lovely nights with them, they drove us up to Raleigh for one night at the La Quinta Hotel. We got on the first shuttle in the morning at 4:30 AM! 

Dinner out one night at a fabulous restaurant with
Honoree & Walt. Baby is in their care until our
return in May. 

This was  the start of our challenging time changes and varying bedtime hours. The four nights with Zoë, George and Tommy gave us time to unwind and relax. We always enjoy a lot of easy walks around Palo Alto and one day enjoyed a Whale Watch out of Santa Cruz. We saw 3 whales, one strange Ocean Sunfish and an adorable sea otter - and of course, lots of birds. 

Scott and Zoë on our whale watch trip.

The very strange Ocean Sunfish!

Tommy, George and Zoë

A few days before our flight to Fiji on Fiji Airlines we received an offer to bid on an upgrade to Business Class. We bid the minimum - still a lot of money but the idea we might get some sleep on the 10 hour overnight flight was too tempting. And we got it. It was worth it. It was strange and kind of sad to not take advantage of all the free food and drink, but we knew it would affect our sleep so we abstained. It was particularly hard in the Air France lounge before our flight! We could have had a gourmet dinner with wine pairings but it was already late at night. The seats did recline to almost flat but it wasn't the separate cubicles that they sometimes have. No complaints though and we really enjoyed the breakfast the next morning!

Entry into Fiji was quick and our hotel, Crowne Plaza Nadi wasn't far away. We were checked in and shown to our beautiful room at 5 AM! We crossed the international date line on the flight so it was a full day later. It was great to catch a few more hours of sleep. And the huge buffet breakfast that morning welcomed us. Actually before we went down I heard this beautiful singing outside. The wait staff at the restaurant sing for any special occasion and they are very good. It sounds like a trained chorus. They sounded like hymns to me, all in Fijian, But more on our time in Fiji in my next post.

The view from our balcony.

Our first breakfast - it was hot and humid with clear skies for our stay until the last morning
when it rained. 

We enjoyed our first cocktails on the beach at sunset.

At 6:30 each evening there is a torch lighting along the beach.

The sunsets were beautiful.