January 22, 2026 Suva, Viti Levu, Fiji Day #1

With the schedule change we now had two days in Suva, Viti Levu, Fiji. Our tour will be tomorrow as originally booked.

At 7 a.m. this morning there were some scattered cloud in the familiar fluffy cloud line just above the horizon, probably cumulus cloud, temperature was 25°C, wind west 7 km and humidity 94%.

After breakfast in the dining room, the ship had been cleared for passengers to leave before 8 a.m.. We were off to wander by 9 a.m. The pier was lined with tour operators offering tours. Today the money exchange was set up on the pier rather than in the photo area on the ship.

* NEWS Today is the official Day of Mourning in Australia for

the victims of the Bondi attack on December 14, 2025.

"Middle powers must act together because if you are not at

the table, you are on the menu," Canadian Prime Minister Mark

Carney said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Tauranga, New Zealand, today at Mount Maunganui - Early this

morning, a landslip destroyed part of Beachside Holiday Park

campground and the Mount Hot Springs with several people

still missing. Mount Maunganui is about a 20 minute walk from

the Tauranga cruise terminal (where the ship visits next week).

Tauranga experienced its wettest day on Thursday, January 22,

since records began in 1910. About three months worth of rain -

274 millimetres (10.74 inches) - fell within 24 hours.

A quote from the internet about Suva: “In the time before time, the people who would become the Fijians were shaped of wet earth, pulled from the sea on a giant fishhook and given more than 300 islands to live on. Or if you want to be a little more prosaic, the people of Fiji were part of the great Lapita migration, which began somewhere around Taiwan and headed east. The first boats to arrive stopped migrating when they found this maze of islands formed by the earth turning itself inside out with volcanoes.

The new Fijians spent a couple centuries involved in internecine war and developed the bad habit of using clubs to bop all strangers and eating them. But strangers kept showing up for the simple reason that Fiji, especially the southeast coast of Viti Levu, was geographically wonderful: the kind of spot that made mariners chuck their anchors and start trying to make a living as a settler. And who knows, maybe the Fijians just had tired arms, but by the time missionaries came, powers had shifted and the bopping had stopped.

Today that southeast corner of the largest island in Fiji, the city of Suva, holds three-quarters of the nation’s population. It’s also shielded by shimmering green mountains opening to a calm sea, a land lush with afternoon rains.”

After Captain William Bligh and his loyal crew were set adrift during the mutiny on HMS Bounty, he mapped parts of the Fijian islands including Bligh Water, also known as Vatu-i-Ra Passage, which separates the two largest islands Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. Suva was just a fishing village with a tribal chief. The area attracted European traders and settlers by the 1850s. Suva grew into a large urban centre and is capital of Fiji. In 1877, the British selected Suva as the new capital of its three year old colony, due to its harbour and a flatter, more spacious site than the old capital of Levuka on the island of Ovalau. Like Lautoka, its early colonial growth came from the sugar cane plantations and the Indian indentured labor brought by the British.

Suva is the seat of the Fijian government and the home of the President’s residence, Parliament, and most major institutions including the University of the South Pacific and Police Academy. Suva is a a city of over 90,000 people with a metro population over 300,000.

Our exploration began when we turned to the right from the Port of Suva entrance and started to walk along the waterfront. A local man said Bula! to us (a greeting that all the locals call out) and chatted for a minute and wanted to give us a nice wooden carving, but we declined. We continued along the waterfront passing the Suva Civic Centre and over to Victoria Parade/Queen Elizabeth Road passing the Court House and Parliament House building, the Grand Pacific Hotel across from Albert Park continuing past to Thurston Garden, which we will visit tomorrow. Then walking past the lush gardens of the State House, formerly known as Government House. Next door is the Foreign Affairs and External Trade iTaukei Affairs Board Office pink building and the Fiji Police Academy and police barrack campus.

The first street after the academy to turned onto was Ratu Sukuna Road. We had walked 3.26 km from the ship, half the time we were in shade and the temperature was close to 30°C with a light breeze. Ratu Sukuna Road was at the boundary with the Police Academy campus. We passed the Nasese Private Hospital on our way to Domain Road. We saw a bus stop in front of the Nasese Methodist Church that had a shaded bench and decided to sit down for a while. The sweat was dripping from our faces. There was a funeral in the church and a policeman was standing by his motorcycle opposite the church. We wondered if we had done something wrong when the policeman came over and sat beside us. He just wanted to ask us where we were from and then chatted for a few minutes. I suppose we seemed harmless. The policeman advised us that if we turned left at Domain Road, we would be heading back to the city centre.

At the next intersection was Domain Road. There were multiple flags fluttering in front of the PIDF (Pacific Islands Development Forum) Secretariat building. The street had an upper class atmosphere with gated driveways, security system signs and lovely lush gardens, especially one house near the Live and Learn Fiji campus. We were east of the Presidential Palace estate. But in the direction of the city centre.

On Gordon Street we found the St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, then continued down to MacArthur street that led to Victoria Parade close to the Suva Civic Centre. Nearby we spotted the Suva City Carnegie Library which opened in 1909. It was by a £1,500 grant from Scottish-born American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. We have seen several Carnegie funded libraries in our travels. We decided that we wanted to find the catholic cathedral and proceeded along Victoria Parade/Scott Street and found a policeman and community worker giving directions to people and were told the cathedral was around the next corner which was Pratt Street. We found the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Parish which was constructed between 1894 and 1902 with the towers added in 1934-35. We had walked over 8.5 kilometres and accumulated 11,459 steps in two hours.

We decided to return to the ship, which could see from the cathedral

steps. But, we passed the Tappoo City shopping centre and went into the air conditioned building and found Bula print clothing. We both bought some Bula patterned clothing Larry, a Bula shirt, and Claire, a Bula set with a skirt and long tunic. Our final exploration was the colourful, lively Municipal Market close to the pier. The entrance we used had a large display of flower arrangements. Within the covered market were tables of local produce. It is the first place you pass when exiting the port. The Fijian prices were close to to Canadian prices, but with exchange were just two thirds of Canadian prices.

We returned to the ship by noon. At the port entrance, security just wanted to see our ship cards. We had to pass the group of eager tour operators trying to sell you a tour. We spotted the ship’s hospitality tent where we were offered ice cold water or lemonade before entering the air conditioned ship. We had walked 8.84 kilometres. The noon temperature was 32°C. Steps so far 12,752

Our clothes were soaked with sweat and were sidelined for the laundry bag. After showers, we enjoyed frappés in the Library Café and reviewed our morning adventure.

After changing for dinner, we enjoyed the last ten minutes of Vivace Duo in the Explorers Lounge before meeting our table mates for dinner in the dining room and after dinner coffee at the Library Café.

The captain made an announcement during dinner that the planned destination on January 24th, Dravuni Island, would not have repairs to its tender dock completed in time for the visit. Instead, the new destination is Savusavu, on Fiji’s second largest island, Vanua Levu island, known as the “Hidden Paradise”. The Shore Excursions team is busy arranging tour choices which should appear on the app later this evening.

Before the 7:30 p.m. World Stage show, we returned to the Explorers Lounge to hear a full Vivace Duo concert. After they finished, we passed the World Stage and heard the Buddy Holly tribute performer as we continued to our stateroom. Then we watched the 2003 movie, Something’s Gotta Give with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton.

Total steps 16,704