February 1 found us in the harbor of Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, located on this country’s biggest island, Guadalcanal.  Inhabited for thousands of years Guadalcanal was first visited by Europeans in 1568, during which a Spanish expedition named the island after an Andalusian village of the same name.  The first European settlers showed up in the 18th century and by 1899 the Solomons had become an undisputed British colony.  Tens of thousands of Solomon Islanders were forcibly taken to work in Australia during the 19th century by Blackbirding ships.  By the first half of the 20th century the Solomon Islands’ economy was based on large plantations owned by white settlers, many from Australia.

    The name Guadalcanal is known to westerners mostly because of its key role in World War II.  The six month battle for Guadalcanal during 1942 and 43 was the first offensive land victory by the Allies against the Japanese.  The Japanese had swept through Southeast Asia at the beginning of the war and for a while looked to be unstoppable.  But their occupation of Guadalcanal was as far as they would get.  The US decided to attack this island when it was learned that the Japanese were building an airfield here that would threaten Australia and the rest of the islands in this area and broaden the defensive perimeter for the Japanese gains in Southeast Asia.  This was the first of many amphibious landings on Pacific islands that brought allied air forces ever closer to Japan during the next years.

     It appears that the town of Honiara did not exist before World War II.  It grew after the war at the site of the wartime US military headquarters.  It  has been the capital of the Solomon Islands since 1952, apparently because the old capital, Tulagi, had been badly damaged during the war.  Its population is now about 130,000.

     Unfamiliar with this area, we were rather uncertain about what we would do here before the voyage began.  We wanted to see as much as we could of the battle sites from World War II but at the time we first looked (pretty early) HAL was only offering two excursions and both were already full.  There didn’t seem to be too much to see within walking distance so we put ourselves on a waitlist and crossed our fingers.  It took a while but a couple of places opened up on the excursion that looked best to us and it turned out to visit many of the main battle locations, so we were happy about that (although the mostly silent guide was another story).  We climbed on the small bus (of which there were several) and headed out onto the main road.  But on our way to the bus we passed an interesting music and dance performance by a local group on the dock. 

     Our first stop was the airport, opened in 1969 on the site of the runway the Japanese were constructing that was the main objective of the invasion of Guadalcanal.  Construction began in early July 1942 and was reported to the Allied military by coast watchers, private individuals who stayed hidden near the coast of occupied islands, often behind enemy lines, to radio intelligence to the Allies about  Japanese activities.  Local indigenous men supporting this activity were called “scouts,” two of whom were instrumental in the rescue of most of the crew of PT 109, the boat commanded by John F. Kennedy, after it sank in these waters during 1943 after being rammed by a Japanese destroyer.  On our way out of the port we passed a monument to the coast watchers and scouts, many of whom did not survive the war. 

     The Allied effort was developed very quickly and the American landings began on August 7, which turned out to be the day after the Japanese celebrated nearing the completion of the runway construction.  The American Marines quickly completed the runway so the first Allied airplane could land just five days later on August 12.  The Japanese made repeated efforts to retake the field but to no avail.  Possession of the only airfield on the island was crucial to the battle, for it enabled the Allies to reinforce and reprovision their troops and prevented the Japanese from doing the same. 

     The Americans named the airfield Henderson Field after the first American aviator killed during the battle of Midway.  It was abandoned after the war but was renovated and reopened in 1979 and renamed Honiara International Airport.  The inside of the airport looked . . . like an airport, although it did have some interesting decorations reflecting local art and culture.   Outside we passed an old anti-aircraft gun as we walked to the Memorial Garden.  This is a large grove of 500 trees, planted in straight rows like soldiers on parade, some with plaques, that honor the people who died during the Battle of Guadalcanal.  In the center are three large stones with plaques dedicated to the US Marines and others who fought in the Pacific war.

     Our next stop was at Red Beach, the site of the first US amphibious landing of World War II.  On our way there we drove along what we were told was the old Henderson Field runway built during World War II which is now part of the Honiara airport.  It has been upgraded and extended twice during the 80 years since the war.  While driving around Guadalcanal we passed many interesting markets and neighborhoods with typical local construction, mostly wooden and many looking somewhat less than sturdy.

     At Red Beach (a US military code name) we saw the site of the initial landing in Guadalcanal by the Marines on August 7, 1942.  To their surprise there was no Japanese resistance at all.  If the area looked then as it does today this was a very good thing because the beach was rather narrow and there was a steep hill to climb to progress beyond it.  Reports from coast watchers and US intelligence (which had broken the Japanese military code) indicated there were several thousand Japanese soldiers in the area but most of those turned out to be Korean laborers rather than soldiers.  They dispersed into the jungle to await the departure of what they thought were raiders, but the Marines were there to stay. 

     After landing the Marines found themselves in a precarious position because losses during a furious and destructive naval battle the next night led to withdrawal of the ships that were supposed to be landing more troops and supplies of food and ammunition.  Two days after landing the Marines captured the Japanese air field along with the food and provisions of the soldiers and construction crews there who dispersed into the jungle when they arrived.  Within a week of the landings the field was ready to receive airplanes.  Just in the nick of time too because even with the captured Japanese food they only had enough for another week, despite rations having been reduced to two meals a day. 

     On the hill above Red Beach is a small monument marking the Marine landings and also an old rusted Japanese anti-aircraft gun.  Nearby is a village whose people appeared to have been to church the we visited, a Sunday.  Some nicely dressed little girls circulated among the visitors selling flowers.  The area was full of beautiful flowers and other flora.

     The first Japanese attempt to recapture the air field took place two weeks after the initial landing, at a battle mistakenly named for the Tenaru River (it turned out to be Alligator Creek instead).  The overconfident Japanese unit was almost completely destroyed.  This area was called “Hell’s Point” because of all the Japanese bodies spread out over the beach.  Overlooking this battle was a Japanese ammunition dump which the Americans fortified and then used as their own fuel and ammunition dump.  In November of 1943 a grass fire ignited the ammunition dump causing a fire that raged for three days.  Today this area is still off limits to the public because it is thought to be full of unexploded ordnance.  We stopped at the entrance, but just for photos because you can’t go through the gate.  An old military vehicle is permanently left by this gate holding signs that say “Danger,” “Bombs” and also “Tabu,” which means forbidden in the indigenous Pacific languages (sometimes written “Kapu” or “Tapu” or “Taboo”).

     Henderson airfield continued to be the primary Japanese target on Guadalcanal.  The Americans had established an armed perimeter of Marines to protect it from further attempts by the Japanese to retake it.  Sure enough, about a month after the initial US landings the Japanese landed a force of about 6,000 soldiers transferred from Rabaul in New Guinea to retake the airfield, mistakenly believing there were only about 2,000 US Marines on the entire island.  Their intelligence was, however, faulty: there actually were more than 12,000 US troops at and near the airfield.

     The battle began when the Japanese attacked at about 11:30 PM on September 12 and over the ensuing two nights 830 Japanese and a little more than 100 Marines were killed.  The American troops were arrayed on and in front of a formidable ridge of very steep hills 80 to 120 feet high and the Japanese attacked generally from the South and East, somewhat weakened by days transiting the jungle and then crossing the Lunga River.  The Japanese charged several times up the hills and there was a good deal of hand to hand fighting, both below and on top of the ridge.  At one point a group of Japanese soldiers actually made it past the perimeter to a secondary runway at the air field but were stopped by Marine engineers stationed there as they tried to climb into US airplanes to destroy them. 

     The Marines defending the ridge were under the command of Colonel Merritt Edson, who was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor, and ever afterward it has been known as Edson’s Ridge (also Bloody Ridge).  We visited both of the primary positions (Hill 80 and Hill 123) on this ridge and we can tell you we would not have wanted to be a soldier required to charge up those steep hills with enemy soldiers firing down at us.  The fighting didn’t end with this battle, of course.  But finally in February, 1943, it did end when the Japanese abandoned Guadalcanal and withdrew all their troops.

     On the top of the ridge we saw two memorials.  The first was a small white monument commemorating “The Guadalcanal War Dead” apparently placed in 1985 by a Japanese organization.  The other was a six foot tall US memorial to “THE BATTLE OF BLOODY RIDGE.”  It says “THIS MONUMENT IS DEDICATED TO ALL THE U.S. MARINE RAIDERS WHO SERVED ON GUADALCANAL AND IN THE SOLOMON ISLANDS.”  On the side panels is a summary of the battle.  The inscription is in gold on gray granite and the sun was behind the monument, so the inscription isn’t readable in the picture.  We also encountered a tiny bit of wildlife on top of the ridge.

     On August 7, 1992, the 50th anniversary of the landing at Red Beach, the United States dedicated a large memorial to the Americans and allies who were killed during the 6 months of the Guadalcanal campaign.  A memorial ceremony is held here every year on August 7.  The memorial is located on a hill just south of Honiara and its view extends to the harbor where our ship was docked and beyond into what is called Ironbottom Sound, the sea on this side of the island where more than 50 ships from both sides were sunk during the Guadalcanal campaign.  The memorial has a number of freestanding red marble walls, each of which points to where a battle was fought and contains an account of that battle. 

     The white star in the first picture just above marks the spot where the remains of an unknown Marine were found during the construction of the memorial.  He  was identified later as Sgt John Branic and he is now interred in Arlington National Cemetery.  There is a bronze plaque in the middle of the white star marking the spot where he was found.  This was our last stop on this excursion, which more than met our original expectations, so we drove back to the ship and sailed away before dinner.

     We anchored in the harbor off Port Vila on the morning of January 30.  Port Vila is the capital and largest city (population almost 50,000) in the Republic of Vanuatu, an archipelago of 83 islands (two disputed with New Caledonia) with a total population around 300,000.  Originally settled by Melanesians several thousand years ago Vanuatu was first visited briefly by Europeans in 1722, then later by the French explorer Bougainville and in 1774 by Captain Cook, who named the archipelago New Hebrides after the Hebrides islands of Scotland.  British and French settlers arrived in small numbers during the 19th century and in 1887 those two countries set up a joint rule that lasted until independence in 1980, at first under a joint Naval administration and beginning in 1906 under a joint civil administration called a “Condominium.”  After independence was achieved in 1980 the name was changed from New Hebrides to Vanuatu.

     The Americans had a large military presence during World War II because, like New Caledonia, Vanuatu was strategically situated to support the effort to stop Japanese expansion in the Southwest Pacific.  One of the US soldiers stationed here was James Michener, whose first novel, “Tales of the South Pacific” (which became the hit musical “South Pacific”), was based on his experiences in Vanuatu.  Vanuatu was a staging and supply area for the Guadalcanal campaign and as the fighting moved further away toward Japan it continued in a supply and support role. Thousands of indigenous people joined a labor corps to support the American war effort. The Americans quickly withdrew after the war but a great deal of the infrastructure they built (roads, ports, hospitals, etc.) was left behind and some of it is still in use.

     Until recently cruise ships docked in Port Vila at a wharf about a mile from the center of town.  But in December of 2024, about 14 months before our visit, there was a huge earthquake about 5 miles offshore.   More than a dozen people were killed and close to 300 injured.  Thousands of homes were damaged, including some 245 that were at least partially destroyed.  Several bridges collapsed or were damaged and there were several landslides, one of which wrecked the cruise ship wharf and damaged the road from there into town.  So that’s why we were anchored off shore.

     Accordingly we had to tender into Port Vila.  This actually turned out to be a convenience for us because we were tendered to a small dock in a park from which we could walk to the center of town in just a block or two.  The waterside park was quite nice, with colorful flowers.  The handicrafts market  –  a large one room building with a pitched roof and ceiling and space for tables of many vendors – was at one end of the park.  We spent some time in there looking at the interesting items for sale, then walked on.

     As we walked from here up to the main thoroughfare the earthquake damage was hard to miss.  At least 10 buildings collapsed in Port Vila, some pancaking (levels dropping on top of lower levels).  A year had been spent since then clearing the debris, but we walked over remaining rubble and some cracked and broken sidewalks and passed several spots on the main street where all or part of a building appeared to be gone.

     We wandered down the street through the business district filled with what seemed to us like nondescript box-like buildings.  Of interest, though, were some wooden sculptures adorning the sidewalks.

     We wanted to visit the Vanuatu Museum so we began a long uphill walk to that area of town, made more challenging by the oppressive heat.  Vanuatu has a lot of resorts and is a well known scuba diving area; we didn’t see anyone diving but we did walk past a place with grass huts built out over the water.  We also walked past a large property lined with palm trees and bright red flowers and the Parliament House, where the Vanuatu legislature meets.  In front of that building is a sculpture of a family called “United in Peace We Progress.”

     We still hadn’t found the museum, but after watching some other folks heading into a property across the street we followed and found the Cultural Center, founded in 1959 and moved to this location in 1995, which houses several institutions including the museum.  As we approached our friend Roger was just leaving.  He said the museum was very interesting, particularly the person inside demonstrating sand drawing, an indigenous art.  But he told us they don’t take credit cards or US money to pay the admission fee, and he didn’t have enough local cash left to lend us some.  We went up to the admissions window and confirmed that they would not bend this rule.  We had no idea where we could get some local currency without another very long walk in the heat so we didn’t get to tour the museum, VERY disappointing after the hot uphill trek to see it!  We got one picture of the front room through the glass door and walked on.  Happily the National Library, which includes a public library, was in a building very close by.  They were closing for the lunch hour when we arrived but they let us step inside and look around the front hall.  A very impressive modern building.  For some reason (senior moment?) Rick took some pictures inside the library but not of the outside.  It’s front looks a lot like the front of the museum building below.

    Walking back down to the main street we passed several interesting wall paintings and a traffic circle ringed with drawings and with four totem poles in the middle.  The traffic had picked up and there was no light or stop sign at the intersection, but drivers politely stopped for us to cross.  The people of Port Vila in general seem to be very nice and friendly, usually saying hello or waving as we passed by, in addition to stopping their cars to let us cross.

     We came to a park with a very long and steep stairway leading down to the lower street level.  We walked down the stairway and headed back to the tender dock.  We passed a restaurant with a sign advertising the local beer, Tusker (a lot of pigs are grown in this region) and we walked through the large and mostly open Mama’s Market by the water’s edge, where food, handicrafts and even full dinners were for sale.  We walked through an area in the market dedicated to very colorful flowers.  Finally reaching the tender pier, we rode the next tender back to the Zaandam.  Before dinner, as usual, we sailed away for the Solomon Islands.

     We spent January 28 in Noumea, the capital and largest city (population about 85,000) in New Caledonia.  Originally settled by Melanesians some 5,000 years ago, New Caledonia is today an overseas “collectivity” of France.  Three referenda on independence have been held in the last few years, resulting in two close votes to remain part of France and one vote that was boycotted by independence advocates (mostly indigenous Melanesians, called “Kanaks”), but the legitimacy of all these votes is disputed because of the rules on who could vote.

     Captain Cook became the first European to visit the main island of Grande Terre in 1774 and he named it New Caledonia because its mountains reminded him of Scotland.  Christian missionaries first showed up in the 1840’s and France took possession in 1853. The first European settlement in what is now the Noumea area was British but the French moved in nearby in 1854 as part of their ambition to control the island.  Originally called Port-de-France the French renamed it Noumea in 1866.  From 1864 to 1897 the French operated a penal colony here holding a total of 22,000 prisoners over the years, and other deportees (including 4,000 leaders of the 1871 Paris Commune) were also sent here.  France promoted immigration of others – French, Australian, Polynesians, etc. – to develop the economy. After the penal colony closed Noumea was a shipping port for nickel and gold mined nearby.  Political strife between Francophiles and Independence advocates has continued off and on through the entire period of French occupation.

     We left the ship after breakfast and stepped out from the cruise terminal into the middle of town.  Noumea played an important part in the World War II Pacific campaign, an experience that completely transformed the city.  When the United States entered the war Noumea was a quiet town of about 10,000 people (mostly Europeans, since the indigenous Kanaks were not permitted free movement from the interior).  It was chosen to be the headquarters of the US military in the Pacific mainly because it was out of reach of Japanese land based planes.  The first Americans arrived just a few months after Pearl Harbor, more than doubling the city’s population overnight and eventually growing to about 50,000 Americans.  They built roads, harbors and an air field (still  Noumea’s airport); many structures left behind when the war ended are still in use by the New Caledonians.  The important invasions of Guadalcanal and Okinawa were organized, provisioned and launched from the US Navy base in Noumea.

     So one of the prime places we wanted to visit was the World War II Museum, which was within easy walking distance.  Opened in 2013 the War Museum is in a large Quonset hut built by the Americans in 1943. 

    We spent several hours in the museum exploring the many exhibits explaining life on the island during the American stay.  In fact, the museum’s displays were much fuller of photos and written content than actual artifacts (although some of the artifacts they had were pretty interesting).  Unfortunately for us the written displays were in French and only some had English translations (and the English versions too often were mounted quite low and could only be read by bending over or squatting down long enough to read them, something of a challenge for people our age).  Near the entrance was an old jeep that visitors were invited to enter for photos, and above it was a mural of dancers taken from a movie theater of the time, the Cinema Hickson.

     The exhibits were interesting and informative but not photogenic.  There was a wall of war posters, however, that should be of interest to young people familiar with superhero movies:  we could hardly lose the war with Captain America and Superman on our side!  We enjoyed this museum and learned quite a lot about an interesting part of the war we had not previously known much about.

     Upon leaving the museum we walked past the Hotel de Ville (town hall), opened in 1975, and then into  La place des Cocotiers (Coconut Tree Square), a large and attractive green space that is considered the center of town.  It dates to the 1870’s.  The centerpiece of this park is the Celestial Fountain, which has been here since the 1890’s (named after its model, a woman named Celeste).  There was a bit of a scandal about it because the sparsely clothed woman on the fountain was 17 years old. at the time.

     We stopped by the Musee de La Ville (city museum) but it was closed for lunch time, so we walked back the other way to visit the library.  Opened in 1905 the original Bernheim Library (named for a mine owner who was its benefactor) is an interesting example of French colonial architecture, with two stories surrounded by verandas enclosed by balustrades.  The original building was created to be New Caledonia’s pavilion at the 1900 Paris World’s Fair and later relocated to Noumea.  It has a metal framework that may have been designed by Gustave Eiffel. 

     Sadly, the library was closed for renovation when we visited so we only got to see the outside.  Construction crews were active on the old building and also a new and modern looking building sitting maybe 25 feet from the old one with a concrete path between. We understand that a new building built on that site in 1981 proved inadequate and is being replaced.  The entire project began in 2023 and an end date has not yet been specified as far as we can  tell.  On the grounds were some interesting artworks as well.  By the time it is finished this should be a very impressive library.

    In 1875 a new building opened  across the street from La place des Cocotiers to house the first Caledonian bank.  It closed in 1878 because of bankruptcy then reopened in 1880 as the city’s town hall, serving in this capacity until 1975 when the current Hotel de Ville was opened.  After a fire this building was restored and became the colonial style Musee de La Ville (City Museum}, which we had unsuccessfully tried to visit earlier during its lunch hour.

     Inside the museum was very attractive, with a lot of polished wood and a grand stairway to the second floor.  Exhibits included quite a lot about the city’s history, particularly the long history of political struggles and the evolution of city life.  In back was a large enclosed garden with statues and sculptures. Notable is a statue of Admiral Jean-Baptiste Olry, who was governor of New Caledonia from 1878 to 1880.  It stood in Place de La Cocotiers from 1897 until 2021 when it was moved to the museum garden after being replaced with another sculpture.  He was known for the violent suppression of a Kanak uprising during his term, which seems to have been at least part of the reason for retiring his statue to a less prominent spot.

     We walked back to the port noting the flags of France and New Caledonia flying side by side near the Hotel de Ville.  Just before entering the cruise terminal we had an interesting view of a very long and  distinctive building that turned out to be a shopping mall (or at least partially that).  The cruise terminal was right next to it and perhaps an extension of it but we aren’t sure.  You can see what the row of sculptures in front looked like from the top deck of the ship in the first picture of this episode.

     We sailed away, as we usually do, before dinner time.  It was a nice sunny day (although pretty hot) so the sail away through this large harbor was quite beautiful.  We had to sail around a large island (or maybe a curling peninsula) in the middle of the harbor and we encountered a group of sailboats outside it from the yacht harbor a bit down the waterfront.  As we left the harbor the city of Noumea glowed white in the sun as it slowly disappeared from view.

     Lifou is the largest of the Loyalty Islands that make up a province of New Caledonia.  We arrived here on January 27, the first of two ports in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia.  Fewer than 10,000 people live on this island, about 95% of whom are Kanaka, a Melanesian ethnic group whose ancestors arrived more than 3,000 years ago.  It was first spotted by Europeans in the early 19th century and received Christian missionaries around the middle of the century.  The population today is overwhelmingly Christian, including Protestants and Catholics.

    Lifou was once a large coral reef that was uplifted by tectonic forces into an island.  Its surface is mostly flat, no higher than 60 meters above the sea, and there are no rivers or standing water on the surface.  But as we tendered ashore this morning we could see that its shores were lined with very dense green flora.

     An open sided structure had local vendors and musicians to entertain cruise passengers waiting for excursion buses.  This was very helpful because it was a gray day with intermittent rain (and hot and muggy at the same time).  After a longer wait than we would have preferred our bus arrived and we climbed aboard.  As we drove down the road to our first stop we passed a church and a cemetery and several rather isolated houses, but few (if any) neighborhoods.

     Departing the bus we had a pretty good walk through a forest to reach the botanical gardens.  Many colorful flowers and interesting trees were to be seen there.  Vanilla, brought here from Madagascar, is grown by many of the people here and our engaging guide, Flo, gave a talk about how it is grown and cared for in this environment; very labor intensive.  We were served cups of vanilla tea while we were there.

     Driving on toward Jokin we passed many traditional grass or palm leaf huts.  People live in some and some are used for ceremonial purposes.  Even some people living in houses still maintain a traditional hut nearby for ceremonial activities.

     Our final stop was the village of Jokin.  Our guide Flo, who lives here, explained that this was the territory of her tribe, also called Jokin.  She said there are some 39 tribes in the Loyalty Islands, each with its own language.  They communicate with each other in French, which is widely spoken (it is, so to speak, the lingua franca of the area).  We were here mainly to see the Cliffs of Jokin, which was the featured attraction on our excursion and is owned by this tribe.  The cliffs are certainly beautiful, but the water in this area is even more so.  The water is really clear and you can see rocks and coral sitting on the bottom even from a cliff top.  There is a mostly wooden stairway from the village down to the water, but there are more than 200 steps (and another 200+ to get back up) so we passed on that.  The view from the observation platform at the top was plenty.

     In the middle of the village was an unusually large grass or leaf hut.  We were told that this belonged to the chief and was used mainly for ceremonial functions.  We were invited inside, which required bending completely at the waist because the doorways were so low.  Apparently this is done to ensure that anyone entering had to bow low to the chief as they came in.  Several visitors had some trouble entering and Mary chose not to because of her knee issues.  There were two openings and we were asked to enter only through the left one because that is the tradition.  A huge scaffold made of tree trunks and branches had been erected in the middle of the room because the leafy thatch of the roof and walls were being replaced, a task that must be done about every five years.  If I (Rick) remember correctly the chief had another hut to live in that was not far away.

     This is, as we have seen, an island thick with flora so it was no surprise to find many interesting plants on the grounds of the village.

     We were invited into an open but roofed structure, sort of like a porch, where we were given headbands braided from leaves with red flower buds in the front.  Mary put hers around the crown of her hat.  There was also a small buffet of delicious fresh fruit and each of us was given a cup of (if I remember correctly) coconut water.  Sitting on some rocks nearby was a woven turtle.

     Last we were shown the village church.  Very simple design, inside and out, painted orange with a cemetery outside (the large tomb with an obelisk was dated “1847 – 1892”).  Apparently the people of this archipelago are very devoted Christians and we saw quite a few village churches.

      We drove all the way back to the bus loading facilities on the hill overlooking the tender dock, then returned to the ship.  We spent the night sailing to our next (and last) stop in New Caledonia.

     January 25 found us in Lautoka, the second largest city in Fiji (population more than 70,000), located on the opposite side of the island of Vitu Levu from Suva.  This is sugarcane country and Lautoka is known as “Sugar City.”  Having spent the first two Fiji stops in town we decided we would rather get out and see some of the countryside and some local fauna today.  So we joined a HAL excursion to what was billed as Kula Eco & Wildlife Park, where you could see birds and animals of Fiji.  The description didn’t mention that there would be a two hour bus ride each way!  We left around 9:00 AM. 

     As mentioned above, it was a very long bus trip through the countryside and a few small towns, made longer by a lengthy stop at an upscale art and handicraft store (with some very nice things at not so nice prices).  When we arrived at the park we were surprised to find the sign at the entrance said “Kula Wild Adventure Park” instead of Eco & Wildlife Park that was in the excursion description.  It was pretty apparent from the name and the ambience inside that this was a facility aimed at families with children, including several elaborate playgrounds and signs geared toward youngsters.  The place also offered a zipline and a large water slide.  We saw a lot of colorful Fijian birds and a few animals, although most of them were in cages (albeit large and relatively unconfining ones that visitors could walk through).  Still, it was apparent that the staff there cared about the animals and were quite serious about preserving and caring for them.  The park dates back to the 1980’s when it originated as a bird park.

     Our tour began just inside the entrance where there were several large and colorful Crimson Shining Parrots in relatively small individual cages.  These parrots are endemic to Fiji.  Nearby was a green iguana named Kevin (we think) who was there to be held and petted by visitors.  There are two species of iguana endemic to parts of Fiji, Central Fijian Banded Iguana and Fiji Crested Iguana; this one was a Banded Iguana.  A seasoned entertainer, he got along fine with Mary.

     A shallow concrete pool in this area was home to several Hawksbill sea turtles, a critically endangered species found in oceans worldwide.  The name comes from the bird-like beak they have in lieu of a flat mouth.  They have been widely hunted in the past for their shells, used to make decorative tortoiseshell items, but today they are protected.

     We walked through the dense and well maintained rain forest to the bird houses.  Betel nuts are addictive and slightly intoxicating items that are chewed like gum or tobacco by many people in the Pacific area, often leaving their mouths colored brown.  We were shown one of the plants on which they grow.

     Among the first birds we saw were barn owls, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and some more Crimson Shining Parrots.  A sign said most of the parrots here were donated by illegal owners who had kept them in small home made cages with insufficient diets and brought them here because they were sick.

     Fiji’s only endemic mammal is the Fijian Monkey-faced Bat (also known as Fijian Flying Fox).  It was discovered in 1976 living in a forest on Fiji’s second highest mountain peak.  We saw a few bats hanging in an enclosure and understand that these are flying foxes, which are critically endangered with a total population estimated around 1,000.  Outside in some trees were quite a few bats hanging about but these were too many to be flying foxes, who live in the wild on a different island (Taveuni).

     We saw some more Fijian Banded Iguanas.  The males are banded but the females are completely green on top.  Near the park entrance we had seen an impressive iguana (possibly a crested iguana) about 9 feet long and made apparently of concrete.

     The Collared Lory (also called a Kula) is Fiji’s national bird.  It is a parrot and often found in mating pairs.  They seem to have a lot of bright red birds around here.

     The White Faced Heron can be found throughout Australasia.  They have lived in this part of Viti Levu since 1997.

     We walked back to the area near the entrance where we were served a light lunch.  There were many nice flowers in the forest and we also walked past a Baka Ni Viti twisting around a host tree.  Birds enjoy its fruits and drop undigested seeds into other sorts of trees, which are usually killed as the new tree grows around it.  At one point we walked on a wooden bridge over a picturesque stream and looking down we saw a brightly colored Muscovy Duck swimming in the water.

     After lunch we reboarded the bus for the long drive back to the ship, made longer by several lengthy delays for road construction operations.  Among other things, we passed (in the moving bus) what looked like a small mosque labeled Fiji Muslim League.  Muslims first arrived in Fiji among the indentured servants imported from India to work in sugarcane fields between the 1870’s and 1916 and today they make up about 7"% of Fiji’s population.  Muhammad’s birthday is a Fijian national holiday.  The Fiji Muslim League, which operates schools and mosques, was formed in 1926.

     As we drove along we noticed a number of residential neighborhoods in which one or two houses had a red pennant flying above on a long pole, mostly made of bamboo.  Our guide told us these were Hindu homes and it was mandatory for them to fly a red flag.  We were pretty shocked by this, since it sounded like the Nazis requiring Jewish businesses to paint a star of David on the front.  It turns out that either the guide was wrong or we misunderstood him.  The Fiji government does not require these of Hindus at all.  Instead, these are sacred Hindu prayer flags called Jhandi that identify a sacred space.  So they are associated with Hindu homes, but are placed there voluntarily to signify spirituality.

     We mentioned in previous episode the large community of ethnic Indians in Fiji descended from the indentured servants brought here by the British before World War I to work in the sugarcane fields.  The area we were passing through is an important sugarcane territory so it is not surprising that we encountered a colorful Hindu temple.  We think this was in the town of Nadi and is called Sri Siva Subramaniya Temple.  That is the name of the largest Hindu temple in the Pacific.  It was opened in 1994 on the site of a previous temple that had been there since 1926.  We stopped for pictures but did not have a chance to go in.

     Last but not least we drove past the Sleeping Giant mountain.  Named for a legend about a warrior king who was permitted by deities to rest here after defending the area for many years, the mountain looks strikingly like a man lying on his back.  If you look carefully you can see a nose and an open mouth in the head on the right, a large stomach in the middle and his feet pointing to the sky on the left.  Located in the foothills of the mountain is the “Garden of the Sleeping Giant,” 50 acres with more than 2,000 orchids along with, among other things, rainforest walks and lily ponds.  It was established in 1977 by American actor Raymond Burr of “Perry Mason” and “Ironsides” fame on TV, along with many movies, to house his huge personal collection of orchids and is open to the public.

     We returned to the ship and sailed away from Fiji before dinner for a sea day to rest up before our next port.