In Flight USA - December 2017

E

arlylast summ er,Ihop ped onan
11-h our flight from Los Ang eles
to Nand i, Fiji. Located in the
South Pa cific Oce an just west of the
Int er nati onal Da teline, approximately
2, 800 mi les east ofAust ral ia and1,600
mi les no rthof New Zeal and, Fij iis an
archip elago of more than 33 0 islan ds ,
1 00of wh ich are per manentl yinh abi ted.
In a previous article, I rha pso dized
over on eofFij i’s oute rislan ds–Vo mo.
After seve ral dayson that islan d, we he ad-
edtoViti Le vu, themain island in theFiji
arch ipela go, wh ich the loc als affection ate -
lyrefer to as “Th eMainlan d. ”
We bo arded the Airbus AS35 5Twin
Sq uirr el Helicopter and too k off fro m
Vomo Island .This part of theocean is
pe pp ered wi thsmallislands .Du rin gthe
15 -minut efligh tthe water was soclear,
we neve rlost sight of the ocean bott om
from ou r10 0-f eet- above-s ea- lev el fli gh t.
As we appr oach ed ou r int eri m sto p at
Toko riki Isl and, the clear wh ite sand y
be achcame into vi ew. The wat ers were
bu stling withsnor ke lers who cou ldmere -
ly step from the be ach and head for the
cora lreefs. But first ,aperfun cto ry hi sto -
ryand ge ogr aphy lesso n.

ABrief Hi stor y

Abou t 150 million years ago , vo l-
cani cactivi ty eruptedin the Sou th Pa cifi c.
Oneaus pi ciou sresu ltwas theformation of
the Fiji Islands. Hi sto ria ns tell ustha tFiji
wassettle dsomewhere arou nd35 00 BC.
ThePo lynesians ,people known for their
seafarin g skil ls, like ly di scover ed the
island .There is some evid enc e tha t the
Melan esian cultu re als o settle d on the
island sduring thesame perio d.
Of cour se, as ne wsett lers arrived ,
incessant warf are became the past ime.
So me ofthe more pop ular local cuisi nes
and war rati ons wer ederi ved fro mcan ni-
ba lism .One guy, Ratu Udre, claim sto
ha veconsum ed over 800 people.
Abe lTa sman,theDutch East Ind ia
Com pany expl orer after whom the
Tasma nianSea was named, stop ped by
Fi ji in 164 3. Other European s, con sist ing
of missi onari es, traders and wh alers ,fol -
lowe dinthe19 th century. In 18 74 ,the
British added Fi ji toits empire anddevel -
op edthesugar pl antati ons. Amo ngoth er
things, the Br itish imported an epidemic
of me asle s, wh ich took the liv es of over
40 ,00 0Fi jians.

In19 70 ,the Br itish gran ted independ-

ence toFiji. Dem ocra tic rule ens ued,but

wasint erruptedinthe 1980s bytwo mili -

tarycoups .Aser iesof new constitutio ns

fol low ed the cou ps and Fiji is now a

repub lic. Add itional coups emerg ed in

2000 and 20 06 .The courts overtu rned A

2009 coup .What ever gov ernm ental con-

figu ration sur vi ves tod ay seem s beyond

the com pr ehensi onof all butthemosteru-

ditepo litical sci entists .Su ffice it to say

tha t, asatou rist,Ifelt free, comfortab le,

secur e and bereft of any gover nm ental

imp osi tionon my trav els .Lo cals appear

happ yandcont ent.Tod ay, thegover nmen t

iscomp ose dofademocratically elected

parliamen tand aPr ime Minis ter.

Cu rrentpo pul atio nconsi sts prim ari -

ly of ind igenou s Fiji ans who migra ted

from Melane sia and Polyn esia. Oth ers

areIndo- Fi jians, de scenda nts of Ind ian

labor ers br ought to Fiji by Br itish

colon ists inthe180 0s. Asmall seg ment

ofthepo pul atio ncons ists of imm igra nts

from Ro tuma Island, Eur ope andChi na.

Geo gr ap hyand Cl ima te

VitiLevu ,thelarge stisland in Fiji ha s

a pop ul ation of 60 0,0 00 peop le. Alo ng

with Va nu a Le vu, the second largest

island ,these two acco untfor87per cen tof

thetotalpopul ationof 89 8,000.

Fiji me asur es 90 miles long and 60

mil es wide –simi lar ,bu tslightl ysma lle r

in siz etha nthe sta te of Ne wJerse y. Fiji

cover sabo ut 75, 000 squa remi les, 10 per-

cent of whic hisland. The twoma in cities

areSuva and Nan di. Suva ,the pr imar y

seapor talongthe south eas tshor eof Viti

Le vu, is the capit al.

The warm, tropica lma rin eclima te

pr odu ces hott er weather from No vem ber

to Apri l. Ra inf all is frequ ent. Cyc lone s

oc cur with some frequen cy.

Fiji is endowed with dense forests,

mineralsandfarmland.Fish populationsare

abundant.Natural resourcesincludetimb er,

fish, gold, copper,hydropowe randoffshore

oil.Sugarcaneproductionandtourism are

hugecomp onentsofthe economy.

In addit ion to Vom oRe sor t, Iwas

imp res sed with the fol lowi ng tworesor ts.

Shera ton Res or t & Spa, To koriki

Island,Fiji,800/325-3535,www.s heraton

tokorikiisland.com.

Abo ut 20 mil es off the ma inla nd

nor thw est of Na ndi ther eis ama gni ficent

min i-a rch ipel ago called the Ma manuca

Isl ands. The movi eCast Awaywas

filmed he re.Wit hin this gr oup ofisl ands,

jus ta15- mi nut ehe lic opte ror seapla ne

jaunt from Nadi Airportoroneho urby

boa t, isthesec lude dSheratonResortand

Spa .Th isrelaxinggetaway, withitstrop-

ical isl and breezes, is ideal for water

activi tie ssuc has jetskiing, windsurfing,

divin gand snorkeling.

Roo ms range frommodern,com for t-

ablebeachfront qu arters tohug esuit eswith

theirownplunge pool s. For ultim ate priva -

cy,guest qu arter saredisp ersed throughou t

theacreage. Fo rgr eatersec lusi on, some of

therecreatio nareas aredivid ed into sec-

tionsfor adult sandchild ren.

TheSp ais peacefully ne stle dwithi n

theadults-on ly sideof the isla nd.Aran ge

oflocal Fijian style spatreatment sfro ma

deep massa ge to a bri dal bli ss can be

enjoyed wi thinthis tra nquil islandsetting.

This resor tis alsodedicatedtokids.

The La ila iKids Club gui des childrenin

the devel opme nt of play, educ ationand

soc ializi ng ski lls. Ac tivities sup ervi sed

by an expe rt staff he lp kids sharpe n

hea lth ybody bui lding talents.Kidscan

create be aut ifu lsandartor makeflower

bra cele tsand nec klacesfor theirpa rent s.

The y can explor e rock formation s and

eng age in both wa ter and landsports.

The resort ha sanexc ellent choi ceof

resta ur ant s. Th eFlyingFi shoffersavari-

ety of menu sthr ougho utthe day.Daily

the med buff ets di splay tempting selec-

tions from aroun d the world includi ng

sea food ,me atsandpastas.

The outdoor ReefBistroisavibrant

café-styl eve nue, servi ngtapasand pizza

at lunch tim e and trans for ming into a

vibr antrelaxe dfoodandbeveragesve nue

in the eve nings.

If yo uarepla nni ngawedding ,the re

arefewbe tte rspot sthantheSheraton ’s

wedd inglawn, whi chflowsrigh ttothe

bea ch.

Beach act ivities include paddle

boa rdi ng, scuba diving,snorkelingand

jetskiing –or justhang ingoutatthis

imma culat ebe ach.

Fij i Ma rr iott Resort Momi Ba y

http://www. ma rri ot t.com/hotels/travel/nanmc-

fij i-m arriott- resort-momi-bay

This fiv e-sta rresortrecently opened

December 2017 http://www.inflightusa.com 29

StuartJ.Faber

andAuntBea

Flying With Faber

Con tin ued on Page 30

EXP LO RI NGTHE FIJI MAI NLA ND

Beau tifu lTok or ikiBeach. (Courte sy Sher aton Hot el)

Ae rialView,FijiMarri ott Resort Momi

Ba y. (Cou rtesy Fij iMarr iott)

Momi Ba yMarriott.

(Co ur tesy Fij iMar riott )