Six days of Fiji hopping

Hey friends!

After six days of island hopping in Fiji, without internet, sometimes without electricity and water, but with so many wonderful experiences and great new acquaintances, I'm back on my blog. 😊

On Sunday, the alarm clock rang at 5:30 in the morning. We got dressed, packed our bags, checked out, and had a quick breakfast. At 6:30, the taxi driver picked us up. Two other girls were already in the taxi, once again from Germany 😅. So we drove together to the harbor, checked in for our trip, and then at 8:00 o'clock sharp, we got on the ferry. On the ferry, we talked a lot with the girls, enjoyed the sun, and took a nap.

After a four-hour journey, we finally reached our first destination, Nacula. Unfortunately, the girls had booked a different trip and got off one island earlier.

On the island, we were warmly received directly on the beach. Then we were taken to the dining area, where we waited for the other new arrivals on the island. As everyone arrived, we had lunch and got to know each other a bit.

After lunch, we got our rooms. Mareike and I were in a 4-bed room with another girl, who also comes from Germany. 😅

After we settled into our room, we got ready for the beach. We spent the whole day there, sleeping, swimming, and sunbathing. In the early evening, we booked some activities that you can do on and around the island.

In the evening, everyone from the accommodation had dinner together. They served a 3-course meal. For the starter, there was pumpkin soup, for the main course, baked fish with potatoes, sauce, and salad, and for dessert, cake. After dinner, we all had to introduce ourselves (name/country), which revealed that out of about 30 guests, 29 came from Europe and one girl came from Brazil. Germany was the most represented country.
By the way, all guests were backpackers and of a similar age. To make the evening nice, the staff asked all guests from their respective countries to sing the national anthem. We also played a game where the winners received a free beer.

After that, Mareike and I went to bed because we were so tired from the day.😴


On the 2nd day, which was Monday, we slept until 7:30 because breakfast was served at 8 o'clock. They had set up a small buffet with pancakes, toast, scrambled eggs, and cornflakes.

At 9 o'clock, we took part in an excursion. We and ten others from our accommodation went to a cave that was really beautiful and where you could go swimming. It was just a two-minute walk with slippery stairs from the beach to the cave. Once we arrived there, we jumped into the water and enjoyed the moment. After a few minutes, a local told us that there was another cave next door and that you could reach it through a narrow tunnel. However, this tunnel was not wider than a meter, it was pitch-dark, and you had to dive through it. This combination of narrowness, water, and darkness caused me quite a panic, so I decided not to do it.

When we came out of the cave, we went to a small village where the locals had their souvenirs. We strolled from stand to stand and also found a few small things. Then we went back to the boat and returned.

Upon arriving at the accommodation, we had lunch straight away. We took our time with the meal because we talked a lot with our table neighbors.

After lunch, we lay on the beach for about an hour and rested from the exhausting morning 😅.

After that, we went with a group from our accommodation to the Blue Lagoon and went snorkeling. For over an hour, we could admire the beautiful coral reefs and underwater animals. Then we relaxed on the beach for a while before returning to our island and accommodation.

We spent the rest of the afternoon just lying on the beach and doing nothing. 🥰

We climbed a small hill with Mareike to have a nice view of the island at sunset. 🌅

In the evening, all guests ate dinner together and chatted. There was another 3-course menu. For the starter, there was vegetable soup, for the main course, (sweet) potatoes, chicken legs, sauce, and salad, and for dessert, fruit salad.

After that, Mareike and I played a few rounds of Mau Mau with our roommate before I went to bed and the other two went to the bonfire at the beach. I would have loved to go there too, but my body needed some rest. 😴


Tuesday started as usual with breakfast at 8 o'clock, but this time it was a little different. They served cornflakes and toast, but instead of pancakes and scrambled eggs, there were noodles and tasteless bread.

After breakfast, we went out to the sea. We took part in a reef hopping tour. We visited three different coral reefs and observed the beautiful creatures of the underwater world. I finally saw Nemo!! 🤩

When we returned to the accommodation, lunch was served for those who were leaving the island. Immediately after that, the ferry came and took us to the island, Manu, which was three hours away and our second of three islands.

When we arrived there, we were warmly welcomed again and taken to our accommodation. We stayed in a homestay for two nights. Our accommodation was a house of the island's inhabitants. We lived with them under one roof, shared the shower/bathroom, and even ate together. It was really great to get to know the typical life of the residents. This accommodation had no running water, so we showered with rainwater from a barrel and a small bucket. It was cool to experience something different and not have the everyday luxury.

After we were welcomed with coffee, tea, and cookies, we went to the beach with Sina and Maren, a sibling couple we met at the hostel in Nadi, and spent the rest of the day there. We also watched the sunset together before we briefly separated and had dinner in our respective homes. We had rice with fried vegetables and meat, marinated in curry sauce, so delicious!

Afterward, we met up again with the girls and wanted to go to a bonfire on the beach that our homestay daddy told us about, but we couldn't find it 😅. So we decided to go back and play Phase 10 together. We played a complete round and chatted with each other. After that, we went our separate ways and went to bed. 😴

On Wednesday, the alarm clock was supposed to go off at 6:30, but the crowing rooster took on that task at 6:00 😅.

Breakfast was served at 7 o'clock, fried pancakes with jam and fruit.

At around 8:00, we went out to the sea and went snorkeling with sharks!! 🤩🦈 It was incredible, seven sharks swam around us and they were so peaceful.

After that, the day was rather lousy. I got a massive tonsillitis on Tuesday, and since there is no doctor on the small islands, I tried to relieve the pain with paracetamol.

We spent the morning lying on the beach and swimming. After lunch, I lay down for an hour, hoping it would make me feel a bit better - unfortunately, in vain.

Nevertheless, Mareike and I went to a village school on the other side of our island. They were celebrating "World Thinking Day." The children and teachers were thrilled that we were celebrating with them. A speech was even held just for us, and a welcome song was sung. 😳 The children sang and performed little role plays before there was lots of cake to celebrate the day.

We returned to our homestay around half past 4. We had originally wanted to participate in a sunset hike, but I had too much pain to do it, and Mareike also didn't want to go alone, which is understandable. So we decided to go for a walk on the beach and watch the sunset. I drank a lot of tea in the hope that it would improve the infection.

After that, we had dinner, fresh fish caught in the morning with potatoes and sauce. Even though I don't eat fish, I have to admit that it tasted really good, even though I couldn't eat much due to the tonsillitis.

After dinner, we played a few rounds of Mau Mau with our roommate before I went to bed and the other two went to the bonfire on the beach. I would have liked to go there too, but my body needed some rest. 😴


After a rather lousy night from Wednesday to Thursday, because of the severe pain and swelling, I could only sleep for 2 hours. Our homestay daddy noticed this and took care of me. He made me tea and gave me some leaves to suck the juice out of to reduce the swelling. Just in time for sunrise, our homestay daddy drove us to the main island, Nadi, a 45-minute drive.

There we took a taxi and were taken to the nearest hospital. In the hospital, they didn't want to see my travel insurance, I had to pay in cash to be treated. So I paid the amount and was sent from one counter to the next 🙄. In the end, we managed to get to the emergency room. There, they checked my blood pressure and fever, but there were no abnormalities. Then we waited for about 30 minutes until I saw the doctor. He examined my throat, looked at the swelling, and prescribed me to take 6-8 paracetamol and 3 ibuprofen a day (the dosage in Fiji is not as high as in Germany) because the body should treat the infection itself, although I'm a bit skeptical about that.

When I wanted to pick up my medication because there is a pharmacy right in the hospital, I had to get a number and wait until my medication was prepared.

After the hospital visit, which ended at around 10 o'clock, we visited McDonald's and had breakfast there.

After McDonald's, we returned to the harbor to get to our third and final island of our island hopping tour. Unfortunately, when we arrived there, we were disappointed to find out that there was no boat to Mana (our island). So we decided to call a new taxi and drive to the other harbor.

The taxi driver drove a bit faster for us so that we could arrive at the harbor just before 1 o'clock to quickly buy a ticket for the 1 o'clock ferry, but it was fully booked 🙄. So, in order to even get to Mana, we had to dig a little deeper into our pockets and take a slightly more expensive boat. But it doesn't make a difference, if we had said we're not going to Mana and stayed in Nadi, we would have paid for two nights twice, the ferry back to Nadi, and the taxi for nothing.

However, the ferry we booked left two hours later. But the Denarau Harbor is like a shopping center where time really flew by quickly.

Finally, at 4:30, we arrived at Mana and our accommodation. They had been waiting for us all day. 😅 And because we arrived so late, the room that was intended for us was already occupied, so we got a double room instead. For something or other, this whole thing had to be good!🤩
After that, we just lay on the beach and relaxed. 😴

In the evening, there was dinner, which I couldn't really eat. We got to know two guys from Germany and spent the evening together.

We talked a lot and watched the fire and dance show performed by the staff of our accommodation. 🔥🕺

On Friday, the last day of our island hopping tour, we went to Cast Away Island in the morning, where the movie 'Cast Away' with Tom Hanks was filmed. We were shown around the island and shown various places where certain scenes were shot. We also hiked to the highest point of the island and marveled at the beautiful view. However, it wasn't my best idea to climb the mountain with tonsillitis, so I felt pretty bad afterwards. 🙄🤦🏼‍♀️
After that, we went swimming at the beach, which was really good for me; the cooling off felt so good. But now I can at least say that I have swum at the same beach as Tom Hanks 🤓.

On the way back, Mareike started feeling unwell too; she had a sunstroke 🙄. So we spent the rest of the day chilling, but of course in the shade, with the two German guys.

In the evening, when it cooled down, the sun set, and we both felt a bit better, Mareike and I went to a sunset point to have a better view of the sunset and the island. Fiji really has the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. 🤩🌅

After that, we had dinner, which I could once again hardly eat, so I made myself instant noodles to swallow the hot broth.
Afterward, we played table tennis and cards. In between, we lay on the sun loungers to watch the starry sky because it is even more beautiful than anywhere else. 😍

Sending you greetings from the Fiji Islands! 🇫🇯

Yours, Jojo 💫

P.S. Unfortunately, the internet is so bad that I can't upload a single picture. 🥺