When on Tavarua we crawled on the tower that overlooks Cloudbreak so that was cool. It stands pretty tall in the middle of the water and is used for
judging the contests held there. Restaurants however, as shallow as it was, seemed like a “helmet required” wave and you were better off watching it break from the restaurant right out front… hence the name."

LOCAL CUISINE
When we were leaving, 2 of the staff members from Namotu were picking this seaweed that looked like spaghetti squash. They said it was native to Tavarua and you couldn’t find it on Namotu. They spiced it up and served it cold at supper…it was very tasty with a consistency of cold noodles but was slightly crunchy. It was super good and actually really healthy for you!

ENTERTAINMENT
Lovo night was every Thursday night and you had to experience this true Fijian night.
You dress in a traditional sula and bulu shirt or buy one at the little island boutique, then get ready to drink Kava!!!
The Kava we brought was used and the staff played Fijian songs as you basically sat and drank all night after another amazing supper!!
I only made it half way thru the ceremony, as I was super unfortunate to have my gallbladder remind me why I hated eating spicy food and drinking!! So I had gone to bed about 4hrs before everyone that night.
No worries after I took some pain meds and watched the surf out of my bedroom window till I fell a sleep… Wait, I wasn't sleeping, this wasn't a dream- it was real!!!!!!

But I made up for the missed party as our house of people (4 of us) had a Martini Party a couple nights later! Super, super fun! Way too many different flavors going around and before I knew it the house was fully decorated... I know, have another couple martinis hey?
I got stoked out for my first year in accommodations. Most people were in 1-4 man Bures, small but very comfy for a couple, but I got to stay in a fully furnished 3 bedroom, 2bathroom (full) house with our own private swimming pool and spa. Back deck looked towards Swimming Pools and out front- actually my bedroom window, overlooked
Namotu Lefts. So yes, my surf check was really done from my bed every morning. (There used to be a co-owner and it was his house.)

SUPERSTAR STATUS
One cool highlight is some of the staff thought I was on the pro tour and there early for the GLOBE event, how extreme their guess was, but it was because I was the only girl surfing, and 1 of 4 girls from our group. Once home I’ve kept in touch with most of our group and became good friends with Kevin – it was funny ‘cause I heard after the fact that the first day we arrived they all wondered what kind of surfer I was and then when I opened my surf bag and they saw me fully prepared with a quiver of boards for every surf we would face, I got kudos before I ever caught a wave!!! Thanks Boys!!!!

GOLF IN THE TROPICS
The last Saturday of the trip we took a boat ride to Plantation Island to play golf which was tradition. Often surf was windy or you were needing a day to rest so the group always planned this. It was perfect!!!
NEVER have I golfed in flip flops, taken double and triple bogeys, could clearly see at least 3 types of mosquitoes on the course and never ever have I golfed with a digger in the middle of a fairway nor have I seen anything like the sign that clearly said "Lose ball you pay us $1.00 !!"
Super hilarious since we paid to use the balls, and of course none of us played the game when it came down to it, it was just fun, and more so to cool off by driving around on a golf cart and drinking all day!! It was HOT to have a designated boat driver home!! It was so fun no one even cared who said they could or couldn't hit a golf ball, we all pretty much were horrible!!! … And YES, I was the only girl to golf too!! Wouldn't miss this Fiji Tour for anything!!!!!!

The ride home was not as funny as the wind came up and with a little too much alcohol on board a few were exceptionally quiet!! But not me… this was my chance to yak, yak, yak and no one could complain- ha ha!
When the boatman put the ends of the oars in his ears I got the hint to be quiet for a while.

WINDING DOWN
The last day was very eventful! Swell was double overhead and pumping!! Of course, no one wanted to leave but the swell was picking up the day before.

So that we could surf till the last minute our group decided to fly out by helicopter, letting us surf the last hour instead of going by ground crew to the airport. It was amazing!!!
We flew right over Tavarua and the lineup at Cloudbreak and got the Shaka wave for the trip home! It was sad to leave, yet I never thought I'd ever feel surfed out, and there were a few moments I thought I was done. I didn't even surf that much for a longer time frame than when I went to Bali, Indonesia for 2 weeks previously.

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