Ahh. Another night with an extra hour of sleep. It's so nice but someday it will all go back. It's 6:30am and time to get up. Actually, I'm up at 6 because it's light outside and I start downloading pictures and text to the Travelpod website. I get part of it done before it stops working so I exit quickly to avoid burning up my limited internet time I have left. I had hoped to send off two or three of the days I've completed this morning but it's not happening. We're docking at the pier in Suva at 8am so it's another light breakfast and we head down to the gangway. They clear the ship for disembarkation just as we get there so we have our IDs scanned and exit. Our drivers are waiting for us outside and we split into two groups to leave Suva. This stop is the farthest west that we will travel to. From here on, we will be working our way back east towards California.

Suva sits on a hilly peninsula in the southeast corner of Viti Levu Island, the largest in the Fijian archipelago. The town is backed by the lush, dark green hills of the Suva-Rewa Range. Much of the waterfront is built on land reclaimed from tangled mangrove swamps.

Fiji, a country in the South Pacific, is an archipelago of more than 300 islands. It's famed for its rugged landscape of blue lagoons and palm-lined beaches, and eco-activities from mountain climbing and surfing to soft-coral diving and zip-lining. Its major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, contain the lion’s share of the population, meaning much of the country is uncrowded.

About a half hour after exiting the city, we stop at Colo-i-Suva Rainforest Eco Resort for a restroom break. It's our last until we reach our destination, 1 1/2 hours further. It's a nice quiet hotel, open to the air with a large lagoon adjacent to its restaurant. From there we continue on a two lane highway which soon becomes 1 1/2 lanes and finally a dirt road for the balance of our journey to Takalana Bay Retreat. Now our plans call for a boat trip to see the spinner dolphins, optional snorkeling followed by a traditional Figian lunch. But first we're greeted with music and flower leis for all. Next our group is directed to a wooden patio overlooking the jungle and ocean where we are served tea and pastries. Mom and I check out this little bungalow and the lady proprietor offers to show us the rest of her property, including a much larger structure designed for an entire family. It's very nice with a deck overlooking the ocean. Mom tries it out.

They're calling for us now so we board the vans and travel a couple of miles on dirt roads through Nataleira, an authentic Fiji village, to the beach where a boat is waiting to take us to view the dolphins. Wait a minute. Only one boat for 30 people? Half of our group board the first vessel while the rest of us wait while an additional boat is called for. It's close to an hour before it arrives. After boarding, we head out to sea several miles to the site of the spinner dolphins. Moon Reef has a small opening at one end. This is home to hundreds of dolphins that live here. The water is shallow and they pop in and out of the water. Everyone has their cameras out and tries to get that prized shot of a dolphin all the way out of the water. I don't think anyone got that picture but I did get some video. The sun peaks out now and then mixed in with a threat of rain. The entire time we're trolling the area for dolphins, one of the Samoans on board works on one of the engines, one that had died earlier on our way out. I'm still somewhat comfortable since we have one working engine which will get us back.

With an hour of dolphin watching behind us and the engine now repaired, we head back in toward shore. The skipper asks if anyone wants to snorkel but those two are outnumbered so it's lunch time. With the boat delay, we are already behind and, while our ship doesn't sail until 11pm, its been a long day. The lady we call "Betty" (because she looks and acts like my Dad's ex-wife) gives me a handful of M&Ms to hold me over. She's actually very nice and so her and Mom chat. We see her all the time dancing and carousing in the Crow's Nest during happy hour. It's about a 30 minute ride to the beach where we hose ourselves off and take a quick van ride back to the retreat where a nice meal is waiting for us. Taro, snapper, pork, cole slaw, coconut banana, cheese bread and fruit punch make for a great traditional Samoan dinner. There's a camera crew from FBC filming our entire adventure for a documentary on island tourism and they can be seen in some of my pictures.

The group in the first dolphin boat has already returned to the ship. We say goodbye and they sing a farewell song in Samoan as we leave. It's a long ride back to Suva and we get to the ship in the dark, a little after 6pm. With no time for additional shopping or a usual fancy dinner, we just head to the Lido for the buffet and then to the Polynesian show at 9:15. It's students from the University of the South Pacific. They're good but I can hardly keep my eyes open. As soon as the show's over, it's back to our stateroom and time to sleep

We're still a day ahead of California time. Tomorrow it will be Sunday and a visit to Dravuni Island is in order.