I was scheduled to leave on the 11:30 boat so I just planned to laze around and take some pictures. I had breakfast with Linda, Kate and even Laura who was feeling a little better and good enough to get some breakfast and sit on the beach for a while. Linda was also leaving to return home.

I packed and then mostly sat on the hammock while waiting for the boat. I was planning to return to Robinson Crusoe Island when I finished the Hula Loop so I negotiated a small discount for my return. The boat came and it was a little sad leaving the island. We had such a nice clique, the island was relaxing and the staff was great. Recommended.

The boat took us to the dock where I was to meet the Fiji Experience bus. A few other people from the island were also going so it was nice to know some people but we did not form a clique. As the bus pulled up I thought about getting the money for the remainder of the fee and suddenly realized that I had forgotten to get my money and documents back from the front desk! One of the guys had a cell phone so I was able to call the island front desk and they were able to send a speedboat over with my stuff so we were only delayed about fifteen minutes.

The Fiji Experience busses were in the shop for repairs so we had a regular tourist bus but the air conditioning was working fine so I had no complaints. All the people from Robinson Crusoe Island including me were hungry since we hadn't had lunch and looking forward to our first lunch stop. We drove about twenty minutes down the road and made our first stop, a beach. A beach with nothing on it, no restaurant, no cafe, not even a bloody bathroom. After three days lazing around on the beach just what I needed, another beach but this time without any cozy hammocks. The driver Annan spread a large tarp under the shade of some trees and I just sat there while the others played some halfhearted volleyball or lay on the sand. I was hungry, thirsty and beached out so it was not a great start of my trip.

After about an hour we reboarded the bus drove for a couple of hours and made a short stop at a small town for shopping. It was so past lunchtime that I wasn't even that hungry anymore so I just got an ice cream and a large bottle of water. Fifteen minutes later we got back on the road again for another half hour drive stopping at the Crow's Nest Hotel.

This was a pleasant enough hotel consisting mostly villas across the road from a thin, muddy, rocky beach in the middle of nowhere. Price was Ok at FJ$20 a night for a dorm. Most people were actually grouped together in fours and given villas as there were only six actual dorm beds. I was initially assigned to a dorm bed but after lugging my bag all the way up the hill to the dorm room I was called back and transferred to a villa. It was a very nice split level villa with a large double bed, sitting room, bathroom and kitchen. I was the only one there and for a while I thought I had the villa to myself but later found out the driver Annan and the cute female Indian guide Seema along with the other driver a large Fijian named Samuel were to share the villa with me. Oh well it was still a nice villa and had *gasp* air conditioning! A hell of a lot better than the dorm room which did not even have a fan. I was also able to lay out my electronics for a much needed recharging.

The first thing I did was look for internet and I discovered that it consisted of using the manager's computer for FJ$5 per 15 minutes. Netherless I logged on for 15 minutes to quickly answer my email and tell everyone I was still alive. Then I went to the open air restaurant by the pool and tried their FJ$6.95 Thai curry dinner special which turned out to be not bad. Then I went back to the room to take a nap in the glorious air conditioning.

About 7:30 Seema woke me up to go to the pool for the Polynesian show and kava ceremony. The Polynesian show was the standard song and dance routine but had a surprisingly large cast of almost 20 people. It concluded with the traditional side by side dance and conga line. Then we had the Kava ceremony which I don't particularly like because first Kava tastes like mud and second because I have to sit cross legged on the ground which quickly cuts gets uncomfortable for me.

Anyway after that I sat for a bit chatting with everyone and buying a round of drinks for Seeman and the drivers before realizing I was hungry again and had an order of fish and chips before going back to the room to take a nice long hot shower and going to bed.