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American Spirit II - Day 176; Rafting in the Fiji Mountains of Viti Levu; Monday, June 30, 2014



The day started really early - at 4:50 AM. No time for breakfast on the boat, as we were being picked up by a 20 person bus at 5:40 AM.

We arrived at Pacific Harbor, located at the southeast corner of the island just short of the capital, Suva; at 8:15 AM. There we exited our bus onto a dirt road, where we boarded the RiversFiji bus. There were 38 customers, so we would be using 10 rafts. Each raft held 4 passengers and one oarsman, who maneuvered the raft from the back with two oars.

It took about 1 to 1 1/2 hours of driving on dirt, gravel and rutted roads, up and down inclines of 20 degrees; until we reached our debarkation point from the bus. Then we had to don our life jackets, helmets and one paddle and walk 20 or 30 minutes up and down a steep, muddy trail with earthen steps along the way that were 18 inches high. A rather difficult walk, albeit a short one.

Once at the river we met our oarsman, Joe. That was his 'English' name. I asked what his Fijian name was and he said it started with Joe and then dragged on. So Joe for short. Moses, the leader of our river expedition, went over the safety rules. The most important was what to do if you get ejected from a raft. Answer: keep your feet facing down river, toes pointed up; and float on your back and don't grab onto any rocks or tree branches until rescued.

Our river route was going to cover 24 kilometers or 16 miles. During the day we ended up paddling about 50% of the time. That's a lot of paddling.

Today was the first time that Joel and Chet had ever gone white water rafting. Angela and I had rafted the Grand Canyon years ago; and Angie had also rafted the New River in West Virginia, one of the most dangerous rivers to raft in America.

With 10 rafts on the river, there were numerous instances of rafts splashing each other with their oars and paddles. One raft even had a 2 gallon bucket that they used to douse unsuspecting rafts. We also were allowed to swim in the river between rapids, but with the water about 68 degrees we didn't stay in too long.

The river was very scenic, with 200-300 foot walls or rock on each side of us most of the day. And if not bare rock, then jungle. The gorge we rafted down was less wide than it was high in many parts of it. And there were numerous waterfalls along our route. Not gigantic waterfalls, but scenic nevertheless. The rapids themselves were primarily Class 2, with a few Class 3. Not difficult and not dangerous. Nevertheless, we did have 3 people from two different rafts ejected from their rafts.

We stopped for lunch at 12:30 PM. Lunch consisted of ham, baloney and cheese sandwiches; carrots and apples; fudge and banana cake; peanut butter and an orange drink.

We exited the raft at a village, then the raft was deflated and carried piecemeal to a waiting truck about 100 yards away, uphill. The 4 of us and our oarsman deflated the raft by pulling the plugs and laying on the raft.

Once we changed out of our swim suits and boarded a small bus, it was another 1 1/2 hours of driving thru the mountains on lousy roads before we got to the RiversFiji office. Once there we were able to purchase, for 30 Fijian dollars, a CD of our trip.

The trip from Pacific Harbor back to our marina took about 2 1/2 hours, because the bus was dropping people off along the way. We arrived back at the marina at 8:00 PM; changed clothes at the boat; and then returned to have dinner at the Bonefish Grill. Three of us ordered Marlin Steak; and Angie ordered a different type of fish. We were back on the boat at 10:00 PM, and everyone except me went right to bed. I stayed up to catch up on typing the logs as I was 3 days behind.

Brian Fox



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