We flew out of LAX at 23:30 on Sunday with Air Pacific to Nadi Airport in Fiji and arrived there on Tuesday morning at 05:30.
As we'd crossed the International Date Line, we effectively lost a day.
It was only a 10 hour flight, but it did feel like we'd been on it for 3 days, as we were whacked.

We sorted out our transfer from Nadi Airport to Denarau Marina, to catch Beachcomber Island's catamaran - LagiLagi.
It's a 30 minute journey over to Beachcomber Island and the scenery is breathtaking. Tiny little islands with white beaches surrounding them and lush green palm trees filling their interiors.

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Our accommodation on Beachcomber Island was in their 84 bed grand 'bure' (traditional Fijian thatched building). Quite bizarre sleeping with 80 other people, but it was suprisingly quiet in there.

All meals are included in the price, so we grabbed some lunch which was very nice. After lunch, we had a wander around the island which took all of 10 minutes!
The majority of the island is taken up by the accommodation, which comprises of the big dorm, lodges and beachfront bures. There's also a big lodge on the front of the island, which has the reception areas, gift shop, bar and the dining area.

We were wilting fast, so decided to grab some kip around 2ish. Tiredness overtook hunger, so we slept through dinner and right through the night.
Awoke at 06:00, so we got up and watched the sunrise on the beach. After we had breakfast, the agenda for the day (and the rest of the week!) was to do nothing but sit on the beach and relax.

It was quite cloudy most days, but still very warm. The clouds did clear for a few days and we took full advantage and lay in the sun, topping up our tans.

The nights were mostly spent in the bar area, where the entertainment was. Each night there was something different on and the band were also very good. One night they a had a beer drinking competition, which me and 4 lads in our group easily won!
We met loads of really great people on Beachcomber, some of which we'll be catching up with over the next few months in various parts of the world.
Whilst we were there, Bristol Grammar School and Bishops Stortford School turned up on a school trip. Not a bad school trip, beats going to Alton Towers!

We did manage to venture off the island, as we went on the 'Seafari' cruise. We visited an island (Yanuya) close by which was habited and we met the local tribal chief and the local schoolkids.
Just across the water was Monuriki, which was the island used to film the Tom Hanks movie, Castaway.

Seven days on Beachcomber Island was enough for us, so we decided to head to the capital city, Suva, for a couple of days.

Here's the pictures...

Air Pacific - Boeing 747-800 Jumbo. Our plane from LAX to Nadi, Fiji



Bula! Guitar players greeted us at Nadi airport at 05:30 in the morning!



Beachcomber Island boat to take us to the island.



Beachcomber Island beach



Sunrise



A very tired looking, Lee



Treasure Island - just across from Beachcomber



Beachcomber Island



LagiLagi catamaran



Coral reef and fish



Hoola girls



Dragon man



Dragon man with fire (that's gotta hurt!)







Joo doing the 'Bula Dance'



'The Commonwealth Drinking Team' - Winners of the beer drinking comp. (Me, Spif, Matt, Richard and Matt)




Me and Joo