The Trip of a Lifetime
In October 2022 our family lost an amazing woman, my aunt Rheta. In many ways she was like a second mother to my sister Cynthia and I and losing her was like losing a part of myself. Little did I know that she had something in store for us and that was that she had left us some money from her estate.
Rheta had always loved to travel and I remember as a small child, her coming back from one of her many adventures south of Canada. She was always looking for the sun and heat. So Cynthia and I decided that to honour her memory we were going to take a “Rheta Trip” together, just the two of us. We worked out that we hadn’t been on holidays together, just the two of us, in 40 years!!
We decided to go on a cruise around the Fijian Islands and after searching the internet found the ‘Blue Lagoon Cruise’. A 7 night cruise on a 54 metre ship with only 32 berths, so only a total of 64 passengers and 30 staff. This was perfect as it wasn’t one of those cruises with thousands of people!
A week ago Cynthia and I said our goodbye’s at the Nadi Airport, but the 10 days we spent in Fiji together were magical. I had found a picture of Rheta and Cynthia from years ago that I didn’t think she had seen so when she arrived at my house in Melbourne it was in a frame waiting for her beside her bed. Rheta was well and truly with us from that point on.
Our Blue Lagoon Cruise Ship
The cruise was magical and when we boarded we found there were only 21 passengers for the first 3 nights. We got to know everyone and we all hit it off magnificently. People from around the world. Unfortunately 5 of them left after 3 nights and we had others come on board for a 4 night cruise. I liked to call them the invaders!! But the 16 of us left from the original group were inseparable and I believe that these people will be friends for life.
We ate incredible food, swam, snorkelled, snorkelled with reef sharks, had a cave expedition, kayaked and sat doing nothing! Cynthia did her first ever scuba dive, hiked up a mountain and even tried her hand at stand up paddle boarding (she was brilliant of course!). We went to the Modriki Island where the movie Castaway was filmed (I lost a toenail that night – another whole story!), we met locals at other islands and even attended the Sunday church service at the Yasawa Islands. We experienced a traditional Fijian Lovo (a meal cooked in an underground oven) and Meke performance (dancing and singing) from the local villagers. Had a traditional Captains dinner with Captain Mervin the first night, had an Indian night on board as well as the last night, a dance night (you couldn’t get Cynthia to sit down!)
There is so much more I could tell you about but it would take me another couple of days!
It was a magical time with my sister and all because of our mother’s sister who knew the value of family. I feel we now have another family, those we met on board – staff like Lela, Lucy, Miri, Watson, Sunshine, Monty, Lome, Captain Mervin and the rest of crew. But also those travellers who touch our hearts – Dawn and Steve from GB, Dixit from GB, Jerry and his daughter Tara from Canada, Julie and Hans from Australia, Julie and Mark from Wales, Merv and Sue from GB, Netty and Tim from GB and Thomas and Ulla from Germany. Thank you for all being part of my world, you are all amazing.
Blue Lagoon Family
To my sister Cynthia, this is a trip I will never forget!! And to my Aunt Rheta who is somewhere looking down on us I thank you from the bottom of my heart, this was truly a magical time!