August 12, 2024
First look at my Cabin !!!
I flew overnight Philly to Dublin, got in at 8:15am, took the 9am Bus from Dublin Airport to Downtown Belfast, roughly 2 hours and hired a Cab to take me from bus depot to Harlon & Wolff shipyard to go on board the Odyssey for the first time since early June. After a quick stop at guest services to pick up my room keys, I headed down the Lido Deck to my Cabin #6065. Here's my first impressions!
I am really happy with size, layout and furnishing - what I expected! The artwork is fine, like the Van Gogh vibes from Provence - had a great trip there and it is bright and sunny! Had to track down one of my suitcases, but everything else was there and waiting for me.
Going to take a few days to unpack and get settled, more to come.
Today we went to see the coastal Naidiri Village that has recently won the Top Prize in global restoration, for their ocean reef project. The reef restoration was borne out of necessity to solve their dwindling food/ main protein source for the village, of fish. It was started by 2 of the villages rugby players and today is run by the local teenagers (mostly boys) in the village. It was great seeing how empowered and proud they were of their amazing efforts.
The port agent offered several trips to areas around Lautoka . We chose the trip to Serenity Island Resort which included van and boat transfers and lunch. It was a really nice day enjoying the sun, reef, pool, turtles and amenities!
I organized a group tour for a fun day experience. We had a great day despite the rain that decided to join in. We started with a 45 minute van ride out through the city, into the countryside. Then we got in long boats and went up river to a waterfall, some swam or cheered on the guides to cliff dive. Then back in the boats to visit Sabata Village where 50 family members live as a community existing totally off the land, along the river. Next was a quick boat ride to our BBQ lunch spot. After lunch we got to tube down the river, through light rapids, for just about an hour. We ganged our tubes together with the guide - we had a chain of 14 in my group and the guides totally blew us away singing hymns for a good chunk of the journey. It was truly moving in that place with the rain drizzling and all of us linked together. Loved it!