Aboard the Seaspray
I’ve been on more boats (ships?) during this week than any other week in my life. So why not end it with a cruise? It meant another launch, another catamaran, and then finally another launch to the Seaspray “of television fame“, our home for a day:
That photo was taken from the shore on Modriki island, part of the Mamanuca group. Its claim to fame? That’s where Tom Hanks shot Cast Away. Here’s a so-so photo of the island itself (by this time I had turned off the LCD screen, so the photos are a bit blah):
It’s not too big, and the interior is dominated by trees. I wanted to get to the top of that peak, but it’s all rock face. Oh, and it’s not nearly as isolated as it seems in the movie. I’m sure Tom could have made it to nearby Monu or Yanuya. Not that that would have helped; they’re uninhabited as well. Perhaps he could have set one of them on fire…
Modriki was merely one part of a very nice cruise, which included open bar of beer, wine, champagne, and soft drinks, plus morning and afternoon tea and a barbecue lunch. The barbecue included sausage, chicken, and fish caught off the side of the boat.
The food was cooked while everyone on the ship went out for a village tour. Everyone but me, that is. I had had enough kava, so I took my shirt off and took a swim, floating lazily in the impossibly blue water. Then I pulled myself aboard, where I was offered a beer by the crew, who got much more relaxed when the captain was on land. (Not that he was a big terror. He made a point of emphasizing that it was not called “Cast Away Island” but rather “Modriki,” which we could remember because it sounds like “More Drinky.”)
All told, it was a very nice, relaxed way to close out my trip in Fiji.