Guest Sharon Johnson and her husband were on Volendam for the trans-Pacific voyage to Sydney and the circumnavigation of Australia for 55 days. Enjoy this post and photos from their call at Suva, Fiji.

On our visit to Suva, Fiji, we had a tour out of town to see “Fantastic Fijian Fire Walkers”. We drove for an hour along the Queens Highway to Pacific Harbor. Al and I had driven this same highway from Nadi to Suva about 26 years ago. We were going to a small island off the coast of Suva for a week’s vacation. The trip took six hours and we didn’t want to be late as we would have missed the boat to the island. Naturally, we had a flat tire somewhere around Pacific Harbor. This time we were leaving the driving to the bus driver. When we arrived at the “Arts Village”‘ we were greeted by music. There was time for shopping before going to the amphitheater for the performance of dancing and fire walking. The “Arts Village” MC narrated the entire fire walkers show and told the story of the dances performed. – Sharon and Al Johnson

Port of Suva, Fiji.

At the Arts Village of Fiji in Pacific Harbor.

The Arts Village MC wearing a traditional Fijian sulu.

Fire Walkers removing the logs from the fire that had been set early that morning and had been burning for four hours so that the rocks underneath would be very hot when they walked on them.

After removing the logs, the fire walkers spread the stones and placed them so that they could walk on them. The stones are from a river. The fire walkers are from the Fijian Island of Beqa. The Sawau people are the only Fijians who were given the secret of how to walk on hot stones.

Walking across the hot stones.

The Fijian men did a war dance and the women did a sitting dance.

We saw many houses made of tin and painted in bright colors on our drive to Pacific Harbor.

Cassava (tapioca) plant pointed out by our guide. Cassava is one of the major agricultural products of Fiji.

The countryside of Fiji with kids swimming in a river on a very hot day.