Blissing out at Blue Lagoon

The days are blurring together. It’s hard to keep track as we sail from island to island in the Yasawas.

I look back at photos on my phone and struggle to remember which day I took them.

We spent day five of our cruise at Blue Lagoon Beach. THE Blue Lagoon Beach that served as a location for the 1980 film The Blue Lagoon.

I can remember thinking Christopher Atkins looked very fetching wearing his lap-lap in the movie, but the plot details are a bit hazy.

As for our own Blue Lagoon experience, DD reckons it was one of the most relaxed days of his adult life.

We settled into banana lounges and hammocks to read our books, then Emily and I went for a beach walk while DD paddled off on a kayak.

Mid-morning we snorkelled out to a patch of coral swarming with fish all colours of the rainbow.

As we held out tiny pieces of bread, hundreds of them surrounded us, nibbling at our fingers. It was like being in a giant tropical aquarium.

Lunch was a delicious barbecue on the beach, then it was back to our banana lounges to read and nap. I finished my first book of the trip, Project Hail Mary, which felt a bit surreal – reading a book about space while lazing on a tropical beach. Loved it, though, great read.

A mid-afternoon beach walk to check out the nearest resort and its very entertaining weather sign, was followed by an opportunity to watch our dinner being prepared – a lovo over hot rocks.

Marinated meat was encased in platted palm fronds and placed onto banana tree stalks over the rocks, then covered with palm fronds before male passengers including DD shovelled sand on top before the feast was left to cook for three hours.

We returned to the boat for a shower and as I looked out my cabin window the “school bus” arrived, with a dad meeting the boat in his runabout – adding a whole new dimension to “school pick-up”.

Sunset drinks were held on the beach, followed by a kava ceremony. Then we watched the lovo being uncovered before we feasted on its delicious contents.

After dinner, then local villagers danced and sang for us, with one of the men coming up and delightedly shouting “Bula!” in my face, scaring the bejesus out of me.

Whenever I hear someone say “bula” I’m immediately transported back to my childhood. A Fijian family moved into our street in Adamstown Heights when I was around 10 years old. The dad was a Fijian firefighter and he told us his name was Bula.

One afternoon he invited the whole street over for a lovo that he cooked in a pit in his backyard. He thought it was hilarious to put the pig’s ear on my plate for my dinner.

I love that my memory of Bula is everyone welcoming him to the street in 1970s Newcastle. I remember that afternoon being one of joy and community as we ate our first-ever Fijian feast together.

Now I know that bula means hello, I wonder what Bula’s real name was?

Back to Blue Lagoon … Emily and I were presented with flower leis before we browsed a shell market set up by the women from the village, then it was back to the boat for an early night.

Such a fantastic day. We loved every minute of it.

Song of the day: Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton “Islands in the stream”