Savusavu by boat.

Watched the sky over Vanua Levu go from black to powder blue this morning as the giant Suilven cargo/passenger/cockroach-carrying ship I was on waited to dock in Suvasuva Harbour. Eleven hours earlier we'd pulled out of Suva Harbour as the sun began to set over Fiji's capital.

The ship offers passengers two options: First Class or Economy. The spirit of this trip required choosing economy. When boarding -- which occurs in a warehouse-sized bottom deck that carries everything from private autos to commercial vehicles laden with goods & supplies -- I handed my ticket to a female collector. Everyone before me had gotten their hand stamped with red ink, but not me. I paused, she smiled, I scrunched my face, and she said, "First class, right?" I shook my head as she reconsidered my ticket. With a face devoid of expression she then tattooed my palm with the words 'ECONOMY CLASS'.

Not surprisingly, I turned out to be the only white person in the vast economy area. Like everyone else I stretched myself three weathered seats and squeezed in a few hours of sleep. Befriended two Indian men and made a beautiful, dark-haired, baby girl smile whenever she looked between the seats in front of mine.

In Savusavu until Tuesday when I leave on another Suilven ship at 6 am for Taveuni, an island all Fijians seem to agree is Fiji's 'crown jewel'. I'd originally planned to take another boat back to Suva, but last night's journey convinced me that flying back to Nadi on Thursday in 1/15th the time is worth the expense.