Part 33 - Loloma Mai Viti!

The Belfast made its way North through the beautiful Pacific to Fiji, it was a pleasant trip and I felt almost as if I was a tourist, I had very little work to do on board and as we sailed in Suva, the capital of Fiji, I was all ready to go ashore and look around this tropical paradise. There was a band playing in the jetty as we came alongside and beautiful Polynesian girls dancing in sarongs and garlands and singing Loloma Mai Viti which means Welcome to Fiji in Polynesian.

I went ashore with a couple of mates and had a swim first in the local pool (I didn't fancy swimming in the sea there as I had seen some of the biggest sharks in my life swimming near the ship). After our swim we had a good meal (steak eggs and chips) and then had a look around the town. The policeman were outstanding, they had fuzzy hair and policemens tunics worn with a white skirt and bare feet, they were all over six feet and although they were friendly I wouldn't pick an argument with them. 

We had a good night ashore in one of the pubs, the natives really were friendly and this was the first visit of a really big navy ship since the war. The Belfast crew had been told before they docked that we had to be on our best behaviour as we were showing the flag and the goodwill of all countries was essential at that time. I must say that there was very little trouble with so many sailors ashore. The next day was Sunday and church parade was held on the quayside with the marine band playing hymns. I fell out of church parade with the Roman Catholics and we set off to march to church on the outskirts of Suva. It was a little church with a Norwegian priest but as the mass was then in Latin it was the same as at home, the natives and especially the children stared at us during mass, we must have seemed strange in our uniforms. 

We stayed about three days in Fiji and it was very enjoyable but we sailed away and again it was lovely to get to sea. We sailed through lots of tiny groups of islands and I wrote a long letter to Shirley Sutherland telling her about my time in Fiji and thanking her for their hospitality, we sailed further north until one morning I went on deck to see Mount Fujyama sticking out of the clouds.