# If you like Pina Coladas, stay the hell out of Fiji **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 16, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712 "2024-12-16T15:27:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/1 "2024-12-16T15:27:59Z")
> **[Tourists in Fiji ill after suspected pina-colada poisoning](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn08qdjwkkqo)** > > Authorities said the patients had drunk pina coladas at a five-star resort bar. > **[Mother-daughter dream holiday turns to ‘worst nightmare’](https://www.smh.com.au/national/suspicious-cocktails-identified-after-suspected-poisoning-at-fiji-resort-20241216-p5kyoh.html)** > > Georgia Sandoe-Simpson and her mother are returning home to Sydney after a suspected alcohol poisoning at a resort in Fiji. At the same hospital, a guy who got pneumonia getting caught in the rain and two cases of intimate sand abrasion from the dunes by the cape. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/2 "2024-12-16T15:41:58Z")
Key point is this was a five-star resort: you wonder what the one-star, two-star, three-star and four-star resorts are like. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/3 "2024-12-16T15:52:09Z")
I hope they’re all able to escape and get back to their respective holmes. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/4 "2024-12-16T15:56:45Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > I hope they’re all able to escape and get back to their respective holmes Some go to Sherlock, some go to Enola. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/5 "2024-12-16T16:03:28Z")
Or their cousin Rupert. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/6 "2024-12-16T16:05:01Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > I hope they’re all able to escape and get back to their respective holmes. And their insurers can cut through all the red tape. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/7 "2024-12-16T16:11:08Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Key point is this was a five-star resort: you wonder what the one-star, two-star, three-star and four-star resorts are like. Well, for starters, they don’t have yoga…or champagne ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/8 "2024-12-16T16:41:53Z")
I’m not much into health foods. Having half a brain will do that. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/9 "2024-12-16T16:53:21Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > I hope they’re all able to escape and get back to their respective holmes. No problem. My croft is ready to take me there. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/10 "2024-12-16T17:13:25Z")
I just wanna tell everybody that the first time I (mis)heard the song, I wondered why somebody was singing “if you like green enchiladas”. (yeah, it’s possible that I may have recently smoked something. Ah…to be a student again) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/11 "2024-12-16T18:32:59Z")
Fiji has nothing on the USA - we have a daily average of _over 6 deaths per day_ from alcohol poisoning. Tourists, keep away! (From Googling “stats on alcohol poisoning in the usa”). I guess I’m curious about what struck the OP as interesting about this story - maybe it’s simply the amusing the Pina Colada music angle? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/12 "2024-12-16T19:03:49Z")
It’s not so much they got alcohol poisoning, the one article hints there may have been poison in the alcohol. Maybe methanol. Maybe someone put the lime in the coconut. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/13 "2024-12-16T20:35:22Z")
Lots of opportunity for confusion between “alcohol poisoning” as in “I drank waay too much perfectly normal booze and hurt myself for real.” versus “alcohol poisoning” as in “I drank something that had dangerous adulterating chemicals in it beyond what’s in normal alcoholic drinks.” If the latter is the case here, whether the adulterant is methyl alcohol or something totally different is sorta immaterial to the story. Although important for treatment and prognosis. And for tracking back how it got into the drinks in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/14 "2024-12-16T21:10:41Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > It’s not so much they got alcohol poisoning, the one article hints there may have been poison in the alcohol. Maybe methanol. I realize that kicking around stories like this is more or less the point of MPSMS since we’ve all got too much time on our hands, but folks getting sick from stuff they consume, malevolent or coincident, is (to me) a strange thing to speculate on from any further than the nearest roadside bar & grill. My need to threadshit here and now is just as troublesome, I recognize. I apologize. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/15 "2024-12-16T21:18:00Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I’m not much into health foods. Having half a brain will do that. But if you have a brain _worm_, you will be into health foods, and _only health foods_. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/16 "2024-12-16T21:18:55Z")
Evidently the worms demand a better diet than the standard American host human does. Perhaps the worms are smarter? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/17 "2024-12-16T22:49:17Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > a guy who got pneumonia getting caught in the rain Did he leave his cake there? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/18 "2024-12-16T22:57:28Z")
Maybe they were using raw coconut milk? That stuff can be full of nasties. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/19 "2024-12-17T04:53:31Z")
> [@sunacres](#): > > …we have a daily average of _over 6 deaths per day_ from alcohol poisoning. Tourists, keep away! Tourists hell! I’m accountable for two of those a week! I drank myself to death 5 times last month! ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712/20 "2024-12-17T05:26:25Z")
According to the article, 7 people got sick at the same time. (Given that Fiji has a much smaller population than the US) That argues for an adulterant of some kind [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-pina-coladas-stay-the-hell-out-of-fiji/1011712.md?page=2)