Blogs from Caqalai, Fiji, Oceania

Over the last two weeks, we have had new volunteers arriving, although in a much smaller number and visited Snake Island a tiny island with incredible coral reefs between ourselves and it. The island is home to many birds as well as sea snakes, although we didn’t see any this time (more like snakeless island). Sea snakes are not shy creatures and have come up to us during dives. They end up growing to 1.5m in length. The dives we are doing now are coral, benthic and invertebrate point outs ready for surveying the reefs. There are around 60 species we need to be able to identify in all their different forms so no easy or quick task. I have also been working on a waste plan for the island ensuring that our practises are something ... read more

Last Friday we decided to have a trip to Suva, the capital of Fiji. Initially there were only going to be a few of us, however shortly after leaving the island we were met by staff on Leleuvia island (where we change boats) who stated they were all evacuating the island due to the Tropical Cyclone Winston. Soon after this, Caqalai were evacuated and now everyone is in Suva. TC Winston was a category 5 cyclone that ripped through Fiji. Unfortunately there were some casualties and many houses have been destroyed. We were fortunately safe in a hotel in Suva. Caqalai island is been badly affected with the Kava hall being flattened, a coconut tree landing on the Common Room and 3 bures (Fiji houses) are damaged, although we are not too sure which ones. One ... read more

Bula & Kia Ora!!! (EN below & more pictures on page 2) Het is fijn weer te reizen. Merk dat het me al gemakkelijker af gaat, maak tegenwoordig niet eens meer boekingen vooruit omdat ik echt niet weet wat er volgende week, morgen of zelfs over een paar uur gaat gebeuren. Je wordt er dus erg flexibel van en dat bevalt me wel. Waarom alles compleet plannen zodat de leuke spontane dingen niet meer kunnen gebeuren?! Fiji dus... Wat een zaligheid! De taxichauf zei meteen 'no worry no hurry' tegen me en ik was op slag verliefd op Fiji. Het is grappig te merken dat ik altijd op zoek ga naar herkenning, vergelijkingen maakt, zodat je jezelf gerust stelt. Fiji lijkt een beetje op Bali en gezien ik het daar zo naar mn zin had gehad ... read more

We took a small boat to the island of Caqalai which is pronounced "Thangalai." We have a little "bure" with a double bed under a mosquito net and a view of the beach and ocean and the tiny island called "Snake Island." At low tide you can walk to snake island. We only spotted one of the little white and black striped, and highly poisonous snakes hanging out in a crook of the exposed island rock. I guess that's why they call it "Snake Island" and not "Island of Snakes." ;-) We went diving with the Irish dive master and we saw several large schools of barracuda, purple nudibranchs, a tiger fish, and lots of white tip reef sharks. We didn't get any shots of the sharks as they'd have to swim up to within a ... read more

This past weekend I went to Caqalai (Thang-ga-lie) Island for the weekend. It was a great weekend away out of Suva with great snorkelling, lying around in hammocks and not doing much at all. I'll let the photos do the talking!... read more