Awesome Day Island Hopping!!

---

th April 2009 - AMAZING DAY & QUIZ NIGHT WINNERS!!!
I was awake at 6am this morning - so hungry and not surprisingly considering I only had one meal the previous day! I got out of bed at 6.50 as I thought breakfast was at 7am. Turned out it was 7am Fiji time which actually meant 8am!! 1 hour to wait! I sat and wrote my journal for an hour until a few other people surfaced and then took my spot on the front table ready to tuck in.

Breakfast was good! Pancakes, fruit, bread, cake, tea and juice. Stodgy but tasty and in a different league to the other meals on Mana. I would not make the mistake of missing breakfast again! Our entire group actually made breakfast that morning! Good effort! We tried to sort out a day trip to Castaway Island (where the film was filmed) but the Fijians were on Fiji time and it just didn’t happen! I got fed up of waiting around and went to lie on the beach with Orla for a while. Whilst on the beach we noticed a white bottom poking out of the water. Rich had joked earlier that Daniel San had gone snorkeling naked but I thought he had been lying. Not the case. As I sat up, Daniel got to his feet and strolled out of the water and onto the beach. He didn’t even use his snorkel to hide his bits!! We were all in stitches and I could hear Alabama laughing from a mile away! Poor Alan had been in the water with him before he realised! Talk about fish bait!! Once on the beach and his shorts were on Alabama was straight over to him to ask why!! He said he had seen a sign that said clothing was optional and so thought as it was his last day he would go for it. He added and I quote “I wanted to see myself pee”. That guy was not for real but he sure did provide us with some entertainment during his stay!! He left Mana on a boat shortly after!!

Soon enough, Theresa came over after she had spoken with Freddie. If we could get a big enough group to go, they would take us island hopping for $40 per person. I was in as was the rest of our group minus Jorgen (10 of us in total). It wasn’t a bad deal as we were supposed to visit 5 different islands and get a bbq lunch. Anything beats a spaghetti sandwich offering!! Once we had all paid it was revealed that 5 islands were actually 2 islands but 5 resorts…cheeky Fijians!! We didn’t complain and just went along with it anyway…would be nice to go on a day trip! A Fijian guy called Joe was our boat driver and Freddie was our guide for the day...who knew where we would end up!! A rather dodgy boat too and not nearly enough life jackets! Fiji fun time!!

The boat was pretty bouncy. I was ok but some of the others were not so good especially Alabama who covered his head with a t-shirt and put his hands over his ears! Whatever works for you!! I ended up sat next to Rich who kept singing to me in his own made up 'Spanish' language the entire time. Soooo annoying!!! He was no Enrique!! After 20 minutes or so we got off the boat and made our way onto Malolo Island. We followed Freddie past the pool and up a few steps before he said "right...back on the boat"!! What a joke!! I think he was going to take us to the viewpoint, decided he couldn't be bothered and so turned us all around again! It literally was an island hop!

Back in the boat, Joe drove us to another resort on Malolo Island. We walked by the pool and made it to a lookout this time. Didn't stay long though and after taking a couple of snaps we headed back down to the pier. Freddie had brought some cake and so we were able to feed the fish before hopping back on the boat. Despite the island visits being shorter than short, the banter between us all was really funny and everyone was such a good craic! The main butt (no pun intended) of the jokes was Daniel San. Ironic really...he had spent all his time trying to get attention yet now he had gone he was our main topic of conversation! Poor guy! Alabama and William took centre stage in our boat and entertained us all in their own ways! I never stopped laughing the whole time!

Joe then drove us to another island - Plantation Island. It looked lush and things picked up as we were dropped off at the beach and were told that we could actually spend some time there! We had 1 hour 'Fiji time' and then we had to walk around to the island bar where Freddie and Joe would be on with our bbq food. Sweet! The beach and sea were lovely! Paradise some may say! There was a big platform out at sea and I followed Alan across to it to do some jumps off! I did the best cannonball ever but really hurt my bottom with the force! Ouch!! The rest of the group followed us across and we played about for a bit jumping off and pushing one another off. The steps up to the platform were tough to get up and after a while we ladies just rested whilst watching Torro and William back flip off numerous times whilst trying to capture the moment on their waterproof camera. Camera mad those boys...especially William! After a while we left the boys to their macho antics and we swam back to shore for a spot of sun worshiping. After a while the boys joined us back at the beach and we stayed there for another 20 minutes before setting off to find the island bar!

Freddie and Joe were actually awake and on with the bbq when we got there. Still...we had taken nearly 2 hours and still nothing was cooked! Fiji time strikes again! The food actually smelt good and we were all excited for a change from the Mana cuisine of unidentifiable meat and spaghetti sandwiches! Whilst waiting for the food the banter continued with Alabama and William taking the lead roles. Love them!! Once all seated, Freddie and Joe dished out the food the best part being fresh tuna...wow!! Sausages featured as usual but on the whole it was a roaring success! Following food we sat around chatting for a while before us ladies went for another dip in the sea to cool down and have some man-free time! I was having such a great day so far...one of my best since the start of travelling!

Back in the boat after lunch Joe powered the boat up and set off. I was lucky I had sat on the right side as those on the opposite side, especially Torro ended up soaking from the sea spray! Joe didn't help by playing silly beggars with the boat either and Alabama looked green as he put his head in his hands! Funny stuff...I loved it! Soon enough Joe did another swerve and I thought we were going in the water when out of no where a sandbank appeared!! Looked so cool and 2 people were sat on it as if stranded. Joe took us for a spin in the boat around it - so small - only around 10m in length! I thought we were just driving around it but then we were told to get out of the boat as this was our snorkeling spot...Sweet As!!!

Such an amazing place to be....on a mound of sand in the middle of the sea. The water was crystal clear too and the snorkeling was good with lots of coral and fish. My favourite was the big blue starfish! After 15 minutes snorkeling I got bored of the fish and tired of trying to avoid the Argentineans’ underwater camera so I went back on the sandbank. Joe was a little scary when I went back on land....kept smiling at me with his gums (no teeth) and asked me to be his girlfriend. I declined politely and backed away slowly...scary man!! He soon moved on from me though and after wrestling Theresa to the ground he picked Alabama up on his shoulders and challenged Freddie and William to a war! Alabama and Joe won...not surprisingly with Joe as the base!! We had around another 10 minutes there during which time we caught some more rays (sun rays not the stinging variety) and William did a naked Daniel San in the sea which raised a few more laughs! It was then back in the boat and heading for Mana Island. The trip was only supposed to have lasted for 3-4 hours but we were out all day long! Awesome day with a fab group of people!

Back on Mana Island at 5.20pm I went straight to get showered before tea. No electric so it was dark again but hid the dirt so I didn't mind. Felt good to get clean! Following shower time I headed to the dinner hall to join the others before tea was served at 6pm. I stuck to vegetables and rice! It was edible! After tea Nat, Kirsty and the Irish went to church. They wanted to see a Fijian service and thought it would be a good day to go with it being Palm Sunday. I didn't fancy it and stayed with the boys playing cards for a while and enjoying a social beer before the night entertainment started. William showed me his photos for the day as he was a bit of a photographer in his spare time. Some brill shots but a few too many close ups of me and no one else (think I had an admirer there bless him though maybe he had just forgotten to put his contacts in)!! I hadn’t a clue he had been taking them either…think he has a calling as a private investigator!

Tonight was quiz night and Freddie put us into teams. I was with Alabama, Rich, Jorgen and his mate (forgotten his name) and Alan. We called ourselves 'Daniel San's Army'!! Jorgen was very clever and answered most of them on his own though I didn't feel bad because I contributed when necessary and my answers were spot on! I did have a very blonde moment though. The question was where is the land of the Long White Cloud. The answer was of course New Zealand. I piped up with "do we get a bonus point for the Maori spelling?" What a doofus I was...gave away the answer to everyone else in the room and took some ribbing for that! We had some good banter going across the room with Torro and Williams team. They thought they were dead certs to win but surprisingly my team came in 1st place! Brilliant!! Our prize was free snorkeling equipment the following day...not bad!!

Following the quiz the evening was pretty much chatting and dancing and chatting some more. Alabama's and Rich's last night on the island and I for one felt quite sad that they were leaving. We had all had such a laugh and the group dynamic would not be quite the same without them. Our whole group wrote a montage to Daniel San on the wall that night and signed our names. If only Daniel knew that we had created a montage in his honour...he would lap it up!! William who loved Maradona felt the need to write about how Maradona was the best but I changed 'best' to 'cheats' which wound him up just a little. Love it!!

Once the rest of the ladies got back from church they joined us and the rest of the evening was lovely with everyone having photos and chatting. I went steady on the alcohol (only 2 beers) and went to bed sober at around 1am. Still loving Mana Island and the people on it!

---

Photos

Group Shot!!
William was a fan of mine (not sure why) as you can tell by the photo!!