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Published: February 21st 2011
Friday 17th December 2010 (Nabua Lodge - Nacula Island) A coach picked us up after a rushed breakfast and took us to the port. We boarded the Yasawa Flyer, a large ferry, and travelled for 4 hours to the furthest set of islands in the Yasawa group to the north of Fiji. Our journey took us through a breathtaking blue Ocean dotted with small desert islands from the Mamanucas and Yasawas the entire way.
Our home for the next 3 days was Nacula Island staying in a thatched beach hut at the basic but beautiful Nabua Lodge. We had to make do with a fan and no air conditioning, Richard wondered how we would cope? Electricity was supposed to be available from 10:00-12:00 and 17:00-22:00, but this seemed to change on a daily basis much to the dismay of some of the other guests who wanted to charge electrical items. There was no hot water for showers, just stored rainwater which we also drank, but to be honest cold water was what we needed in the heat!
We were treated to lunch on arrival, and then went for a quick dip in the warm ocean; it was like
stepping into a huge bath – it must have been 33 degrees. Richard lost his bandana that he was wearing to protect his head whilst swimming and then got sunburnt looking for it – silly boy!
At dinner we all introduced ourselves formally, there were 4 American guys, Lucy from Kent, Christian and Tom from Germany and a Swiss lady who’s luggage had been sent to the wrong island, so she was a little miserable after being stuck in jeans all day!
Lulu our host welcomed us and then got us all to perform a couple of dodgy ‘traditional’ dances that were effectively a Fijian Macarena and Congo.
Saturday 18th December 2010 (Nabua Lodge - Nacula Island) Shark feeding was one of the best experiences of our trip. A 22m dive (which Richard shouldn’t really have been allowed to do as he’s only qualified for 18m!) with clear visibility in the crystal clear waters all the way to the bottom and 30m+ horizontally. After being picked up an hour late (Fiji time!) we made our way to the dive site where we all stood behind a long rope while the dive master emptied a bin of
fish bits in front of us. We were swarmed by a huge array of fish initially and then the sharks followed. 2 black tips (1.5m), 2 white tips (1m) and 2 lemon sharks (3m). It was a bit like being in an aquarium as none of the sharks crossed the rope but rather just swam around in circles in front of us... We have since heard that shark feeding isn’t allowed in most places around the world as it can make the sharks aggressive towards humans, but it certainly didn’t see it in this case! And whether an ethically sustainable practice or not, it was a bit late by then to be judgemental! Our 2nd dive was at Tom’s Thumb, a large pinnacle reef and reef wall. The highlights were a huge potato grouper (4‘) and a leopard shark (2.5m).
Back at Nabua lodge the American guys kindly lent us their snorkelling gear and we ventured out into the sea finding lion fish, blue star fish and clown fish.
Further along the beach were the ‘Tea Rooms’, where we met a lot of the others for afternoon tea and chocolate cake, which was so good Richard had a
second helping. The Americans thought we did that every day, raising our cup to the queen, you’ve got to love stereotypes! (We didn’t ask them why they weren’t fat)
Dinner time came around and then time to slyly disappear and watch the new arrivals embarrass themselves dancing! The skies opened above like someone had turned a tap on and we hid from the rain while a local band performed and we sampled Cava (not sparkling wine) the local drink, which can be hallucinogenic and a sleep inducer, but we didn’t drink enough to feel the effects as it looked like muddy water and didn’t taste much different!
As always Joanne had befriended the local cat, he was young and skittish, and gave Joanne a surprise when she woke up with it lying on the bed next to her (the other side of the mossie net) in the middle of the night after it found a way into our hut through a tiny 2 inch gap under our door.
Sunday 19th December 2010 (Nabua Lodge - Nacula Island) Today we crossed to Nanuya island resort with most of the folks from our resort to spend the
day at the beach from the blue lagoon. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to walk around the island as a cruise ship was docked and they own a large section of the beach that has the only path, although it was a blessing as shortly after we’d been turned away the skys opened again for another rendition of the Fijian monsoon show! Most of the others left early as they were moving island, leaving us with Amir, a friendly American guy who, unfortunately, lived up to all of the over the top brash stereotypes and just tried a little too hard to get involved, especially for Joanne who just wanted to sit back, relax and read her book.
Lunch and a friendly chat with one of the staff - apparently Surevi’s favourite spot for seafood is the island opposite! A brief snorkel and then back to the hammocks at the resort only to be kicked off as furniture was for ‘guests only’ - even though no guests were on the other 20 spare hammocks - we think the manager was back so staff got more strict!
The unrelenting rain began again after dinner back at Nabua Lodge meaning we were
stuck in the hall with Amir ‘trying’ to play the guitar.
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Mark
non-member comment
This is the blog
where you realise when you get home & back to mundane day to day life, that you'll never forget & realise life dosent get much better. My moment was Green Island, Great Barrier Reef, two Swedish girls, Jenny & Viveca, very relaxed about bikini tops!