Manta Ray Resort, Nanya Balavu Island

---

---

Sunday 9th July 2006
At 5am I awoke and watched a glorious sunrise over the sea, through the window of our Bure, while still laid in bed. After breakfast we had to board the transfer boat to take us to the Yasawa Flyer catamaran, which took us on to our next destination - Manta Ray resort. The transfer boat took us round to the other side of the island, to the Blue Lagoon, where we waited with a few other resort boats for the Flyer. While we were there I could see two kite surfers just off the beach of an island South West of us. I had wanted to kite surf in Fiji but not found anyone who rented out there - so assumed it was private individuals.

When we arrived at Manta Ray resort it looked very impressive. The resort was built recently (and was still being built in places) and was owned and built by an Ozzy, rather than a Fijian. So they were much hotter on litter and being environmentally friendly.

I played volley ball on the beach and met some new friends, including Drew and Kylie from Oxford! Kylie had her arm in cast - she had broken her thumb or something on a ceiling fan a few weeks earlier! Ended up getting pretty drunk that evening and playing the "I have never..." game with about ten others in the bar. A few of the girls shocking some by admitting to having threesomes or moresomes... One of the girls (Nat) I had met at a previous resort had asked me to wake her at 5am so she could watch the World Cup Football Final. She reminded me about five times that night and I set my alarm...

Monday 10th July 2006
Woke up at 6am - badly needing some water to rehydrate my aching brain! All the taps in the toilets use water made from sea water (very salty) so I walked up to the bar to see if I could buy a bottle... There were about half a dozen people up in the bar, crowded round the TV watching the final. I asked the girl by the bar if I could buy a bottle of water, but she said "Not till the bar opens at 8am" :-( So she gave me a glass of 'salty' water... I managed two sips. I sat down and watched the final, waiting for the bar to open...

At 8am the bar opened and the breakfast drums were played to call everyone to breakfast. I had already helped myself to breakfast and was sat eating, watching the game that had gone into extra time... Then Nat appeared.. Looking really pissed off. It seemed to her I had got up to watch the football and left her sleeping. It took me a while to convince her I had slept through my alarm and had only come up to the bar for water...Plus she hadn't missed it - the game was still going... After the Zidane headbutt incident (idiot!) it went to penalties and I like it when that happens in a final - get good 'value for money' and everyone watching it in bars would be totally pissed by the end! The game ended and that was the end of my football watching for another four years.

I then went on my first dive and met Paul and Fordy the dive instructors - good northern lads who were up for a laugh. The first dive was breath-taking - the corals and fish so colourful and abundant. Saw whole areas of coral dedicated to a certain fish - like little communities of identical colour and shape. Also saw a sting-ray and a big red octopus. When I checked out its official name on the fish charts back at the dive shop... Big Red Octopus! "Say what you see!"

I then went out again with my dive buddy Gerhard. We sat on sand at the bottom, with islands of coral around us, teaming with fish. This was our classroom! :-) We practiced skills like removing the mask and re-fitting and clearing it, removing and finding the mouth piece, removing, inspecting and refitting the weight belt and buoyancy control system and oxygen tank. Some of it was pretty difficult first time - trying to remove your weight belt and stay on the bottom for one!

When I got back I told some of the others about the octopus and we decided to go and find it - all joined Jay's Octopus Snorkeling Tour (*No refund if octopus not seen) ;-) Unfortunately we didn't find him, so we all went back to shore for a game of volley ball. Before I knew it, 'happy hour' had come round, so up to the bar!

Tuesday 11th July 2006
Due to go diving, but it was cancelled as my dive instructor (Paul) could not be found... In actual fact he was on the piss till 4am! So I did lots of homework instead - we have loads to read, six assessments to do and a test at the end. I managed to read four chapters of the handbook and do three assignments.

For a break I took my kite and kayaked over to the deserted beach opposite. I got the kite up and managed some small jumps (see here) and body dragging through the water. Jim and Abby came over and helped me in to the kayak - Kite Kayaking is born!!! (see here) I thought I would be pulled straight out of the kayak and have no steering control. But as it happened, you can lean to put the boat on an edge and turn against the pull of the kite. I was on my way (mostly in control) down-wind towards the Wana Taki boat anchored nearby. If I had somewhere to land the kite I could have easily made it.

After the usual of delicious lunch, daily volley ball, 'happy hour' cocktails, beautiful sunset and exceptional dinner, more cocktails, I had a relatively early night.

Wednesday 12th July 2006
Decided no more cocktails...

Did a morning dive with two Ozzy girls Stef and Kat (who had nipples DOUBLE pierced!! Owwwwch).

Then did some dive theory and tried to go kayak surfing with some others.

After lunch read some more of the dive handbook and did another assignment.

Then went out for a late afternoon snorkel with Drew and Kylie - the light was piercing through the water in long thin shafts. Kylie spotted a Lion Fish below us. They are deadly, I went as close as I dared to get a photo. She then found the elusive Big Red Octopus too! Think she should consider a change of career! The octopus changed colour and even texture to blend in with the rock it was on.

We got back and played the daily game of volley ball before another delectable meal - the food here really is some of the very best I have ever eaten!

I managed to get someone to remove the bits of coral from my foot, which were bothering me.

Thursday 13th July 2006
I finished reading my diving handbook and completed the last assignment.

Then did another dive, covering essential skills. Recapped and demonstrated the skills I had already learned and then covered the new skill of air sharing.

Also saw polyps - the tiny things that live in coral - usually only out at night. Also spotted a flat fish on a rock - it was really well camouflaged!

That night we had a fire on the beach and sat round chatting and drinking. Met Mandy - a really nice Ozzy girl who was working in Nadi (pronounced Nandy) in Fiji - Mandy from Nadi - made me laugh anyway.

Tried to sleep on the beach, even went and got a pillow, sleeping bag and music player... Then it rained - big time!! LOL So much for seeing the sunrise!

Friday 14th July 2006
Woke up tired and with a hangover, plus it was raining heavily and my pillow and sleeping bag was thoroughly soaked. I went back to bed after breakfast to try and shake off the hangover. Besides not much to do when it's raining.

I later went on my first 'deep' dive - down to 18 meters. We went to a dive site called Garden of Eden - It was absolutely astonishing! The visibility was 30+ meters in every direction. As I stopped and looked around me I could see the surface nearly 20 meters above me, down 30+ meters towards the sea floor as it dropped off away from us. I looked to my dive buddy - he was floating a few meters from a vertical coral wall over 30 meters high. It was like seeing astronauts floating in space. If you have never done it, it would be like floating up along side a tall building, looking down and up and around - just floating there - able to go in any direction - but this was so much more spectacular. The huge amounts of fish and coral, of so many shapes, sizes and colours. We saw eels, big wrasse fish, tiny rare sea snails (without shells) and sharks. It was a huge step up in my diving and a totally unforgettable experience.

Afterwards me, Drew and Kylie did some crab racing (you have to go and find a few hermit crab, with distinctive shells) and even made an elaborate labyrinth to test their abilities... For someone who doesn't like sunbathing whilst reading a book, it can get boring on a tropical island sometimes...

I then had to do my final dive exam. I got 100%!!(MISSING)!!! I am now a Certified Diver - or "Certified Muff Diver, specialising in 'Wreck' diving" as Drew put it LOL

Saturday 15th July 2006
Went and did another dive at Garden of Eden - as breathtaking as last time! At one point I looked up and saw the outline of a shark above us. I watched it swim down and doing a u-turn to come past us at our depth - a few meters away. It was the first time I had seen a shark so close in the wild. I wasn't scared at all, but very intrigued. I also did my first 'swim through' - a small cave - having to maintain your depth carefully to not hit the sides.

We had initially meant to do two dives one after the other - the boat had our second tanks on board for us to change over without going back (and me getting a free dive in the bargain!). Unfortunately Paul and Fordy had forgotten they were supposed to be picking up three girls from the Wana Taki. So we had to go and get them first and drop them off at the dive shop on Manta Ray. We picked them up OK, but as we approached the shore of Manta Ray the waves and current had picked up tremendously. They struggled to attach the boat to a mooring and get close to shore. I was dying for a wee, so I jumped off the boat and went for a piss. The current took me down the shore faster than it ever had before (we often used it to drift snorkel along the coral without kicking, so not disturbing the fish so much). I got out and wandered back up the beach, to watch as the dive boat took on more and more water from the waves crashing against it as they tried to get to shore. It was getting pretty hairy and everybody (except the three new girls - who had no idea) raced to get the heavy equipment off the boat, but it was no good - it started to sink. They tried to get the battery and radio equipment off (frantic unscrewing of fixings). The three girls stood on the beach looking in amazement at the 'professional dive operation' they were about to go diving with, as Paul and Fordy swore and cursed at the sunken boat LOL I didn't get my free dive that afternoon...

I was leaving that day and so had to go and settle my bar bill... $265!!! Doh!!

Not long after lunch, as I waited for the transfer boat I noticed a new dog (there were two 'local' dogs that played on the beach - one who looked just like Santa's Little Helper from the Simpsons) that had decided to swim across the channel to the far beach (one I used to kite fly). It was during the high waves and strong current conditions that sank the dive boat! I was convinced he wouldn't make it. I could see him drifting further and further to the left as the current took him. Amazingly he made it! Just what exactly he wanted on the deserted beach I have no idea!

Before going, one of the local Fijian 'boys' (the Fijian’s all called the men 'Boys' as in "One of our boys will sort it") called Jo came over and said goodbye to me. He seemed to be spending a fair amount of time shaking my hand and with his other hand on my neck. He asked if I had any t-shirts I could spare for him, which I didn't as I would need them traveling. I was starting to get a bit suspicious of his hand on my neck and as I walked up to the dive shop to say goodbye to Paul, Fordy and the others I noticed my necklace fall off and on to the sand - sneaky little thieving shit!

After saying goodbye to the great people I had met, I got the transfer boat and on to the Yasawa Flyer again, heading back to Nadi on the main island of Fiji.

When we got there I tried to see if I could find my snowboard bag, that I left with them three weeks ago. Astonishingly it was still there and unopened!

I got a transfer bus to the Nadi Bay Hotel and grabbed a bit to eat and a beer in their bar.

Sunday 16th July 2006
I had to be up at 5.30am to then be crammed into a mini bus to take us to the airport and await my flight to New Zealand...

Things I will miss most about Fiji:
Diving, snorkeling, coconuts, warm sea, hammocks, walking bare foot through hot sand.

Things I will miss least about Fiji:
Crap beer, litter, cava, 'Fiji time', coral cuts, cold showers.

---

Photos

The dorm inside
My bed bottom left

Big Red Octopus
It's proper name too!!!

Same Octopus!!!
Amazing change of colour AND texture!

Kiting!!!
Wahoo!! Wana Taki in the background.

Comments

[Em]

Fiji time?
You'll miss Fiji time?! I'd have thought it was quite aligned to "Jim time"!!! :-)

[Nige]

Fiji time
PMSL It's a whole new time zone Fi-Jim time :-)