Blogs from Fiji, Oceania - page 138

Tuesday April 25th Bula from Fiji! Our plans got changed a little today. We were supposed to have a day of R&R, as we’ve been busy for the last few days. Jason’s back is feeling a lot better now. It still looks like lizard skin, but most of the pain is gone now. Since Kirk got certified as an open water diver here we decided to do a family dive, with the 4 of us diving, and Wes snorkeling above us. Anyhow, our dive day was supposed to be Wednesday, but it got changed to today. Qio picked us up at 9, and since Wes has been bugging us for the last few days to dive I asked him if he could do an introductory dive. Of course Qio says, which is great, PADI has bubbles ... read more

Sunday April 23rd Bula from Fiji! Today we’re going to church. We’re off to an island (Qamea) that has no power, and is only accessible only by boat. Our day starts around 9 am by getting into Sireli’s boat and we’re off. The sun is blazing down, and we know it’s going to be a hot day. The boat ride lasts about 45 mins as its low tide, and we have to maneuver around quite a few reefs. We get to the island and we’re greeted by Moses, the chief of the village we’re visiting. We are invited to his house, and are greeted by all around. The villagers really seem to like it when foreigners visit. We talk with Moses and his family for a little bit before heading off to church. Moses also happens ... read more

Friday April 21st Bula from Fiji! Today we got up early and went off to a place called Bouma Falls. Bouma Falls is in Waitubu Marine Park, which is a marine reserve in Fiji set up about 15 years ago to preserve the fish and the reefs here. There is no fishing in the park, just snorkeling and diving. So we get on the road around 8 am, we’re off to an early start, as Kirk has diving lessons at 1 pm. Our guide watalki lives a few doors down the street, and he’s great, giving us great info on the areas we visit, as well as driving us everywhere. We drive up the coast about 40 minutes to the park entrance. The first falls is about a 10 minute walk from the road, not very ... read more

Wednesday April 19th Bula from Fiji! Rain Rain Rain! Holy molly it rained last night and this morning… it rained like I’ve never seen ever before, I mean rain that flooded roads, did massive erosion to some of the beaches, turned all the water around this island a dirty brown colour. Unfortunately in the next village over from us a child playing in the river got washed away, and died  The rain started last night around midnight and didn’t stop until around noon today. When we got up we knew right away that we weren’t going diving today, although Kirk did. Our plans got cancelled cuz of the weather, but they started him on his padi open water course. The guys running the show down at jewel divers came by and picked him up around ... read more

Monday April 17th Today was a lazy day, just sitting around and hanging out in and around the house. Jason, Wes & Kirk went out with Sireli and Maureen on their boat and did some snorkeling around Honeymoon Island. This island is leased by a resort here, and basically there is a small grass hut, and a toilet there. Apparently honeymooners go to this island for 3 to 4 hours to get away from things  Anyhow Jason and the kids were snorkeling around the island and there were a couple on it; I’m not sure if they were disturbed. The snorkeling was quite good, with lots of colourful coral, and fish, they even saw a big moral eel. On the way out there was a pod of dolphins that they went through. The dolphins like ... read more