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Published: April 18th 2012
Have let the blog writing slip ever so slightly..can you blame me though, with so much to see and do it's hard to warrant looking at an ipad screen every day so i guess its no wonder! So, writing this after having left Fiji we can safely say it was simply paradise. There is no other word to sum it up and I can imagine that word is thrown around a lot, especially in beautiful areas such as Fiji but looking at our island in comparison to the others and hearing other peoples stories (everyone else seemed to just have an OK stay) it was unbeatable! Our resort, Matamanoa, was it's own island and accomodated only 30 people when fully booked. There was an A-m-a-z-i-n-g spa set in the hills which overlooked the sea whilst you had a massage and a fantastic dive centre. The water was crystal clear and amazingly blue and the snorkelling was phenomenal as Matamanoa is a marine conservation site and we saw the same marine wildlife a we did diving, yet only metres from the shore. The sand was pure white and very clean and mostly deserted throughout the day so you felt as though you
were on the island by yourself most of the day. There were coves along the stretch of the beach and rock pools (perfect for Mitch when he's playing!) The resort had an infinity pool, extensive cocktail list and did not allow any under 16's...the perfect relaxation and romantic setting! We were the only travellers and it seemed to be mostly honeymooners or the odd celebrity (Sam Whitelock from the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team turned up halfway through our stay and caused quite a stir!)
However in order to reach this paradise we had a mission of a journey which started on the other side of the world in LA. Our car rental drop off time was six hours prior to our flight, so after dropping it off we had a stint at LAX airport ahead of us. In hindsight it flew by and we found ourselves boarding the plane for our ten hour flight with little moans. Customs at Fiji was a bit of a nightmare queue and after sixteen hours travelling at this point we really could have done without any interrigations as to whether we'd accidently bought any bees or insects into their country via
our luggage! Once released into Nadi we then had to catch a taxi to the harbour for our transfer to paradise. Finally there...or so we thought...we were too early so had to wait a few hours until the ferry was ready to board. We shopped and found very limited supplies of sunscreen but fake tan everywhere...very strange! Armed with some low SPF Hawaiin Tropic (we were ready to oil up & tan up!) We were then directed to the wrong boat and got off just in time, otherwise we would have sailed hours in the wrong direction, we would not have been happy! Boarding a smaller and less stable looking boat we were on our way! Minutes in, I was feeling very sea sick and found myself curled up on Mitch drifting in and out of conciousness! Although feeling groggy we got chatting to a really nice Australian couple, Jared and Kate who were on their way to our island. The journey lasted forever and we passed many islands, you could see the anticipation on everyones faces and the sighs of relief from those who didnt get off at the questionable looking resorts (no kareoke for me thank you very
much!) Our journey then involved another transfer into a smaller boat, but the sea sickness vanished once we saw all the staff on the shore singing to us with shell necklaces and cocktails in hand!
Straight to the bar, where we chatted to Jared and Kate some more. All the other couples left for their rooms straight away but there were two which weren't ready yet...ours and Jared and Kates...oh well after thirty hours total travelling and waiting time what was another hour at the bar?! Finally our room was ready and we were not disappointed! It was beautiful, set in the palm trees with a wooden 'Anna & Mitch' sign hanging on our door, inside it was very spacious and had a great wet room bathroom, a hammock outside and a mini bar! It really was very tempting to sleep at this point, but the sun was shining and we breaking out that that Hawaiin Tropic!
We met up with Jared and Kate later on and worked our way through the cocktail list, we had deserved it after all. We ate dinner outside under the stars and mid way through there was a flash storm which was
I Look Really Unimpressed!!
(It was the opposite, just very hard under water with no make up and geek mask!)came from nowhere, but it was amazing! The rain came from nowhere and the staff set our table up under the canopy so we could watch it whilst having dinner! After a few Beers and Jack Daniels, tiredness was getting the better of us so we hit the hay and prayed for a day of sunshine.
The next day was glorious and we started the day with breakfast under the sun looking out to the islands in the distance (our island was next to The Castaway island, which was cool!) we spent the day swimming, snorkelling and sunbathing and exploring the island. Happily laying out with my music and a drink in hand, Mitch was off snorkelling and soon rushed bak to tell me what he saw. Keen to show me what lay amongst the coral he took me out to the reef to see the fish. In my head I was looking like Ursula Andress in my white bikini, paddling around, but then after a while the tide picked up strength and we found ourselves being swept away to the rocks, my mask coming off and with a mouthful of sea water I climbed to safety on the
rocks. The waves got higher and I was getting a bit of a battering and soon clocked my rocks of safety were home to some very large crabs heading my way! Taking my chances with the sea instead I jumped in with no mask on, gulping sea water and swam back to shore cutting my foot on the coral! Mitch of course breezed through and came out of this life threatening experience unscathed! It wasn't quite what we both had in mind and I went back to sunbathing immediately after!
Back in the room and out of the sun we noticed despite applying copious amounts of suncream and only being in the sun for a couple of hours Mitch had the most awful sunburn I have ever seen. I had been warned about him getting burnt but this was almost third degree burns, bless him. The whole of his front was beaming red and he was in a lot of pain. I really felt or him, especially as I was the one sprawled out on the lounger all day with every intention of burning to a crisp & he was out playing in the rock pools!
I had
originally intended on doing my PADI course when we reached Australia but the dive school was excellent value and provided one on one tuition. Plus 'studying' whilst laying under the Fijian sun suited me more than being holed up in a classroom elsewhere! The dive instructor was an English lady called Rae and she was the best instructor I could have asked for. Her life story was very inspirational, she had gone through a lot and was now living out her dream living in paradise every day. I signed up to do my Open Water Padi course and although there were a lot of people being taught at the time, everyone else did the introduction to scuba so I was the Open Water student. Mitch went and booked me in and I was issued with my course pack which included a bible sized study book, which I vowed to read every day (I didn't, I read Cosmo instead and left in untouched until the last few days...always a crammer!) The pool session was good fun, we were swimming through hoops, doing forward rolls with the equipment on and getting to grips with the breathing techniques. I think I got the
hang of it fairly quickly and the equipment is bloody heavy outside of the water! I didn't like the emptying your mask underwater move as I kept getting flustered and letting more water in than out, then getting flustered again, and forgetting to blow out etc! There were 3 pool sessions in total and my other two were with a really sweet Aussie lady who was very funny and then the last was one on one. It was great to learn whilst chilling out and gave my days a routine, wake up go for a pool dive, snorkel, sunbathe and 'study' (more Cosmo time!) next day, wake go for a dive & snorkel etc etc
That night we had a few more drinks with Jarred and Kate, then headed to dinner with them. After there was a Kava ceremony where you could try the local drink which was about 50% booze and wasn't very nice, it tasted like muddy water, but we all had some and it made our mouths numb!! There was also a dance on that night where the men swapped with the women and there were forefits etc. It was very fun and got everyone together,
I wanted to win but I think came about 5th as my new man for the night was quite slow, but the men got the women drinks to compensate for their rubbish footwork, so I made sure mine was a classy Del Boy Pina Colada with all the trimmings!
By the the third day Mitch's sunburn seemed to be gettng worse not better despite using burn cream & almost a whole bottle of moisturiser. It didn't stop him snorkelling as Jarred lent him his surf top so he could go in the water and we went together for what seemed like hours. We saw blue starfish, giant crab, puffer fish, Nemo and Dory, squid & lots more! After we had finished one session, I laid out for the day and Mitch went back for round two! Watching him from the shore I spotted him stop quickly all of a sudden and then swim super fast back to the shore. I knew immediately he'd seen something and it turned out he'd seen not one but two sharks!! I have never seen him so scared and out of breath & I'm not suprised!! (At this point we thought they were reef
sharks as we had been told they were the only shark species in the area to make us feel safer about diving but later found out they were most probably Bull Sharks!!!!) If it had been me I would have simply had a heart attack mid swim! Well, I think curiousity got the better of us, & I quite fancied the idea of seeing a shark myself, & we were back in the water straight away anticipating another shark sighting! Thinking everything that moved was a Great White (I have a vivid imagination!) it was very exciting and we saw a lot of different fish again (Fortunately no sharks!) The reef was extensive and continued the length of the island, the ledge dropping dramatically where all the fish colonised and it was the best snorkelling we've ever seen!
We had our anniversary out there so we went into the hilltop spa at sunset with a bottle of wine and had a few glasses whilst watching the sun go down and listening to the waves on the beach! We lost track of time and found ourselves up in the hills with only a candle to light our path & the
resident bats to contend with! Plus after a few glasses of wine there appeared to be more steps than there were a lot of the time so we were clambering down them as fast as we could with bats flying and screaching overhead! Well, the romantic idea was there....!
We had seen Deep Sea Fishing advertised and as it was on our Bucket List we signed up for the early morning start without hesitation. Jarrod & Kate decided to join us too so we halved up and were woken up at silly o'clock in the morning, whilst still dark outside, by a local fishman who simply said (with arm motion) 'feesh?' (fish?) Errr...yes! That's us! I had set my sights high and in my mind, today was the day I would catch a Swordfish...In reality within minutes Kate and I were hanging over the side of the boat being incredibly sea sick! May I just add we hadn't even started fishing at this point, but also the waves were about 5 metres high....OK maybe not that big but it was awful choppy conditions! I dont know much about the rest of the trip as I was bent over the
boat studying the waves whilst being very ill, but I know that the boys were perfectly fine and we didn't catch a fish at this point of the trip! Afte 30 minutes in Kate and I had had enough and made the fisherman turn the boat around. We were not pretty! He offered to take the boys out so Kate and I washed up on the shore and passed out within minutes of getting off! Swordfish my...foot!! The boys, on the otherhand, came back a few hours later (a little bit fisherman smelly!) but with a bucket of Spanish Mackeral for our lunch! It was lovely and thanks to them we had fresh fish with salad and garlic fries for lunch! If it had been up to Kate and I I think we would have starved....so in a way...was deep sea fishing worth it?....Just!
In total I did 3 dives and went crazy when I saw a little turtle! I was the only one in the group to see so I grabbed Rae and then i chased after it, but, of course, he swam away! The dives were great and with one on one tuition and only 5 minutes
of skills each dive I had to remind myself I was actually learning! The visibility was great and we saw all sorts on the reef, the usual along with baby Reef Sharks, Manta Rays, Christmas Tree Worms, Eels etc! Loved it! One thing i did learn though was I do not photograph very well underwater! Rae took lot of photos of my dives and the dives accompanied by Mitch and it was not very flattering...just look at the fish in the background on those pictures I guess! After a little bit of 'study ' I did the theory test and got my certificate that night. Rae gave me a massive hug and we took her to dinner that night to say thank you.
The rest of our time in Matamanoa was spent doing the usual 'holiday' activities, we sunbathed, snorkelled, swam in the pool, met lots of nice people, drank a fair bit and just chilled out! We watched a few storms at night but that aside, the weather and everything else was spot on! My only regret, writing this from a slighly overcast New Zealand, is that we could not stay longer than 10 nights !
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Shaun
non-member comment
Headed here on the 17th!
My wife and I are actually headed to this same island for our honeymoon, arriving on the 19th. We are trying to narrow down excursion choices, and have a few in mind.. Other than the ones you mentioned, did you try any of the day or evening cruises? From the sounds of it, imagine Dramamine is a must? What SPF sunscreen did you have? Is it easier to bring items, or are duty free the way to go? Thanks in advance!