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I thought Beqa Lagoon was spectacular, but Matamanoa Island has just blown me away. To get here, we took a little boat from Beqa back to Viti Levu, drove 2 hours to the marina in Nadi, then an hour on a bigger boat, and then finally stepped onto a little glass bottom boat to get to the shore. During the car ride, our driver, an Indo-Fijian named Kumar, stopped at a craft shop so that we could get souvenirs (also run by Indo-Fijians), as well as a furniture factory called Pacific Green with beautiful palm furniture.
There is only one resort on Matamanoa, and the place is gorgeous. Sandy white beaches (when the tide is out), and our little bure sits on the side of a hill overlooking the water and facing west. We have a patio with chairs and a hammock, and a stone pathway leading down to the beach. They had a bottle of champagne and a huge fruit tray waiting for us, with a card to congratulate us on our wedding. The ceiling is a beautiful painted brown pattern, and the furniture a dark wood. I write this lying on a daybed with a view of palm
trees, the oceans, and neighboring islands. We are truly in paradise!
We arrived late afternoon on Tuesday, so we spent the evening showering before having dinner in the resort restaurant. The food has been wonderful here as well—lots of healthy chicken and fish dishes, and a wait staff that genuinely seems to enjoy their job. There is a Fijian man that rolls a squeaky cart around the room making delicious Caesar salads, as ordered. A very talented band plays whatever you want to hear (last night we requested Ben Harper and they played “Steal My Kisses”), and every night they give a big “Bula!” (welcome) to the new arrivals and sing a farewell song to those departing the next day. We also got a welcome song from a number of the staff when we first arrived off the boat.
Yesterday we hung out by the pool in the morning and then snorkeled right off the shore on the reef when the tide came in. We saw some beautiful bright blue starfish, pretty coral, and lots of beautiful fish. Other creatures on the island have been entertaining us as well—the first night here we had a gecko on our
wall that was at least 4 inches long and an inch thick. It hung there for a while before making a chirping noise and skittering off. There are also enormous bats that hang out in the coconut trees at dusk hunting bugs, and interesting black birds with yellow feet and a yellow stripe on their beaks that hang around waiting for something to munch on. There is also the Matamanoa bird, that has a wingspan of up to 5 feet, but they are hard to spot. As I type this there’s a small gecko climbing the glass door of the patio.
Today we did 2 dives, one to Broska’s Reef and the other to Bird Rock Wall. At Broska’s Reef we saw a white tip shark, a gigantic clam, and some colorful schools of fish. Visibility wasn’t great, and I had too much weight on, so I burned through my air rather quickly.
But Bird Rock Wall was maybe the best dive I’ve done yet—ever. It’s a huge wall of coral that is just gorgeous, with tons of beautiful fish, some of them very big. And then at the end we saw 3 white tip sharks. They mostly
just hovered where they were, but at one point one looked at us and started heading in our direction. It was at that point that my heart started thumping, but we just started swimming away again. The dive was also fun because we simply drifted along the wall with the current and didn’t really have to do anything but watch that we didn’t hit the coral. At one point I was floating there looking at the beautiful colors, watching a large number of fish, and thinking, wow, this is proof that something bigger than me does exist. I am not a religious person, but moments like that are when I feel a sense of spirituality.
Both dives we did from a very small boat where we had to do a back flip with all of our gear on into the water. The first dive was just Ken, me, and the dive master, while the second dive was Ken, me, another dive master (Rae from Australia), and an Italian named Marco. His wife or girlfriend also tried to go, but she freaked out on the surface and hung back in the boat with the other dive master. I know how
easy it is to get yourself worked up right before going down, so I felt bad for her.
This is a very international place—lots of Italians for some reason, another American couple from Oregon also on their honeymoon, a lesbian German couple, another German couple that got married on the beach today, some Aussies, some Kiwis, and Brits. But the Italians have definitely dominated the place in their Speedos and tiny bikinis.
The sun keeps going in and out this afternoon, so we decided to come back and enjoy our bure. Ken is enjoying his daily afternoon nap; I’m enjoying the daybed with a view of paradise. How did I get so lucky to have such an amazing tropical experience? Ken and I agree that we will look back on this experience with very fond memories.
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