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Published: November 16th 2007
Octopus Resort In the morning we boarded the Yasawa Flyer heading north to Octopus Resort. We climbed aboard another small tender which took us to shore, where we were greeted by the staff singing the familiar welcome song, to which we had to respond "Bula!" very loudly. It was obvious from the start that Octopus Resort, which had been highly recommended by everyone, was a much slicker establishment than Bounty Island. However, we didn´t warm to it initially because it seemed like any other nice holiday resort and very touristy, with a pool full of kids splashing around and all the sunloungers reserved by beach towels (no Germans in sight though!). Our bungalow was new and very nice, although we didn´t have an ensuite because they were all booked up, but the bathrooms were very smart.
But we soon started enjoying ourselves as the food was delicious (even the seafood buffet) and we befriended a Scottish/Irish couple, Grant and Lorraine who were a good laugh. It was quiz night and we teemed up together with an American lady who was writing for a travel guide about Fiji. We think we upset her though because she had no sense of humour
and got really agitated when we dismissed her answers (because they were wrong!) and declined to blow on bottle tops to create a tune for the talent show round. Jase scored us lots of points with his Demi impression instead. She disappeared half way through the quiz, but we still only came 5th even though we got loads right.
We woke up feeling slightly worse for wear after too many Fiji Bitters, but fortunately relaxing on the beach is a good tonic. We went snorkelling and found the reef off Octopus was spectacular, with lots of fishies and beautiful coloured corals around. The tide was a bit low so Rach scraped her knees on some dead coral, so we had to swim through the little boat lane out to the reef. Got frustrated chasing Triggerfish around for the perfect photo and an elusive, unusual parrotfish. There were lots of big Bannerfish, Emperors and Trumpets near the surface.
It proved to be a quieter night but we all enjoyed the traditional dance show by the staff, which was much more professional than Bounty Island, but just as enjoyable. The highlight was the two little blonde boys (sons of the
Aussie owner) who joined in, dressed in cute little grass skirts. The tiny one was really into the dancing and obviously enjoying himself.
The next morning we felt considerably better than yesterday, even though we had been last in the bar again. We snorkelled after breakfast and saw lots of big fish and terrorised a few triggerfish.
In the evening we enjoyed a delicious BBQ buffet before the Games Night began. The Games opened in spectacular fashion with the staff performing a fire dance display. Then Rach sat quaffing G&Ts (no more nasty Fiji Bitter) with Lorraine watching the boys join in the games: limbo (which Jase gave a miss) and a beer drinking race. We stayed up til 3am drinking on the beach with the staff and some other friendly Irish couples. Grant must have been drunk because he finally got his guitar out and gave us a rendition of a few Johnny Cash numbers. Someone produced an iPod and speakers and they had Tenacious D, so we probably woke all the Beachfront Bures up singing our favourite song! To finish the night in style, Jase managed to step his foot through a wooden sunlounger...hmmm time for
bed then!
Rach was feeling smug because she didn´t have a hangover but Jase and Grant were feeling worse for wear! We chilled out after brekkie waiting for the Yasawa Flyer to take us to Manta Ray Island.
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sunset fiji style!
Debra
non-member comment
Bula! Weather update
That's a nice rainbowy shimmer in the sea pics. Could we have a picture of Jase with those shorts and the Santa Monica Pier shirt - together please? And now for a UK weather update: It was raining full pelt this morning and now it's snowing. Arther Hertzog was right! Unpredictable weather does craze people. Look at Sainsburys, it was camper chaos this morning. I put all my things back and left without my nutty bread. Shocking!