Paradise Found

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After a week in California, we flew to Fiji. We arrived early in the morning, and it was already at least 30 degrees! So warm and humid! We checked into our hotel in Nadi and passed out straight away. Our first day in Nadi was spent organising our escape! Nadi is OK, but we were keen to get to the Yasawa Islands! We booked ourselves on a 4 day/3 night cruise around the Yasawa Islands, staying at BareFoot Island.

It was one of the best experiences of my whole life. We met the boat in the harbour, and sailed out into a tropical paradise on a tall ship. Each day we would wake up in our bures by the beach, and go for a swim in the clear blue ocean. We would have a delicious breakfast with the rest of the guests in the main bure, and then we would spend our days sailing, fishing, snorkelling and exploring the various surrounding islands. Pure bliss! Each night we would come back to our island, have another swim, lay around in hammocks or kayak around the secluded coves. Then we'd all get together for a delicious dinner (and not so delicious kava) and then lay out on the beach watching the billions of stars in the sky. It was perfect.

When we (reluctantly) returned to Nadi, we immediately flew to Suva and then caught a plane to Levuka. We had arranged to spend the next week on the island to fulfill one of my longest-held dreams - to learn to dive! The plane ride to Levuka was an experience in itself - a tiny little plane, where we had to carry our own luggage on board. Even more unusual, they made us weigh ourselves as well as our bags! At first I didn't understand what they were asking! I heaved my backpack on to the scales (the old fashioned ones with the needle and the giant numbers). After my bag narrowly made it through the weight-limit, the attendant pointed to me, and indicated I hop on the scale. I laughed, thinking it was some kind of joke, but then realised he was serious. He wanted me to hop on a scale in the middle of the airport, with the numbers facing out for everyone to see! I looked to Jamie and Ben for support, but they just nodded, apparently encouraging me to accept my fate. The horror!

But we were soon on our way, on the smallest passenger plane known to man. The flight was quick, but spectacular - we didn't gain much altitude, so the views over the ocean and the reefs were amazing. We landed at the airport in Levuka, which appeared to be nothing more than a dirt road, and then caught the bus into the town. We had organised to stay at a B&B in Levuka, and it was seriously the nicest place we've ever stayed. So friendly and comfortable, and breakfast each day was a 1hr affair. Apparently it's normally a 2-hour affair, but our diving instructor warned us not to overdo it on breakfast before diving, so we slimmed it down a bit.

Each day we'd spend the morning studying in our 'classroom', watching videos detailing the physiological reasons for the bends (with a very graphic depiction using a soda bottle) and then in the afternoons we'd do our practical work. In most cases, you do your pool & theory for the first part, and then head to the ocean for your "open water exercises". But in Levuka, there is no pool - they take you out to a shallow reef and you practice your pool exercises surrounded by fish and coral and at one point, a sea snake! It was fantastic! We'd practice our exercises (clearing our masks, breathing from a free-flowing reg) and then with our remaining air, we'd explore the reef. At night we would head to the Whale Tale cafe for dinner, and then back to our rooms to study for the next day.

The end of the week, we had our final exams (Jay and I got the exact same mark, but with different questions right and wrong) and celebrated getting our PADI Open Water certification! After a week in Levuka, we were sad to leave, but excited to move on to Raratonga and use our new diving skills!

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Photos

Ben's afro
This is what happens after a solid week of diving...