Fiji...BULA!

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Fiji

Our plan for Fiji was to Island jump for 13 days around the Yasawas.

We arrived at our first Island on Friday 13th, ironic as it was pouring with rain! We jumped of the passenger ferry onto a small canoe which was to take us to the Island of Quata. We looked like refugees cowering under blankets to take cover from the rain that was torrential.

Our accommodation was set in the Fijian’s village with a beautiful sea view. We met some of the village people who taught us to weave bracelets out of bamboo. They also treated us to a traditional Fijian dance, which basically involved us strutting our stuff YMCA style. My highlight of Quata Island however has to be the shark diving! We took a very bumpy journey on the jet boat to the edge of the reef where we put our snorkelling gear on and jumped in. The Fijians speared a nemo fish as bait and then out of nowhere 3 or 4 large sharks came. Pretty scary at first as we were not behind any cages however they were not great whites so wouldn’t devour us...I hoped. One of the Fijian men put a shark in a head lock so that we could stroke it, I noticed he had a jagged scar on his shoulder hmmm. It was a scary yet amazing first hand experience.

Our second Fijian Island was ‘Long Island’ a much smaller Island than Quata and definitely less tourism. Finally the sun had come out for this Island and wow it was smouldering! The sea was knee deep for miles out so we could paddle from Island to Island. However I attempted to follow Ross and Rick and was confronted by a rather large white snake..I quickly ran back. Help is a day away on these Island hence why I ran.

In the afternoons on this Island there was a daily volleyball game. This was great fun as we mixed with the tourists and the Fijian village folk up. I was often quite put off as one of the largest Fijian women would always shout “heloo Jonny”in a sexy manner every time I tried to serve.

In the evenings we often played cards with the other tourists. This was interesting as we would have a simple card game turn difficult because everyone spoke different languages.

This Islands accommodation was very basic; there was no floor just sand and a thatched roof. I woke up to find a dead hornet under my pillowcase and an alive newt above my head, I also had bed bugs. Furthermore sleeping with Nick in a small bed isn’t very comfy.

Our third Island was called Sunset Island and owned by a very gay Fijian man and his boyfriend Debrah. Very interesting couple who would break into song and dance with each other at nearly every opportunity they had.

My highlight of this Island had to be cave diving. We took a half an hour boat journey to some underwater caves at the North of the Yasawas. We had to take a big plunge into a caves crevice where we found ourselves blanketed in rock. Ross climbed 30 feet up the rocks to jump in, pretty dangerous considering an Irish man had died doing that a week before! We then put our snorkelling gear on and viewed some electric eels. It was then time to swim a few metres down then through a passage into a complete pitch dark cave! It was very claustrophobic especially when you cant see where to surface. I was ok until a petrified woman kept dragging me under when she was freaking out.

We spent the majority of our time on this Island catching the suns rays, dipping in the cool blue waters and socialising with other tourists our age.

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