Friday April 21st

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Friday April 21st

Bula from Fiji!

Today we got up early and went off to a place called Bouma Falls. Bouma Falls is in Waitubu Marine Park, which is a marine reserve in Fiji set up about 15 years ago to preserve the fish and the reefs here. There is no fishing in the park, just snorkeling and diving. So we get on the road around 8 am, we’re off to an early start, as Kirk has diving lessons at 1 pm. Our guide watalki lives a few doors down the street, and he’s great, giving us great info on the areas we visit, as well as driving us everywhere. We drive up the coast about 40 minutes to the park entrance. The first falls is about a 10 minute walk from the road, not very strenuous at all, we stop there to take a few pictures and cool off a bit. The first waterfalls have a drop of about 60 feet, and they’re nice looking. A lot of people get married here we’re told. It’s a really sunny day and fairly hot. Jason is enduring a lot of pain as he’s burnt to a crisp all over his back and I’m melting faster than a snow cone in phoenix. Jason’s blisters on his back are now starting to pop. Our guide Watalki takes our backpack, which is nice as it’s full of snorkel gear and water weighing 20 lbs, and we’re off to the second waterfalls. The second waterfalls are up a mountain about 40 minutes away. Now this walk was a little strenuous, as we were getting a lot of feedback from Wes and Paulina, especially the fact that we live near Niagara falls, and once you’ve seen one you seen them all… to get to the second falls we cross a river using a rope, and notice a purple crab guarding the path. Our guide picks him up, and shows everyone, then sets him back. Kirk does a little dance for us to enjoy crossing the river. Anyhow, we made it up there and it’s time to really cool off, Jason Wes and Kirk dive in, and the first thing they notice is that it’s fully of “lobsters” There were thousands of little crayfish. Not that big a deal, as most were babies, not too many large ones, and they mainly stayed out of the way of our feet. The three of them go under the waterfalls which was kind of cool, you don’t get to do that very often. We spend about 20 minutes up there, and it’s now time to come back. Kirk entertains us all on the rope bridge, and now we’re on the other side, and Wes wants to hold the crab. We take a few pics of everyone holding the crab and then head down the mountain. There is a 3rd falls that we could have climbed to, but were warned that it was extremely steep, and if you slip and fall down the side you go, so we didn’t do that climb. We get back to the van and head home for short rest. Kirk goes off diving and comes back around 4.

This evening we’re going to maravu plantation resort for a meke and lovo. The meke is a song and dance, and the lovo is dinner, something similar to a luau in Hawaii. We grab front row seats down by the pool and the meke starts around 7 pm. Quite the show I must say, all these little guys with spears dancing around. They were good! The singing was really nice also. Towards the end of the show everyone got the audience involved up on the “stage” with dancing. It really was quite the site to see our kids up there with the locals singing and dancing. I had a great time. The local kids are so cute, asking our names, they’re so friendly. Anyhow, after the show we’re off to the “lovo” part. The dinner wasn’t the best, as it was a buffet, but it was ok, just not exceptional. After dinner we called watalki and he was there in about 2 minutes to pick us up and bring us back home for the night. Tomorrow we’re going horseback riding and going down a natural rock waterslide, as well as visiting a blowhole. Should be interesting!

More tomorrow

Lee

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