Fiji: Arrival and Coral View

The first of many! I actually had this one half written, and then it disappeared. Very disappointing, and it means that now the Fiji posts will take even longer to get up. Oh, well, here goes again!

So, Meredith, Amy, and I get to the airport in plenty of time thanks to Judy's driving. We get to Nadi and stay in a place called the Aquarius. This hostel was nice. It was on the ocean and had nice views and everything, but since we left early the next morning, we didn't really have much time to enjoy it. We headed to Port Denaru, where we caught the Yasawa Flyer, and began our trip in Fiji.

After being on the boat for about 4-5 hours, we got off at an island called Tavewa. The hostel on Tavewa is called Coral View, and we spent two nights there. This is the farthest we were away from the mainland, and consequently, it was the most remote. There was a generator, so we had electricity from sundown to about 10 PM or so. The three of us were in a bure (as we were on most every island) that was basically 4 walls and a thatched roof. The mosquito nets were very handy! It was almost on the ocean, though, so we had a really good view out of our windows (with shutters that didn't quite close). Everyone on the island shared the same bathroom. It was a little way away. Three toilets, three showers, no hot water. The showers were little more than a room with the spigot at the top. You had to time it right because once the sun started to go down, there was no light in the showers. Trying to take a shower the first night was very interesting as we had not yet figured out the light thing. Also, no hot water took some getting used to. You got pretty hot during the day, so it wasn't that bad, and with enough mind power, you could convince yourself it was warm by the end of the shower. It was rough in the beginning though!

There were about 20-30 guests on the island. Aside from the dormitories, bures, and bathroom, there was only the main "dining hall" and sitting area. It was completely open, and the floor was all sand. They brought the beach inside! It was nice, though. Meals were 8-9, 12-1, 4, and 7. Everyone was served at one big long table. It was really nice because you would sit next to different people and meet everyone by the time you were done.

As a side note, this trip had a real community feeling. You would meet people on one island, leave them, and then maybe see them on the transfer boat or on a different island a couple of days later. It was always nice to run into people again because you could talk about the different islands you had been on and catch up on where were the nice places to go. A lot of people had a "bula pass," which meant that they didn't have previous booked accommodation, so they went on people's recommendations. I also got a meet a wide variety of people. The majority were Australian, British, and Irish, but I met people from all over. A lot of them were doing "world tours" that were 3+ months long. We even met someone who had been traveling around for 4.5 years, working wherever she was when she ran out of money! Because everyone was traveling so much, conversations tended towards describing the places you had been and learning where the new "hot spots" were to go. Hearing about some people's experiences made me want to travel so much more.

Back to Coral View. The guests were great, but so was the staff. We were basically visitors to their village, and they welcomed us with open arms. This island had the nicest staff, in my opinion. They took the time to learn your name. When they weren't busy, they would sit down and talk with you. The second day we had rain, and some of the staff would play cards with us. It had a real home-y feeling about the place.

Our big adventure on Coral View was going on the cave trip on our second day there. The first day we had hiked up to see the sunset, but this trip was a bit more exciting. I want to point out that our trip was like one big health and safety nightmare. We spent most of our time in boats, and the majority were just little dinghys with no lifejackets or radios and were so packed full of people that half the time I thought we were going to sink. It was an experience, this is for sure. So, cave diving day. We pile into a dinghy and sail away from land. The boat was a bit unbalanced, so Meredith is chosen to sit in this random metal chair that happens to be in the boat. This chair is in no way secured to the boat, so she gets a little tossed around on our trip over the water. Also, I noticed the driver messing with something at the bottom of the boat. Truns out it had a hole and he was stuffing a stopper in. Apparently, he already knew about the hole because he was prepared.

Anyways, 45 minutes later (and considerably wetter, for it had started to rain), we land at another island and troop down into a cave, taking care to bend over and not hit our heads. With no water, the caves would have been very large caverns, but water had long since poured in, and it was now a giant pool. There were about 25 of us, plus 3 "guides." A lot of people for such a small space. We're treading water for awhile, and then one guide shows us how to get to the next cavern. You have to swim through an underwater tunnel into complete darkness. He had brought a torch with him, so we did have that. After we all get through, we are in an even smaller cavern, so when you tread water you bump into all kinds of people. The guide starts swimming, so we follow. We end up in another cavern in the back. After telling us about the caves (and the sea lice and eels that live there), he hands the torch to some guy and says "You know the way back? You lead." And off we go. Turns out, we went the wrong way and ended up in some cavern somewhere. The "guide" eventually shows up and is like, You went the wrong way. He shows us how to get back, we swim back through the tunnel, and are back in the main cavern.

Next part of the adventure is going through the "Pregnancy Test." Not everyone did this part. First, we swam through another underwater tunnel. This ended up in what was basically a deep puddle. You had to cling to the walls and ledges so people could fit. I volunteered to go first for the next bit, which was a whole lot of climbing around behing the walls in the dark. One of the guides had gone on ahead and would flash a torch in your direction, so you kind of knew which way to go, although you couldn't see much around you. So. I get to the end, and it's almost back where we started but higher. I have to shimmy through this random REALLY THIN opening (I am not a big girl, and I had trouble fitting through), all the while attempting to maintain my footing on an incredibly slippery surface. If I had slipped and fallen, I would have landed on some rocks below. You had to jump over those rocks back down into the pool of the main cavern. A difficult feat when the ground is so slippery!

So, we all do that. Some of the guys had not gone the way I did. They climbed up the inside walls to jump off this pointy rock thing. They do this, and the Fijian guides are like, Any girls want to do this? Of course Meredith volunteers. The guide takes her up the outside, which means she stands on his shoulders, he stands up (like an elevator for her), then helps her clamber on up to the top. There is no flat surface at the top and nothing to hold to. The guide is like, just stand up quickly and push your hands against the ceiling. Right. She does this and jumps into the pool, taking care not to hit her head on the sloping ceiling (the first guy who jumped almost cracked his head open on it). Next, the three Fijian guys climb around like monkeys all over the walls, jumping into the pool from insane heights. We cheer for them, then troop out to go back to the boat. It isn't raining any more, but it is incredibly cold with the wind. Meredith is back in the chair and gets more wind than anyone else since she is elevated. The rest of us sit on the floor.

Back on Coral View, we spend the day laying around reading and whatnot. The next day is gorgeous, and late in the day we leave for Manta Ray Island. This post is pretty long, so I will begin the next with Manta Ray (most likely sometime soon, later today). Cheers!