Fiji: Manta Ray and Kuata

Back to Fiji!

We left Tavewa for Manta Ray Island. Manta Ray has one "resort," Manta Ray Island Resort. It is a pretty small island, and the resort has only been opened for 7.5 months. This experience was completely different from Coral View.

First, we lucked out and got a bure that was right near the owner's. This meant we had our own private ensuite bathroom complete with hot running water! There was electricity all the time, and there were plugs in our cabin and bathroom. We weren't staying in huts; these were raised cabins with wooden floors, reminiscent of the cabins you stay in at Girl Scout camp. We had our own hammock outside our door. The main building was really nice. It was situated at the top of a hill, so it had incredible views. The staff consisted both of natives who lived on a close island and a few Australian guys. They had Sky TV and a full bar. It was a completely different experience.

Manta Ray is a nature preserve of sorts. There are a ton of manta rays that swim around, obviously. We didn't have much time there, so we didn't see any. Manta Ray has a lot of cool things to do. They do snorkeling, scuba diving, night dives, kayaking, you name it. Everything. The food was really good, too. We only stayed there one night. Rugby was on that night, South Africa v. Australia, so a lot of natives came to the island and everyone stayed up playing cards and watching the game. Meredith and Amy got their first taste of kava that night. (Kava is a traditional Fijian drink. It is made from the roots of the kava plant, and it is an opiate, I believe. They make it weaker for guests, but it still makes your tongue go numb.) The guests were really nice. This was definately my favorite island that we visited.

Alas, we only stayed there one night. The next day we left for two nights on Kuata. We had gotten spoiled on Manta Ray. Our hut on Kuata was not as nice. When we got there, it hadn't been cleaned from the previous occupents, so we were sent to the bar while the staff changed the sheets and cleaned up trash. We did have our own bathroom. It was one room, and it was the kind of bathroom where you have to take the toilet paper out of the room when you shower so it doesn't get wet. The sink was about the size of my hand, and a bit sketchy. It drained out the bottom. Amy discovered this first when she turned on the sink and it ended up draining onto her shoes. This was the first island where the staff seemed more interested in getting your money than welcoming you to the island and getting to know you individually.

We ran into an American from Kansas City, Blake, that we had met on Coral View, so we stayed up the first night having drinks and talking with him. We discovered that Kuata, for all its shortcomings, had the most beautiful moonrise I have ever seen in my life. It is a huge yellow moon that rises over the ocean and fades to white as it gets higher in the sky. We tried to take pictures, but they didn't come out well. No worries, even with my poor memory, I will never forget what that looked like, the yellow moon rising over the Pacific Ocean.

Amy, Meredith, and I woke up early the next morning (5:30 AM) to go on a sunrise hike. It was more a hike than we had anticipated, especially for so early in the morning, but it was worth it to see the sun rise. It was a bit overcast but still gorgeous. We got some good pictures. Our guide was interesting for this. He didn't lead us down. We thought he followed the slower people at the back, but he kept appearing at places on the trail. He was never in front of us, but we would turn a corner and he would be there, waiting for us on a rock or something. It was crazy.

The best part about Kuata was the snorkeling trip. We had arranged this prior to arriving. We piled in the boat, and the guys drove us out to the middle of no where. Typically, we would skirt land when we were being transfered, but this time we were driving straight out into the ocean. One of the girls asked the Fijian guy if we were going to snorkel in a cove of another island, and he like, "Yeah whatever." All of a sudden, he kills the motor and tells us to put on our fins and flip overboard. There is no land in sight. It is all in the misty distance. We are in the middle of no where! So, what do we do? Flip overboard of course!

Turns out, there is a fantastic reef out there in the middle of no where. There were twop Fijian guys, one driving the boat and one guiding us along the reef. The boat driver sped off (because the boat would have scared away the marine life), but it was a bit unnerving to be in the middle of the ocean without a boat. Anyways, the fish were amazing. I have never seen such brightly colored fish in my life. I finally got used to diving under the water and then emptying my snorkel of water, so I really got to get a good look at some of the coral. Unfortunately, Amy and I had both left our underwater cameras in the boat, so we don't have any pictures. We saw really cool purple starfish, too.

At one point, our guide got really excited and started diving down by the reef. Turns out a baby tiger shark had graced us with his presence! So, we're in the middle of the ocean, now snorkeling with a tiger shark. The guide is really excited and starts swimming towards it. We follow it along the reef for awhile. He later said that they normally only see reef sharks, so seeing the tiger shark was a treat. It was really cool. I wish I had been able to get a picture of it.

So, that was that. We go back to Kuata and spend the rest of the day lounging around on the island. The next day we went on a kayaking "tour," which involved kayaking over to the next island and exploring the resort. It was supposed to be a guided kayaking tour, but our "guide" was always at the back of the group and kind of pointed us in the direction of the island. It is a bit funny because as he was pushing Meredith and Amy into the water (they were double kayaks) he called after them, "Can you swim?" Bit of a dangerous afterthought, if you ask me.

But, we survived Kuata. The three of us say that if we can survive Kuata, we can survive anything! We left later that day for Bounty Island, and that leads me into the next post. Til then!