Free Foot Massage

Our snorkeling trip had been cancelled the day before but we were still able to go out first thing in the morning before our transfer boat came by our island. It seemed that everybody was ready to go except for the guides and they were obviously on their own Fiji time, just going as slow as they possibly could. We wanted to get out there in the reef to see as much as we could in the limited time that we had but they had other plans. Finally we were able to board the small boat that was going to take us there and after a longer ride out to the reef we were in the water! This reef was a lot more spread out than the last one and had all kinds of fish that we had never seen before. It was still really crazy to go to the edge of the reef and just see complete blue water past it. The only thing that crossed my mind at that point was a shark coming through the water, straight for us. I was also terrified of the eels that might be lurking in the deep trenches that we passed. We still enjoyed the large schools of fish that swam side by side with us and the colorful coral! We had about an hour to freely roam wherever we liked and that turned out to be the perfect amount of time.

You can't tell me you don't imagine a shark coming out of those blue waters!

Lauren swimming with the fishies!

He just was waiting for a picture!

We were both exhausted by the end and ready to head back to the resort to get ready for our transfer. We got back in perfect time since we were only able to sway in the hammock for 3 minutes before they called out “boarding time!” Our small boat was a little packed going over to the bigger boat, and I was able to pass off our information to the girl that will be coming to Sydney next on her backpacking. She was pretty thankful that I remembered since she thought we were heading to the same resort next, but unfortunately we weren’t. While we were traveling on the larger vessel boat we spotted dolphins off to side of the boat. We weren’t quick enough to get a picture, but still very cool to see. Some of them even took leaps into the air! The group that we had been traveling with was broken up, but we didn’t mind since we were sticking with Anna and Stefon as well as another couple from Australia. Nabua Lodge on Nacula Island was our next stop and as we were riding up to it on our small boat it looked similar to the first resort with more huts but more on the beach front. Whenever we stepped onto the beach and into the restaurant area we spotted familiar faces – Chris and Zay from our first night in Nadi! We could not believe it, but we were excited to share the experiences that we had had so far in Fiji. They told us that this was their first stop on their island hopping tour and were curious about where we had been. Since they were going to Wayalailai for their last stop we shared the ups and downs, and they told us about things in Nadi that they had been able to do. I don’t know if we’ll take their advice or not since their taste is a little more expensive  considering they paid a taxi driver…$190 dollars to take them to some Pacific something that was about 3 hours away. However, they were able to get a greyhound bus back for $11.50, they obviously didn’t think that one through. Starving at this point it was time for lunch which was a creation of noodles and rice which was interesting since we’ve never had them together, but still really good. We’re weary about eating the meat here now since one of the girls got sick from the first island and the chicken didn’t look so appetizing anyways. We’re okay with being vegetarian for a couple of days though. There was a whole board of activities at this island and we had vouchers to go on a cave swimming trip as well as another snorkeling one or village visit. Most of the trips had passed for the day so we decided to wait for the morning, but we were okay with relaxing today and getting situated in our living spaces. The other German couples were curious about where we were staying since they were supposed to be in a double room but instead had about 5 beds in each of their rooms. We all found this strange, but still much nicer than the other resorts we had been to. After we were settled we wanted to explore and was told that there was another beach just around the corner of this huge rock, so off we went. We should have waited til low tide like they said, but Anna was just so ready to get out there. We made it about halfway before they realized that the Blue Lagoon was a lot further than they had anticipated – they were looking for good coral reefs to snorkel in since the one in front of the resort was mainly sea grass. The Fiji people that were passing through told us it was a long walk so we thankfully decided to turn around since only half of us had shoes. Riley and Stefon got a good kick with their joke about getting a foot massage from the rocks. Supposedly every time you said “ouch” a tense muscle in your foot was releasing itself. I don’t know if they’ll be doing that foot massage ever again though. When we got back to the resort Anna and Stefon still wanted to walk to the beach of the other side of the island now but we were too tired and wanted to hide from the sun so we grabbed our books and hit the hammocks! The drums rang at 4 PM to let us know it was volleyball time and we finally decided to join in after much deliberation but turns out there weren’t that many people involved anyways – only ‘pros.’ We quickly went back to reading before we headed back the same way to hopefully catch the sunset. I told Riley to grab his shoes, but for some reason he didn’t so he was stuck getting another foot massage! His feet must have been more tense than he thought but he is sure he’ll have tough feet after this trip. We were able to climb a small cliff to get a better view of the sunset which was bright but nonetheless gorgeous. 

We knew it was time to get back to the resort to take showers before dinner since we didn’t know if the bathrooms had lights. I was stuck taking a shower in the dark, but right when I was done the lights turned on for Riley to take his shower, go figure. Dinner didn’t start out so good since the appetizer was coriander soup which no one is a fan of. I didn’t think it was too bad, but Riley had to load his up with pepper, salt, tabasco sauce, and soy sauce before he could even manage to take a few sips. Even then he decided he couldn’t do and had to pass; his soup was a brown color at this point whereas mine was still green! The main dish was a little better since it was fish but still had a coriander sauce so everyone was still iffy and cracking a lot of jokes about it. We sat with the German couples as well as two girls from Wales who were hilarious. They shared some stories about their travels through Asia, New Zealand and Australia. I think they might have scared Riley into not going to Africa now, as well as myself. After dinner we had Bula Time, which consisted of the new people getting recognized for coming in. Then we were finally able to learn the Bula dance which I was excited about! Yet another line dance to add to my collection. We played another game that was similar to four corners, but instead of numbers it dealt with a deck of cards. Riley got out during the ‘demo’ round so that meant he was still in, but I got out the next round, followed by Riley for real this time. We just didn’t have our luck with us today. Next we played the ever famous Musical Chairs, which we learned is called Journey to Jerusalem in Germany since the game lasts a long time. Both Riley and I stayed in to the final four, but I got booty-bumped by a girl unexpectedly. Riley however was the winner along with Anne so they got their choice of drink from the bar. It was nice to have finally won something though! We spent the rest of the night at the table talking with the Germans about everything and anything. Many jokes were formed like Stefon never wanting to play games, getting a Thai massage, followed by foot massages. Even though the night was still young we were all tired from the day’s activities and called it a night.