Have you paid yet?

We decided not to set the alarm clock to get up this morning since the drums for breakfast go off at 7:30 A.M. every morning. Either way, we are used to getting up this early in Fiji. Breakfast was a lot better than usual since we had hot buttered toast and some bread that actually tasted like banana bread! We were more than happy to eat a couple pieces since it reminded us of home. They also had mango juice which was also really delicious. After a great breakfast we were looking forward to snorkeling in the reef off the coast of White Sandy Beach at 9 A.M. sharp. When 9:15 came around and there was no sign of the boat leaving, we decided to take matters into our own hands and ask to manager when we would be departing (since Fijians have to be reminded what time it is sometime). We were given some unfortunate news that we could not depart on the reef snorkeling trip because there had to be a minimum of five people in the boat before it could depart. There were only four of us so we were told that we had to wait for the afternoon crowd and we would depart at 3 after tea and coffee time. The manager was grateful enough to allow us to use the snorkel equipment until the trip in the afternoon, which was good since we didn’t have much to do except relax during the day. We were more than excited to take another trip snorkeling on another island in Fiji! Our German friends went out a little earlier and had returned to let us know there was an awesome reef just 100 yards out.  So we grabbed our gear and we were off! The most difficult part is putting the flippers on without getting sand in them since you either put them on while on shore and look ridiculous walking out or put them on in the water and get sand in them which hurts. It must have been a 10 minute process, but we were finally able to swim fast and smoothly. Just as we started the journey we spotted a huge crab wading in the water. Of course we had to go say hello to Mr. Krabs and I dared Riley to pick it up, but with the pointy edges he couldn’t get a grip on it so he just decided to poke it instead. 

He wasn’t really a crabby crab because he just sat and endured Riley’s pokes. Once Riley had his fun poking the crab, we set off the see the reef like we originally planned. It took about 10 minutes to reach the reef that was filled with colorful fish and coral. The reef was a lot bigger than the previous island, but both opened into the ocean creating an endless blue horizon. Swimming out into the open ocean wasn’t as scary as the first island since I had Riley by my side.  This reef was also more active than the first island. We had a school of fish swim right in front of us and then follow us the whole way just like little body guards.

 It reminded Riley of Finding Nemo because he was expecting them to form into arrows showing him which way to go. Unfortunately, no arrows were formed, but we easily navigated through the reef. We saw amazing coral along with beautiful colored fish. I could not get over the rainbow fish that I spotted and insisted on following it until I got a good picture.

This is the second time we've seen a blue starfish!

We probably snorkeled for about an hour until we both decided that we had to use the rest room. Riley and I raced back to shore, which turned out to be exhausting than we both expected. Afterwards we had to relax on the beach since we were that we’d be snorkeling in the afternoon. We must have been so tired and full from breakfast because we didn’t even realize that it was lunch time until the German couple, Stefon and Anna, came to sit next to us. Lunch was once again good since it was a pasta creation and pasta is always a winner in our book. There was supposed to be a bush walk after lunch and Anna asked us to join her since Stefon was ‘too lazy’ to go on the walk. We later found out that they did so many bush walks/summit walks in New Zealand that after the last one he said it was his last one and he must have been meant it since that’s two that he’s turned down so far. The bush walk was exactly that – walking through straight bush! There was barely a pathway to follow and needless to say our legs were very itchy afterwards. We were able to see a banana tree, papaya tree, mango tree, huge spiders, and about 8 pigs that used to be wild. 

Reason for the flies.

They are definitely a lot bigger than the pigs back home. We also realized that maybe this is the reason for all the annoying flies on the island since you can’t escape them just like in North Carolina. We were done with the bush walk within 30 minutes but we didn’t mind since that left us the rest of the afternoon until 3 o’clock to relax. Riley was able to catch up on his book but really he just wanted to take a nap. During afternoon tea one of the Fiji men informed us that the snorkeling trip had been cancelled for the day because the low tide was coming in and it wouldn’t be a good time to see the reef. We figured that would happen, but they rescheduled it for tomorrow morning for 9 AM before our departure time. So literally we did have all day to relax, but hey we’re on vacation. We went on our self-guided beach walk with Stefon and Anna which turned out to be very fun. 

We have really grown to like them and have talked about staying in touch once we leave since they are very similar to us. After our brisk beach walk we were all sweaty and hot which only attracted the flies even more. This meant it was time for a shower before dinner. We had a decent dinner which consisted of fish, vegetables, and a delicious cookie dessert! The cookie tasted like short bread, but it also had some kind of sweet sauce on the side. Needless to say it was one of the best tasting things that we have had since we have been in Fiji! After dinner it was another night of activities which we figured were going to be the same as the night before. As we sat down in our chairs with our feet in the sand, we were told it was international night. Our first activity was to separate into different nationalities and pick something that represented the country you were from. Since we’re from America (obviously), we thought about doing something with bacon or something with country singers, but instead, Lauren and a girl named Molly decided to sing ‘Fifty Nifty United States’ because they were the only one who knew it. Myself and a few others decided to be backup dancers which confused people because they thought each state had a different dance. We had to clarify after that we didn’t know the song and that each state doesn’t have their own dance. Other countries such as Norway and Germany did their national anthem which wasn’t exactly creative, but nonetheless interesting. The Swedish did a dance putting their hands on their heads and tooshie dancing around in a circle. They said it was supposed to symbolize the longest day of the year, and somehow fertility. The second activity was a potato relay race where you had to put the potato between your legs, hop one way, hop back and then drop the potato back in a bowl. If you think this sounds easy, you are mistaken. Jumping around with a potato between your legs really hurts especially when you’re trying to go fast and win! We unfortunately were not the winning team but we’re convinced it’s because we had more people on our team. The next activity was a spin-off of the night before with the numbers dancing game except this time you had to have a partner and if one person from the partnership got out then both people were out. Lauren and I actually made it to the final round which was very exciting. However, the host added more rules to the game and Lauren got a little confused. We did not win, but still had a lot of fun! With the night winding down, another bonfire was lite, but we weren’t really feeling it and ended up going to bed fairly early to be ready for the next island in the morning.