04.13.11


That next week we did nothing but hang around and relax. We made a booking through Diane’s friend, Bosco, to stay at one of the islands for 10 days. You see, Fiji is made up of 330 islands… some are inhabited, others not. There are some islands that take you 18 hours to get to by boat, and others that you could kayak too from the main land. Either way, Fiji is FULL of things to do and places to see. The hardest part is picking out what you want to do. Most of it, you have to have lots of money to do. Of course, the further you go away from the main land, the more expensive. The prices for accommodation and food are very reasonable, especially if you stay at a hostel. (The price of things in Fiji is very similar to America, maybe a little cheaper but not by much. The Fiji dollar is about 1.50 to 1 American.) However, boat transfers from one island to the next are RIDICULOUSLY expensive. John and I spent almost just as much for our round-trip boat ticket as we did for accommodation and food for the both of us for 10 days! Because of this and our strict budget, we found it best to just stay on one island. We figured all of the island will be incredible, and we would be happy with any one of them. Diane suggested we go to Mana Island. It’s a small island that takes about 2 hours to walk around by foot. It is inhabited by a local village, and also has a small 5 star resort and three hostels. The hostel she suggested to us was the Mana Lagoon. We just took her suggestion and the following Monday we were off!
Everything Diane had told us about Mana was true, if not more! The water was the most intense shades of blues, ranging from the lightest most delicate light blue, to bright brilliant turquoise, to a deep navy blue and then your dark purple off in the horizon. Regardless of where you were in the ocean, it was always so clear and surreal. As if you were staring straight into a diamond.
The hostel itself was right on the beach, and I mean, literally, on the beach. The dining area was covered but the ground was sand, and apart from the flooring in the dorms and by the bar, there was nothing but sand. We had opted for the cheaper alternative, and stayed in a tent. At Diane’s we had met a lovely German couple, Anne and Thomas, who we seemed to click with right away. They left for the island a day earlier then us, and also had a tent set up right by ours. Luckily, we managed to get a short mattress in the tent which made it not so uncomfortable.
The island itself is very small. It takes a short 5 minute walk to walk to the other side by just cutting through its center. The first thing we did after the staff sang us a welcome song, was walk to the other side to see Shark Bay. Diane had told us about this, and that day the staff was going to walk everyone over there to sit on the rocks to see if we could spot the baby sharks that turned the rocky shoreline into its nursery. To our dismay, we couldn’t see any, but now that we knew how to get over there, we knew we would have to come back.
Immediately, we were wrangled into activities. I began making coconut jewelry and was engulfed with my craft for quite some time. John found an empty hammock and quickly claimed his territory which I knew he would defend for the rest of our time there.
We didn’t have any trouble making friends. It was as if we had known everyone our entire life, staff included. Jamie, Will, Anne, Thomas, Jen, Martin…. and so many other people whose name I have forgotten!! (Sorry!)
The first two days were overcast, but the second day we rented snorkel gear and got in the water. The coral was just a few strokes off the coast and was just as colorful and incredible as you can imagine. I wish I had a better way of explaining everything that we saw, but you see, how do describe something that doesn’t have words? How can I properly do justice to the shapes, and colors, and structures? I guess, even if I know the scientific names to all the creatures and coral, I would hardly doubt that anyone would know what I was talking about anyways. It was picturesque. Exactly what you think of when you imagine a world under the ocean.
Before we ended the day, I had proceeded to do a sun dance, in hopes that I could urge the hot spot in the sky to open up the clouds and grace us with its warm rays. I had ensured everyone at the hostel not to worry, that tomorrow it would be sunny. What do you know, the next morning, we woke up to such an amazing sun and blue sky, and everyone was eager to give me their thanks ; ) Unfortunately, nothing comes free, and the sun seemed to take Johns right eyeball in exchange for its hard work. John had woken up with pink eye, which means that he officially has had pink eye in every country that we have been too. Ravvi, the manager, got John a bowl of turmeric and told him to mix it in some water and wash his eye out. Of course he did, though we regret to say that it had much effect. We gave some money to Brian, old man father, who goes to the mainland tomorrow, to grab him something from the pharmacy. Until then, I guess he has no other alternative then rinsing his eye with turmeric. Although it doesn’t seem to be helping, the only side effect is that it has turned his hand a curry yellow