In the dark, even the cutest marine life is terrifying!
- marymoscrop1
- May 16
- 5 min read
Eat, sleep, snorkel, repeat has been our mantra for the last few days, and we are not complaining!
We have done other stuff, but they essentially fall into those categories. For instance, we went for a night time snorkel which opened up a whole new (terrifying) world of snorkelling. I have also never fought so much with a snorkel and mask in my life - I am not sure what has happened to the shape of my face since I got here, but I just cannot seem to get a good seal on any mask - probably due to the amount of food we have consumed....
Anyway, back to the night time adventure. We waited until dark and went out with our guide, David, who is the Dive Master here. It turned out we were the only two booked for the trip, so we had our own private excursion - again (see previous Champagne tubing blog).
We were given high powered torches, and off we went to a part of the reef we had explored during the day, so we thought we knew it fairly well. The wind was up and it was a little choppy, but still, it looked completely alien. We saw some interesting stuff - not all was captured by the Go-Pro as I had to keep stopping to fix my mask. We did see this guy on the sea bed - David dove down to get a close up for us.
and this chap, living his best life
We saw a huge sea cucumber (no pic - see 'fighting with mask comment above), a couple of starfish
This one looks like it belongs in Stranger Things...
We also saw lots of fish - Emily thinks the most common was called 'goat fish' but I thought David said 'ghost fish' so I am sticking with that.
We also saw some small squid, but I cannot find it in the video footage. If I do find it I will post in a later blog.
After so much water going into my nasal cavities, it is no wonder that liquid started pouring out of my nose when I bent my head forward back on dry land - it was a mistake to google 'what does it mean if clear liquid pours our of my nose' - I was almost asking Reception to summon the helicopter to take me to the nearest A&E.... thankfully I stopped long enough to add 'after snorkelling' to the search and got completely different (and reassuring) information. Still, it is embarrassing, and happens without notice!
We've had a go at Paddle boarding - I don't know if there is a different name for it if you don't stand up....perhaps paddle sitting :). Thankfully I was never stable enough to take a picture...
And yesterday we went to feed the fish - Fijian style - it was very, very cool - the fish definitely knew what was coming, and who had the food, as they followed the guide as soon as he got into the water, and there was a gazillion of them.
We followed him around as he hid food in different places for different fish types, and then he handed Emily and I a piece of fish skin each and we were off - this is a little snip of the video I took, but I captured my two new favourite fish - can you guess which they are?
I'll give you a clue for one of them, it looks like a kid drew a fish and it came to life!
I am very conscious that we were feeding fish fish.... but they seemed to relish it and were definately tugging at it hard! I also took a few taster nips to my hand.
Last night there was a Meke, which is a traditional performance art, combining singing, dancing and rhythmic chanting to tell stories, legends and history.
The hotel staff performed it, from all departments - front of house, housekeepers, groundsmen, back of house, dive centre - it seems everyone here is a fantastic singer!
Following the Meke, there was a special dining option for Dinner - I am glad I took a pic of the menu as I would not remember what we had - and we had ALL of it!
and what does that look like?
not everything was on the table at this point - we had the trio of deserts to come after this lot.... no wonder my snorkel masks don't fit.
You will see on the corner of the table a box of chess - John tried to teach Emily a million times how to play, but she never had the patience for it - but OMG that has changed now! I think I have only won one game in the time we have been here - and we play at least 3 games a night.
We ended the night with the now usual Kava mat, with the band playing and everyone who wanted, partaking of Kava. This is Fiji's naional drink and is made from the pulverised roots of the pepper plant, mixed with water. It is famous for its mildly sedative and calming effects. Drinking it creates a relaxed vibe, and there is a cultural etiquette to follow - before you drink you clap once and say 'Bula' (Fijian for Hello/Life) and after you drink, you clap 3 times as a sign of respect. I don't really care for the taste, but I like the vibe.
It has been a little overcast today so Em and I booked in for full body massages - it was only £40 for 50 minutes - absolute bargain, and those ladies had magic hands - I almost floated out of the SPA. Thank goodness there was a flower in a bowl under my bed as when I lay face down, I got another attack of the 'clear liquid from the nasal cavity' and gave the plant a good watering - not sure if sea water is the best for flowers...
As I type I am sat in the bar having a smoothie - it is happy hour, but I cannot drink in the afternoon - I don't want to sleep away the time I have left. I originally opted for a Funky Monkey which is chocolate and banana and peanut butter, but as I do not like peanut butter, they said I could have one without - which I jokingly said would just be a funky.... but then the waiter came to tell me there was no funky either as they were temporarily out of banana! I settled for a Mango something or other - it was still yummy.
We only have 3 days left and we are already talking about extending our stay.....but we have other adventures planned for when we are back in Oz, so maybe not.
Before I sign off, just a mention of the sky - it is so clear and the stars are very bright - I honestly do a Centaur impersonation every night - and I am sorry, but if you don't get the Harry Potter reference, we cannot be friends.
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