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On Wednesday 25th we got up early and the owner gave us fried egg on toast and waved us on our way giving us his number and telling us to call if we had any problems with the other resorts and he would sort them out for us. We boarded Joe (from the fishing trip) boat and he took us along the crystal clear waters to in front of a little island called Beachcomber where we anchored up and bobbed up and down on the water while lying back and sunbathing waiting for the ferry to arrive. When we could finally see it Joe pulled us along side it and we boarded on and waved goodbye to Joe. We then headed to the booking office and booked into Safe Landing Resort then enjoyed the boat ride up through the Yasawas islands while sunbathing on top deck. After around 4 hours we had the call for our stop and we headed down and got on a smaller boat towards our resort. As we pulled onto the beach we had a welcome party there singing the Fiji welcome some. We got off the boat and paddled to the shore and one of them pointed out a sea snake to us in the water which was cool to see but put us off swimming in it a bit.
We then got introduced to all the staff, half of which were gay and looked very pleased to see me but not so pleased to see me holding Rachel's hand. We then got talked through the meal times and various other bits then had to sign some terms and conditions, which made us a little bit nervous. But the good thing was as soon as we signed it they would give us lunch, so we aren't really sure what we signed but lunch was good. After lunch we unpacked, did some washing and relaxed. We then walked 2 minutes along the beach to a little hut where a local sold coffee and cake mmm. Unfortunately she only had chocolate cake when we arrive which we got a slice each, then 15 minutes later the banana cake was ready so we had to share a piece of that too, it's a tough life. We then headed back to the resort and jumped in a couple of kayaks and paddled along the shore, then found a tiny coconut bobbing up and down so played who could get it on there paddle the quickest, I won woo hoo. We then headed back and showered before dinner and more kava and then headed to bed and had to race against time to get ready for bed as power went out at 10:00 at which point it was completely dark and we fell asleep to the sound of the waves.
On Thursday we grabbed some breakfast then headed to the Sawailau Caves in morning. The boat ride up to the caves was around half an hour and passed some amazing islands and lagoons. When we reached them we got out and headed up some stairs into the cave then descended into them and climbed into a deep pool in one and had a snorkel around. We then had the option to swim down and through a tunnel into another cave, Rachel decided it was a bit too much and stayed in the first. But I dove under and swam towards a light (a guy with a torch). He then tapped me on the head and I came to the surface, ver very slowly after speaking to someone at our resort who had done it the day before and waked her head and had scars from it. I came up into a pitch black cave and swam towards a group of people and kept kicking my legs to stay afloat. It was a few minutes before the last couple of people came through and the guy shone his torch into the cave, at which point I noticed that everybody else apart from me was holding onto a large float. I quickly swam over to it a clung on for a nice rest. We then got guided deeper into the cave, where he told us there were eels and red snappers found in the cave which meant there was both fresh and salt water in it. We then all shouted BULA and heard a great echo which Rachel heard from the outside. We then all swam back out the way we had come. Just before leaving the cave one of the guys leant me his torch to swim down and look for eels, sadly I didn't see any.
We then went down to the beach area outside where I decided to go for a snorkel, leaving Rachel on the beach looking at some stalls, confident in the fact that she couldn't buy anything as we hadn't taken any money with us. After half an hour and nearly being run over by a speed boat I decided to head back to shore, we then all boarded the return boat. I was chatting to Rachel then noticed she had something dangling from her neck…… it looked like a necklace…….I thought that she had done very well to make such a nice necklace in such a short amount of time, then she told me she had bought it, I explained she couldn't have as we didn't have any money with us. She then told me that they had given her a receipt so it could go on our room bill…….cleaver locals.
We then headed back for a bit of a relax before lunch and then heading out again on the boat to do some snorkelling. We were dropped off at 3 spots, all with cool coral and lots of little fish, plus on the last spot I managed to see a pod of about 10 stingrays swimming through, which was awesome. The driver on the way back noticed we were all looking longingly at a tiny sand island, so he kindly dropped us off there for half an hour so we could have a laze around on it before we headed back.
When we got back we quickly rushed over to the little café to get our coffee and cake, mmmm this time there was lemon cake too. We then headed back for a shower and to relax in the hammocks before dinner. After dinner we played a few games where we swung coconuts between our legs to try knock a can across the room and then sat with a beer and a wine chatting to the owner of the resort, before we headed off to our bure to quickly brush our teeth before bed and the lights went out, then we fell asleep to the sound of the waves.
- comments
Claire G Mmm all this Fijan cake sounds delicious! But is it as nice as mine do you think? :)