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The next day we got woken up with a knock on the door, it was one of the staff saying the manager wanted to see us at the front desk. I went down and he explained we would have to go to the airport to pay for one of the tours we wanted. I said ok we'd get showered then come down in half an hour to go, he replied saying no the bus is leaving in 2 minutes. I quickly rushed up stairs grabbed Rachel and we leapt into the mini bus and headed back to the airport, less then 24 hours after arriving. The driver took us to the desk and after a bit more confusion we paid for part of our tour. We then headed back to the hotel for breakfast. Afterwards I jumped in the shower then headed out to grab some supplies for the trip. On the way down I bumped into the manager who said the bus to get us to the ferry would pick us up at 9:15, not 9:30 as we thought. I rushed to the supermarket and got back just before 9:00. As I was entering the Hotel a guy asked me if I was going to Mana Island, he turned out to be the bus driver. I rushed up stairs and shouted to Rachel (who was still in the shower) that he was, we quickly got our stuff together and headed down. After picking up a couple more people we arrived a the port……. Or should I say beach. We met some fellow travellers and got chatting then watched a horse run up and down the Beach. Finally an hour later our boat arrived, we waded into the sea with our back packs on and climbed aboard our small fishing boat along with around 16 other people. After around 15 minutes heading towards the island we realised something was wrong as one of the guys kept playing with the engine. Then he pulled a load of stuff out from the back of the boat and spent the next hour scooping buckets of water out……Yes the boat had a leak. As the back of the boat let more water in, and we got slower and slower we were thankful that we had lots of islands not too far away that we could easily swim to and start our own Castaway Island. Thankfully we arrived at the island and after another paddle from the boat to the shore we were on Mana Island. We made our way to Mana Lagoon Hostel and checked in. The room wasn't quite ready so we relaxed on the Hammocks for a while before being called into the main hall, where all the staff sang us a welcome song. After a little while longer on the Hammocks we got shown to our room.
After unpacking we headed back out for a walk round the island to sunset beach. We went over to the sea near some rocks and had a look out, we were heading towards the sandy part over the rocks when I found a very slippy one and went flying, bashing my big toe, so I now have a toe to match Rachel's. We then walked along the beach before then heading back and doing some coconut jewellery making while looking out across the deep blue sea. One of the staff then asked if we would help him with his custom for the evening show, so we helped him make some banana leaf leg decorations. After a freshen up (in a cold pipe shower) we went to the main hall for dinner and then digested our food while lounging on the hammocks. Then in the evening we watched the show with all the staff singing, knife dancing, fire dancing and lots of other stuff. We then sat under the stars by the beach chatting to the rest of the people staying there.
On the Sunday we got up and had breakfast, then one of the staff members took us to the village church, where we took part in the fiji style church session which had some lovely songs. But it was all done in Fiji so we couldn't understand it. After church I got a snorkel set and swam out in front of our hotel, leaving Rachel soaking up the rays on the deck chairs while reading her book. After a while watching some bright blue and other fish I headed back to shore and joined Rachel. Around 3 ish we headed back over the other side of the island to Sunset beach with some others from our hotel. We spent the an hour or so over there where I swam out again to see lots more coral and fish. After watching the waves for a while we headed back to the hotel and had dinner followed by a Quiz, which we lost even though one of the guys working there had told us the answers earlier in the day. We then ended the evening with some Kava.
On Monday we had breakfast then got taken over the other side of the island through the village to see some baby sharks just of shore, pretty awesome to see. The guy who took us then found some coconuts, which he asked us to take back to the room. We headed back and he told us to lock the coconuts in our room as they were good coconuts and someone may try to steel them…… we thought that it was pretty nice being in an environment where we had to be more scared of people steeling our coconuts then our wallets. We then spent the day relaxing with our books before the two of us headed out on a deep sea fishing boat with a couple of locals called Joe and Mosses. We had great fun and managed to catch 7 Mackerel Tuna fish about a foot and a half long. Rachel also managed to catch something massive as it broke the line of her rod. After a few hours fishing we returned to shore to get freshened and we handed one of the fish in to the place we were staying for them to cook it for dinner. When dinner was served it was rice with fish curry, which was tasty, I ate it all, then Finished Rachel's and was stuffed, but thought to myself that was a good catch mmm. Then one of the guys came over and said "Are you ready for your fish now"……. "I thought that was it", "no yours hasn't been cooked yet". He then walked of to the kitchen, while I jogged on the spot to digest the food I had eaten to try make space for the fish. I was thankful that we were sat next to a French couple who liked fish and they could help me eat it…… until 5 minutes later they decided to leave. The fish finally came out and looked delicious, it was nicely fried and had fried onions on it. I asked the waiter if he would give me a hand and he disappeared and came back a minute later with the women who had cooked it. The 3 of us indulged in the fish, with Rachel having the odd bit. It was delicious and as I was such a gentleman I let the waiter have the fish head, including its eyes and brain, how kind am I. We then spent the rest of the evening digesting out food while relaxing in the hammock.
On the Tuesday 24th April we got up and had breakfast then one of the guys took us and some others to see the baby sharks again before we headed back through the village and stopped off to see the local school and chat to the headmaster. We then spent the majority of the day playing card games and learning magic tricks as it was raining. When the sun finally came out we had a walk to a nearby shop to buy a lighter as we had been told hot coconut oil was good for bites. We then had a walk to the far end of the beach picking up shells which Rachel made into a bracelet. We also had someone asking about the coconuts we had looked in our room, we went to get them wondering hoping no one would rob us, when we got back the guy showed us how to make a coconut bangle…..it really suited me. That evening was our last on Mana Island so we packed before dinner then indulged in some more Kava before playing some more card games before bed.
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