Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hi!
Since I last updated I have dived with sharks, stayed in Namatakula village and have been diving off the island of Kadavu.
I went on a shark feeding dive just off Pacific Harbour. Despite only having my Open Water certificate (where I think you aree only supposed to dive 20m), I went down to about 30m and saw 5 different types of sharks!! Nurse sharks, bull sharks, lemon sharke, black tips and white tips. I even touched the tail of one of the sharks but I can't remember which type - it was all very exciting!!
The homestay was good. Despite being told by a taxi driver the night before I went there that I shouldn't go because I would be robbed!! My hosts were called Judith and Simon. They and their family (massive) looked after me very well. When I first arrived I decided that I should go to church - it was Easter Sunday. The Pentacosal church they went to was nothing like hexham Abbey!! There was alot of music, shouting almost, wailing and crying, and shouting of "praise the lord" etc (the only words in English - the rest in Fijian). I really had no idea what was going on, it was a bit scary!!! Also at the homestay one of the son's took me snorkelling. It was good - lots of nice fish.
Simon took me to the airport so I could catch my flight to Kadavu which was nice of him! The plane was so small - it only had room for 8 passengers. Although there was room for 2 piolets, I dou be that 2 male Fijians could have fitted in the front (the men seem to be huge!). Anyway the safety speech only seemed to mention something abhout using the safety card as a fan - so I just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. I think that had we of crashed there was no way I could have reached for a life jacket or anything because there was just no room!!
Some guys from the resort were there to pick me up in a boat. I was the only guest staying there when I arrived (the coup in December 06 has put alot of people off going to Fiji). But when I got there I didn't feel too good - I had a bad tummy. I think that the food I ate in the village musn't have agreed with me because I felt terrible. Luckily the people at the resort (an Austalian couple) looked after me, and I felt better after a day or so.
Anyway once I was better I went out for my first dive. The first dive was really for Joellie to see how confident I was at diving. But on the dive I saw lots of cool stuff.
Later that day 3 guys from Israel arrived - Yodha (dad), Yoval (son) and Daniel (son). Yoval had just got out of the army so they were having a boys trip to celebrate. All 3 were really good divers.
Anyway the next day we went over to the other side of the island to go diving with manta rays and to see the great Astrolabe reef. It was fantastic. I think that the reef could have been better than the great Barrier reef!! Also the rays were amazing. We saw five of them swiming around in a circle - feeing by doing somersaults around and around. It looks like they are birds flying through the water very gracefully. Some of them must have been about 6-8 meters across!! Wow!
For lunch that day we went to a village and the sister and mum of one of the dive masters cooked us lunch. The village was very different to those in England - see the photos.
Yesterday we went diving around the Yellow Wall - a reef of soft yellow coral. Which was lovely, and we saw a white tip shark. On the break in between dives we went to a beach and played coconut bowls in the rain. It was really good fun - especially as I turned out to be quite good at it! Joellie won (but as a Fijian he has alot more experience at the game than me!) and I came second! He he!!
Now I am back in Nadi. The place I am staying at drives me crazy - they have made about 4 errors with my booking. Grrrr!! And everything is done so slowly....on Fijian time. Never mind!
Tommorrow I go to Bounty Island (apparantly where the first series of Love Island was filmed), then the next day I go on a boat trip around some more of the islands. Then on Wednesday I fly to New Zealand.
I hope all is well with everyone at home.
Love Louise xxx.
- comments