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We landed in Fiji, in the capital city Nadi at around 5pm and got a taxi to our youth hostel on the beach, 10 minues out of town. It was on a road with about 5-6 other youth hostels, all full of backbackers. We had a few beers, and some dinner when my first encounter with a cockroach occurred. It landed on my leg and was the size of my hand; it was the most horrible thing I have ever seen. Luckily a local came to my help and swotted it away.
It was a sunday evening, which in Fiji is traditional Cava night. They sit around in circles, singing songs and drinking the local drink called Cava. As far as I am aware it is a drink made from the seeds of a pepper plant and it is supposed to make you sleep very very heavily. We learnt the traditional words associated with cava; i.e what you say before and after you down your cup and when to clap your hands. They brew it in a big bowl and use half a cocunut to drink from, and we drink in a circle. The best way I can describe what it tastes like is, it tastes how marijuana smells, but we were told it was harmless. I slept well, thats all that matters.
For the following we had booked oursleves into a youth hostel on an island called Mana, about 45 minutes off the coast of the main island. We were told that you must go to the islands to see the white beaches and beautiful fish and coral. The beach at Nadi was nice, but it was black sand and the water was brown. The following morning, at around 10 - but more like half 10 fiji time (they have actual time and Fiji time here, all the locals joke about Fiji time because they are so chilled out and there is no hurry for anything that everyone turns up when they feel like it) the boat turned up. We had a great trip out to island, the weather was stinking hot and the breeze was wonderful, and we saw hundreds of islands on our way. We landed on Mana, got shown to our room of 17 people and headed for the beach (our hostel was on the beach so it was not far). We hired snorkles and went out from the beach. The entire island is surrounded by amazing coral, you don't need to get a boat out. I stayed in the water for 3 hours and it was truly unbelievable. I have never seen anything like it; it was better than the Great Barrier Reef. We were surrounded by millions and millions of fish and there was beautiful coral everywhere, a very memorable experience. All our meals were included in the price, as there was no cash point or shops on the island. Dinner proved to be a bit horrible.
Our first full day on the island we went to sunset beach, a really beautiful beach on the other side of the island. We spent the morning sun bathing, swimming and throwing a rugby ball around. The water was as clear as bottled water, I have never seen anything like it. Again we were told snorkling here was good so we swam with the fish again. After lunch it was more beach time and at 4pm we had booked oursleves onto a fishing trip. The guy turned up at half 4 and looked surprised that we were ready. He said he would be along in 5 minutes and at 5.15pm we were ready - that's Fiji time!!! We went out in a small boat and fished for about 4 hours.
It was magical - as the sun set we got amazing views and then the stars came out and it was a sky like nothing you ever see in the UK. We caught some fish and headed back at bout half 9 in the dark. The fisherman seemed to use the stars to navigate his way through the coral, which was only a few inches below the water. At one point he got a torch out to examine the water - which was pretty scary when its pitch black and you're in the middle of the ocean.
The next day I decided to go scuba diving - the youth hostel had is own scuba diving centre with instructors. I had a 20 minute lesson off the beach learning how to empty my mask of water, find my breather and my emergency breather. Then I went out to do a dive. All of this was a one-on-one lesson which really helped!!!! The dive I did was called the Supermarket - why? - because you swim with sharks!!! I jumped of the boat and we made our way down. We swam around and I quickly got the hang of it. Its a very surreal experience - breathing underwater - staying down there for so long without breathing normal air. As soon as we went down we saw sharks - white tipped reef sharks, black tipped reef sharks and gray reef sharks. They ranged from 1.5-2m in length and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I stayed down for 30 minutes and reached a depth of 11.8 metres.
Back on the boat I decided to complete my scuba diving course. This required me to watch 3 dvd's, have some more skills lessons, do one more dive and sit an exam. I did all of this that afternoon, except for the dive. I also encouraged the others to go for a dive with me the following day - they did not take much persusion. The following morning I again went diving with sharks, and the others joined me. Our instructor was called Stephan, a Swede, and he was really really excellent. We saw between 10-15 sharks, about the same as the previous day and million of fish and coral. Its a truly magical dive, one I would never get bored of. This meant I passed my course, and I am half way to my open water qualification. The next time I go, I will dive down to 18m. Hopefully I can do this in Australia.
Overall, our time on Mana was brilliant. The food was rubbish but it was paid for so we ate it. The dorm was hot - too hot, especially as my fan had broken above my bed. The locals are charming, really friendly people who all speak amazing English. The weather was blisteringly hot - around 38-40 even on the beach. It was too hot to ly in the sun and even with factor 30 on you burnt instantly. I would like to go back and do more scuba diving, when I can dive down deeper there are dives available to me that are some of the best in the world. Anyone who goes - go to the islands asap!!
The boat picked us up at lunch time and we spent the afternoon back in the hostel we spent the forst night in. We booked a taxi for 6am ENGLISH time for the following morning to take us to the airport - it arrived early!!!
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