James & Tracey

June 22
We were picked up from the hotel at 7.30am and headed for the Denarau port. We caught the Yasawa flyer along with a few other hundred passengers. We were on the boat/ferry for around 4 hours before reaching our destination of Nacula Island. We caught a small boat to the Island to Oarsman's Bay Resort. When we arrived and went to the welcome meeting we were told how much things would cost on the island - the small boat trip from the ferry to the island was $10.50 each way per person (for a 2 minute ride, bit late now to say we would swim!) the water was not drinkable on the island but you could buy the bottled water for $3, activites were extra, and lunch today was not included so had to pay $10, but welcome to the island - Over a barrell comes to mind.
Once dumping our bags in our Bure by the beach we headed staright into the crystal clear water for a snorkel - WOW! The reef was amazing and we saw so many fish - Bat fish and 2 Lion fish.
To settle things down we layed on the beach for a while.
We went to the Happy hour at the bar, although it wasn't very happy as only got 80cents off the beer (around 26p). We watched a traditional Fijian night and Trace got dragged up to dance. James managed to escape this as he went to the bar! We had a traditional Fijian meal and sat with some Americans who complained that their food didn't have enough salt on it, so added loads of it to their food - what do they expect the food was cooked underground!

June 23
We were up for the breakfast drums at 8am. Shortly after we were in the water checking out the breakfast for the fish, taking a few more photos.
The rest of the morning was rather relaxed as we sunbathed and read until lunch at midday.
The afternoon was spent on the beach until the Caves trip was announced. We went on a half hour boat ride, got the key to the gate from a village by the beach and then to the gate on another small island. We walked up some steps and down into the darkness. We were met with very dark water as there wasn't much light. We put on our snorkel gear and got in the water, it was really salty. The guide swam under the water with a big torch and we were told to follow the light one by one. When we got to the other side it was pitch black, quite an eery feeling. The guides turned off the torch and made lots of noise and splashed a lot - I think they were trying to scare us but didn't work. We swam about for a while, the guide told us that part of the caves were used for the film 'The Blue Lagoon', but none of us had seen it so weren't that impressed.
When we got to the main part again, the guides climbed up the walls of the cave and jumped off into the water. James had a go at climbing but where the first guy went he left a water trail that was quite slippery, he got to the second or third hand grip (about 2 metres above the water), lost his grip and fell into the water. Luckily he saw sense and didn't try it again - Phew!
We watched the sunset from the beach and got a photo!

Sunset between us

We got back to the island for dinner and a few drinks. James joined in on Poker, betting with pieces of shell and scrabble letters.

June 24
James got up at 5.30am and walked up the hill behind the Bures for Sunrise. He walked in the dark with a torch to the top of the hill and got there too early so took photos of himself. It was a little cloudy but spectacular views of the Island.
We packed our stuff and went for a last snorkel and sunbathe on the beach. We got told off as we were meant to check out at 10am, it now being 11.30 they weren't too happy. We showered and headed to the office to pay. We had lunch, said our farewells and went on the little boat (now paid for) to the Ferry.

It took 2 1/2 hours to get to the next islnd we were staying at and Manta Ray Resort. It is an eco-friendly resort with non-flush toilets (decomposing) and water to drink that is filtered sea water. We had our intro meeting and free drinks, then chilled out in our tree-top Bure.
Dinner was a buffet and we had Happy hour drinks. Trace had a Cocktail called Lollipop (Vodka, Malibu, Lime liquer, blue curaco and lemonade) - Yummy!

June 25
We headed out early for a snorkel to check out the reef. It was a bit different to the other reef, still lots to see and loads of Blue Sea Stars. Back to the beach for a bit of sunbathing, then had a little siesta as all this relaxing is so tiresome.
In the afternoon session on the beach we heard the Drums so ran towards the sound - This was the Manta Ray drum. We were taked just round the corner on a boat to a channel between 2 islands and got in the water quick as the guide said there was a Manta Ray close. Once in the water heads down looking a Huge Manta Ray appeared out of the blue - about 3 1/2 metres wide. It was so surprising as we didn't expect them to be so big, even a little scary. We spent the next half hour or so swimming round following various Manta Ray, none as big as the first but still impressive.

Manta Ray

After the afternoons photo activity we tried to upload some of the photos and write them to disc but the computers at the resort were rubbish and wouldn't let us so we had to edit them a lot.

June 26
We packed our stuff yet again and placed our bags in the check out area. This morning we went diving, to a place called Coral Awegasm. The water was pretty cloudy with loads of fish eggs so the coral looked average. We did get to swim through a couple of tunnels though which was pretty cool. James kept trying to blow air rings under the water and take photos of them. His first attempt was good and we managed to get an ok photo but the efforts after weren't as good, maybe next time.
Once back on land we had lunch and James chilled out on a hammock whilst waiting for the ferry to arrive.
We were sung the farewell song and waved off on the little boat towards the ferry.

Another hour spent on the Ferry before arriving at Waya Island and Kuata Resort. We had our own Bure with views of the sea, and chilled out for the afternoon.
The evenings entertainment was a Fijian night. We joined in the Kava ceremony and got to drink the Kava (made from the root of a plant of some description) It tasted warm and a bit like dish water and left your tongue a little numb. The Fijian dinner was eaten with our hands. We were then all told to get up and dance the Bula dance and various other dances, including one where you had to swap partners, not very nice as the Fijian men had their tops off and were very sweaty - gross!

June 27
Breakfast was at 7.30am. We then headed for the beach and tried to snorkel but the tide was in and water level too low to swim over the coral, so we settled for sunbathing instead. After lunch and a bit of a siesta the tide was up and we were able to swim out to look at the coral, hundreds of fish were eating the coral and being attacked by other fish defending their homes, all quite exciting.
We tried to take photos of the sunset but it was too cloudy. Dinner was Veggie Curry and rice, we chatted to an Irish couple and they were shocked when we told them we hadn't seen the news or read a newspaper since we left home and had no idea about what is going on in anything.
We were playing cards when the bar tender, Nathan, asked James if he knew anything about cocktails. James told him he's a bar designer, so know a little bit. He then got a paper and pen and asked James to write down a cocktail for him - the only one he knows is a Harvey Wallbanger, so he wrote that down (hoping he got it correct as he thinks the barman will be practising it a lot) Not sure how impressed he was by this so we soon left!

June 28
We woke up early for breakfast again - Stodgy pancakes and a piece of watermelon. We packed our stuff and headed for the beach for the last bit of sunbathing before leaving. After cooking ourselves we rested on the hammock until lunchtime. Lunch was rice served with spaghetti, unusual combination and just about edible.
The wind had picked up a bit so we had to walk to the other side of the island to get in the boats to take us to the ferry. We reached the ferry in one piece, our bags however were soaked as they were on the bottom of the pile in the boat and the waves came over the sides - Great!
We arrived at the port and headed to the Sanctuary of the Tanoa hotel where we had Steak for dinner!

June 29 (1st)
The first task of the day was to start the washing as it seemed that every single piece of James' clothing had been soaked with a mixture of sea water and beer from the boat - nice!
Jong offered us his apartment so we could use his internet and also write a couple of CDs for free so we spent most of the day doing that as internet was still slow.
After sorting more washing out we headed to the bar for a well deserved drink. Trace had a cocktail called Body Heat (banana liquer, Malibu, Orange and Pineapple juice and grenadine - just the job).
We got a taxi to the restaurtant Jong had recommended - the Lazy Cactus, except it was closed for refurbishment. Instead we went to Mamas Pizza, nice one.

June 30 (1st)
We got up and packed our bags, still a little damp from the boat. We checked out, finding that Jong had only charged us $45 per night (thats about 15 quid!).
We waited around the airport for a while and caught the flight to Rarotonga. All good except Trace had to sit next to quite a smelly man for the whole 3 hours and 15 mins and James wouldn't swap seats with her!