Paul, Mark and Thirnan´s World Tour: September 2008

After a couple very sloppy nights on beach comber we were back on the boat heading further north to Mantaray Bay. Beachcomber was fun, but this place was amazing. The beach was so so, more of crushed shells than sand, but is was easily made up for by the surroundings. The resort sat on a channel which had by far the best snorkeling I have ever done. You could literally walk into the water off the shore, stick you head under water, and it was like falling into an aquarium. I really cannot do it justice. Schools of fish swimming all around you, the most variety of fish I've ever seen, amazing reefs, reef sharks, just unreal. You could rent mask snorkel and fins for the whole time for about $13, which was awesome cause it gave you the freedom to go whenever you felt like it.

View from the bar/eating area. The food was amazing, lots of fresh sea food.

Back on the beach

You can really see the reef in this picture below...

On the boat ride over I had met two lovely Australian girls Tanya and Alice. Unfortunately they were both spoken for, but hey, it happens. We hit it off, and I ended up spending the rest of my time in Fiji island hopping with them. Tanya had been working for Outward Bound for 3 the last 3 months in Fiji, so she had some inside info on the best places to stay.

At night we were entertained with some traditional Fijian music. It seems that every Fijian is blessed with a great voice. The other thing Fijians all share is that they are truly the nicest people I have ever met. I have no hesitation in saying that they are by far the nicest people anywhere I've been. And I had just come from New Zealand, where the people were also amazingly friendly. I don't know if it was because of the friendliness of the Fijians, but as a whole this week had the most friendly and open atmosphere out of anywhere I'd been on the trip. I would recommend a trip to Fiji for anyone.

They also had some challenges for free drinks. Obviously I accepted the challenge. The two of us had ropes looped around our wrists and linked together and had to figure out how to get apart. Though we alter found out there was a much easier way to do it (there always is with stuff like this), we did manage to do, and were the first ones ever to succeed.

Ahhh the sweet taste of victory. Apparently that taste comes in the form of fruity drinks. blast!

Mantaray bay gets its name because through about half the year mantarays come swimming through the channel, and you can go out snorkeling with them. When they spot them, the beat on a drum and everyone who wants to go out rushes down. We got to swim along with one with a couple meter wingspan that for a couple minutes...it was unreal. After that, back to the beach.

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The next night the got out the Kava, which is a drink made from a ground up root. It essentially tastes how it looks...like muddy water. According to wikipedia, "kava is a tranquilizer primarily consumed to relax without disrupting mental clarity." Sounds good to me. And plus, it's a Fijian tradition, so we had to give it a go.

After a few drinks and a little Kava we headed down to the beach to chill in the hammocks. However on the way we passed a papaya tree with 1 really nice ripe papaya that Tanya had her on from earlier in the day. Yup...we need to climb that tree and get that papaya. I had seen someone climb a coconut tree with the feet in front style shimmying up it....worked like a charm.

Chilling in the hammock on the beach, eating fresh papaya with the sea breeze blowing in our hair....what a great way to end an amazing day.

Bula everyone (hello in Fijian). Been a while since the last post. Since we last wrote Mark and I have both been back home for a couple weeks, working hard at finding jobs. Before I went home I had 10 days in Fiji. At the time we booked our flights home, I considered just transferring through Fiji, not spending any time there. Thankfully I decided against it, because it turned out to be a highlight of the trip for me.

I arrived in the afternoon, having absolutely no plan, just a hostel I was going to which is didn't know anything about. Things started going well when I arrived at the hostel, which was essentially a resort which had 1 dorm room. It said 4 bed en suite, but was actually a 32 bed dorm with dividers in between every 4 bunks. Ayy, what can you do. I really wasn't too fussed because the places was packed with people, had a pool, a bar, and was on the beach. No complaints.

While I was checking in a met 3 cool Irish guys and a couple Scottish girls who were all heading out to the islands on a package deal. I checked with the travel agent there, and figured out I could do the same thing myself for cheaper and just tag along....done! So I headed out to Beach Comber Island the next day. It's known as the party island in Fiji (which for the most part is pretty low key), and a few people I'd met along the way had recommended at least spending 1 night there....kind of like going to Thailand and not going to a full party. Not quite the same, but still a great time.
The island was really small, you could walk around it in about 10 minutes. Just beach, bar, and 114 person dorm. Needless to say, you don't come here to catch up on sleep.