We’re leaving on a jet plane…….

September 5th, 2006
Fiji time: 3rd August 2006 – 5th August 2006

On our return from Mantaray we decided we still had enough time to squeeze in two nights at South Sea Island. South Sea is situated in the Mamanucas and is only 25mins from the mainland. It is a tiny Island….you can walk around it in 4 minutes….which is frequented by daytrippers. However it has a small dormitory so you are able to stay on the Island with 15 or so others.

The thinking behind our visit to South Sea was based around our new found hobby of scuba diving. Keen to use our qualification and to dive together again we booked our 6th dive for our second day on the Island, almost immediately following our arrival.

Whilst on the Island we bumped (I told you it was a small Island) into Ollie – a friend we had made on Mantaray. The nights entertainment was organised by Fordy the diving instructor from Middlesborough and consisted of crab racing and drinking games. Both mine and Ollie’s crabs made it to the final but I had to bow to the superiority of Uncle Albert who was coaxed to his connvincing win by Ollie’s loud cheers from the sideline.

Drinking games followed and we all became fully aquainted. One of the funniest people we have met so far on our trip has to be Vincent….a 24 year old Dutch guy who proceeded to have us in stitches all night. Following the drinking games we all shifted to the beach where we all sat around a bonfire until the early hours.

The next day was surprisingly hangover free for us although not everyone on the Island was so fortunate. We kicked of the day by going fish feeding. Ollie, Chris and myself headed out in the boat and snorkelled whilst bread was thrown in. There was loads of fish who eventually built up the courage to eat the bread out of our hands. We decided to ditch the boat and swam back to the Island via the reefs.

The afternoon of day 2 saw us diving and our first wreck dive. 3 years ago a ship not dissimilar to a viking ship was sunk off the Island (deliberately). The ship sits at its deepest at about 22m deep (we are only qualified to dive to 18m). On the deck of the ship sat large potato cod which looked pretty angry and followed us around the wreck. By the ships mast was a group of batfish which looked nothing like either Chris or I imagined.

We spent about ten minutes at the wreck which we both found rather eerie and then proceeded to swim to coral bommies in the shallowers waters. We saw boxfish, clown fish and numerous others but to Chris’s bitter disapointment he still had not seen a shark.

Chris was so disapointed he was seriously thinking of doing a shark dive (where they bring the sharks in by feeding them!)…..which I had been doing my best to try and talk him out of on the basis we were only on our 6th dive. Chris eventually came round to my way of thinking but was not leaving the Island without giving it one more try. Chris and another lad called Dean went out snorkelling about 2hours before we were due to leave. Whilst they were out Dean, who was nearer the shore than Chris spotted a shark and somewhat startled raised his head to call Chris…before swimming with his best windmill armstroke as quick as he could to the shore. Chris who had not heard Dean saw the shark, which was later estimated to be about 2m, swim right in front of him.

Although the shark was probably more shocked than either Chris and Dean (and was later dentified as a white tip reef shark), Chris turned to see Dean bezzing it back and decided he too should get out fast also. The sunbathers on the beach were greeted by two English lads running out the sea shouting “shark, shark!” causing one lady to promtly return her kayak which she had just hired. Both lads were pretty euphoric to have finally seeen a shark which for Chris was the perfect end to a perfect holiday in Fiji.

September 5th, 2006
Fiji time: 28th August 2006 – 2nd September 2006

We were picked up at our hotel around 7.30am on the 28th, and driven the 10 minutes or so down the the marina, from where we were to catch the ‘Yasawa Flyer’ boat out to our next destination, Mantaray Island, in the Yasawa group off the North West coast of Vitu Levu.

The boat journey lasted about 3 hours, these islands are fairly remote, but given the clear skies and still ocean, it was a fairly enjoyable experience. We arrived about lunch time and checked into our tent (yes, tent! we were back to trying to save money, but also thought a tent on the beach, on a remote island would be a pretty cool place to stay!).

The resort was good (although slightly concerned about the fertilizer toilets, that required no flushing!), and the food was ok (all you can eat again, but not qite the standard of Walu beach!), but the main draw of this place was the opportunity to snorkle with Mantarays, and the pristine coral reefs that existed just of the beach.

Having witnessed Charlottes enjoyment from diving, I was determined to give it another go, so signed up for an intro dive the following morning. An intro dive basically consists of going down to about 6m or so, with an istructor doing all the technical stuff for you, so all you have to do is breathe and swim about a bit!

Well, after the experience of diving in a murky pool at Walu beach, this dive was awesome, and I immediately enrolled on an open water course so that I too could become certified, and that Charlotte and I would be able to go out together.

Thankfully all went to plan this time, and after another 3 dives from the shore (during which time we saw Stingrays, Morray eels, Baracuda, and loads of other cool fish) and sucessful completion of all the required skills, Charlotte and I were ready to go out to the outer reef in the ocean for our first dive together.

The site we went to was called the ‘Garden of Eden’ and after dropping in and going through a swim through, we soon saw why. The coral was amazing, it really is another world down there! After about 10 minutes of the dive, the instructor spotted a shark, gave the comedy dorsel fin hand signal and we all scattered looking about frantically trying to see it! Charlotte was the only one in our group to site the shark, a 1m white tip reef shark, to say the rest of us were gutted to miss it was an understatement!

Whilst at Mantaray, we bumped into our mate Oli, whom we had met in Nadi, who was also out diving in the Yasawas. Also at Mantaray, we got our first taste of Kava, the local brew. This stuff is rank, basically it looks like muddy water, and tastes significantly worse. The ceremony involved sitting round in a circle, and basically accepting the bowl when offered by the chief, giving 1 quick clap, downing the ‘drink’, followed by a round of applause from the group. Nearly everyone dropped out after the first ’round’, but I hung in for another 4 bowls, in search of the ‘hallucinegenic’ experience, which never materialised, the only effect being a numb mouth. The locals however swear by this stuff, and when I saw them the following day, they told me they had stayed up till sunrise, and had about 40 bowls worth each….hardcore!

Thankfully during our stay we were also lucky enough to go out on a snorkelling trip to Mantaray passage to see the rays. These things are huge, about 4-5m in width, and really majestic as they cruise around feeding with their mouths wide open. It was an amazing site, although also quite bizzare as about 30 people with snorkel gear tried to follow a giant fish in the middle of the ocean!

Another highlight of our stay on Mantary was the aptly named ‘tequila’ who worked behind the bar in the evenings. Tequila, a local Fijian women, was completely derranged and could not manage a sentence without threatening club you with the piece of 2 by 4 that she always had slung over her shoulder, or ‘eat you for breakfast like she used to’. All of which had to be seen to be believed, but thankfully we managed to avoid being clubbed or eaten during our 5 night stay.

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