Mantaray Island Resort
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.
Tags: Fiji
Chris and Charl
Leave a Reply