Jess Wanders Off

 

So Fiji is beautiful but it was a long haul getting here.  3 hours from DFW to Los Angeles, then around 11 hours from Los Angeles to Nadi, where I arrived just before dawn.  The flight in was lovely, as the sun was just rising and the sky was a gorgeous color.  No signs of a military coup, from what I could tell — although there WERE two houses on fire when I flew in.  Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

In Nadi I got a shuttle to the marina, passing through only one military roadblock where we were just waved through by the bored soldiers with semiautomatic weapons.  At the marina, I had to wait a few hours for my boat out to the Mamanuca Islands (where I’m staying).  They definitely operate on Fiji time here, and by that I mean, people do whatever the hell they want when they want and very much at their own pace.  The boat was supposed to leave at 7:30 AM, but I believe it was close to 9 when we finally set out.  I wasn’t complaining.  The weather was PERFECT, the guys working in the marina talkative and friendly to me (they were very open and honest about the coup) and we could all sit at a peaceful little cafe overlooking the harbor as we waited.

Once we got to the Mamanucas, I got dropped off at the island I’m staying at, which is Bounty Island — privately owned and all one big resort.  Very peaceful place with gorgeous white sand beaches, clear water with perfect temperatures, and a spectacular natural reef fringing the whole island.

 

I spent my days lazing around the pool or on the beach, and snorkelling over the reef.  That was the best part — the snorkelling.  I saw so many beautiful tropical fish that I’d only ever seen in an aquarium.  Angelfish were everywhere, as well as giant parrotfish with purplish bodies and lime green fins that spread out gracefully like wings as they swim.

There were also dark blue starfish, eels burrowed into the sand, and wonderful giraffe-spotted little fish that were very shy.  Shyest of all are the clownfish, and I’m really happy that I got a quick glimpse of one before it hid from me.  Little Nemo!  Clownfish are so cute.  They’re a lot smaller than you would think though.

The creepiest fish I saw were these translucent-looking swordfish-like guys that drifted near the surface.  I only saw two or three of these.  They were maybe 2 feet long and had long sword-like noses.  They didn’t appreciate me following them.

 

I took a bunch of pictures of the reef with my underwater camera.  I hope the pictures turn out well.  The colors of the reef were so vibrant, I really hope my pics come out.

I met some really great people in Fiji — a nice British girl, a Swedish boy, and a trio of hilarious Irish girls.  I loved the Irish girls’ accents.  They’re so singsong.  I want to go to Ireland now because of them.

 

Anyway that’s about it for Fiji.  Bye for now!

 

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Friday, December 15th, 2006 at 9:48 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.