We have had a great few days here in Fiji. Oma joined us on Saturday early in the morning and we have had a fun filled time since. We spent Saturday in Denerau letting Oma catch up on many much needed naps from not sleeping at all on the plane. That evening we went to dinner and saw a fire walking ceremony in the middle of the restaurants. It was very touristy but was still nice to see. Not something you usually see in the middle of the open mall in the states. At the ceremony they also had Kava tasting so I jumped right in there. The kava looked like Muddy water and tasted (if it had any taste) a little like the way it looked... muddy water. I didn't feel any of the effects from it besides numbness in my mouth and throat but I believe they tone it down for all the tourists coming through. Sunday we got up early to go into the marina restaurant to watch the Fiji vs. England world cup rugby game. It was pouring outside so it was nice to have a hot breakfast, hot coffee and a fun crowd of half Fijians and half of the visitors from England...
Sunday afternoon we sailed off to our first anchorage. The weather had turned and it was a beautiful sunny day. It was about a 30 stretch up to what is known as the Manta Pass. As we were approaching the pass we snagged a fish on one of our lines and Oma was able to help reel it in. We ended up catching a 12 pound Waloo. (It's not a misspelling for wahoo... they call it a waloo here, its a little different from the wahoo but extremely tasty!) It was a lot of fun seeing Oma's face and her excitement. I am really glad we were able to catch one while she was here. Oma catching a fish, check!
We were meeting our friends from Shine up at this anchorage. They also have parents visiting from Australia and we both really wanted to meet each others parents. When we got to the anchorage low and behold there were 5 other kid boats in the anchorage... Honey with 2 kids, our friends from Bob the Cat 4 kids, Seabatical 2 kids, Tinkerbell 2 kids, Javalot with 3 boys, and us and shine which make up 7 kids. So all in all there were 20 kids playing on the beach, each others boats and swimming in the water. That night we had a beach barb-e-que with the fish we had caught. As always a nice way to do dinner sharing food with friends and family. The next morning we got up early to go and find some giant manta rays. We were enjoying our coffee when we started seeing all the other boats getting their gear and zooming over there. It was told to us that the mantas show up around 2 hours before and after high tide. Everyone was a little anxious to go so we gathered our gear and all of us got in the boat for the dinghy ride to the pass. When we got there they were all just sitting in their dinghy and had been for about an hour and said that they couldn't find any mantas yet. Then we looked up and saw 2 hotel tour boats approaching the pass and knew that we were right on time. As the tour boats came by shouting their greeting of Bula Bula at us they said to follow them to the entry of the pass and the mantas are usually there at a cleaning station rock. Sure enough there was a manta there. We jumped in the water and got Oma all set up to follow us out there. It is a little challenging the pass with its currents but Oma was a trooper and kept on swimming after us. The snorkel bit is new to her and it takes a little while to remember to keep your head down because if you look up to much the top of the snorkel goes back in the water and you end up with a mouth full. Not fun! The first manta ended up swimming away because someone tried to get to close to it... but then about 30 minutes later the tour boats found another one and waved us over. Oma was swimming in the channel and we saw from the other people excitement that the manta was heading right toward her. The next thing we know she is trying to yell at us and point and say it is right under her... by the time she looked down again it had swam underneath her and was swimming away... It was fun. The manta literally swam right underneath her about 5 feet. Phew... Oma seeing Mantas, check!
We are now at the anchorage site called blue lagoon. It was where the famous Brooke Shields movie Blue Lagoon was shot. I can't seem to find the actual beach and Lagoon but will still look around. It is a really nice anchorage with a really nice resort and super friendly staff. When we were there yesterday having a sit down and watching some of the Samoa vs. US rugby game the girls met Miriam and Semili. Two of the hotel workers. They took the girls and began making these little animals with the palm fronds. The girls just loved learning how to do this weaving and hopefully will remember how. We will go back today to try to get another lesson and see if we can duplicate it.
it.
Javalot and Bob the cat came up here as well and there is a really long white sandy beach that the kids were running up and down on last night and then of course the swimming around the boat until it got dark. Oma and I and Chris enjoyed our rum sunset drink and watch the kids play.
We woke up this picture out of our port hole this morning to an intruder swimming around the boat... wait is that Oma! For crying out loud does this woman ever relax.... she is amazing! I think she truly loves the boat life and maybe with us for quite some time. Hee Hee
Hugs and Love to all.
Heather
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