It was only available to boys ages 12+. That was the only bummer. I wish there was something cool like this for girls (or they would alternate weeks). Unfortunately, teens are not always as excited about these things as much as their parents are (or would much rather prefer staring at their iDevices all day...aka the exact purpose of the camp).....someone who met the criteria for the camp was less enthused about going....though their friend was going, so the rule of mandatory fun was enacted. Richard and I had to work so the teen and his friend caught a ride to camp with a couple others from Suva. Upon on the hand off, I found out that parents could come the night before the pick up and stay a night....hmmm, challenge accepted...I do think the camp is so great and I will come too!
We did get some photos of the kids at camp.....this was one where it looks like Mason is having a blast!! lol Packing Clarissa and myself up the night before we drove up, Isa declared she wanted to go to island camp too!
The camp was in the Natadola area (so about a 3 hour drive)....I worked a half day then Clarissa, myself and Mason's friends mom (aka my friend too) all drove up in the afternoon to catch the 4pm ferry and to see our darlings. We stopped for a leg stretch/bathroom break and I picked up some 'we need to get before we depart post' Fiji gems. We went to Hot Glass Fiji for some glass coconuts. Hindsight, I should of taken a photo of the coconuts I bought but they wrapped them up so good we opted to keep them wrapped until we get to our next post. Here is a sample photo of how they make them. They break open a coconut husk, remove the nut, close up the coconut husk, then the hot glass is blown in, once cooled, the coconut husk is cracked open again. Each coconut husk produces a unique piece of art....with the size, shape and pattern replicating that of the coconut used as the 'mold'. I'm super excited to put ours on display in one of our tanoa bowls!
Outside the studio, they have a tiki man with glass hair. We grabbed a bite/drinks afterwards. Clarissa played on my phone....took some selfies...(turned it B&W herself)....7 going on 17...
The camp was held out on Robinson Crusoe Island Resort. They have a parking area near Natadola Beach for us to leave our car, we took a 30 minute boat ride (mostly down a river, so very calm). Once we reached the river mouth, this is the open stretched we had to cross to get from the mainland to the island. I guess due to the fact it was on the other side of the island was why it had never popped up on my radar.
Since we caught the afternoon ferry over, I knew I didn't have much snorkel time, so I quickly changed and hopped in the water to snorkel. Sadly, from the beach there wasn't all that much to see (mostly seagrass and jellies). For the camp, they took them out via boat to the reef to snorkel....lucky Mason!! Clarissa played on the sand while I snorkeled. After dinner, I took the drone up to circumnavigate the island. I quickly learned the best way to make "friends" is to have a drone....lol. Though, no matter how much my "new friends" begged me to let them fly my drone I didn't share...so apparently I need to go back to kindergarten. I did get this awesome sunset shot of Likuri Island!
That evening (and apparently all evenings of camp) there was a bon fire on the beach after the staff performed songs. Very musically talented crew. I did let Mason/his friend use the GoPro on the gimbal then. It was getting dark so not a lot of super focused photos, but this one is too funny to not share. One of the boys had picked up one of the crabs running around on the beach. I think Clarissa had been picking flowers (as little girls do). Well that crab was all about the wooing....and grabbed that flower and did not let go!!
That night - it was hotter than Hades! Richard was a bit bummed he didn't get to go at all....I told him he would have been miserable. Middle of the summer, no AC, hot summer night, no breeze for some reason that night....so Clarissa and I didn't sleep to well (we had our own bure, campers had a dorm with bunk beds). We got up early and flew the drone some more and got a sunrise shot of the other end of the island.
After breakfast, we loaded back up on the boat back to the mainland. It was a quick trip for Clarissa and I (but it was another island to check off the list...hee hee). As you can see, Mason is still super thrilled with me.
The crew as they finished singing Isa Lei to say farewell to us. As we get closer and closer to our departure from Fiji, it is getting harder and harder to hear this lovely song. If you look to right on the beach, you see all the fun stuff the kids got to use: kayaks, SUPs, water trikes, and the best of all the banana boat. Mason did finally admit to Richard (not mean mom), that they took them out on the banana boat and it was really fun. We mentally patted ourselves on the back as we told him for the rest of his life, when he hears the 'Banana Boat' song he will have memory of riding one at a South Pacific Island summer camp with his friend....not many kids can say that! Mission accomplished!
I said smile as we were heading across the open water to the mainland and this what I got!
So Clarissa, mom friend, and I demonstrated what 'smile' is suppose to look like! Silly boys!
Back at the boat launch (there were a couple of siblings in the picture too) with the camp Master. (faces marked out since I didn't go track down everyones parents to get permission to post their darlings picture).
Previous island count-319 Fijian islands visited, Likuri Island visited.....318 Fijian islands remaining.
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