Monday's Moment: Sun is shining....

Weekend at the Warwick

So based on the number of resident specials available during the month of February, we discovered that there is a low season at resorts in Fiji (we also discovered that it rains a lot on the dry side of the island during February too....hence the low season at resorts...lol). Over President's Day weekend in February, Richard had an extra day off work so we decided to take advantage of one of the resident specials....we had a lot to choose from. We ended up going with the Warwick Resort along the Coral Coast....they had us at "complimentary couple's one hour massage"! How could you beat that!

So Friday after school, the kids got home and changed out of their uniforms. We then picked Richard up from work (he ended up having to work a little late) on our way out of town. It rained a good portion of our drive up there which didn't bode well for a fun weekend.....at check-in we saw the kids club schedule for the next day (looked like lots of fun!), but unfortunately the break for lunch was during our couples massage....so we had reschedule for two individual massages....still works! We had a little dinner and called it a night. The next morning we woke to some light rain....yeah! We went to breakfast, Clarissa put on a fashion show....

and then she headed over to kids club (we had heard a lot of great things about it and the schedule looked really fun, fish feedings, crab races, etc). (Mason wasn't feeling so hot the previous night/morning so he opted to rest). We ran into Sigatoka to do some shopping. On the sidewalk, they have a really neat plaque honoring last years gold medal Olympic team! At least it was close when they beat the USA....lol.

When we got back, Richard headed to his massage and I picked up Clarissa. Due to the rainy weather, most of the fun kids activities were cancelled in the kids club and Clarissa hung out and watched movies...bummer. The kids and then went over for their free lunch. Then we switched and I got my massage...woohoo! Luckily, the weather had cleared some and the rain had stopped. So when the kids were in the pool when I got back. I then was horrible and insisted on mandatory fun and we headed out to the reef for some snorkeling (can't wait till later since we have ebbing tides to deal with). Clarissa was immediately in blue sea star heaven...picking up everyone that she saw!

We also lots of cool fishes that we stalked.

On the edge of the sea grasses, we found two relatively small Giant Clams! Though they were less than a meter apart, their mantle colors were slightly different. (It's thought a variety of factors affect mantle color but nobody knows for sure).

Just for a 'keeping it real' moment....even while snorkeling in a Fijian paradise, kids will arguing and fight semi-submerged....and I am kind enough to let them work it out on their own to learn life skills, (but in the mean time I will not only document it, I will share it for your viewing enjoyment)!

After some more pool time, we all got cleaned up and headed to kids favorite South Pacific pizza joint....Eco Cafe for dinner. Afterwards, we walked around the shoreline and enjoyed an obscured sunset. We headed out on some of the little jetties and you could see lots of little fishes swimming around. Clarissa and I even saw an eel, but it quickly hid!

The shy sun hiding behind clouds....but lots of nice reflections.

Boats by the ocean....

So the majority of the land in Fiji is native land that can not be bought. So a resort will obtain a 99 year lease to a section of land (typically right next to a village), my understanding is some of this lease money goes back to said village or there is a nightly surcharge that is for the village.. Here are some photos of the village adjacent to the Warwick.....nice waterfront location!

Note the rain coming down close to land....a storm is a coming....

But let's zoom into the sunset instead of focusing on the rain....much better!

Fire power.....pretty happy with how that turned out!

At some point, the kids headed back to the room to play on iPads (free wifi w/o mom & dad hounding them on usage....too bad it was really sssssllllloooowwww), so Richard and I went and enjoyed a cocktail (piña colada if you remember....lol). From the balcony bar, I got this pretty cool shot from there.

I guess if there has to be clouds, at least they give photos some "texture" and make them a bit more interesting. After some more nighttime showers, we woke the next morning, of course, to bright and sunny skies! We did have a late check out, so we snorkeled a bit and chillaxed at the pool some before heading home. The kids opted to cut their snorkeling short for pool time. Richard headed in with them while I snorkeled some more (he then went back and snorkeled more after I came....darn required adult supervision...). While I was out solo.....I saw a black tip reef shark! I barely caught it on video.....so here is a enhanced screen grab.....but so cool. I'm not sure if Richard and the kids believed me until I found the video and was all there it is....and then there were all 'oh yeah'.

Again, not the best photo.....but that's what sharks do...they lurk in the shadows.....It was not all that big maybe about a meter long. What weekend resort blog post with snorkeling would be complete without a little highlight montage video? So here you go....watch for giant clams, an eel, a crown of thorns, in addition to your usual schools of fishes.

Here's a little out take video of silly snorkeler antics....

All in all, it was semi rainy/nice weekend away. It rained most of the time in Suva, so at least we got some sunshine. While a nice resort, it was not our favorite in the area....so not sure if we will venture back to the Warwick again or not. We are starting to see the end of our time in Fiji and there are so many other places we want to visit.....

Tambua Sands Weekend

What's the expression....while the cat's away the mice will play.....so Richard had a 2 week training in DC at the end of October/beginning of November, with travel time he ended up being gone about 2.5 weeks. Of the three weekends he was gone, logistically the last one worked out best for the kids and I to head to a resort for a little get-away with a spa and kids club since we be tired of so much alone time with one another. So by the time I decided which weekend to head of town, when I started contacting resorts, a lot had no availability....oops. Eventually I did find a resort I've heard a number of people have gone to with availability....weekend saved (but oops no spa or kids club)! As soon as the kids got off the bus, I had them changed clothes and off we headed. We managed to beat most of the evening/get out of town traffic and arrived at Tambua Sands Beach Resort in about 2 hours. We got checked in and they helped us get our bags to our bure. We dropped everything and ran out the front door to enjoy the sunset!

Note: The 'Fiji Filter' that makes everything look beautiful.....even bickering siblings.....

Someone really wanted to go swimming in the ocean....but we needed to get some dinner first....

Someone else was happy to have the hammock back to themselves....

I do wonder if pink clouds is where purple rain comes from....

After dinner we hung out and played some ping pong while waiting for the every exciting crab races. The kids did decorate the 'race track' too.

Then Mason played a game of pool with the activities guy, Tui (who was soon to become Clarissa's new bestie).

Mason's crab, Hillary, won the race and he got a bowl of ice cream for the prize. Clarissa hung out at the bar waiting for the ice cream.... We headed back to our room to listen to the ocean as we drifted off to sleep.

Saturday morning was the last morning before daylight savings began, so the sun rose around 5 am....so when you sleep with the windows open to keep you cool at night (yeah, Richard would have been miserable with no AC) the morning sun woke Princess Early Riser (Mason on the other hand happily slept in). So Clarissa and I went out to explore. Right outside our bure, we found these fluffy flowers all over the ground....so soft and fluffy!

Scattered everywhere....(it is from the Sea Poison Tree or Fish Poison Tree (Barringtonia asiatica) the seeds can be ground up and used to stun fish).

So pretty!

The other day, I showed you Clarissa and I were the only ones up this early enjoying the rising sun. It was very peaceful as we looked for shells the tide had brought in.

Great start to the day.

Afterwards, we headed to the breakfast. The kids wore their swimsuits so they could immediately partake in the pool waters.

After swimming/enjoying the view we got cleaned up and headed to the Kula Eco Park. Mason had been here on a field trip, but Clarissa and I hadn't gone yet. I was excited to see the Fiji Banded Iguana, though Clarissa was not going to look nor touch any snakes. We arrived just in time for the sea turtle hatchling feeding.

We not only found the Fijian Banded Iguana, we got to hold them!

 Also got to hold a snake!

Clarissa decided to look at the snake....

Then, she not only touched the snake, she held the snake! We think this was the Fiji burrowing snake (Ogmodon vitianus), or locally known as the Bolo.

We then walked around and checked out all the birds (and the only mammal indigenous to the Fiji Islands) on the property.

Fruit bats....those indigenous mammals.

We stalked this peacock for a long time and told him what a sexy beast he was....but apparently that wasn't enough to get him to strut his stuff and show us his plumage in its full glory!

After circumnavigating the park, we headed to the little gift shop. Clarissa had some tooth fairy money burning a hole in her little purse. She bought a cute necklace with a sea horse pendant carved out of a shell. As we were leaving it started to pour down rain....good timing!! We headed to a lunch spot we had heard great things about Eco Cafe....we heard they have a tasty wood fire oven cooked pizza. So we tried it out.....the rain stopped after we ordered. The view was amazing and the pizza yummy! We will be going again (in fact we have since taken Richard).

We headed back to Tambua Sands. High tide was mid-day so we attempted to snorkel, but the tide was already heading out again and the water got shallow pretty quickly so we gave up on that and headed to the pool again. Afterwards, we got cleaned up for dinner. I put some flowers in Clarissa's hair....because I could!

Before dinnertime (they had set hours), we watched the sunset....it was a beautiful one....with lots of selfies. 

Sunset!

After the sunset.....it looks like the sun is actually in the water.....

I practiced some free range parenting and allowed Clarissa to hang out at the bar with her buddy Tui....

After dinner, the kids went on a frog hunt (technically a cane toad hunt, but I didn't want to be the annoying biologist correcting people)! Clarissa caught 8 frogs and Mason caught only 1....that's my girl! They then raced the frogs. Another little boy from Germany picked one of Clarissa's to race. That frog won, but since Clarissa won the frog catching portion they both got a bowl of ice cream! 

We crashed hard that night! Daylight savings kicked in and we sprung ahead at 2:00 am, so the sunrise was at a much more reasonable 6:00 am on Sunday..... After breakfast, Clarissa sadly said goodbye to her bestie Tui....Mason and I are still amazed how much she quickly she befriended him. She's normally super shy around strangers. She wanted me to take a picture for her iPad to remember him (even though both kids want to come back and stay in the honeymoon suite which has a private jacuzzi/mini pool.....). The resort had lots of cute, witty signs....I think one was my fave that summarizes our weekend.