Showing posts with label Yasawa Islands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yasawa Islands. Show all posts
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Sunday, August 27, 2017
Friday, August 25, 2017
Term Break Adventures: #FijiStaycation - Yanuyanu 2
As I wrapped up the previous post, the kids and I had just left Barefoot Manta via tender. We were boarding the Yasawa Flyer to meet Richard on board and continue our #FijiStaycation up in the Blue Lagoon area. Looks like somebody may have missed someone!
Richard had left Nadi around 8:30 that morning. It was midday now as they picked us up from Drawaqa Island (#8 on the map from their website). We were headed to the last stop! Nanuya Lailai Island...we had about two more hours to go!
So Clarissa gave Richard a tour of the boat (because he hadn't walked around during the previous 3+ hours...lol). She also showed him how to check for water clarity (or turn your parents' hair gray).
If you recall, we took a cruise when a tropical depression decided to swing by. So the last time we had been up this way the blue lagoon had been rather...gray.....and rather...eeeh! So the bar was set pretty low. So when we arrived to this....
Well...our flips flops were blown off! Pictures just don't do it justice. I made a joke about seeing 50 shades of blue....but in reality, there were more! The postcards are real!!
If you look on a map, "Blue Lagoon" is a relatively large area between several islands (Nanuya Lailai, Nanuya Levu (aka Turtle), Tavewa, Matacawea Levu, and Yageta Islands). Ironically, the "Blue Lagoon Resort" is not actually on Blue Lagoon...it is nearby and the water is just as pretty and blue. The movie Blue Lagoon was filmed on the island Nanuya Levu (the one next to where we stayed)....that island is a private island and a tad out of our price range (as in college tuition per stay out of our price range....that's where all the celebrities go and stay when they come to Fiji). We were staying at Nanuya Island Resort on Nanuya Lailai Island. It was the nicest place we stayed during our staycation.....and it had hot water in the showers...so we were in heaven!!! Most resorts in Fiji put tropical flowers around the room and bathroom, but this place was extra fancy and doubled up the flowers. Clarissa insisted I take a picture....so now I must share!
After hours on the boat (and hearing about all our snorkeling the past few days), Richard wanted to hit the water. So we changed and dived right in to the Blue Lagoon! Mason found another octopus and spotted a stingray (watch the video for it). I found the biggest, still living, snail in the wild any of us has ever seen!
It was so awesome! A horned helmet snail (or conch depending on who you ask) Cassis cornuta. Of course, all we took was it's picture. They eat echinoderms (sea urchins/sea stars/sand dollars)....including the crown-of-thorns sea stars....those nasty reef eaters....so we want the horned helmet to keep eating up those crown-of thorns. If I didn't have such a wonderful snorkel-face might hang that picture on the wall....lol.
Post snorkel fun we enjoyed the hot showers (and I was running the lice comb Richard brought with him through our hair....no more hand removal on rocks...lol)....so Clarissa and I missed the sunset. It was a beautiful one too! Richard was kind enough to capture it for us though.
So the next morning, we booked an excursion. It was the one thing I really wanted to do on the cruise but didn't get a chance to due to the choppy seas and pelting rain....so I was bound and determined to see it this trip. When picking where to stay in the area....if that excursion was offered was a deciding factor! We were going to the Sawa-i-Lau caves!! On the cruise, we had been anchored in Buasali Bay for 3 days and stared at Sawa-i-Lau island....so I was very happy to finally go inside and see what all the hype was about! From where we were staying in Blue Lagoon, we took a 45 minute boat ride, landed on the beach, walked up some stairs and into the first cave. We then walked down some stairs to this.
You then put on your snorkel gear and hop on in! Once in the pool, you could look up and see sunlight and trees! The odd part of Sawa-i-Lau is the island is made of limestone....in a chain of volcanic islands you have a random limestone island that rises up 15m (50 ft) into the air)...so not a tiny little spit of land.
Clarissa was a little hesitant of this whole "creepy" going inside the island adventure. So she hung out here (actually took her a little longer to get into this chamber with Richard). Mason and I went ahead with the guides. You have to swim underwater into darkness to enter the next chamber of the cave. How long you have to swim underwater, depends on the tide. There was a guide midway into the chamber (also in the dark), who was there to tap you on the head when you were swimming by. He was there to tell you to come up, take a breathe, then to go back under, and continue on to the next guide. Once everyone made it in, we all held onto a floating PVC pipe square, and the guide with a flashlight/torch gave us a tour around the inside of the cave. Mason loved this part....spelunker in the making! After our tour, we had to swim back through the passage. The tide had already changed some and it was a shorter one breath swim out. Clarissa and Richard were now in the first chamber, so we traded and Mason took Richard back into the dark second chamber (with a guide of course) and I stayed with Clarissa. Sorry some of the video is a little wobblier than normal...it's hard to hold the camera with your hand and use said hand to swim with as you swim through a tiny passage...that fight or flight instinct to not get trapped where I couldn't breathe took over the good filming instinct...lol...should of brought a head mount for the camera.
The boat ride to the caves was a little choppy, the ride back was much smoother and sunnier....so much we got the point-n-shoot camera out and snapped a few shots along the way.
We may look goofy, but my hair doesn't get knotted up and Richard doesn't get sunburnt....
Pulling up to where we were staying...the little roofs were individual beach side bures with two chaise lounge chairs and a beautifully carved table (to hold your fruity tropical drink of course). The villas were tucked into the trees.
Upon our return, we had some lunch and then headed out to snorkel some more. That afternoon the special activity was reef restoration/replanting. Mason and I signed up (Clarissa and Richard went kayaking while we did that). I was taking this seriously, so I didn't want to be have my hands full with the GoPro and end up fumbling/dropping the precious coral....so I didn't bring it...big mistake! We were taken out by boat to a healthy part of the reef to get some healthy coral fragments. We then followed the guide to a place that was in need of some transplanted coral. We each had two fragments to carry (so I totally could of handled the camera). Along the way, he pointed out some neat things (like the largest Giant Clam I'd seen yet....probably a good 1/2m (1.5ft) long). We then transplanted our fragments all in one spot (Richard and I did take the GoPro back the next day and I some pictures of "our baby corals". They are are the little branching coral - the very ends are a light purple - Acropora valenciennesi).
Zooming out to see our little transplants' spot on the great big reef.....the guide said in about a month or two, it would be about dinner plate in size. The guide then gave us a private snorkel tour of the reef (hence even more regret for not bringing the GoPro). Some of the really cool things we saw were a 3-4 foot black tip reef shark (which Mason started to swim after...uh, no, stop!), a sea snake swimming in the sea grass (under a different group of kayakers....Mason was all should I tell them...I was all, No), and the guide was a phenomenal free diver....super jealous of his ability to stay under so long...lol. He dove down about 10 feet, laid down on the bottom, and then blew bubble rings up at Mason for 2-3 minutes. It was super fun and we got some warm fuzzies for helping the planet!
Afterwards, we all got showered and cleaned up for dinner. It was a bit overcast and there wasn't much of a sunset that night. We did go walk along the sea wall exploring and Clarissa found a super tiny sea snake. At first Richard didn't see it, but then he spotted it too. This is her face after spotting the sea snake....it's too cute to not share....lol. (It probably didn't help that when she spotted the sea snake, she was on the sand, the snake was on the sea wall and Richard was on top of the sea wall....so the snake was between her and Daddy).
That evening, they had a special buffet dinner with everything that had been grown/harvested from/near the island. They had TURKEY!! A very rare treat for Richard and Clarissa to enjoy (at the holidays a turkey breast goes for about $100+....so we skipped it last year...we don't love turkey that much), as well as, fresh sea food, salads, fruits, rolls, soups....I could go on. It was topped off by this super special dessert. It was a homemade vanilla cake cubes, you then topped it with a mango puree and this caramelized rum sauce. The chef was very proud of his dessert and watched everyone making it. I think Richard went back for
The next morning, Richard and I headed out and did a pre-breakfast snorkel. I think we found the magic time to snorkel! We happened upon an octopus chilling in the middle of a sandy patch....so I followed it with the camera....it changes colors...so cool....you have to watch the video!!! We also saw multiple sting rays. We felt we honestly surprised a number of animals that were not used to seeing snorkeling humans that early in the morning. Check out the montage video of all snorkeling we did in the Blue Lagoon!
When we checked in, we were treated to two 10 min foot treatments. Richard doesn't like his feet being touched and Mason is super ticklish....so Mommy/Daughter spa time!
A little nervous not knowing what was about to happen....(note her new necklace from the shell market).
I told her to relax and just enjoy the view....
Sadly, after that we had to get packed up and checked out. Afterwards, Richard relaxed under one of the bures and took in a few more shades of the Blue Lagoon while were waiting to catch the ferry back south.
I wanted a picture of us with this beautiful background so you could see that our skin tones are normal....it was that color!! It made me sad to think this might be the last time we see this part of Fiji.
We now had a five hour ferry ride (that actually ended up taking 7 hours!!) back to Port Denarau. So we took some photos, played some games, chatted with some people (Richard talked to a Fijian guy who worked at one of the resorts. He said the Captain must have been new based on running late, the route he was taking, and some of the awkward tender dockings he did...which was later confirmed when it took nearly 30 minutes to tie up at the dock once we made it back to the Port!). Here are some of the photos from our trip back...the Yasawa Islands are just breath taking! This first photo is from the non Blue Lagoon side of Matacawa Levu Island.
I didn't get a location on this picture (totally looking into an app to sync with the DSLR now), but I think it is near northern end of Yangetta Island.
The kids fully soaking up all the beauty.....
So if the above was the northern end of the island, then these former lava flow cliffs are just further down Yangetta Island (apparently, a fairly un-photographed island...had a hard time confirming this...no photos from the west side that I could find).
On the trip back down, we spotted three sea turtles!! This is the first one we saw! It was in Vuata Bay off Naviti Island. We spent a long time in this bay, I think at least three tenders worth of people were loaded/unloaded for the Botaira Beach Resort. Richard said he also saw a guy drop his cell phone in the water, so then they had to try and retrieve that for him....
Another secluded, seemingly resortless, coconut tree filled beach off Naviti Island with a warm late afternoon sunkissed glow and the moon rising behind it.
Waya Island has very dramatic peaks that change as you move along the island. At the far north end are these sharp knife-like peaks. Then there is a low valley towards the middle of the island.
At the southern end of Waya island is the Batinareba Peak (or Waya Island Summit). The Batinareba Peak rises up 510m (1673ft). If I hadn't taken this photo, I'd think we were in the southwest US!
Around the time we hit the southern end of Waya Island, the sun was setting behind us (that is the kids at the very bottom of the frame....probably arguing about who gets the last cookie or something equally silly).
Star photography and a moving boat don't typically go hand and hand...lol. So no more pictures for this post! We finally made it to port, only ~2 hours late...good thing we didn't have an international flight we were trying to catch (second time I've been on a boat in the Yasawa Islands and it has not gotten back at it's scheduled time...and I have seen the usefulness for travel insurance). We waited for our luggage and then headed for the hotel we had booked for the night. We ended up getting in so late we just order some room service for dinner (which hindsight we probably should of just skipped, it took over an hour for it to arrive....it was nearly 10pm by the time it was delivered to our room), but due to missing dinner on boat the kids were hungry and ate it half asleep/awake. That wraps up our stay on our second yanuyanu (island in Fijian) of the staycation! Stayed tuned for the final part......
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Term Break Adventures: #FijiStaycation - Yanuyanu 1
As I mention when wrapping up the last term break blog post, we see the clock ticking on our time left here and there is a lot of Fiji yet to explore (if only it was easier to get from Island 1 to Island 2 - Island 300). Though we still have to pay for accommodations and transportation around the islands, we would not have to spend lots of money on airfare out of the islands....and after bleeding on R&R, our credit cards thanked us....lol. (It also didn't help that our laptop died, we had hoped a battery replacement would revive it, which we had to wait until stateside to do....which sadly, it did not.....btw, when did laptops get so expensive?!?! and then our desktop computer died a month later....double ouch!!).
Setting up accommodations was painfully difficult! It took me over a month to get everything lined up! People would ask what I do all day and I wouldn't know, but it was trying to plan this trip. It is another high season (heading into the middle of winter in Australia and New Zealand), so finding availability for the nights we wanted was one problem I ran into. Also at the embassy, it is transfer season, so working out dates that Richard could go kept changing as departure and arrival dates were changed and finalized. One place Richard really wanted to visit, I found two tour companies that went there, one children had to be 10+ (so that's out - Clarissa is 7) and so the other would work. They only work out of two resorts on two days of the week. I get all the days changed/modified like 4 times and am about to send in the authorization form and I double check the tour company information (it's a third party company). I can't get to their website, odd. So I google them, find their Facebook page....after 16 years of service they are thanking everyone for all the good memories....as they are closing up shop!!!! Aaaaahhhhh!!! You will have to keep reading to find out if I was able to come up with a solution to the problem.......One good thing about planning this trip though was the kids ages....this might be our last big hooray where they are both in the proverbial sweet spot! Many resorts use 12 as the cut off between the child/adult rates....so soon we will be paying for 3 adults even though Mason takes up the same amount of space....joy! Also, on more than one occasion, I was asked if Clarissa was at least 7 years old, as that is the minimum age for a number of the activities (and for one of the places we are staying). So for this trip he is young enough and she is old enough....the 'sweet spot'.....aaahhh. Now enough jibber jabber....onto the pretty pictures of our adventures!!
Ahhh, but wait.....getting there is at least half the adventure......as a major duh (and some wiki facts)....the Fiji Islands aka archipelago consists of about 330 islands. Of those 110 are permanently inhabited (there are also another 500+ islets). All of these islands/islets make up a land area of ~18,300 square km (7,100 sq mi) BUT the whole country of covers an area of ~194,000 square km (75,000 sq mi). What does that mean.....Fiji is less than 10% land......our staycation to visit multiple islands involved A LOT of time traveling by boat. (Well first we got picked up at 4 am to get to Port Denarau by the 8:00 am check in time, 8:30 departure). Here we are just heading out of the harbor, excited, tired, and ready to go on the Yasawa Flyer!
Once speed picked up, I realized I had lost Mason and was traveling with Cousin It!
After about two hours into our trip we had gone past all the Mamanuca Island stops and had entered the Yasawa Islands! I had snapped some photos on the my phone/iPad....but we had a long stop and it was so beautiful that I had to pull out the Nikon and get some good photos!!
Welcome to the Yasawa Islands!! This is Kuata Rock and it is famous for the warrior standing on it to welcome guests....which he was there the day we passed through as you can see. I zoomed in so I could get his war club and traditional Fijian dress. Looks a bit tricky to get out there....can't really find any historical symbolism for warrior.....but it is well photographed!!
Opposite of Kuata Rock/Island, on the other side of the pass, is Wayasewa Island (also known as Waya Lailai). Given these islands are old volcanic islands, some show this more than others. Wayasewa Island being the perfect example - having a massive volcanic plug (349m/1145ft tall - pretty massive) called Vatuvula.
Amazing! In case you wondering.....it is a lot of work to move up through the islands! Really tuckers you out!
Between power naps, Clarissa did want to explore the boat......(Mason hung out on the breezy top deck....it was bit seasickness-inducing when you went to the lower decks). We happened to be exploring when we entered LikuLiku Bay...the water was a shade of blue that pictures just don't do it justice (but I tried)!
I love my wind blown hair! I tried to keep knots at a minimum with the hair band/buff....it helped some. Looking over the bow at deeper water, wondering if we were there yet!
After a little more than three hours, we were close to our first destination! We heard our resort called, so we went below to identify our luggage (it was tagged for our resort, once we identified it as ours they would pull it to be offloaded onto the tenders that would take us to shore, if they had tagged bags that hadn't been pulled for the tender they would make multiple calls for a resort, I guess that is there way to ensure people don't miss their stop). Our first resort was on Barefoot Manta Island, (Fijian name is Drawaqa Island). We had picked this resort back in hopes of swimming with manta rays. Between May and October, they will typically be in the area feeding on plankton, by going in early July we thought we were timing it pretty well....but they hadn't been seen in about two weeks. When we had booked the trip back in April, we saw there was a local holiday on Friday, weekend, a regular work day on Monday and then a US holiday on Tuesday. We figured it would be a safe bet, not knowing any of the transfer season plans yet (it'd only be one work day).....but the powers that be had other plans for Richard....so the kids and I had to power through this leg ourselves but we ended up extending our staycation to add a few more stops so that Richard could have some fun too (and once I researched how long/much it took to get this far up the Yasawa Islands it seemed silly not to go the rest of the way to Blue Lagoon).
Once checked in, we ate some lunch and then headed for the water.....
That sea cucumber might not look that big...but I got photo with my finger just to show huge it was!
After 18 months, I still get giddy when we find blue sea stars!
A black spotted puffer. I stalked this fish for a while! Mason found an octopus (you'll have to watch the video to see it).
We nearly missed our first sunset....
So their was a hiccup with our reservation and we actually ended up scoring an upgrade to a room with an attached ensuite for our first 3 nights (and then we had to move and had to go to community showers). Advice to myself if I were to return again....book the ensuite...totally worth it! Though, both had, "cool outside shower under the warm night sky" as their website describes it....to Clarissa....it was a special type of torture...lol. At one point, she asked, "Mommy, why are you doing this to me?"...I just laughed and said "it is my job to expose you to different experiences, you now know you are not into roughing it." Anyway, our first bure was on Sunset Beach....and I took this picture from the porch.
Not too shabby! The next day after breakfast, we went over to check out Sunrise Beach on the opposite side of the island. On our way, we happened upon a man in a coconut tree. He had a machete and was chopping off fronds to wrap the food in for that nights lovo (the traditional Fijian dinner that is cooked underground).
I then had to stop and watch (and of course photo document) him coming down the tree. Hindsight, I probably should of recorded it....the guys on the ground were heckling him in Fijian the whole time. So I don't know what they were saying but they were laughing and obviously giving him a hard time.
Once we made it to Sunrise Beach, Mason did his own reenactment...he almost made it to the top...lol.
We discovered that Sunrise Beach was on the windward side. Just prior, I had taken this photo on the opposite side of the island while we were waiting on Mason to put on his sunscreen. The water was flat and our hats stayed on, while over here there was chop, white caps and hats blowing off/wind in our hair.
Even the palm fronds were being blown to one side of the trees!
So instead of going back and grabbing our snorkel gear as we had planned after checking out this beach we opted to just going exploring. I call this my "Moana picture"....does it not look like the wave behind Clarissa is about to tap her on the shoulder like the wave does in the movie!
Mason found an old spider conch shell. We found so many live spider conchs this trip. We kept picking them up and filming them with the GoPro....when retreating into their shells....snails can be pretty quick!!
Next was time for Clarissa's favorite activity on this island....I would call it rock climbing. She called it 'parkour'.
We were able to climb over and peek around the corner to get this beautiful view!
As well as, admire sunrise beach from this vantage point.
Then we headed back to explore some more.....there was another beach on the island we still had not visited yet!
The evidence of lava flows was very predominate on this island. So, the kids and I had lots of fun conversations about lava cooling fast vs slow and how it affects how smooth or pokey the rocks were. You never know when that Earth Systems Science course you took for your Masters degree will come in handy!! Here's an example of some fast cooled lava that was very pokey....thanks sea water!
As you see above, there is a deep channel at the end of the island. This is Mantaray Beach, why? When they are around, the manta rays will feed in said channel. We were not lucky enough to see them but there is some good snorkeling out that way. The water was also much calmer than on sunrise beach. So we put up the camera and headed into the water. I was able to point out some cuttlefish to Mason! Super cool. After Clarissa got chilled (it is winter time and you do lose heat in the water). Mason kept snorkeling and he followed us around the island back to sunset beach. Along the way, he saw multiple groups of cuttlefish (which is not surprising given we kept finding cuttlefish 'bones' on the beach). After lunch and our "cool outside shower" we opted to go somewhere sunny to warm our cores. We took the uno cards and Mason's new found (and quite surprised) friend Mr. Coconut.
If you notice the trees, it is still quite windy...so we found sun but it was too breezy to play cards. We did find a rock and so there was some music and selfie action happening. In an effort to keep things real, full disclosure time. While we were all sitting on the rock sunning our selves like iguanas. Clarissa's tummy was hurting so she laid down and put her head in my lap and I was playing with her hair.....when I noticed it.....NITS! Lice is big ole pain in the butt here! We've dealt with it 3x this school year and 2x last school year. I get the ghost itch every time the email from school comes home - seems like once a month....I just spray a preventive spray in Clarissa's hair every school day and always have her hair in braids/tied up whether the note comes home or not! Given we'd been on break for nearly a week when we left and she hadn't shown any signs why would I pack our lice treatment kit for vacation?!?! So we sat up on that rock and I hand combed and picked out all the nits I could find....channeled my inner primate ancestors and squished those bugs on the rocks and hoped the wind wasn't blowing them back into mine and Mason's hair.....there you go - keeping it real! Here's Clarissa post hand nit removal (my head itches again just writing about it).
The next morning, we checked out sunrise beach again to see if it was calmer and we could snorkel there. It was indeed calmer, but the previous day's wind had blown in literally tons of jelly fish. So snorkeling on that side of the island was another bust.
We did snorkel off Mantaray Beach again. Mason and I took turns hanging out with Clarissa closer to shore and I made it out to the channel. It was beautiful out there! As in so much variety of coral, huge coral, it almost looked fake it so beautiful and perfect. I just floated there for a bit and just took in that moment and wanted to freeze time.
I may have lingered a little too long. We were almost late for lunch and all the inside seats for lunch were gone (and we were still dripping) so we ate outside and ordered fancy drinks....iced chocolate and piña colada (virgin of course).
After eating we headed back to sunset beach for a little more snorkeling and some fun in the sun. I made a sand mermaid and completely buried Mason. Then upon asking to do be buried again, I said now you know how, you can bury each other......
That evening it wasn't super windy or overcast so I insisted on some mandatory fun. We were hiking to the top of the island to watch the sunset! Who's in? Yeah....someone was so excited they got a piggyback ride for a good hunk of the way up when she decided to be stubborn. That someone then decided they could walk about 30 seconds before another couple turned a corner and walked past us with me out of breath....they had to have been scratching their heads wondering how I could possibly be out of breath that easily...lol. Mason made it to the top first. He had some time to contemplate the meaning of life.
The kids took turns with the camera showing they are budding photographers (and diva models).
We stayed until the sun fell into the ocean (torture I tell you!), then I finally let them head back to their regularly scheduled laziness...lol.
Hey Clarissa look up...the moon is out!
Talking about the smooth, must of cooled slowly, lava rock as we walked over it.
Just loved the view walking down.
Entering the little 'resort village'
The sky was much more colorful by the time we had returned to our bure. We picked a great sunset to watch!
That night before dinner, there was the ever popular hermit crab races. The kids both picked a crab and gave it a number. Mason's is #27 and Clarissa's is #22. The first race Clarissa's hid in its' shell until the last few seconds, then came out, made a dash for it, and nearly won. That was it for her crab! The next races it hide in its' shell and didn't move. Mason's crab was slow and steady for all the races. In the third race it got really close but ended up losing. So neither made it to the final race.
Our last day was more snorkeling, more playing in the sand, and another sunset (as well as getting everything all packed up in preparation to head on to our next island). Here's the montage video of all the snorkeling we did while staying at Barefoot Manta Island. The first part is the interesting critters we found. At the 3:00 mark, is when I hit the phenomenal reef!!
That wraps up our stay on our first yanuyanu (island in Fijian) of the staycation! A little before noon, we boarded the tender boat to meet Richard on the Yasawa Flyer (he was coming from Suva at 4am, to catch the 8:30 am boat from Nadi). Richard snapped this photo of us on our way. Stayed tuned for the next part of our adventures....
Setting up accommodations was painfully difficult! It took me over a month to get everything lined up! People would ask what I do all day and I wouldn't know, but it was trying to plan this trip. It is another high season (heading into the middle of winter in Australia and New Zealand), so finding availability for the nights we wanted was one problem I ran into. Also at the embassy, it is transfer season, so working out dates that Richard could go kept changing as departure and arrival dates were changed and finalized. One place Richard really wanted to visit, I found two tour companies that went there, one children had to be 10+ (so that's out - Clarissa is 7) and so the other would work. They only work out of two resorts on two days of the week. I get all the days changed/modified like 4 times and am about to send in the authorization form and I double check the tour company information (it's a third party company). I can't get to their website, odd. So I google them, find their Facebook page....after 16 years of service they are thanking everyone for all the good memories....as they are closing up shop!!!! Aaaaahhhhh!!! You will have to keep reading to find out if I was able to come up with a solution to the problem.......One good thing about planning this trip though was the kids ages....this might be our last big hooray where they are both in the proverbial sweet spot! Many resorts use 12 as the cut off between the child/adult rates....so soon we will be paying for 3 adults even though Mason takes up the same amount of space....joy! Also, on more than one occasion, I was asked if Clarissa was at least 7 years old, as that is the minimum age for a number of the activities (and for one of the places we are staying). So for this trip he is young enough and she is old enough....the 'sweet spot'.....aaahhh. Now enough jibber jabber....onto the pretty pictures of our adventures!!
Ahhh, but wait.....getting there is at least half the adventure......as a major duh (and some wiki facts)....the Fiji Islands aka archipelago consists of about 330 islands. Of those 110 are permanently inhabited (there are also another 500+ islets). All of these islands/islets make up a land area of ~18,300 square km (7,100 sq mi) BUT the whole country of covers an area of ~194,000 square km (75,000 sq mi). What does that mean.....Fiji is less than 10% land......our staycation to visit multiple islands involved A LOT of time traveling by boat. (Well first we got picked up at 4 am to get to Port Denarau by the 8:00 am check in time, 8:30 departure). Here we are just heading out of the harbor, excited, tired, and ready to go on the Yasawa Flyer!
Once speed picked up, I realized I had lost Mason and was traveling with Cousin It!
After about two hours into our trip we had gone past all the Mamanuca Island stops and had entered the Yasawa Islands! I had snapped some photos on the my phone/iPad....but we had a long stop and it was so beautiful that I had to pull out the Nikon and get some good photos!!
Opposite of Kuata Rock/Island, on the other side of the pass, is Wayasewa Island (also known as Waya Lailai). Given these islands are old volcanic islands, some show this more than others. Wayasewa Island being the perfect example - having a massive volcanic plug (349m/1145ft tall - pretty massive) called Vatuvula.
Amazing! In case you wondering.....it is a lot of work to move up through the islands! Really tuckers you out!
Between power naps, Clarissa did want to explore the boat......(Mason hung out on the breezy top deck....it was bit seasickness-inducing when you went to the lower decks). We happened to be exploring when we entered LikuLiku Bay...the water was a shade of blue that pictures just don't do it justice (but I tried)!
I love my wind blown hair! I tried to keep knots at a minimum with the hair band/buff....it helped some. Looking over the bow at deeper water, wondering if we were there yet!
After a little more than three hours, we were close to our first destination! We heard our resort called, so we went below to identify our luggage (it was tagged for our resort, once we identified it as ours they would pull it to be offloaded onto the tenders that would take us to shore, if they had tagged bags that hadn't been pulled for the tender they would make multiple calls for a resort, I guess that is there way to ensure people don't miss their stop). Our first resort was on Barefoot Manta Island, (Fijian name is Drawaqa Island). We had picked this resort back in hopes of swimming with manta rays. Between May and October, they will typically be in the area feeding on plankton, by going in early July we thought we were timing it pretty well....but they hadn't been seen in about two weeks. When we had booked the trip back in April, we saw there was a local holiday on Friday, weekend, a regular work day on Monday and then a US holiday on Tuesday. We figured it would be a safe bet, not knowing any of the transfer season plans yet (it'd only be one work day).....but the powers that be had other plans for Richard....so the kids and I had to power through this leg ourselves but we ended up extending our staycation to add a few more stops so that Richard could have some fun too (and once I researched how long/much it took to get this far up the Yasawa Islands it seemed silly not to go the rest of the way to Blue Lagoon).
Once checked in, we ate some lunch and then headed for the water.....
That sea cucumber might not look that big...but I got photo with my finger just to show huge it was!
After 18 months, I still get giddy when we find blue sea stars!
A black spotted puffer. I stalked this fish for a while! Mason found an octopus (you'll have to watch the video to see it).
We nearly missed our first sunset....
So their was a hiccup with our reservation and we actually ended up scoring an upgrade to a room with an attached ensuite for our first 3 nights (and then we had to move and had to go to community showers). Advice to myself if I were to return again....book the ensuite...totally worth it! Though, both had, "cool outside shower under the warm night sky" as their website describes it....to Clarissa....it was a special type of torture...lol. At one point, she asked, "Mommy, why are you doing this to me?"...I just laughed and said "it is my job to expose you to different experiences, you now know you are not into roughing it." Anyway, our first bure was on Sunset Beach....and I took this picture from the porch.
Not too shabby! The next day after breakfast, we went over to check out Sunrise Beach on the opposite side of the island. On our way, we happened upon a man in a coconut tree. He had a machete and was chopping off fronds to wrap the food in for that nights lovo (the traditional Fijian dinner that is cooked underground).
I then had to stop and watch (and of course photo document) him coming down the tree. Hindsight, I probably should of recorded it....the guys on the ground were heckling him in Fijian the whole time. So I don't know what they were saying but they were laughing and obviously giving him a hard time.
We discovered that Sunrise Beach was on the windward side. Just prior, I had taken this photo on the opposite side of the island while we were waiting on Mason to put on his sunscreen. The water was flat and our hats stayed on, while over here there was chop, white caps and hats blowing off/wind in our hair.
Even the palm fronds were being blown to one side of the trees!
So instead of going back and grabbing our snorkel gear as we had planned after checking out this beach we opted to just going exploring. I call this my "Moana picture"....does it not look like the wave behind Clarissa is about to tap her on the shoulder like the wave does in the movie!
Mason found an old spider conch shell. We found so many live spider conchs this trip. We kept picking them up and filming them with the GoPro....when retreating into their shells....snails can be pretty quick!!
Next was time for Clarissa's favorite activity on this island....I would call it rock climbing. She called it 'parkour'.
We were able to climb over and peek around the corner to get this beautiful view!
As well as, admire sunrise beach from this vantage point.
Then we headed back to explore some more.....there was another beach on the island we still had not visited yet!
The evidence of lava flows was very predominate on this island. So, the kids and I had lots of fun conversations about lava cooling fast vs slow and how it affects how smooth or pokey the rocks were. You never know when that Earth Systems Science course you took for your Masters degree will come in handy!! Here's an example of some fast cooled lava that was very pokey....thanks sea water!
As you see above, there is a deep channel at the end of the island. This is Mantaray Beach, why? When they are around, the manta rays will feed in said channel. We were not lucky enough to see them but there is some good snorkeling out that way. The water was also much calmer than on sunrise beach. So we put up the camera and headed into the water. I was able to point out some cuttlefish to Mason! Super cool. After Clarissa got chilled (it is winter time and you do lose heat in the water). Mason kept snorkeling and he followed us around the island back to sunset beach. Along the way, he saw multiple groups of cuttlefish (which is not surprising given we kept finding cuttlefish 'bones' on the beach). After lunch and our "cool outside shower" we opted to go somewhere sunny to warm our cores. We took the uno cards and Mason's new found (and quite surprised) friend Mr. Coconut.
If you notice the trees, it is still quite windy...so we found sun but it was too breezy to play cards. We did find a rock and so there was some music and selfie action happening. In an effort to keep things real, full disclosure time. While we were all sitting on the rock sunning our selves like iguanas. Clarissa's tummy was hurting so she laid down and put her head in my lap and I was playing with her hair.....when I noticed it.....NITS! Lice is big ole pain in the butt here! We've dealt with it 3x this school year and 2x last school year. I get the ghost itch every time the email from school comes home - seems like once a month....I just spray a preventive spray in Clarissa's hair every school day and always have her hair in braids/tied up whether the note comes home or not! Given we'd been on break for nearly a week when we left and she hadn't shown any signs why would I pack our lice treatment kit for vacation?!?! So we sat up on that rock and I hand combed and picked out all the nits I could find....channeled my inner primate ancestors and squished those bugs on the rocks and hoped the wind wasn't blowing them back into mine and Mason's hair.....there you go - keeping it real! Here's Clarissa post hand nit removal (my head itches again just writing about it).
The next morning, we checked out sunrise beach again to see if it was calmer and we could snorkel there. It was indeed calmer, but the previous day's wind had blown in literally tons of jelly fish. So snorkeling on that side of the island was another bust.
We did snorkel off Mantaray Beach again. Mason and I took turns hanging out with Clarissa closer to shore and I made it out to the channel. It was beautiful out there! As in so much variety of coral, huge coral, it almost looked fake it so beautiful and perfect. I just floated there for a bit and just took in that moment and wanted to freeze time.
I may have lingered a little too long. We were almost late for lunch and all the inside seats for lunch were gone (and we were still dripping) so we ate outside and ordered fancy drinks....iced chocolate and piña colada (virgin of course).
After eating we headed back to sunset beach for a little more snorkeling and some fun in the sun. I made a sand mermaid and completely buried Mason. Then upon asking to do be buried again, I said now you know how, you can bury each other......
That evening it wasn't super windy or overcast so I insisted on some mandatory fun. We were hiking to the top of the island to watch the sunset! Who's in? Yeah....someone was so excited they got a piggyback ride for a good hunk of the way up when she decided to be stubborn. That someone then decided they could walk about 30 seconds before another couple turned a corner and walked past us with me out of breath....they had to have been scratching their heads wondering how I could possibly be out of breath that easily...lol. Mason made it to the top first. He had some time to contemplate the meaning of life.
The kids took turns with the camera showing they are budding photographers (and diva models).
We stayed until the sun fell into the ocean (torture I tell you!), then I finally let them head back to their regularly scheduled laziness...lol.
Hey Clarissa look up...the moon is out!
Talking about the smooth, must of cooled slowly, lava rock as we walked over it.
Just loved the view walking down.
Entering the little 'resort village'
The sky was much more colorful by the time we had returned to our bure. We picked a great sunset to watch!
That night before dinner, there was the ever popular hermit crab races. The kids both picked a crab and gave it a number. Mason's is #27 and Clarissa's is #22. The first race Clarissa's hid in its' shell until the last few seconds, then came out, made a dash for it, and nearly won. That was it for her crab! The next races it hide in its' shell and didn't move. Mason's crab was slow and steady for all the races. In the third race it got really close but ended up losing. So neither made it to the final race.
Our last day was more snorkeling, more playing in the sand, and another sunset (as well as getting everything all packed up in preparation to head on to our next island). Here's the montage video of all the snorkeling we did while staying at Barefoot Manta Island. The first part is the interesting critters we found. At the 3:00 mark, is when I hit the phenomenal reef!!
That wraps up our stay on our first yanuyanu (island in Fijian) of the staycation! A little before noon, we boarded the tender boat to meet Richard on the Yasawa Flyer (he was coming from Suva at 4am, to catch the 8:30 am boat from Nadi). Richard snapped this photo of us on our way. Stayed tuned for the next part of our adventures....
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