Happy
Summer to everyone. Tomorrow is supposed
to be a “super-moon” which means that it will be the closest to the horizon and
5 times as big as other times throughout the year. We’ll have to see if that happens.
Locals
going to work for the day
We
spent two more days in beautiful Manta Ray Bay. Here we are looking
out for the daily visit of the giant Manta Ray’s. (I posted the video a few days ago below this
posting). What an incredible experience.
The
beach at Manta Bay Resort
We
all went over for Happy Hour at the resort
Following Happy Hour we were guests of Eddy and Glenda on s/v Helena to share Eddy’s
homemade beer.
A
fun evening of dancing and laughing was had by all. After this Eddy and Glenda
headed south.
For
our final Manta Ray evening, Riki had us over on sv Guava Jelly.
He
made the mistake of pulling out his Jim Bean.
After just a few shots Peter was already singing “it’s time to switch to whiskey…I’ve
been drinking beer all night” Notice in the picture (below) how
close QuickStar is to Guava Jelly. Not
surprising to any of our SunDance friends, who have witnessed Peter and whiskey
in action, is that David and Suzie had to escort Peter & I home in our dinghy
(after he fell into it and lost his sunglasses). We all
had a wild and crazy time and Peter has sworn off whiskey...until the next time.
In
the beginning…
A
few hours later….
The following morning at Manta Ray Bay was spent doing the blog from the resort (Peter providing technical assistance)
.
Cute
Turtle statue made out of a tree
Final
sunset at Manta Ray Bay. Peter doesn’t
like to be in the water at this time which he calls “big fish time” I LOVE it!
Arriving
in to Blue Lagoon – breathtakingly beautiful
We
went grocery shopping here, which involved a 20 minute dinghy ride across to an
island and then a 10 minute motor through a mangrove forest to get to the farm.
The
farm is run by Milly and Teanco (and their adorable 3 year old Lea). Lea was like my shadow for the whole visit,
and I loved it!
It
doesn’t get any fresher than this
Mom
& Lea choosing our vegetables
Lea
collecting them and putting them in Peter’s bag
Laying
them out on the table (only $12.00 worth – which is equivalent to about $7.00
Canadian for all this fresh produce)
David and Suze with their produce
Cuddling
with Lea and her little puppy (missing my grandmunchkins even more!)
That
evening we decided to host an impromptu Happy Hour on our boat. Peter
brought out the Crown Royal (to ensure Riki left in the same shape from QuickStar
that Peter did from Guava Jelly, ha,ha).
This was the original bottle that our son Danny brought on the departure
from Vancouver in 2007 and he’ll be happy to hear that it is finally gone. (P.S. Peter didn't partake)
The
next morning we had an incredible rainbow
We
pulled up anchor and headed off further north to the isolated Sawa-i-lau Island, home of the
famous caves. There are two large caves that you have to climb up stairs to get in to. It is a popular
tourist activity, but because we are considered “locals”, we were able to go in after all the crowds had left so that we had
the place to ourselves, along with Riki.
The caves are kind of eerie, since it is quite dark when you jump in with your snorkel gear. After swimming in the first larger cave you then have to swim under water
and in to a second cave. This is a bit
freaky since it is pitch dark and even the lights from the guides are hard to see. Once in
the 2nd cave, it is completely black and much narrower. Kylie did this on her visit to
Fiji and said there were lots of dead spiders, but luckily we didn’t encounter
any of these.
The caves are located within this little mountain
The
anchorage is just gorgeous with a wonderful little lagoon right behind us.
Heading
in to the village
We
presented our Sevu Sevu to the Chief. I
don’t have a picture of performing this ceremony in this village but Riki sent me one of us doing it in Waya. This gives you an idea of the protocol once you enter a village.
Once accepted,
you are free to walk throughout the village and are considered part of the
community.
Our
first stop was at the primary school, which has 50 students. This is quite amazing, since the entire
village including teenagers and adults is only about 100.
School
library
They
have a wonderful system where the
students all spend one hour a day doing “chores”. Each responsibility is rotated each week, so
that by the end of the school year each child has a chance to contribute
including cleaning washrooms, cleaning blackboards, ringing the bell,
gardening, cutting the lawn, etc. etc. You can read some of the chores on the blackboard below, with the principal.
The school looks great and the kids all have a sense of responsibility. When we were there it was during this hour of
“chores” and we were totally impressed with how hard each child was
working. Would be a great system back
home!
Next
stop: the church with our tour guide Lesli
Village
walk with Riki
The
following morning, we woke to a dead-calm ocean. We have never seen it this calm before.
Great morning sunrise
Later
that afternoon we were going to go for a kayak trip, but the weather looked
pretty iffy, so we just took our dinghy and went exploring the lagoon. The unique rock formations were also a first
for us.
We
had a treat for dinner. One of the
locals came over to our boat and was selling fresh lobster. We bought one for $25 (Appr.$15.00
Canadian).
We
will stay here for another day, and then will most likely start heading back
south to get ready for our departure from Fiji to Vanuatu.
Hope
you all enjoy the first few days of summer and make plans to relax and play during
this magical time of year.
P.S. here are a couple of shots that Riki took of our dolphin encounters.
Until
next Friday…..
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