We gave him a AA battery as a gift!

Today was our last full day in Fiji. We started out by deciding last minute to do a complimentary shore dive. At Matangi, if you do 3 days of diving, you get unlimited shore dives. On this particular dive, we saw a lion fish! 2 actually! Holy cow! Those are deadly. We also saw more trumpetfish which apparently are rare, a cushion starfish, a finger like starfish that we got to pick up, and even an eagle spotted manta ray! We didn’t think this last dive would be anything special.

After diving, went did the island tour. We got to visit a village and drink kava with its people and chief! The people were so sweet and had prepared tea for us. We bought a palm fan from them. This particular village was where Sala and Tom grew up. We learned today from the people that the average age of marriage in Fijian villages is 21 and the marriages are arranged by the parents. Once you’re married, the lady moves to the man’s village.

We also met a lady named Elizabeth who is Sala’s sister in law, and she’s also related to Bibi the bartender back at Matangi. We met her 4 children Charlie, Corina, Odel, and Debbie. They gave us pretty shells they found on the beach. Aaron and I had nothing to give them except some shells we had found and dead aaa batteries. However, we did see another child in the village throw a D sized battery at a chicken, so we figured these kids would like their own batteries. Charlie loved his, running around with it. Hopefully he doesn’t crack it open and get mercury poisoning!

For dinner, we had our candlelight dinner on the dock. Very romantic. It was really nice that we got our private dinner on our last night here. Today was very well spent.

We saw a shark!!!

Today started out crappy. We were awoken to a thunderstorm…the loudest I’ve ever heard, the hardest rain and wind, and according to Aaron, Mr. Rooster still managed to yell over all that noise. We were pretty grumpy over the weather. Another day of gray? C’mon Fiji!

Then at breakfast, the sun decided to make its appearance. Ally the dive master then approaches us and sells us into more dives! What a sales woman. We were suckers.

We went out to “The Corner” today which is a place notorious for sharks….and boy did we see sharks! I think we saw 3 white tips, although Ally says that they do get Tiger Sharks in that area. Eek! We also were surrounded by a school of baraccudas! Did I mention that both the barracudas and the sharks were as big as me?! We also achieved a new feat…we went down to 68 feet today! We also returned to the “Wreck” and saw a yellow trumpet fish as well as more blushing anemone. Oh and a sun fish!

After diving, we went on our private beach picnic. Lunch was tasty and then we looked for conch shells. It was fun and short. We made it back to the resort in time for a coconut show. Sala had us all scrape a coconut the way the Fijians have been doing it for years. Aaron was very good at it. We also got to eat some crackers in coconut milk. Mmm, tasty!

After the coconuts, we played volleyball with other guests and the staff. It was really fun, and both Aaron and I have probably never enjoyed volleyball more. Not much happened afterward, aside from the usual….dinner, reading, etc.

Today was a very gray day. No sun and lots of showers.

We went sailing today on a “cat something” boat. I can’t remember the name of it. Aaron got to be captain too. Sala taught Aaron how to give the sail slack and use the rudder. We got absolutely SOAKED. We didn’t think that we would need to wear bathing suits, but little did we know that we’d be sitting about 6 inches above sea level. Needless to say, I had to send my clothes to the laundry facilities immediately afterward.

We also got our couples massage today! We both got a one-hour Fijian massage. I guess that means that they used coconut oils and pineapples. It felt good whatever it was.

We’re running out of activities to do here for gray days. Hopefully we get a little more sun. We’d love to scuba some more and our private beach picnic is tomorrow. Eek!

Hike number 2!

We went scuba diving again, this time with another diver. We saw a bunch of sea cucumbers, a round starfish, and more giant clams. Aaron nearly lost his tank underwater, but the dive master did “scuba surgery” and we continued on our dive. We went down to 55 feet! Felt more like 20!

We also went on a bush hike. It was a 40 minute hike to the top of the island and we were able to see Horseshoe Bay. It was an amazing view! We got lost on the way down. We made our own trail and the only way we managed to find the trail again was because there was a big black cow on the trail from before. Lucky she didn’t move.

I want a fruit bat!

Today we woke up to go scuba diving! Well, actually, we woke up throughout the morning due to a Mr. Rooster who felt it was necessary to get us up early! All our training in NYC finally gets put to good use. Oh and our first big day of sun! NOW Aaron feels like he’s on vacation. Water was a bit choppy at the shore, but we’ll take what we can get.

Before going out to sea, we got to play with a fruit bat named JJ. I have been calling him Johnny however! I absolutely LOVE this fruit bat and am convinced that we MUST get one as a pet. The other day, we met him and we saw him pee….bats actually bring themselves right side up and dangle by their claws to pee. Quite a sight actually. Very funny looking. We also saw him give himself head, but that doesn’t need explanation.

Anyway, JJ is very friendly and not camera shy. He licked our sweaters and even bit us. (No rabies please) He tried to eat my hair as well, and realized that his favorite snack was actually the hanging strap on our camera. We took tons of video of him chomping away.

Scuba was great! We went down to 50 feet no problem. We saw tons of coral and lots of bright fishies! The dive guide noticed a sea cucumber under the sand and unearthed it for us. When she poked it, it spat out white strings. It looked a little but like jiz! Lol We also saw some parrot fish and giant clams. Aaron particularly loved the neon green fish.

After scuba, we came back to the resort, got to sun a bit, and then got to meet with some locals who taught us about basket weaving, mat making, and all other kinds of crafts dealing with palms. We bought a mat!

We also saw a local group of kids do traditional songs and dances. They were so cute! All the little boys were wearing grass skirts and had spears, and the little girls all had flowers on. One little girl in particular was in the front row chewing gum, and she made both me and Aaron laugh.

Walking barefoot in the mud!

Today we got up at 6:45 AM! Breakfast wasn’t even served yet! We are realizing that there aren’t too many things to do here….which is great, because then we HAVE to relax. We read for about 3 hours today! How often do we get to do that?!

We also did a waterfall hike. There were 2 waterfalls, one a 10 minute hike and the other a 40 minute hike. Tom, the worker in charge, took us up the mountain and he went barefoot the whole way! Aaron and I went barefoot from the start to the first waterfall. It is super muddy here so it was fun to have the mud squish through our toes. The second waterfall was way less spectacular, but it was fun to know that we made it. That trail was not an easy one.

When we came back down, we got to go swimming at the first waterfall. It was freezing!!! I also jumped off a rock into the water, and Aaron would NOT do this. He said it wasn’t his thing. At least he got some pictures of me doing it. It was super scary. Once my feet left the rocks, I thought, “Wait, why are you doing this?! This is WAY too high!” The landing hurt my boobs and the soles of my feet, but otherwise, I was super excited that I did it!

On the way back to the resort, Aaron asked Tom if we could ride on the front of the boat like the rest of the workers do. It was so fun. Much more cool than sitting in the back. It was gorgeous! We got to see the reefs we were on top of….and I got a free blow dry!

Kava, the dirtiest water EVER!

Today we left the US for our honeymoon. We left at 11:30 PM! We arrived in Fiji this morning at 5 AM. Then we took a teeny tiny plane to another island. Then we got on a taxi that took us to a boat, and this boat brought us to our resort Matangi Island. Uncle Mike and Uncle John gave us the referral. First off, this place is gorgeous. So many trees, calm ocean, nicest staff you will meet.

We arrived today and there’s no sun! In fact, it rained hard core tonight. The hotel has turn down service and unlimited cookies! What’s not to love about that?!

We are staying in a tree house….not really a “tree” house, more of a stilts house, but we are in the trees. Although we’re a couple seconds away from the oceans…ok, more like steps, we have the best view!

Our room has a day bed in the front room, a day bed outside, a hot tub, and an outdoor shower. Actually, we don’t have an indoor shower. Interesting.

The food situation here is perfect. We get served breakfast and the staff brings out a menu of all the day’s activities for the next day as well as the day’s menu. We then select what we want to eat and we don’t have to worry about it anymore. It’s perfect.

Today we went to a kava ceremony. It’s a root that the natives mash up and mix with water. When making kava drink, they put the powdered root into a sack and mush it around in water. It ends up looking on like they’re ringing out a dirty gym sock and they want you to drink it. They ask you to clap your hand once before receiving the coconut cup, and for everyone in the circle to clap twice after the drinker has finished. It’s not tasty at all. It gives you a numbing sensation, the same feeling as the tail end of a trip to the dentist where your novocaine is wearing off. Aaron and I had way more than what we thought you would have. They kept going round and round in the circle. After about 5 cups, I had to stop. Too gross!

The kava actually made me feel bad. Either that or the crazy swinging we did while reading in our hammock!