South Sea Island

30th September 2010

MP3 track of the day: Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz

Weather: Hot, really hot with no cloud cover and no breeze

Waking up intermittently throughout the night I eventually got up around 6am. I checked myself to find that only my left ankle could be a possible candidate for a'bed bugs night feast' … I felt I got off lightly and was glad that this was my night over there.

I had an hour before breakfast and so I got ready and then walked around this tiny island taking photos. Once breakfast was called we all gathered and shared our bed bug stories … none of the others reported any bites so all was good.

I lazed around for the day feeling ready to leave the beaches and head back to the mainland. I was leaving on the 12:30 boat which, instead of taking 30 minutes to get to the mainland, takes 2hrs 30mins as it goes around the Mamanucas islands before getting back to the mainland. As I hadn't really traveled around these islands (only the Yawasa islands) I thought this might be a nice thing to finish off with.

One good thing about South Sea Resort is that they have this kind of submarine ride which takes 20 minutes and it's free. At 10am I went on this; you get on a small power boat which then transfers you to the submarine … which is actually a boat with a viewing deck below the water. This was a great way to see the fish and the reefs, especially today as it's so hot and with no cloud cover I was worried of getting burnt if I went snorkeling. The trip was okay, it was pretty short but the most disappointing thing is that you just feel like you're in an aquarium, this was no substitute to the snorkeling I did at Mango Bay.

After this I got back on the island, packed my bags and got ready for lunch before taking the catamaran back to the mainland at 12:30. Oh one thing I forgot to mention was that because this island is so close to the Fijian mainland there were lots (and lots) of day trippers coming to have a look around. This made the queue's for the lunch meal huge and, as the time was 12:00, I was worried about actually being able to get any food before I had to go.

Not only did I get food but a group of villagers from a nearby village were also over for the day trippers and they sang all sorts of songs and performed even more dancers, including another 'Meka' dance.

The dances were over, lunch was done and it was time for me to say goodbye to the others and head for the mainland. Once on the catamaran I sat down in the air conditioned lower deck of the vessel and saw the islands of the Mamanuca pass me by. All were very pretty and a little different to the Yasawas. One island I saw was the tiny island that Castaway was filmed on, staring Tom Hanks (and Wilson ). At this point I was talking to a British guy called Joel and he was sailing around the world for fourteen months. Starting near Halifax Canada (in, what looked like from the photo he produced, an old 17C British war vessel) he's been traveling through the Caribbean, through the panama canal and then to Fiji. Next hes off towards Africa stopping near Madagascar and South Africa before returning to the Caribbean and then back to Canada. His trip sounded amazing, but hard work; if I didn't get seasick I wouldn't mind trying it … but not for that long!

Anyway the time flew and I got to my final destination, within Fiji, the Nadi Bay Resort. I checked into my dorm and was surprised to see others there … however they only arrived today to and are off tomorrow. After this I headed into town to seek a internet cafe.

Leaving the internet cafe it was 8pm and dark; buses had stopped running so the only cheap public transport option left were these private hire people carriers that picked up people and took them to where they needed to go for only a little more than the bus. I had seen hundreds of these people carriers all over the main island (packed with people) and had ignored them, being a little to nervous to try them. Anyway, this being nearly the end of my Fijian trip, I decided to give them a whirl and they were good, and they only cost 30 cents more than a bus for the same journey (about 10p).

Getting back to the dorm I had a nice, long hot shower (none of the islands had hot water for showers, only cold) which was bliss before going to sleep. Not feeling that hungry tonight to I skipped tea but will make up for it tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow it's souvenir time plus I'll hopefully upload a summary blog of my time in Fiji … for now, sleep.

Toodle Pip!