First Stop: FIJI
So here is where we begin our journey across the world. This is the point we have been anxiously anticipating for the past few months. It's finally here. I say finally, but in actuality, those were the fastest months in my life. We spent so much time sorta planning the trip, but not really. We waited 'til last minute for a lot of things, and even as we stepped onto that plane, I don't think we felt very prepared.
We took the red eye flight, so the sun was just rising as we landed in Fiji! Side note: we were probably jet lagged for the better part of the first week. We would get so sleepy and just crash out at 8pm.
I'll sum up our two weeks in Fiji in a short few paragraphs.
Pacific Harbor
Being a diver, I thought, I've gotta find the best spots to dive in Fiji! While researching, one of the prominent sites that popped up was the Ultimate Shark Dive in Beqa. I couldn't pass this one up. I booked my dives and accommodation with Dive the World. Kudos to them! I will definitely book with them again because they are very informative and helpful, but most of all because they respond quickly and efficiently.
Anyways, about the dives themselves: THE BEST FREAKING DIVES I'VE EVER DONE IN MY LIFE. On my very first shark dive, we encountered all 8 species of sharks in the area: Bull sharks, Lemon Sharks, Silvertip Sharks, Nurse Sharks, Grey Sharks, Whitetip and Blacktip Reef Sharks, and the Tiger Shark. Upon entering the water, you're covered by remoras, and so many other colorful fish. It's a marine reserve, so there is an abundance of fish everywhere. I'll end up posting a video whenever I stop being lazy (I hate editing videos so much; it's fucking annoying). So I'll just keep this part short and sweet. It was a shark dive, but the coolest thing about these dives is that I got to pet a huge Moray Eel.
AND Debbie got her PADI open water certification on a shark dive! (I don't think she enjoys diving all that much, but that's besides the point.. hehe)
On top of that, the resort we stayed at was pretty dope. Uprising Beach Resort does have private bungalows, but also has dorm-style rooms. We stayed in the dorm-style rooms, and they were still really nice.
Nadi, Fiji
We had originally planned to be in Fiji for a week... then we stayed at a backpackers in Nadi and met these crazy nuts. They are something else. We hung out, drank together, and just had a great time. We had known each other for about a total of 12 hours when they invited us to travel to the other Fijian islands with them. I wasn't going to turn that one down. I spent probably 2 hours trying to contact the the booking agent to set our flights back a week and figure out all of our plans. Then boom. Next thing we know, we wake up and pack our bags for Beachcomber Island.
WEEK TWO
Beachcomber Island
Our favorite place in Fiji. The bar is awesome, has four happy hours a day, and there are always people out drinking. The food is included in the price with your accommodation, and they have certain times of the day for meals. The meals are all buffet style. The dorms were split into a guys and girls side, but they're literally right next to each other, so we were in and out of each other's dorms all the time. It is a fairly small island, so you could walk around the island in about an hour. There are small hammocks that line the backside of the island, with phenomenal views. I wish I would've taken more pictures, but I hardly had my phone the entire time. It was too beautiful to be lugging a phone around.
Mana Island
Coming from Beachcomber to Mana was a little bit of a shock. I really wish we had gone to Mana first, because then we would really appreciate the beauty of both islands so much more. There is no drinking water available in Mana, and the electricity is from a generator so it's only on from 6pm-6am. The bathrooms and showers are very dimly lit, and the showers are all cold water. Food is included in your accommodation here as well, and they serve the food on pre-made plates. We stayed at the Mana Lagoon Backpackers for three nights, and the first day was pretty rough for us. After getting accustomed to Mana, I grew to love it. The snorkeling in Beachcomber was pretty decent, but it was so much better in Mana. We basically lived in bathing suits. I think the only time we put on clothes was to have our bonfires at night because it gets chilly when the wind picks up and the sun goes down. Exploring Mana was great, and there were some amazing views to be seen. Would I go back to Mana? I'm not sure. Am I glad I went? Hell yeah.
Sorry to end with this, but here's a nasty picture of what my legs looked like after Fiji..... and I'm pretty sure I used bug spray 95% of the time. :(
