Last Night on the Islands
27th December, Fiji, Nanuya Lailai and Kuata (Yasawas Group)
I'm not a morning person normally. Sometimes you just have to get out of bed early. This is why I set the alarm for 4am at the resort called Sunrise Lagoon:
Sunrise at Nanuya Lailai
By 5:15 I was pretty much done, having taken around twenty photos of the gorgeous sunrise with various combinations of sea, palm tree, sand and of course the early sun.
It was a reasonably lazy morning. We had to check out at 10am and so most things stayed in the bags. Manda kept herself entertained by writing her diary and then joining in with a sulu (aka sarong) tying lesson with Tui and three other guests. Tui only told them how to tie it up one way (well two if you count the demonstration of how a man wears one - for which I was roped in to modelling!), while the others came up with a few more variations. I stayed only long enough to take some pictures then scuttled off before my modelling skills could be called upon once more.
Fun with Sulus: (l-r) Manda, Georgia, Margaret, Trudy and Tui)
At 1:30pm we all jumped on our transfer boat - another small powerboat that would take us to the Yasawa Flyer that would then take us on to our next port of call. Rather than go out to meet the boat directly, we skirted around the coast and back in to the Blue Lagoon where the water was noticebly calmer than the ocean-facing shores of Sunrise. The water here was like glass. One of the American guys commented: "This is the most beautiful place I have ever been." He said it twice.
The boat came in to shore so we could get out and take shade, rather than sit in the midday sun, cooking. Unfortunately, this small boat trip alone had already done for me - my arms were starting to fill tingly, and I just knew that later that would translate to a nice shade of red, just on the arms (my tourist tan is coming along nicely - brown feet, brownish calves, white thighs and torso, red arms and very brown hands/forearms, all finished off with a white watch-strap. A very patchwork finish).
Kuata Island
We had had a great time so far on Nanuya Lailai and on the boat around Naviti. Now we were bound for Kuata, one of the nearest islands of the Yasawagroup to the mainland but strangely the island that was one of the least developed. While Sunrise had electricity in the evening, Kuata promised the use of oil lanterns after dark. Conversely, it was the first time on the islands that we had a mosquito net available. Did that mean we should expect lots of them?
Sign: Welcome to Kuata Island, Gateway to the Yasawas.
The island of Kuata - or more correctly, the resort on that island, the only one at the time of writing - is one of the sunniest places in the Yasawas (we also got one of the sunniest greetings when we arrived). The sun rises and sets following a path all the way along the beach. At midday, you really feel the sun above you and the best way to deal with it? Get in the water! (Actually, the sensible thing to do would be to get into the shade, but me, I'm not sensible like that).
Kuata beach.
Snorkelling at Kuata is fantastic - some of the best yet of the Islands, I thought. It can be tricky getting over some of the shallower parts of the reef, where the numerous currents can buffet you around somewhat, but once beyond this part, the water deepens and the number and size of fish grows.
We spent the evening chatting with a lady called Shary from Melbourne, Aus and a drama teacher from New Zealand called Paul. This is the best thing about travelling - every day you get into conversation about different things with people with very different outlooks and experiences. Every day you find yourself introducing yourself and making a note of their names too, knowing that you'll be repeating the procedure the next day and the day after that ad infinitum. Sometimes, these people will spend a few days with you and they get elevated to friends rather than passing aquaintances, but either way it's good. I wonder how long a periiod you have to spend with someone on travels like this before they become lifelong firends (or merely people you don't just promise to keep in contact with by email after they've left but actually do). Is it a few days? Is it something , like relationships, that you get a feel for very quickly? So far, we've met a lot of great people, but I still don't know what that moment is when you think 'I'll be sending Christmas cards to this person 20 years from now'. In the meantime, though, mindless chatter is good.