It was time to move islands, so after breakfast
the water taxi took us back out to the passing ferry and we were on our way to
Wayalailai Island and the Naqualia Resort. It took about an hour and a half,
and the water taxi that came to pick us up was considerably smaller than the
last. This was fine apart from the sea was quite choppy meaning a rather bumpy
ride. This resort was a lot smaller than the last one, with only a few people
staying on it, it felt like we were at someone's house. They cooked us lunch in
a traditional Fijian way, over hot charcoal, and served it us in hollowed out
bamboo stems, and we ate it with our fingers on a woven mat under a mango tree.
We had some fish they had caught last nigh,t and some local potato like root
called Cassawa. It wasn't the best meal I've ever had but an experience all the
same, I just hope all the food isn't like that everywhere. For the rest of the
day we did a bit of sun bathing, but as usual I got bored and decided to go for
a fish off some rocks on the point of the island. When I got there it was
perfect, and just how I'd imagined fishing in Fiji to be like, all I needed to
do now was catch something. But again! Nothing. There was one of the Fijian men
fishing with his hand line who was amazed at how far I could throw my spinner
out, and he couldn't get over the lures I have; he'd never seen anything like
them. That night we were treated to a dinner of more Fijian food but this time
it was inside and we had tables, chairs and cutlery. The food was really good
too. One of the our full monty packages was a shark feeding and guided reef
snorkel, which we did the next morning. They took us about twenty minutes out
back towards the mainland where there's a big reef, we had a quick snorkel
around while one of the Fijian guides went to spear a couple of fish for the
sharks. They took us to a sandy clearing in the coral and started to break up
the fish they'd speared. Within seconds there were two sharks there circling
the sand below us. A couple of minutes later we had seven sharks swimming all around
us. They were only small White Tipped reef sharks about 1.5_m long,
but I bet they could still have your fingers off! They came really close and at
one point one swam right at me and brushed all the way down my belly! The
sharks were quite tame and one of the guides even lifted a shark right out of
the water. After all that excitement it was time to chill out again before our
next activity; a guided summit walk to the top of the highest peak of the
island. Its a lot more of a summit than we had imagined, standing at well over
1000^ft. We soon found out there's no real path way to the top. Our
guide lead us up steep inclines covered in boulders, through dense bush land
and across a thin ridge with sheer drops either side. On the way we past the
'Wobbling Rock', which is a huge boulder balanced on an even bigger one and if
you give it a push you can wobble it. Once we'd made it to the top it was well
worth the effort. You get 360^o views of the island and the ones
surrounding it as well as all the reefs popping up all over the place. When the
sun came out, all the water turned an even brighter turquoise. The way back
down wasn't much easier than the way up, he took us a different way which had
even less of a path to it. The sea had become rather choppy and the boat ride
back was a bit intense, we hit one wave and I thought it was going to break the
boat in half. We even had to stop off and save some kayakers who were getting
into trouble on the rocks. After our well earnt dinner the villages had a
surprise for us. The Bula Boys performed some songs and dances for us, the fact
they were all half naked and covered in coconut oil put me off a little, but
Mel seemed to enjoy it. They also held a Cava ceremony for us which lead on
into the night. We ended up getting our laptop out and everyone sat round
looking at our travelling pictures.