Day #8 in Paradise

8/24/12

Day #8 in paradise

We awoke in our four poster bed with beautiful white netting and looked out at the sea.  I could have laid there for days, if I hadn't gotten hungry I may have.  After a leisurely morning we went diving on the famous Rainbow Reef.  WOW is all I can say!!!  The soft coral and all of the colors are spectacular! We saw things today that looked like they were straight out of the guide books or could be on a National Geographic special.  Unfortunately my camera battery died during our second dive so I didn't get a lot of great photos today. 

See us on the welcome board?

The coral is huge!

pretty soft coral

some type of trumpet fish I think - notice how its tails look it should be the head.  Clever fish.  

Very large parrot type fish

Giant Clam

There were so many fish...

These were each about 2 feet long.

Beautiful yellow coral

Giant Clam

Huge Beautiful Coral

Spanish Dancer

A day of travel

8/23/12

Day # 7 - travel day

We got up early today, packed our stuff and after breakfast and a very sweet send off ceremony involving flowers and singing we were off again for an hour boat ride to the airport.    We laughed really hard when we passed a thin beach where rather than coconuts or small children playing, there were 4-5 cows perusing its shores.  

Our flight to Nadi was on another super tiny plane.  We only had 30 minutes in Nadi before we were off to Tavueni on another tiny plane.  were uneventful.  Our resort on Tavueni is wonderful!  We have a gorgeous bure and our own private beach with chairs that over look the ocean.  From our four poster bed with beautiful netting we can see palm trees and watch the waves roll in.   We are at the Rainbow Reef Resort which is on the tip of peninsula and it is very isolated.  You can only reach it by boat.  The people are fantastic and all so nice.  There are two other families at the resort making it a total of 10 of there.   For them this is a lot.  We are again discovering that everything is large in Fiji.  The toads here are enormous!

Our Italian friends

Time to leave Kandavu

They gave us all beautiful flowers and sang a fijian goodbye song. 

Locals

Beach in front of the airport, beautiful

Inside the plane flying to Taveuni.

Coral reef as seen from the plane. 

More Reefs. 

And one more shot of reefs from the plane just because it's pretty. 

Airport on Taveuni

Our airplane from Nandi to Taveuni.

The Rainbow Reef Resort - only accessible by boat.

The veiw from the main dining area.

Our bure

Inside our Bure.  At night they would light candles in the Bure and let down the mesh while we were at dinner.  It was so romantic and peaceful. 

Our Sink

Our outdoor shower

Our own private beach with lounge chairs in front of our Bure

A happy Alex with his Diet Coke of course

View from our Bure

View from our Bure

Oh the relaxation

Private Lounge chairs

part of the grounds

For some strange reason they had peacocks.

I liked to feed the female peacocks before our dives in the morning. 

And what vacation would be complete without a little peacock fornication... yikes!

The Beach in front of our Bure

A very relaxed Alex

The other family at the resort braving the waves.  The dad was an Olympic water polo player (Barcelona Olympics)

Grounds

Another beautiful place to relax. 

I hiked up to the top of a nearby hill for sunset yoga on the patio they have up there, I really enjoyed the quiet time to myself. 

I loved doing yoga out on the small patio over looking the water.

Day #6 in Paradise

8/22/12

Day #6 in paradise

Today I officially have Matthew's cold!  UGH!  Alex had it the first few days we were here and now it is my turn.  I couldn't go diving today because my ears were too full so Alex went without me.  Of course he saw lots of cool amazing stuff like an octopus and lots of sharks... but oh well.  I slept in the shade on the beach!  I really can't complain.  Our Bure overlooks the ocean so I spent all afternoon in bed resting and looking out at the amazing blue green water.  This is the way to do if you have to be sick here.  Tomorrow we fly to Taveuni Island through Nadi and I am hoping by Friday my ears will have cleared enough to dive again.    

For dinner tonight we had a Lovo.  This is where they basically make a huge fire and wrap all sorts of food including fresh fish and pig in banana tree leaves and bury them in the ashes and let the ashes from the fire cook them.  Before digging out the food we all sat around and sang Fijian songs and shared Kava. Kava is a root that you can actually buy in the US in capsule form for sleep and anxiety.  Here they crush up the root and put it in a bag and soak it in cold water.  Then you drink it one really large "bowl" at a time.  It isn't alcohol but it does have a slightly calming effect on those that drink it.  I just felt kind of dizzy and a bit queasy.   One of the other guests caught an amazing tuna this afternoon and they shared it with all of us as Sashimi.  I am not a big fan of fish but this was SPECTACULAR!!

Now I don't know what y'all think, but I think that is a REALLY fat pig. 

Banana anyone?

Fresh Pineapple

Yummm, Fresh Eggplant