Fiji - Nanuyabalavu Island in the Yasawa Group

The 11 hour Air Pacific flight (Fijian Airline) to Nadi, Fiji was the best we had ever had. The Fijian staff on the flight are welcoming people, offering us socks to keep our feet warm, and warm hand towels to clean our hands before and after our meals. Upon arrival at Nadi Airport at 5:20am we had officially lost a day (left on the 8th and arrived on the 10th). When the sun began to rise though we both realized that Fiji is actually the first country to see the dawn of a new day - it was definetly an ideal place to start our international voyage. The Fijian people welcomed us with Bula's (hello in Fijian) and bright smiles. We exchanged money and walked across the street and at 7:15 caught a bus to the Marina, at 8:30 caught the Yasawa Flyer boat for a 3 hour trip past the Mamanuca Islands and up into the Yasawa Island Group, arriving at 11:30am on the island of Nanuyabalavu and the Manta Ray Island Resort.

At Manta Ray, our bure (sleeping hut) lined the shoreline only steps away from the beach. The bure is built to let in the cool seabreezes and is fitted with open plantation shutters which let sunlight filter in. The bure was a basic accommodation equipped with the essential mosquito net which we slept in every night. We booked seven days at the Manta Ray Resort before we left LA. Once we arrived in Fiji we discovered how easy it would have been to hop around the islands since we had plenty of time and easy access to boat transfers. This trip, however, we were content to stay on one island and get as relaxed as possible.

Our Manta Ray days all had a similar haze to them associated with true relaxation. We woke each morning to the sounds of the ocean waves on the beach and the fuzzy netting of our mosquito net. Walks on the beach until breakfast at eight o'clock. After breakfast were alternating hammock naps, sun bathing, reading, and snorkeling. Lunch was served at one o'clock after which we enjoyed an ocean activity (more snorkeling or kayaking) or more napping followed by a shower. Sunsets were around six o'clock and were always fantastic and flowed nicely into Happy Hour and an assortment of tastey tropical beverages. A delightful buffet dinner was served at seven o'clock followed by a few hours of socializing with other travelers. Repeat seven times.

One thing to note about Fiji and many of the island resorts is that it is a backpackers haven. At times it felt like there were hundreds of europeans making their way around the world and we had somehow landed in the middle of them all. We found this to be mostly nice since the typical european RTW trip ends in Fiji on their way back home. This proved very helpful in learning certain travel tips we would need as we headed on to other places. We got lots of helpful advice and we had a great time meeting so many people from all over the globe.

As one might expect, Fiji has beautiful azure waters and offers many ocean activities. Manta Ray Island is staffed with Fijian natives who were happy to take us on various excursions. We went on a fishing trip where we learned to fish off a plastic real (no rod). Lulu, our guide caught a 16 inch beautiful ocean fish within minutes. We, on the other hand, were left with empty hooks and no fish. Lulu at one point asked us if we were actually fishing or just feeding the fish (haha).

We took a boat trip to hopefully find some manta rays who were just coming into season in Fiji and we were thrilled when we found one!! We were lucky enough to snorkel with one about 10 feet in size a few feet below us in the water. Manta Rays are found in tropical water, primarily feed on plankton, average 15-20 feet wide, have a tail but no sharp barb, are a gorgeous black, purple and white color, and are extremely graceful and harmless to humans. They are beautiful creatures and we were lucky to be so close! The snorkeling off the coast was also excellent with crystal clear water. At this point we don't know the names of all the fish we saw (and we didn't have an underwater camera) but we surely noticed bright blue star fish, the famous "Finding Nemo" clownfish and sea anemone, and numerous large colorful schools of other tropical fish. Visibility around the various reefs was unbelievable.

We took a day trip via boat to a Fijian village 20 minutes away from where we were staying. Most of the workers at our resort were born and raised in the village. The village we went to has 350 people living in it. It consists of a school, a church, the chief's house, many bures and homes, and farmland for growing crops. We walked the beautiful church (they are Protestants and attend church Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday each week), the school grounds, and had an opportunity to interact with many villagers. The experience was lovely and we enjoyed an escape from the resort for the day.

After seven days on the island we achieved a nice golden glow from the sun and felt sufficiently relaxed. We were definately ready to move on to the next leg of our journey and a bit more stimulation. We headed back to Nadi for one night before boarding our next flight three hours long to Auckland, NZ...
Click HERE for more pictures (there are 30 sunset photos at the end of the slideshow so you don't need to look at them all) - Email mattparrack@gmail.com if you cannot access any pictures. Venaka!

Be sure to click HERE for Manta Ray Video link.