Fijian triathalon (May 4/09 - Waya Lailai Island, Yasawa Islands, Fiji)

A weather system was blowing in from the south this morning, bringing with it some waves and rain. But that wasn't enough to keep us from diving, so we climbed in the boat and went a few minutes south to a pinnacle off the east side of Kuata Island. The pinnacle was about a hundred feet across, with its base at about 120 feet and its top at about 40 feet. Finger coral decorated the entire top of the reef, with anemones and other critters like anemone shrimp and cucumbers living in between the fingers. Whitetip reef sharks patrolled the reef, slowly circling the pinnacle and coming quite close to us several times. There were at least four of them, and they were in sight for the entire dive. We spiraled our way up, checking out thorny oysters, feather stars, scorpionfish, and a giant moral eel that the guide was crazy enough to pet. (Don't get me started on how careless he was, touching coral left and right and basically destroying the reef...) The water was exceptionally clear and floating beside the reef watching anemonefish dart in and out of their blue-tipped anemones and brilliantly coloured wrasses swim within inches of my face reminded me of watching the tropical fish in the aquarium at my bank at home (only they don't have sharks in the background!). You know a dive is great when watching all the sharks becomes benign!


After lunch, a bunch of us sat down with the local ladies to learn how to weave with pandanus leaves. I made a couple bracelets, while others made rings and bookmarks that all turned out surprisingly well! Late afternoon, we joined a few other people for a hike to the highest point on the island to watch the sunset. The highest point happens to be the towering volcanic rock known as Vatuvalu that sits directly above our resort, 350m above sea level. It was obviously going to be a steep hike, so we had to try hard not to laugh at the Swedish girl who showed up with no shoes and a miniskirt, and the two Asian girls who looked like they were headed for the mall, in dresses and flipflops and carrying purses. The old local guy who was guiding us wasn't much better, wearing old flipflops that fell off every few minutes. We were joined by three of the village dogs, and stopped along the way to see cassava, dava, taro, yam, banana, and orange trees that had been randomly planted on the slopes of the mountain. The trail pushed its way up through steep forests and between giant boulders, eventually opening up into sloping fields blanketed in 8 foot tall grasses, with views up to the Three Sisters rock formation that was surprisingly similar tot he one we saw in the Blue Mountains. We looped around the back of Vatuvalu and then made one last push up a steep trail over big rocks in a dark forest before emerging at the top. The final step was to literally climb up a big boulder and then walk carefully across the ridge of the rock whose two sides slanted down on either side to sheer cliffs on both sides. With the wind blowing, it was a bit nerve wracking, but we all managed and emerged out on the summit, where the view in all directions was sensational. Our resort was directly below us, where tiny figures could be seen playing volleyball on the beach and swimming in the water. The reef fringing the beach was clearly obvious, as were several visible out in the ocean farther out. Kuata Island stole the foreground to the south, with all of the Mamanuca Islands visible popping out of the sea. Behind them, Viti Levu and Nadi were clear, and you could faintly make out Vanua Levu behind it (Fiji's second largest island). The rest of Waya Lailai sprawled out to the north, merging into the neighbouring island of Waya, both with green peaks, palm trees, golden fields, and bare pinnacles of rock. Beyond Waya, the entire Yasawa chain was visible as the string of islands curved around to the northeast. It was a stunning view that made us feel really lucky to be in such a beautiful place.



The hike down was considerably more challenging than the way up only because it sort of got dark half way down. We figured we would be back well before dark, so we didn't think to take a light. Thankfully, the guide had 4 flashlights in his bag to share amongst the nine of us, which made for a slow and sketchy trip down. It didn't help that the path was slippery in places from last night's rain, but eventually we made it without any major casualties - even the flip flop and barefoot girls! We heard the dinner drums about two thirds of the way down, so we wasted no time in getting down there before all the food was gone.

After dinner, we moved to the grass and watched the staff perform a bunch of traditional dances. Two ladies did a hula dance that involved some serious booty shaking, followed by what one girl accurately described as the dance of the Fijian Chippendales. The seven of eight young [buff and sweaty] guys pranced around in short sarongs and war paint, attempting choreographed dances that looked like they needed a little more practice. Since we know most of these guys now, it was funny to see our guide from the church trip yesterday and the boatmen in there too. The grand finale was a traditional fire dance, where they twirled and threw flaming torches all over the place, only igniting small patches of grass, clothing, and hair. It was very impressive though, with awesome rhythmic music and a light rain falling to set the mood. One guy performed a knife dance with a crazy sharp machete before the performance turned into the participation "Bula dance" they did a few nights ago, followed by some silly conga line type thing that might have involved some grinding and other non-traditional moves. Good times were had by all, but we were desperate for a shower by the time it was all over!