Saturday, May 9, 2009

A wet day from start to finish (May 6/09 - Waya Lailai Island, Yasawa Islands, Fiji)

The rain was pounding down when we woke up this morning, soaking our laundry that was drying on the patio as well as any chance of spending time lazing on the beach. So the morning was a lazy one, reading and lounging around until the rain eased up after lunch. The dive guys weren't keen on heading out on the rough water during the storm (neither were we!), so we waited until early afternoon when the weather had passed and the sea was back to calm.

We dove Kuata Wall, at the northwest tip of Kuata Island (opposite our beach), where the rugged rocks at the shore drop almost straight down to about 80 feet. The visibility was great, and the wall was loaded with stuff to look at. On the fishy side of things, we saw schools of rainbow runners, two banded pipefish, three types of anemonefish, giant sweetlips, and several unique nudibranchs that included big fat yellow ones with spiky black polka dots on their backs (we saw three of these!). Some of the steeper wall sections had lots of sea whips and gorgonians, while nearer to the tip of the island, the hard corals grew to impressive sizes and with beautiful colours that were definite indicators of a healthy reef. Some of the table, staghorn, and mountain corals were more than 10 feet across! It was a fantastic dive, in a spot that we would gladly go back to again and again.

Our daily afternoon ritual has been to sit out on the patio with tea and a book around the time that the southbound catamaran (the one we came here on) makes its stop just off the beach and we hear the staff break into their melodic farewell song for the departing guests. A few minutes later, they break into the welcome song as a boatload of new arrivals approaches the beach, the song ending with a loud "BULA!" But we still have two more days until that will be us!

It was Fijian Night tonight, so the staff performed a kava ceremony to welcome everyone to their island. Kava is one of the things that the country is known for. The large root plant is dried and powdered, placed in a cloth and then mixed with water in a large bowl called a tanoa to produce a thin murky brown liquid that resembles dirty water. All of the male staff members were seated on the floor in front of the tanoa, and we all sat opposite them. We had been told how it would work, but somehow people still screwed up the custom. One at a time, each person was presented with a 'bilo' (half coconut shell) containing some kava. You clap once, accept the bilo with both hands, say "bula!" (cheers), down it in one go, give the bilo back, and clap three times. It tasted pretty much as good as it looked, though not horrible, and even one drink made your tongue go numb. No wonder the locals drink it in mass quantities! They say you're not in Fiji until you've tried kava, so I guess we're finally here!

In keeping with the Fijian Night theme, dinner was cooked in a 'lovo' (underground oven) and we were to eat it as the locals do - with their hands. There was chicken, baked eggplant, salad, potatoes, steamed bamboo shoots, and chunks of baked taro. We thought it was fun to do as the locals do, but we were embarrassed to see how disrespectful some of the other guests reacted. This place caters to 95% young backpackers, mostly European, and mostly between highschool and university. They show up at the dinner table in bikinis three sizes too small, make no effort to talk to the local staff, and blatantly complain when thinigs aren't perfect. We were asked to take off our shoes and not talk or take photos during the kava ceremony (it is normally reserved for special guests, which they extended to us), and lots of people just ignored those requests. When it was announced that there were no utensils for dinner because we would be eating as the Fijians do, one Swedish girl cursed out loud and made it known what a 'rip off' this place was. Unbelievable! Thankfully, we have managed to steer clear of that crowd for most of our trip. Anyway, dinner was lovely, we got buzzed off kava, and the singing that wrapped up the evening was as lovely to listen to as ever.

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