DAY 4, FIJI
Mantaray resort today with Carina and catching up with John. Mantaray Island is famous for its huge Manta Rays which can grow up to 7m in width & length and weigh over 1300kg (1.3tons!). These animals travel in large groups and are known to leap out of the water which makes for an unforgettable experience. Unfortunately ‘Swimming with Manta Rays’ will have to wait as its out of season.
THEN THE FIJIAN CHALLENGED ME
WHERE IS MANTARAY ISLAND?
INCREDIBLE CORAL
It’s another chill island but to make sure I didn’t stick to the hammock I signed up to a snorkeling trip which was the best yet! After my first coral experience on none other than the Great Barrier Reef I was left disappointed that it didn’t look anything like the coral on the TV or from Finding Nemo. Thailand was similar but Fiji is clearly the place Finding Nemo was filmed!!
FELIX
Before food I started talking to yet another girl from Germany who joined us for dinner, it wasn’t until 2 hours later we figured it was the girl Felix (who I met yesterday) had been travelling with haha. The missing peace of the puzzle are slowly coming together, but we got the real chat on the boat on the final day….
The good thing about quiet season is that you get to know everyone on the island as there might only be 10 – 20 staying.
MORE PARTY GAMES
Food is nice but unfortunately not a buffet like beachcomber was. Again the locals who work on the islands do a great job in continually creating unique experiences and used their imagination for the next game. I was up against John again who I faced back in River Valley, New Zealand, and this game was a little similar. You had a line on the floor and a stone in your hand. You had to get the stone as far over the line as possible without throwing it and only using 1 continual point of contact on the ground beyond the line – usually your hand.
You’ll start with your feet behind the line and your hand over it has far as you can but without moving it then after setting the stone as far as you can stretch you then need to push yourself back up from that position without falling.
COMPETITIVE
The game almost lasted as long as it did in NZ but in the end it was déjà vu, and thank god for it because I’m super compeititive and this would be killing me otherwise. But to be fair to John, he’s a fella I wouldn’t mind losing to! Then the local who was running the party games challenged me to a winner takes all and after almost talking myself into defeat I ended up getting a few more inches just when I needed it most 😉
NEXT UP
Blue lagoon resort continues the island hoping tour of The Yawasa Islands and without doubt the nicest resort of them all. Click to read.
SAFE TRAVELS, DS x
This post is part of The New Zealand and Fiji Series, click to explore.
