Christian Perez's Travel Journal

Bula from Fiji -- Part Two -- Scuba!!, Wed Apr 5, 2006

Arrived in Queenstown yesterday and just developed my film 30 minutes ago! Hot off the press, for $10 (ouch)! I don't have nearly enough money for this place. Not just for food, but there are about a hundred different crazy things you can do. Case in point: in 2 hours, I'm going hang gliding!

But back to Fiji. The real reason to visit is the amazing staff. The Fijian crew is fun loving and friendly. They took us snorkelling, cooked a traditional lovo feast (earth/stone oven), and danced a lot. I would stay at least 3 nights, especially because you burn a half day getting there. That also allows plenty of time to relax, sit on the beach, kayak, swim, or goof around with the crew.

I didn't plan on diving, but I couldn't say no to $120 FJD (~$80 US) for pool instruction, equipment, and a guided open water dive. We started at 9 am and didn't get back until after 12:30! My trusty camera got pics of clown fish and sea anemones, plus we saw 2 reef sharks! I had problem with my flipper continually falling off (almost lost it to Davy Jones' locker, as they say) and I had to scramble before we both sank. I was confident in the water though; I didn't panic and my head didn't explode.

Finally, it was time to go. Most of the friends I made had gone, but the two British girls were staying for 2 more weeks! Did I mention Alex was gorgeous? And goofy? ...and perfect? :) Sorry, no pics; they were taken at night with no flash :( Overall though, I don't think British types fraternize outside of their group. Too bad-- they're quite fun when pissed (that's drunk to you yanks.)

After 2 hours of travelling to get back to Nadi, I paid $26 to stay at Nadi Bay Resort Hotel until I left for my flight at 1:30 am. It's a nice place with two "restaurants" on site and air conditioned dorms and game and movies rooms, but the pool is kinda small and the foods not that great. The flight to NZ, of course, was delayed over an hour. But now I'm in New Zealand and the real adventure begins!