Ahhh... Fiji

We started our trip to Fiji by taking an overnight flight from Hong Kong to Nadi, Fiji, which is on the main Fijian island of Denarau. Then we boarded a water taxi to take an hour long ride to the tiny island of Amanuca, where our resort was located. The seas were calm, the weather was beautiful, and the water of the South Pacific was amazingly clear and blue. On the water taxi.

This is our resort on the TINY island of Amanuca. The island was so small that all it had on it was two smallish resorts. No town, no local population, etc. The only way on or off the island was the daily water taxi that stopped by, or by renting a helicopter. Every day a boat from the resort would go out to meet the water taxi to collect the new guests and to gather supplies like vegetables, Cokes, and beer that had been sent over from Denarau.

How about that water? Pretty, huh. The island of Amanuca is only a stone's throw away from where the movie "Castaway" was filmed.

In this picture, you can see the people in the green and blue Hawaiian shirts greeting the new arrivals on the boat that has just arrived.

The twins in the sea kayaks.

Because the resort was so small and so isolated, the pace of life was extremely slow. Wonderfully slow. I would sit for hours at a time and look out at this view of the ocean while I sipped drinks and read books. It was heaven.

This is our little hut that we stayed in. The resort was made up of several dozen of these thatched roof huts, and then an open-air building that housed the restaurant, bar, office, etc.

At sunset they would light torches along the patio and cover all the picnic tables with linens to make a nice atmosphere for dinner.

Did I mention how clear and beautiful the water was? It was amazing. I was really impressed. And that is saying something since we were coming from the crystal clear waters of Okinawa. We snorkeled out over a huge coral reef that was right in front of the hotel. Tons of fish, big and small. Even a shark encounter!
Logan underwater.

Dylan underwater.

I want to say that I have never been so scared as when I came face to face with this freaky shark. At one point, the shark was in between me and the shore! All I can say is: moment of panic. Finally it moved aside and while Shane chased after it to take these pictures, I swam for shore. I was swimming so fast Shane said all he could see was a blur on top of the water. I wanted to kiss the sand when I got to shore. It took me a while before I had any desire to snorkel again....but I did. I couldn't resist.

Me swimming for shore at lightning speed.

Logan's favorite afternoon pastime, playing Scrabble, sipping on a banana smoothie, and gazing out at the ocean. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon! The resort didn't have a fancy sound system, but one of the employees at the bar brought a boom box and propped it up on the counter. They only seem to have brought one CD, however, and so we heard the same music playing the entire week. "Hey Soul Sister", by Train, will forever remind me of that vacation because I must have heard it 1,000 times that week!

Here are the guys unloading the shipment of supplies that would come each day. The would form a human chain and toss the boxes of food and bags of produce up the steps to the restaurant kitchen.

While SCUBA diving one day, Shane caught this lobster. He brought it back and asked the resort's chef to cook it up for him for lunch. Tasty!

Savannah got her hair braided at the resort's spa.

Hangin' out.

One afternoon, the boys went deep sea fishing with a friend, Enrico, whom they met at the resort. They caught some delicious fish!

The resort chef, once again, prepared our catch and served it to us for dinner that night. Yummy!

You can see we liked it; we ate it down to the bones!