Phase 17: Week 1- 21st April
Wednesday:
All the volunteers arrived at Nadi bay! We all got together and got to know each other by the pool. We did a brief intro on what the next few weeks had in store for them and Steve and I showed up in normal camp attire - Sulus. That night we all went and had a big meal at the Bounty Bar and filled the whole place!
Thursday:
After a heavy night at Eds bar I had to take the volunteers to buy there Bula shirts, Bula dresses, pocket sulus and other bits and bobs. That night we went to pizza king!
Friday/Saturday:
After a night on the ferry we arrived in Savu Savu where we then got our supplies of food. (That’s a lot of porridge!!) We then started the 3 hour truck journey leaving civilisation behind us. It was good fun! We got stuck in the mud numerous times and had to get out and push the truck but we finally got to Nukubalavu, our home for the rest of phase, only 5 hours after we set out!!
Sunday:
Sunday was our “spag out” day, we set up camp, sanding paths, setting up our bures and settling in, getting to know each other a little better!.
Monday:
The volunteers set off for our local village, Navatu, for our Sevu Sevu (asking permission to stay on their land, being accepted into the village and apologising for anything we may do in the next 10 weeks that offends them). The first test of being accepted into the village was experiencing grog (kava) for the first time!
Tuesday:
It was time for the volunteers to get wet! They had to swim 300 meters and tread water for a few minutes to pass the fitness test and they are now all set to start their Open Water course.
Love Always
Rosser the Trainee
Phase 17: Week 2- 29th April – 5th May 2009
Everyone is settled into camp life and so begins all the dive training. With Paul, Jade and our new Instructor Will.I.Am, the volunteers are put through their paces and introduced to the weird feeling of breathing underwater! The Instructors work extremely hard taking one group in after another to the point that they must have aged 50 years by the looks of their wrinkly skin!! Luckily though, we are situated right on the beach and all training diving is done from shore.
Saturday brought about my 24th birthday. All the volunteers woke up at
As always, hangovers are always best spent asking for forgiveness in church the next day! :-/ And once again we return to Namalata. Namalata seems to host the first church service of every month where several villages come together and spend time with each other. This always proves to be an awesome event; the food, the singing, the Kava. We are part of this community and it’s what we love about the place. However, the first service of the month is particularly long and the faces of some volunteers were begging for the end!!
Monday, we, as always, run a playschool for the kids in Navatu village. Thankfully, the kids are on a 2 week holiday from School (as usually they board throughout the week) and as such, playschool is heaving! The volunteers had their work cut out for them, but, with a few crayons, and an origami lesson, they’re rewarded with a shed load of cake!
All in all, it’s been a brilliant week for the volunteers to blend into life out here and they’ve all put so much effort in. There seems to be an awesome bond this phase between the volunteers and the community here!
Steve Fitzpatrick
Assistant Scientist
Phase 17: Week 3- 6th May – 12th May
The third week started with half the group attempting both deep and navigational dives for their advanced dive course. By the end of the week all divers had attained advanced open water status! YAY!
However, the single greatest achievement of the week, was the production of lentil burgers, by those on dinner duty (including me, cat) it was the greatest meal so far, although it took 3 hours to make!
Saturday was a day of rest and fun dives, followed by the weekly Saturday night booze fest. The theme was 60’s and 70’s with some of the team remembering these eras better than others (Pops).
Sunday, whilst normally a day of rest was spent celebrating mothers day with are adopted Fijian families. We dare you to eat as much tea and cake as we did. We attended 2 church services and were entertained by a Fijian rendition of what we think was the story of Moses. It was an excellent day all round. Monday morning half the group went to kinder whilst the other unlucky half had to clean camp, after this, fish lectures began, wish us luck in identifying fish that look EXACTLY the same.
Pops & Cat
Phase 17: Week 5- 20th – 26th May
- EFR course completed
- Fundraiser to Kiobo
- Met the Chief of Kubulau
- Thunder & rain on Friday/beautiful sunshine come Monday
- 1st Namena trip
- Watched Twilight on movie night
- Palm tree fell down – Kodak moment for a Phase photo
- Fish Identification points
Another week gone & its hard to believe we’re nearly at the halfway point! Many of us have lovely tans to show for our month in the sun. Some of us do not!!
The weather has been funny this week; monsoon like rain drenched us on the way to a village fundraiser at Kiobo. However, by the end, it had redeemed itself with gorgeous sunshine come Sunday. The weather was so beautiful today (Monday) that the first lucky few divers got to take a trip out to Namena. They were all on such a high when the came back, telling tales of turtles, sharks and amazing water visibility that had the rest of us drooling. Hopefully the 2nd visit will not be too far away!
Another
Lily & Steph
Phase 17: Week 6- 27th May – 2nd June
This week has been an eventful one, filled with fish, coral and invertebrates revision and yet more size estimation dives!! The weekend started with a game of ‘Capture the Flag’, fortunately no major injuries, just a few cuts and bruises. Saturday night was the last night for the 6 weekers. We had ‘Bure wars’ with various games. “Good organised fun!” The first game was spin stick. This involved drinking beer from a snorkel, spinning around and running across the volleyball court whilst wearing fins.
However, ‘beer pong’ (played with beer caps) drew the biggest crowds, ending in a show down between Paul & Jade for the staff team, against George & Josh from the Chill Out Bure. It was a tense game but George & Josh won, putting the Chill Out Bure in the lead, with the Staff coming in a close second. Good effort guys.
The 6 weekers departed on Sunday morning. It was surreal to wave goodbye to them and it hasn’t properly sunk in that they’ve gone. They won’t be forgotten. The mood was picked up for Nurse Nic’s birthday. We made flap jacks, a rare treat and a better use for porridge oats!
We’ve started learning survey techniques, so it shouldn’t be long until we’re in the water. Everyone is now busy studying for fish tests. Hopefully we all pass this week. Wish us luck!
Annabelle & Hayleigh
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