Fiji- Phase 20- Week 2

Tuesday saw us ‘Open Water Babies’ get started on our skills. We managed to get half of our confined water dives completed which we were all pleased with. Paul had been on a fishing trip and caught a 27kg Tuna which we had for dinner, everyone agreed it was yummy and the best meal so far. The next day we ploughed on the Open Water training, finishing our confined water dives and starting our open water dives at a site called Lovers. We were all shattered and rounded off the day with some well deserved sunbathing.

On Thursday we found out the Semi, our village chief who we met at the sevu sevu had passed away in his sleep. Everyone was shocked by this news and there was a sombre mood in camp. To respect Semi and the villagers in Navatu we stopped diving for the day and treated it like a Sunday relaxing in the sun. On the Friday we did our Emergency First Responder (EFR) training, we spent the day trying to resuscitate “Annie” covering each other in bandages and learning some basic First Aid.

The next day the village gave us permission to continue diving so we pressed on and managed to get everyone qualified to Open Water Divers! In the afternoon we had camp clean, the boys were conveniently nowhere to be seen and when they reappeared we told them there would be no party until they had re-sanded all the paths , you’ve never seen people move so fast!

On Sunday we experienced our 1st church service in Navatu. All our families were pleased to see us and filled us up with pancakes and tea for breakfast, it beats porridge any day! Church was about an hour long, the girls sported their sexy Bula dresses and the boys their pocket sulus, smart shirts and ties. We sang Fijian hymns and we were given speech on behalf of the congregation to welcome us to the service. We had lunch with our families and in keeping with Sundays we had an afternoon nap to help digest our food. During the afternoon we had Kava, which we are starting to get used to and then returned home for dinner.

On Monday we undertook shore dives to help practise our underwater buoyancy and navigation skills, a boat dive also went out to Ariel’s Garden which was an amazing site, there were even sharks and turtles spotted! Most excitingly dinner that night was roast chicken with roast veg which went down exceedingly well!

Vicky

Fiji- Phase 20- Week 1

The 19th of January soon came around for all of us and we met up, the majority, in Labasa where we were greeted by the smiling Debs. Once together we were told the plan for the next few days and then we were given the ultimate team building exercise of a Fijian truck ride, one I will never forget! We arrived in Savusavu and ended the day in the best way possible, a steak BBQ.

We woke on the 20th for the shopping trip in Savusavu where we all bought last minute essentials and the custom Fijian dress that we needed for the villages we would be visiting. The lads all bought the traditional Sulus and Bula Shirts, the girls then bought their Bula Dresses that they would wear on our visits. Our last meal before camp was a banquet of Pizza, something I never thought I would crave, God I sound like I’m pregnant!!!

21st, the first day of camp but probably most remembered for the breathtaking ride to our Camp. At the end of the road Paul was there to meet us to help unload the trucks into the boat Up and Under. The views across the bay to our island was spectacular and to think I will be spending 10 weeks here with sun, sea and beautiful views as standard! As we arrived on camp we unpacked and were placed in the Bures that would be our apartments for the next phase.

On the 22nd we started our jobs with everyone pulling together to get camp up and running. Then most of us went to check out the house reef which compared to the UK waters did not disappoint! Saturday was probably the best day of the week; the qualified divers went for a boat dive on the outer reef. As we went down the visibility was so good I felt like we were stepping into a David Attenborough documentary. The pristine coral and the amazing colours we indescribable!

In the afternoon we went for our Sevu Sevu which was the welcoming ceremony performed by the village chief. The village is so friendly and we were put into our families who will look after us while we are here. We were also given our first drink of Kava. It is a root of a plant ground up and mixed with water and is a uniting drink the whole village take part in. Sunday was a day of relaxing as we didn’t attend church, instead we sunbathed.

Monday saw the qualified divers visit Kinder to become play toys for kids of the village. Whilst we were away the divers who were starting their dive training had a fun filled day of dive theory. So the first week has flown by and I hope the phase continues to be great fun.

Nat