It's Fiji time

We checked  in to Smugglers cove in Nadi for 1 night. We settled in to the culture very quickly as we felt the heat and saw the tropical sun once again. We didnt cook, we ate out as food was back on cheap Asian prices. We didn't realise how much we'd missed Asia. 

This pic is the Warrior greeting us to the Yasawa islands. 

It was a brief visit to Nadi as the next day we boarded the Yasawa flyer to our first island stop. Octopus resort. We island hopped the Yasawas which are a group of small islands about 1 hour to 4 hours from Nadi. This island was Cj's favourite when he first visited 4 years ago. This time though, he was going to complete his scuba diving Padi course so that was pretty cool. 

We were welcomed to the island with the Fijians singing and playing guitar handing us fruit cocktails. It was a very nice resort. 

We stayed here for 5 nights. Cj dived on three of those days. Twice in the main pool which was funny to watch. The food here is a daily meal plan. It's the most expensive food we have had in our whole 8 months travelling, considering the Fiji dollar in 3 to £1.  It worked out about £150 for 2 weeks, just for food. (way over our £250 a week budget for food and accommodation) i was a little surprised  when Cj broke this news to me but i have to say, when i ordered my first few meals on the daily meal plans, it is worth every penny. The food at the resort was amazing and the choices were really good. We ate alot of their catch of the day fish as we figured this was one of the most expensive meals on the menu. When it was bbq buffet evening Cj went to town to get his money's worth and at breakfast they had banana muffins, my favourite so i got fat on just my brekkie. Cj, told me that we should lose weight in Fiji as you can only eat at the the set meal plan times...he lied. We got fat. The meals are so good and big. I never normally have 2 huge meals (dinner being a 3 course meal) a day plus loads of banana muffins and coconuts for breakfast. 

We had to do a lot of swimming to allow ourselves to eat guilt free. 

(Cj getting into the dive boat)

At the octopus resort the snorkelling reef was pretty good. Loads of tropical fish and a large colourful coral reef. The only thing letting it down was the crazy strong current of the sea. It would move rocks on the sea bed it was so strong. The first time we went snorkelling we could not get to shore, it was impossible to swim against the current dragging us out. We started to get tired until eventually a huge wave came, Cj literally lifted me up an d threw me over the wave so it wouldnt suck me under and back. I managed to then run to the beach before the back wash came. Cj, went under the wave and it swept his snorkel and mask off his head. Luckily he's strong enough to swim through that current but he lost the resorts snorkel. It was a little scary. If it all had gone wrong we would have just been swept further up the bay so nothing drastic would have actually happened but it was tough. We then saw people holding on to a rope to drag themselves out and thought, ahhh. That makes it a little easier so the next time we went snorkelling it was a lot easier to get back with the rope. 

On Sunday morning we signed ourselves up to the local village church visit. We had to cover our shoulders and knees so it was a sweaty morning but worth it. The village was a 10 minute walk from the resort. The locals live in little wooden huts. They had a big green in the middle with the church at the end. It had a nice community vibe to it. The weatetners took up a quarter of the church. We sat in the rows behind the kids. The ceremony was in fijian so we didn't really get into the religion side as we had no idea what the vicar was saying. The kids were amusing though, they didnt sit still and loved us westerners. The best  part of the church visit was when we all had to stand and listen to the choir sing. Their a-cappella performances were outstanding. The sound of their voices was so relaxing to listen to. We managed to get a few videos of their singing and i love listening back to it. 

This cute kid kept putting his hand up:)

After church we made our way back to the resort to swim off the sweat, chill in the sun and eat another huge lunch. Sunday evening was a chill out one with a movie under the stars. At dinner, we met our dutch couple friends. They are teachers in China so are on a holiday. We also met a guy named Alex from

canada who has competed in two Iron man competitions. He joined us to watch the movie which was 'Blended' a hilarious film. 

On our last day i took part in a jewellery making workshop. We got given shells and we made bracelets with them. Cj didn't take part in this activity. He was more interested in tanning. 

(No filters on this pic, this is literally Fiji's beaches)

(one of the evenings was Fijian night which involved traditionally cooked buffet food in the ground, singing and dancing from the staff an villagers)

(the dorm room...this is posh)

Our Octopus resort time came to an end. I left with a blocked ear from water being stuck inside and Cj left with a PADI. It was raining so we didn't miss out on any sun whilst on our way north to our next island stop. 

Octopus was a good start to our Fiji time. It is a very nice resort, even the dorm rooms are pretty posh.