Blue lagoon family

We were only planning to stay at Blue lagoon resort for 2 nights before heading to Beachcomber island to end our Fiji holiday. After a few hours here, Cj was adament that he didn't want to go to Beachcomber. He has been before and describes it as a not very party island with rubbish food. Its supposed to be the party island but the partying depends on who's on the island.

If we were to stay at blue lagoon, it meant losing our money and spending more to stay the extra 2 nights. Cj, decided the next morning that he really didn't want to go to beachcomber so he booked us in for 2 more nights. 

In the end we were so glad we stayed. Blue lagoon was our favourite place and we met loads of really cool people.

As soon as we got to the island i noticed that they had a village tour in the afternoon. I was desperate to do a village tour on one of this islands and this was the only day they were doing it whilst we were there. So i signed Cj and myself up. We had to get on a boat to the village island. We arrived to a boat full of Fiji kids on their way back home for the weekend. There was a large school on this island so many kids board during the week and go home for the weekend. We walked through a forest path into a huge field which was the schools rugby pitch. The pitch was surrounded by class rooms. We were aloud to have a peek into the classrooms and some of the students sang to us. They were very good. Our tour guide took us to the village were the fijians live. It felt like a really nice community village. The village had 3 churches, a mini mart shop and a village hall. In the hall the locals put on a little market for us. I bought a turtle necklace and a wooden ornament. 

Saturday night was party night. So after dinner a large group of us rounded up around a table to play ring of fire. It was fun, there was probably too many of us to really play the game properly. One of the guys in our dorm room named Mike was actually below Cj's bunk bed on mantaray island. He was english but had been living in new zealand for the past 2 years. He was a character. He joined us for dinner most nights. On party night he was pretty funny. I can only describe him as Alan from the hangover. He did get quite drunk and did some funny things. We also met the lovely Sonia on this night. She is an LA girl and gave us loads of tips about our american adventure. We met Jeff too, who is Blue lagoons dive instructor. A local Fijian and one of the friendliest people we have met. Cj got noticed as a Bradley Cooper look alike so we joke that we have The hangover crew with Alan too.

It was Jeff who was hosting the islands party night. The first game was limbo. If i remember rightly, Cj stacked it on the 2nd to last round which was pretty good going as he was the last man standing. A few other girls and myself made it to the final round and we decided to call ourselves the winners and share the winning bottle of champagne. 

That was round one, game 2 was a funny game. Jeff told us to get into groups of 5. Boys being boys decided to make a group together (Cj included) as they thought their manliness would  win them a bottle of champagne. This was until the game rules were announced. Now we were laughing at the guys as we had to get rather close to our team mates and try and pop a balloon between the legs of the person in front, by thrusting our hips forward (basically a rude move). So now we knew this detail, imagine the guy's reaction when they realised their manliness would be demolished. To be fair to them, they came 3rd and actually really went for it. It was hilarious. I was in a group of girls and we came second. 

The third and final game of the night was a dizzy one. We had to again get into groups. This time the guy's split up. We had to take it in turns to run to the pole at the end and run around the pole 5 times with our head down. I should mention that there was several free shots as well as champagne throughout these games so this spinning sent most people on the floor. Cj and myself were in the winning team so we got some champagne. I actually did ok with the free alcohol on games night. 

Once the games was over we all played another game of ring of  fire followed by a very entertaining game of Zimmi zimmi. This was Brent, a canadians speciality so he led the game whilst we all tried to get the hang of the rhythm and remember our number to call out. 

The drinking games started to fizzle out as people started to get up and dance. An American couple put on a show on the dance floor with some funny moves. 

The night didnt end there as Jeff performed some fire dancing as we all sat in the beach. some people also went skinny dipping (including Cj). Although it was the girls who were the brave one's and did it properly. The boys kept their boxers on. One of the girls told us that the plankton in the sea glows in the dark at night. A few of the girls and myself waited to see if this was true before we went into the sea. Unfortunately there was no plankton so we stayed dry whilst everyone else came out wet. The night ended when some of the guys jumped in the pool and security got involved.

The next morning we said goodbye to quite a few of the guys as they moved onto their next islands. We chilled out in the day and in the evening we watched Walter Mitty as it was movie night. 

Our last day was spent soaking up the sun rays and swimming in the sea. We had dinner with another couple from Manchester who are also travelling the world. We met them on out first night on this island. 

We were really sad to leave Blue Lagoon. We had so much fun and met some really cool people that we are still in touch with now. 

We head back to Nadi. It was a long trip back as it was 4 hours on the Yasawa flyer. 

We only stayed in Nadi for 2 nights before our flight to LA. we didnt do anything on these days. We just caught up on admin as it had been 2 weeks. 

We almost left Cj's phone charging in the hotel as we arrived at the airport and remembered he forgot his phone. Luckily there was a very nice man from smuggles cove (staff) who rang the manager to bring Cj's phone in a taxi. We were very lucky we got his phone back, especially as we use the apps on his phone to sort all accommodation and money. 

(the local village choir sang to up before our dinner)

Amazing sun set on our last night at Blue Lagoon.

Mantaraaayyyy

As i mentioned in my last blog post, it was raining and we were about to board the Yasawa flyer to Mantaray resort. Our island was only half hour away so the up's and downs of the boat didn't bother us. They did however, bother the lady next to me who was retching into a plastic bag the whole way. 

(The Yasawa flyer)

When we arrived on the island the clouds opened up and revealed a blue sky with a hot sun. We settled into our lovely dorm...or not. It was ok but not as posh as Octopus. It was a 32 man dorm with no air con so it was pretty hot. 

We arrived in time for lunch so we made our way to the top of the hill where the canteen was. The food was ok. Not as good as octopus but they still had a large selection. We learnt that if you want to order fish, its best to get in quick as everybody orders the fish. We missed out on this and got pesto pasta and a burger. 

We had the rest of the afternoon to do as we please so we laid our pashminas on the beach and chilled. The sea is a lot calmer here so we were able to swim a lot in the sea and snorkel.

We got an early night as not much was going on after dinner. Our alarm went off early in the morning ready for our buffet breakfast. Manta ray also did banana muffins so i was again fattening up on my breakfast. 

(View from the restaurant/canteen)

We spent all day at the beach. We did a lot of snorkelling. The sea has some hidden gems, it was full of amazing soft coral and fishes. I loved the parrot fish. 

Cj went out later in the day on his own and saw a black tip reef shark at the edge of the reef. 

After dinner we participated in the evening activity which was 'games night'. We had to find a shell crab, train it up and race it with other crabs. I found a feisty one (name number 21) which kept trying to clip my fingers so much that it fell out of its shell. One of the Fijian workers put it back in its shell again but it again fell out and ran somewhere, so i gave up. Cj was doing pretty good at training his (named number 13) but unfortunately his didn't make it into the final.  A Canadian girl won. 

That night was a hot one in the dorm. The upper bunks got a fan whilst the lower bunks just had to catch the end of the fan which was pretty poor. I was on the bottom bunk and i was boiling, so i climbed up to Cj's top bunk trying not to wake the guy below him. Cj wasn't impressed as his nice airy bunk now became too hot, so he went down on to mine. Luckily shortly after a big storm broke out so the dorm cooled down anyway.

(dorm room with a good view)

Our time at Mantaray came to an end as we caught the Yasawa flyer boat just before lunch the next day. We head  north to Blue lagoon resort. 

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.