When we first started planning this trip we talked about visiting 13 countries...but I wasn't exactly sure we were actually going to get to that many...and yet here we are! CRAZY!
We woke bright and early this morning to head to the airport for our 8 am flight. The flight was fairly uneventful, and we landed around 10:30 in beautiful, bright, sunny FIJI! After going through immigration/customs (and FINALLY getting another stamp! Thanks, Fiji!) we made our way to the domestic departures "gate" to await...our chartered flight!
For those of you who don't remember, Jon and I planned to go to an awesome resort in the Yasawa Islands...which can only be reached by boat or chartered plane. Since we missed the resort's ONE boat for the day (which departs at 10 am...because ya know, who cares about everyone else that arrives in the country after that), we had to pay for a chartered flight. While not our first choice, as soon as it was paid for we were quite excited about the prospect of taking a SEAPLANE to a remote Fijian island.
I mean, seriously.
So as I said we headed to the "gate" to "check in". We walked up to the Pacific Airways desk and told the man behind the counter our names. And he said,
"Ok Great - I'll meet you here when your flight is ready at 1 pm, just go through security and I'll see you on the other side."
Umm what? Don't we need tickets or something? "No, it's fine, I'll find you. Oh, and here's a bottle of Fiji Water - welcome!"
Uhhhhh ok?
For the next 2 hours we sat in the "waiting area" for domestic flights around Fiji (I'm pretty sure there are only like 5 airports around all of Fiji) because the waiting room consisted of enough seats for about 15 people. At 12:30 we went through "security" (which did consist of a metal detector) and then we sat in another waiting room (this one which could seat about 40 people) where we waited for our flight to be "called". The man from the front desk came and found us at 1 pm and we boarded our flight for Yawa Island!
We got on board with about 8 other people and took to the front seats. The pilot (who was sitting about 2 feet away from us) said we had a full flight and someone needed to sit in the front. Unfortunately I didn't understand him in time so someone else got the cockpit co-pilot seat. Bummer!
NBD. That's just the pilot. Sitting like 3 feet from me.
After everyone settled in we were off!
Each of us had a headset so we could listen to the pilot as he gave us information on the islands we were flying over. It was awesome!
After landing we were led out of the boat and onto a small motorboat with all our stuff.
Jon on the boat with our seaplane in the background!
The boat took us straight to the beach outside of the resort (semi-crazy to land straight on the beach and also a bit uncomfortable since we were both wearing sneakers on the beach!) where we were greeted by the Octopus Resort's manager, Cesare, and many of the staff with fruity cocktails in hand :).
After getting the run down from Cesare and checking in, we were shown to our room (a small bungalow right behind the pool) and ate a quick lunch with some of our fellow passengers from the seaplane (4 other Americans around our age on holiday in Fiji for a week).
Our next stop? The beach and relaxation. For the entire rest of the day. Let's be honest - we had REALLY been looking forward to our relaxing beach vacation and today was nothing short of amazing for that - it definitely fit the bill!
All day we basically drifted between the beach and the pool, relaxing, reading (me), listening to podcasts (Jon), and playing cards. We had been told during check in that there was a coral reef LITERALLY 10 feet from the beach (depending on the tide) which we were keen to explore. Around 3 pm we went to the dive shop to rent snorkel gear and head out to the reef.
They weren't kidding when they said it was right off the beach. During high tide the reef is 10 feet from the beach. During low tide, much of it is actually exposed to the air (making it fairly impossible to swim since there is soft coral everywhere). At 3 pm the tide had come back in giving us a great opportunity for snorkeling. And it did NOT disappoint.
It was probably the best snorkeling I've ever experienced in my life (Jon said it was close between Fiji and Turks and Caicos). The coral was just unbelievable - so many beautiful colors, SO MUCH coral, and TONS of fish! It's no wonder Conde Nast rated this beach as one of the top 10 beaches in the world a few years ago!
Not only was the visibility great and the sights amazing, but the water and current were such that you barely needed to do any actual swimming - we were very buoyant and able to just kind of glide along the top as the ocean carried us to see tons of beautiful sea life :). The only problem with that was that it made free diving nearly impossible! Every time we tried to dive under the water while holding our breath we were immediately brought back to the surface! It was kind of crazy!
The day was pretty much perfect, with 85 degree, sunny weather and wonderful company - meals at the resort are served "family style", which is great for getting to know fellow guests. At dinner we sat with a sweet couple from Italy around our age and talked about travel and life and adventure :).
After a LOOOONNNGGGGG day of travel, we headed off to bed early to get a good night's sleep - looking forward to more of the same tomorrow!
Jess' highlight of the day: actually arriving at the resort and snorkeling
Jon's highlight of the day: snorkeling
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