On November 2nd, I left on a big trip (my biggest trip so far!) to Vanua Levu. That day was quite busy because during the day the international students helped with a food day where we all made food from our countries to show the local students. It was a feast! There are three Canadian students (all from SFU) but two of them had class, so Megan (from the US) helped us out. We made poutine (yum!). They gave us a big budget, but man oh man gravy and cheese are expensive here. Everyone really liked the poutine (how could you not??).
I left that evening on the ferry around 6pm. I was a bit nervous because the ferry is really long. Funnily enough when I got on the boat, a friend texted me saying that her cousin was on the same boat and I should meet up with her. So I texted Maren (the girl on the boat) and I decided to go sit with her. Turns out that we were going to the same resort! Haha, oh Fiji you are such a small world.
I had heard so many stories about the ferry.. but it really wasn’t that bad. It was actually an old BC Ferries boat. I took some Gravol and slept through most of it (ear plugs saved me with that). Travelling here has really made me better at falling asleep… anywhere.
I stayed for three nights at Dolphin Bay Divers Resort. It was really great because the people were really nice. There were about 15 guests, and I hung out mostly with an American guy doing his dive masters, one of the local workers and Maren. The couples and families there were really nice too. And especially the local family and friends that worked there. I spent a lot of time getting to know them and socialized with them every evening. They were so welcoming and invited us right into their home. I would really like to go back…
I spent the days snorkelling, hiking, studying, and getting slaughtered at chess. I also snorkeled a teeny tiny portion of the Rainbow Reef which is supposed to be one of the world’s best dive sites. Unfortunately my underwater camera has been having some mood swings lately so I don’t have many fishie shots. From the shore I saw a little baby black tip reef shark and a couple of turtles. In the water I saw massive schools of fish and lots of Christmas tree worms.
After Dolphin Bay, I decided to be adventurous and take the small ferry and bus back to Savusavu because I wanted to see more of Vanua Levu. It was quite the trek. First, Dolphin Bay dropped me off at the port in Taveuni, which took about half an hour to get there. Then I took the ferry to Buca Bay, which took over an hour. Then I took a local bus for 2-3 hours to Savusavu. It was a really beautiful drive, but you could really tell that it was a very poor area. I saw the most poverty during that bus ride than anywhere else so far.
I realllly like Dolphin Bay and I would love to do go back.. maybe even do my dive course there, but I really didn’t like the way that the owner ran the resort. It didn’t seem like the local workers were treated very nicely and that bothered me a bunch. I’d really like to visit though…. we shall see!
I have finished three exams so far and have one left on Thursday. So far so good.
three piece 