Diving: Day 2

Mana Island

Best day in Fiji. Despite whatever every weather forecast had to say, the weather was absolutely gorgeous—better than Tuesday! I met a couple from San Francisco, a couple from Las Vegas, a Kiwi named Cathy, and a Japanese girl named Ayaki. The trip there was nothing short of stunningly beautiful, filled with the bluest baby blue skies I’ve ever seen. The clear sky stretched out above us, the ocean before us. We dangled our legs over the edge, feeling the water spray tickle them as the boat gleefully zipped along. On the upper deck, Jason saw a leopard shark surface momentarily. The water surrounding the small islands we passed glistened in a rainbow of blue and green, each ring more inviting than the last. Glorious.

Because there were so many of us, we split into two groups to take turns diving. This dive, I was a bit nauseous from the boat rocking so much, but again, jumping into the ocean made me forget all else. It’s funny. Being in the water, I try to think of reasons exactly why this is so special, and it’s almost as if those reasons only come to me back on land. And they are so obvious. The fish were colorful as before, the coral fanned out before us as we circled the mountain. I ran into a bunch of clown fish and their anemone, defiantly staying as long as they physically could when I reached my hand. Oh, and I hovered. Of course, our trip was over too soon, but we had a nice lunch of roti and papaya on board.

While waiting for the first team to get back, I noticed we were parked really close to a tiny island of sand. Tempting…hmm. I grabbed my mask and snorkels, and invited everyone onboard to come with. Cathy jumped at the opportunity, and we swam over. It was a bit farther than I thought, but reaching it was no problem. We had reached our very own deserted island of sand. We traced circles around the island (it took like two minutes to walk across) before settling down on the sand. We noticed the sand grain was extremely big, and decided it must have come from worn away coral. We were lying in coral. Whoa. I definitely felt like a millionaire, enjoying my own private island. I swam to the ship and back to get Ayaki to take pictures of us on the island, and it was only too soon that we had to get back to the ship.

…to go diving! Another skills test, I demonstrated replacing my mask underwater and using a compass underwater for navigation. Not as much fish life this time around, but there was a big school that swam around. Something that amazed me was how they literally ALL turned at the same time—how did they coordinate so well? I found it really entertaining to shout and laugh underwater, and especially to watch the bubbles of air I breathed out rise to the surface. They rose like jellyfish, with big ones emerging from the cloud of bubbles to collide into each other. Junior even blew bubbles in the shape of a smoke ring. Flip, spin, upside down—I tested out my newfound freedom of motion, and pretty much felt like a seal haha.

The ride back was no less enjoyable than the way there, including the fact that there was a comfortable silence, as among friends. The wide expanse of the ocean seemed to ease that, and we all sat as the boat went over increasingly large waves. 

Scuba Diving: Day 1

Magic Island

First of all, a summary of the equipment used: Mask, fins, wetsuit. An inflatable vest, with a tank of air in the back. A BCD ( a system of tubes that lets you add/release air from the vest to make you float/sink). Regulators (tubes that let you breathe from the tank). And a weight belt, to make you sink in the water.

Sam, our driver, dropped me off at the Wyndam, where I met Sandy, an experienced diver, and many people going for the first time, including a family of four from Jersey and a man named Ray who was also starting this Open Water Certification. We got to Denarau around ten, and it was smooth sailing from there.

Fifteen meters down. Going into the water for the first time, I was just too excited and focused on doing things right to be nervous. It was my introduction to a whole new world, and it was a glorious one. Junior, my dive instructor, found a sea cucumber, a lumpy yellow thing, and let us all hold it. In the back of my mind, I kind of expected that things wouldn’t be all bright like they were on TV, just kind of colorful. I was wrong. What seemed to be vegetation on coral jumped back into their hole when I reached out to touch it. Two small stingrays emerged from the sandy bottom and swam in front of us. The vividness of the underwater world hit me immediately, with schools of bright blue (and I mean like shining bright) and yellow fish swam around. A transparent needlefish swam off nearby, and as we found our way around the coral, I found myself face to face with a vast array of striped parrotfish, bottomfeelers, angelfish, and god knows how many other varieties. It was magical.

After the Beach

At night, we checked out the Farmer’s Festival going on in town, which was basically a carnival. The three of us guys decided we wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel (the only big ride there) and left Tomi to take the pictures. Almost immediately after getting into a seat, I realized there were a few issues. One, the Ferris Wheel let people on and off in a strange, almost random pattern. As in, one group would get on a seat, and then it would revolve nearly halfway before letting another group on. Two, it was freaking high, a fact we came face-to-face with when we got stuck at the top of the wheel for two minutes right after getting on. Three, it looked freaking scary. As in, its design looked like someone built it with oversized K'NEX pieces. The seat the three of us were in was a simple metal seat with a back, and we were ‘strapped’ in by a piece of plastic hose. Oh, and if anyone leaned slightly forward, the whole chair would tip forward. Drastically. The first thing I heard Toyo say was “I’m going to piss my pants”. And the first thing Shin did was to lean forward.

Terrible terrible decision. But after the ride started (literally took like five minutes) and started going at a good speed, it was actually really fun. Except when the chair would rock forward as if it was going to throw up off. Thankfully, we made it out alive.

Later on, I found out from my hosts that apparently someone had died from this ride the year before, because the screws fell out when she was sitting at the top. And another had died in a nearby city. And many more in years past. WHY IS IT STILL RUNNING?

Sigatoka Sand Dunes

7/25

I met up with Hitomi and two of her friends (Shin and Toyo) to check out the famed Sand Dunes of KuluKulu (a village in SIgatoka). We climbed into a shady minibus andarrived shortly after noon.

The national park was very well kept, and the guide gave us the option of the one hour or the two hour walk. We’re lazy, so we picked one.

We walked through the forest, with me repeating myself a lot because I tend to talk too fast and they were still English-learners. We arrived at a gorgeous view of the surrounding ocean and hills. We could actually see where the other trail was cleared on another hill, giving it a ‘cracked’ appearance.

Getting close, we climbed up and down hot sand dunes to get to the beach.  They were several stories high! Next time, we’re gonna bring surfboards to go ‘sand surfing’ down these dunes.

On the beach, we found these flat red stones on the beach with an almost veiny appearance, and then realized they were coconut seeds. And while taking a picture, the ocean snuck up behind me and Shin, and completely drenched our pants.

Walk walk walk. We crossed to a more inland area of the beach, and found…horses on the beach. Wtf?! At first, I thought they were owned by the village, but there was no one looking after them and talking to another person confirmed that they were indeed wild horses. Whoa.

These little kids came running out from the village entrance waving a flag, and running up and down the sand dunes to our left, which was pretty amazing, considering how steep and high they were—literally 5 storie! I was itching to try, so I jumped onto one of the dunes and tried to run up. I didn’t get very far before I had to use my hands too, and pretty much clawed my way to the top. Sand kept coming down around me, and I had this uneasy view that I was gonna trigger a sand avalanche. But getting to the top, I found an absolutely sensational view and waved to my friends below as king of the hill haha. Now, getting down was awkward. I ended up doing his crab like crawl down, with my legs before my torso, so I ended up shoveling a ton of sand down with me. That was tiring.

We realized we didn’t have much time before the park closed so we started heading back, but not before taking a wall on this piece of land in the middle of the ocean that was covered in life/bits of coral. On the way back through the forest, we came across a sign that said “Tree of Lost Soles”. I was thinking it was a spelling error, but then we saw the tree. Holy crap. It was actually a tree, with dozens of shoe soles dangling from its branches. Wow, the Fijians must love their puns.

Ladies of the Night

When the ladies of Fiji come out...

July 17

So Ana got me a minibus to take me back to Lautoka. It dropped me off in front of Microfinance West, at which point I realized the town was completely empty. Great. I run around looking for a taxi, circling to the bus station, back to MFW, then to the main road. As I walk, I start running into these girls on all these block corners, and quickly realize that they’re ALL prostitutes. Thinking back, it was actually the first time I’d run into any, let alone by myself at night. Sketch. I just keep walking, and you know, politely declining their offers to “Have good time!” But they kept coming, and approaching me for cigarettes, to go ‘sit down’, etc. This one even yelled out “Ni Hao!” I was really impressed, actually, but she followed up with something like “Chingchong”. Fail. Ironically, this is the first time that someone got my race right on the first try in Fiji. And she’s a whore. I was getting, really, REALLY annoyed. Seriously, what part of ‘dude walking at night with backpack’ screams ‘I want a hooker’?! After I reached the electronics store, I realized I didn’t want to keep walking because there weren’t any lights. Luckily, I ran into a nice drunk man, who advised me to go to this nightclub and wait there for a taxi since there were muggers roaming around at night. After about twenty minutes and more conversations with drunk dudes, I finally got a cab back.

 

July 18

So today, I found my way to Suva. Dante and I were on our way to this bistro to meet up with his friends, these two kids Beth and Brad. Anyway, we hailed a cab and got going. Halfway there, we realized we didn’t actually know where it was so we stopped to ask directions. Immediately, and I mean immediately, these four girls swoop down on the taxi. At first, I thought they were either Dante’s friends, or girls who were really really desperate for a cab and thought we were getting out. And then we saw their skanky outfits. Oh shit. One of them grabs the door, and forces her way into the other back seat. Yes, literally just climbs into our damn cab. “You want to have a good time?” I am starting to get really tired of all those hoes. Both of us tried to be nice and tell her to leave, but she kept insisting that she wanted to go where we were going. We did however, manage to get directions to iCrave (the restaurant that should be an Iphone app). Finally, after like five minutes, we managed to get her to leave when we told her she would have to walk back alone from iCrave. All this time, the cab driver was just looking really smug. Dammit, I bet he’s got a deal going on with these hookers! But seriously, what is up with Suva? It was only eight pm…

July 12

Today, Josh (the two year old nephew) came running out of the kitchen while we were watching friends…waving a knife that was at least three feet long, almost as tall as he was. 

I reached out to take it from him, so I grabbed his little hand. The knife swung up and hit me in the arm. I let go, and he dropped the knife  almost on top of his mom’s foot. 

Am I going to survive six more weeks?

VIII: One Lucky Bastard

One inch. Just one inch more. And I would not be here typing this. Today at lunch, I decided to get my butt over to the gym on top of the pharmacy.  Arriving, the only people there were the two trainers, both very friendly. After introductions, I moved on to the free weights to do some curls. Then, I decided to try the bench press. Each side was loaded with 30kg, so I started removing the two weights from the left side. 

            BAM. The bar came flying up and slammed across my head, falling to the floor with a clang as I realized what had happened. Removing the weights from one side made it completely unbalanced. There was no hook, no stop to the bar. I clasped my hand to my face, thinking it was a small scratch…and pulled away with a hand of blood. Shit. I immediately turned to the mirror, and saw the blood streaming down my face. My image in the mirror shocked me, and I just stood and stared for a second, horrified. I turned again to the trainers and yelled for help.

            They came running up, very worried, and got me a cloth. I asked for a bandage and Joe went running off. Looking at the wound in the mirror, I confirmed that it had completely missed my left eye (THANK GOD), which relieved me so much that I didn’t even care I was bleeding profusely.

            I used the cloth to block the bleeding, and when it stopped, applied the bandage. The two trainers were extremely worried, originally thinking the bar had slashed my eye. One whispered, “Are you going to sue us?” I tried to stay in good humor and explained what had happened. Later, I realized that the main reason the bar had come flying was because it only weighed roughly 10 pounds, whereas I’m used to the 45lb bars of the US. So therefore, it couldn't be unbalanced AT ALL. Assuring them that I would not be going to the hospital, I left the gym.

            And the more I thought about it, the more it frightened me. The cut was less than an inch away from my eye. If I had stood a tiny bit, just a tiny bit more to the left, the bar would have gone completely through my eye and brow, and ruined my vision forever.  I felt so lucky, yet terrified at the same time. Luck. It all came down to luck. Or perhaps it meant God was watching over me. Was this a sign? Thoughts rushed through my head and I knew nothing for certain, except that I wanted to head back to the sea. 

            I tossed my backpack on the grass, and looked out over the ocean. After a few minutes, a boy asked me “Where are you from?” I was obliged to converse. Turned out, he’s attending college right now, and comes here to the seawalk in the afternoons. He told me about the fisherman who come here to fish, the yellow crabs grabbing their way out of the sand, and the huge crabs that lay in the water in between the lands. It was a strange feeling. I felt older, entertaining  a younger kid. Something about how he wouldn’t stop talking was annoying. But endearing. 

I told Roho I looked forward to seeing him on future days.