island hopping: a summary

Island hopping involves wading out to a little boat and setting out for a day on the water.  Our first stop on Sunday was the Sandbar.

The sandbar is only a destination at low tide. It's a sometimes-island, surrounded by coral reef. We had a great time basking in the sun and snorkeling. Some locals pulled out a huge octopus, which they were very excited to take home and cook. It was sort of horrible seeing them kill such an amazing creature, and took a good bit of willpower to not judge. But, it's their home, not mine. I'm only a privileged guest, and my lunch was paid for.

The snorkeling was amazing. So. Many. Fish. They didn't range in diversity as much as in the Bahamas, but the sheer volume of fish was spectacular. They were everywhere

After the sandbar, we stopped off at a resort where we had a delicious pizza lunch, and I enjoyed a Nutella Frappucino. Then we took a cruise around Castaway Island, where the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks was filmed. Apparently, when that movie came out in Fiji, it was interpreted as a comedy. People thought it was a farce, watching this white guy struggle to do basic things like build a shelter and open a coconut.

Photo by @rusticrachael

We ended the day with a trip to Cloud9, a double-decker floating restaurant with a bar and pizza oven on board. You can jump off the top deck into the water, or you can just lounge around, which is what I chose on this particular day.  Completely surreal.

After Cloud9, we made our way back over some big, bumpy waves, arriving back home "the jetty," our boat launching area about a 5 minute drive from the base. Tired, happy, and oh so salty.