Coral view...YUK! When we usually arrive at an island about 5 of us get off the boat and onto our new island but this time we arrived with a lot of other people on Tavewa and were hearded into a big hut with a tin roof. We put all of our things into a cramped room with mosquito nets with holes in and head to the toilets that smell like a septic tank...this is because the septic tank is right behind it! The showers had no lights and were dark and full of spiders and I only managed to shower once with the door open the whole time!

Then to make matters worse it started to rain...now there is nothing much to do when you are stranded on an island in the rain except for sit in the main room staring at each other and this is what a group of us did! Then it got to happy hour and we cheered up until we were told that there were no cocktails being made because they didn't have any ice?! Never mind, eh? Dinner was not too great and we went to bed early to get away from the sound of the rain bashing off of the tin roof, I have honestly never seen rain like it in my life, when it rains in Fiji, it really rains!

The next day was a beautiful morning and we went on a trip to the Sau-I-Lau caves. We got into a little boat and powered our way there after a few boat changes due to dangerous overcrowding! We arrived at a beach and walked to the caves. We had to go up some stairs and then down some more into the caves. We had to get into the water in the caves which was absolutely freezing cold and I stood and shivered the whole time until we were to swim through an underwater tunnel into another cave. Now I think it is safe to say that not too many people would feel too happy about swimming underwater in a cave, through a dark tunnel into another pitch black cave and to be honest, I was more than a little scared! I made sure that I was the second person in there...there would be someone else there when I got through but I woudn't have to mull it over for too long. I go tto the entrance where you are to go and the guide told me to look for a torch under the water. We had to follw that torch and not come up too early or we could crack our head open or break the guides fingers which had happened in a previous group! Hmm, this sounds like not such a bright idea. After thinking there was no way I could do this I managed to get myself under water and swim towards the light...this was really scary and I didn't know when to come up so I waited until the guide pulled my hair up out of the water! Ouch! I have never held on to someone so tight though! It was so dark in there I couldn't see a thing so he just planted me on a rock and once my eyes got used to it and I got over the tunnel I swam out of the way of people coming in. When we all got in we swam through a tunnel (above water this time) and into another little cavern where the guide told us a ghost story and made us all scream really loud. On the way back I made sure I was first through to the other side and this time when I swam under I managed to get to the other side of the cave under water before I came up. I did it!! Another fear faced! The caves were beautiful and the guide showed off by climbing the walls and jumping from a really high ledge...rather him than me!

Back at Coral View we decided to sun bathe while the sun was still there and then the rain came! We decided to fill our afternoons by learning how to weave a basket with palm leaves with Crazy Bill. This prooved difficult for Barry and it was amusing watching him struggle with the leaves. It was not that easy but once you got the hang of it it was easier. My basket turned out wonky thanks to the massive fijian who tried to show me how to do it and messed it up...my side was perfectly fine and his was all loose and baggy!

That night we managed to have a cocktail..with ice. It was actually really nice and worth the wait. We had the BEST dinner ever! It was curry and it was great..I even went back for seconds, get me! I had to do it though as I never knew when I would next get to eat! The evening was spent doing the Bula dance with Crazy Bill and walking around playing the snake game. After this we had a few Fiji Babies and went to sleep to rise early for the morning a sun.

A beautiful morning meant a lot more sunbathing and a lot more pictures of how lovely the island itself was. Again there wasn't much of a beach but the trees and the sand made it look beautiful. After some lunch and some hammock lying, we got on our (delayed) boat and headed out for the Wanna Taki Cruise boat!