We found out today that out of 14 Fijian Provinces, the Ra Province, which we are in, is the only one that does not greet with "bula". They actually say “yadra” (pronounced yandra). Yadra means good morning, but they use it all day and all night as their greeting. At the resort the staff just uses bula because that is what tourists expect when they come to Fiji.

This morning Eric and I woke up around 5:30 and waded out in to the ocean to our knees. It is very flat and shallow in front of our bure. We were able to see around the little peninsula of land to our East and see the sunrise. It was a little overcast so we could not actually see it come up over the horizon but it did peak in and out of the clouds and make some pretty colors across the sky. We walked around in the water for a while and chased crabs, little fish and stingrays. It was a very pleasant way to start the day.

While we were having our morning coffee a nice little rain storm blew through. We sat on our veranda and watched the rain. It was the kind of rain that only happens in a tropical place. It only lasted about 45 minutes and the rest of the day was beautiful.

We went Kayaking in the morning for about an hour and a half. Wananavu has a bunch of sea kayaks you can just drop in the water and take exploring. Ryan and Lesley took one and Eric and I took one and off we went. We skimmed the coast to the East looking at the cliffs, inlets and mangrove clusters. Fiji includes over 300 islands so while we were kayaking the view constantly changed. Every time we came around a corner we would look up and see another island or mountain in the distance.

After lunch we sat on the beach and lounged in hammocks and read our books for a while. Ryan finally got a dive in which made him happy. He went to a reef called the maze that had a lot of swim-through coral formations. He said it would be really easy to get lost so the name fits. The dive master at the resort says that the sea here has over 400 types of coral and 1200 types of fish. Ryan said it was very different from diving in the Caribbean.

Eric, Lesley and I went to a talk about coconuts put on by an elderly gentleman named Eveloni. He is from one of the local villages and was fascinating to listen to. Eveloni had a great sense of humor and kept us laughing for an hour. He taught us all the stages of the coconut and all the uses of the coconut tree. The coconut tree is known as the tree of life in Fiji and every part has multiple uses. He also showed us how to open a coconut with a sharp stick and his grandson climbed a tree in 20 seconds in his bare feet. Basically he just walked up the tree and started picking coconuts for us.

Eveloni told us that Fijians do not teach their children to climb trees or how to swim. As soon as they are able to walk they run off into the bush for hours at a time and they work out on their own how to swim, climb, eat and drink from the land and basically survive.

We had happy hour on the veranda and dinner in the tree house and managed to stay up past 9pm. So far Fiji has been a great layover on the way to Australia. I wish we could spend another week here learning about the culture and exploring the rest of the island.