Fiji - Taveuni

We arrived at Suva and were told that due to a storm out at sea the boat was delayed. We were meant to board at 4pm but now we would board at 7pm, a bit annoying but not to bad, slightly more annoying when we realised the only place to sit was a wooden bench outside and it was starting to rain. 7 o'clock came and went and we continued to sit in the rain on the tiny bench. Our patience was growing thin but as Fiji time goes no one knew anything about when the boat would arrive. At 10.30pm after 8 hours on that bench the boat appeared to arrive, we just followed the crowd of people moving towards a gate and waited. We had been told that a ticket to Taveuni was $75 ( around £25) but if you paid $90 you got a first class ticket and got a bed. We decided it was worth £5 extra and would get a first class ticket. Now I know that Fijians are relaxed and there isn't much structure or planning to anything but I have never seen anything quite like this! The gate opened and everyone started running towards this ferry. So we also ran. It was like something from an apocalyptic film and this was the only way out to safety! We got to the mouth of the cargo bit of the ferry and there was a mix of animals, cars, bikes and people both trying to disembark and embark onto the ferry. We had no idea where or how to get a ticket. But we pushed forward. Eventually we spotted a tiny desk crammed full of people, we figured that must be it so we joined the 'queue'. We had met a Danish couple earlier and they were stood infront of us in the queue (bundle). Suddenly everyone started being pushed back out of the boat, a very angry man (I had yet to see an angry Fijian) shouted that only people paying their debt were to board the ferry. Having no idea what is meant we decided to just try and get a ticket incase they sold out, however we got pushed back. The Danish couple stayed in the queue and we shouted to them to buy us 2 first class tickets and we'd pay them back. We were pushed back into the dark and rain outside the ferry while people just seemed to run in every direction, it was so stressful! Eventually the Danish couple came off the boat, they looked traumatised and sweaty but waved a bit of paper that was to be our ticket! They had had to give a name for each passenger and had remembered Paris' name but not mine, I was now to be Charlotte if anyone asked!!

Finally at 11.30 we were allowed to board the ferry, we were shepherded like cattle onto the boat and had to leave our bags totally unsecured in the cargo area, I figured we'd be very lucky if we saw them again! We got a stamp on the wrist as we entered and we tried to find our way to the first class cabins. A tiny paper sign with first class written on it directed us left, we wandered in and saw lines of chairs that could recline about 2 inches. We figured this must be the first class lounge and we would also get a cabin with beds. I asked an attendant where the bed rooms were and she told us it was an extra $20 each for a bed, fed up and exhausted we didn't argue and paid her the money. She told us to wait a second and she would be back, then she returned.... Holding two tiny, old pieces of foam. She proceeded to lie the bits of foam on the floor in the aisle between he seats and threw down a blanket and a sheet and pillow. We could not believe that this constituted as first class!!

By midnight the ferry finally set off, and they sure weren't kidding about the rough seas. Everyone had said how they don't get sea sick and every single person was sea sick, except me!! I did get a headache though, the boat would rise up and your stomache would fall and then it would crash down at such a rate that items lifted up off the floor slightly, and smack into the sea, it sounded and felt as though it was hitting sand or rocks! We eventually laid down and tried to get a few hours sleep but about an hour in I opened my eyes to see about 4 cockroaches crawling over me, one on my pillow. Needless to say I spent the rest of the journey in the plastic reclining chair and hardly slept a wink. It will certainly go down as the worst journey of my life.

When we eventually got in at 11pm the next day I had never felt so awful and tired in my life. We got to the hostel and collapsed in our beds still feeling like everything was violently rocking!

In the morning we had a look around the hostel and it was lovely! It was an Eco lodge so they only allowed electricity at certain times of the day and there was no running water in the dorm and no hot water at all! Despite this the place felt like a 5 star resort after that boat ride! We both agreed there was no way we could do that again so we booked onto an 8 man plane back to Suva at the end of the week for $185, it was the best money I have ever spent!

Our main reason for coming to Taveuni was to dive so we booked on to two days of diving which began in a few days. Meanwhile we went on an excursion to a natural water slide. Taveuni is a very lush island with huge areas of jungle like rainforest. We trekked through the bushes and trees, barefoot I might add, true Fijians by now! We came across the water slide which was a series of small waterfalls made out of soft, smooth rocks. It was so much fun! Although it hurt your bottom a bit on the rocks but you actually went quite fast and at get end of each section of slide you fell into a big natural pool of fresh water. The surroundings were beautiful, deep in the forrest and it was a great experience! We then went to a village house and had some lunch and were shown where all the fruit and veg for the hostel is grown. This house was on top of a hill with the most incredible views of Taveuni and some smaller surrounding islands. All in all it was a wonderful and fun day.

Finally it was time to do our first dive! After not diving since Miami I was beyond excited to get into some tropical waters and sea the amazing marine life I had heard about! We had booked with a company we had been recommended as being the best, although they were more expensive we wanted a good and safe trip so went for them. I'm so glad we did that as they were an excellent company, run by one lady, July, Taveuni Ocean Sports divers is a small but professional company. All their kit was in impeccable condition and was really good quality and expensive kit! Each diver also got their own dive guide, for no extra cost which is almost unheard of! So we got a one on one dive with an expert diver who was super familiar with the reefs and waters and currents we were diving. I felt so safe and really excited to get down there. Before the dive we had a full brief of the dive route, the conditions- which were perfect, no wind calm waters -and we were informed of what kind of currents to expect. They also told us what marine life we would be likely to see and what to keep an eye out for.

Our first dive site was Rainbows End. The reef was absolutely covered in the most vibrant coral, I'd never seen anything quite like it, it almost didn't seem real as it was so bright and colourful. There were also more fish than I thought possible in one place! Huge schools of reef fish and slightly further out schools or bigger fish moving all together in seamless unison, it was amazing. The dive was about 45 minutes long and we went to 28 metres, a very good dive!

The second dive of the day is one that really stood out, it was at a dive sight called The Ledge and was a big coral wall. On this dive there was just as much coral and even more fish, what made this dive special was the amount of rare fish we saw. During the surface interval (safety time at the surface between dives) whilst being fed fresh home made cake, fruit and watermelon juice we were given a lesson on marine life. A marine biologist who was doing his dive master qualification with the company told us all about different fish species found in these waters and showed us photos in a book so we could recognise them. During the dive one of the other divers tapped two metal poles together, sending out an audible noise which could be heard underwater from quite a distance, this alerted everyone to the fact that he had seen something special. I was near by and he beckoned me over to a gap in the rocks. He had a torch and pulled me in and pointed into the crevice, I was expecting to sea a lobster or a crab or something, I peered in at where he was shining his torch and suddenly saw an ENORMOUS eye. I freaked out a bit and jumped back but quickly went back for another look, this fish was absolutely enormous, it appeared to be asleep with it's eyes open as it was very still just floating there. It must have been half the size of me, it's mouth was probably the size of my head and it had strangely human looking gigantic lips. I couldn't believe how big it was! I later found out that it was a Goliath Napoleon Wrasse and is quite rare to see!

About ten minutes after this I spotted a Titan trigger fish which we had been briefed on, quite a big fish, I watched as it attacked some coral. They bite into coral to try and get small crabs living in the rocks behind the corals. The fish had huge teeth probably the size of the end joint of your pinky finger. It would back up, line itself up with the coral and shoot forward demolishing the rock and sending clouds of debris into the water. I was absolutely fascinated by it and got quite close but we had been told they can bite you if you scare them so I didn't want to push my luck! It was one of the coolest things I've seen diving and I had to really drag myself away from watching it to carry on with the rest of the dive route.

At the end of the dive even the guides were excited by the fish we had seen which showed just how good the dive had been and I was so happy I'd experienced it! I wanted to dive again the next day but we had a few days break as our next dive was a special one! We were to dive the White Wall, rated the 6th best dive site in the world. It is only possible to dive it at at certain times of day for about 3 days every 2 weeks due to the lunar cycle which changes the currents. Outside of these times the currents are too strong or weak and the coral will not be in bloom. Amazingly the time we were there was just the right time and we were able to do a very early morning dive in a couple of days time, I couldn't wait!

For the next few days we sunbathed and relaxed in the resort, eating their incredible food made only with ingredients from the island. It was all fresh and tasted amazing!

I had recently got a GoPro as a really early Christmas present, I took it diving but unfortunately at those kind of depths colours don't show up accurately on cameras, I needed a red filter to go over the lens to get true images of the coral and fish. I would get one when I was back in Nadi.

Finally the day arrived to do the White Wall dive. I was so excited! The guides explained how this dive was a drift dive due to the strong currents. This basically meant that once we got to depth we would just float there, not needing to swim and the current would guide us along and around the wall. When we first entered the water we descended and got to swim through coral arches and swim through, this is basically like swimming through an underwater cave full of fish, is was really cool, you could see all the air from our tanks getting trapped at the top of the cave and suddenly escaping through a small hole.

The white wall certainly lived up to my expectations, after the swim through you turn around a wall of coral and there it is, a sheer drop off of around 80 metres (as far as you can see beneath you) absolutely covered in the brightest white soft coral. We were at about 32 metres and at these depths the coral had almost a blue luminescent look to it. It almost looked alien, and it looked even more impressed as beyond the wall was just the open ocean, we saw a few sharks swimming about a few metres out which was a bit eerie as you couldn't tell if they were small reef sharks or big bull or tiger sharks just further away. We saw some awesome fish on the white wall and went through a few more swim throughs covered in the white coral. I'm so glad I got to do it as it was truly magnificent.

On our surface interval we went to a beach for snacks and a debrief, as the boat pulled in to the shore we saw sea turtles swimming in the shallows. Now anyone at knows me knows I am kind of obsessed with sea turtles. It's been a dream of mine for a long time to swim with them. I asked the guides if I could jump in and they said to have some food and drink first and look later, I must have looked really disappointed as one of the guides got my mask and snorkel and pretty much pushed me off the boat. The sound of the boat had scared them off but I waited around swimming really quietly hoping they would come back, I had nearly given up when I spotted something and swam towards it. There it was!! A massive sea turtle eating some grubs on the sand. I approached it really slowly expecting it to swim off straight away (they are very shy creatures) but amazing it stayed and continued to eat. I dove down and swam right next to it, it stopped and looked right at me but didn't swim away! I stayed with it for about 5 minutes until it eventually swam off into deeper seas. It was incredible I was almost crying of happiness when I got back to shore. The other divers then went to look but they didn't see any turtles, so I'm so glad I jumped straight in and didn't wait!!

The next dive Jerry's Jelly was similar to the first two. We saw a lot of different species all together on honks dive, most of e cast of finding Nemo, three black tip reef sharks, a moray eel and two rare blue ribbon eels. It was an amazing day, after so long in deep seas I was pretty cold and it's hard to warm up even in the Fijian sun so me and two of the guides sat on the roof of the boat in the sun on the way back, it was so fun!

I had so much fun in Taveuni, it's such a beautiful and relaxed island, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to go snorkelling or diving as it has the best diving in Fiji!