Ok so it kept raining which meant the roads all flooded so no one could get to or from the airport - started off at 1.5 m of water and then 3m, I think I was the last one through on Monday and there have been no new guests. I really didn't think I would be able to get to the airport tomorrow but apparently this afternoon the roads opened so I should be able to make it through - although it will mean leaving here at 4am.

I've really enjoyed it here, incredibly chilled and laid back but also everyone keeps themselves to themselves with no pressure to chat, stay up late etc but you can if you want to. I've done 7 dives and have passed the Advanced Course. Two of the dives, not part of the course were with sharks - we saw silver tips (dangerous!), bull, lemon, nurse sharks and also black and white tip reef sharks. I hired a camera and attempted to take photos and video - so I will have to see but it's very difficult to do under water so think I only have pictures of bubbles.

On my first dive here, we also saw pilot whales - one huge one just by the boat.

The second night we had a party as one guy had been here a month and was leaving (although he is still here due to the flooding!), so there was a Kava ceremony. A genuine one that all the guys who work here set up and sang lovely songs accompanied by guitars until late into the night - even with no guests around. It was as much for them as us. Kava is non alcoholic - a root vegetable that is ground into a powder (it used to be chewed and spat out), and added to the water in a bag. It has mild 'drug' chilled out effects. A coconut cup is passed around either at low tide or full tide, you clap your hands and say Bula before you drink. I had thee low tide (half full) cups. It tasted a bit like dirty, gritty water - and didn't seem to have an affect but apparently you need about 5 full cups before it kicks in. They don't leave any behind so it goes on for a while. I did feel very sleepy but that was probably the three dives I had done that day - Nitrogen a more powerful drug! The fijians drinking the Kava didn't seem to like the taste either but that didn't stop them. We also ate a Lovo - a Fijian traditional meal where food it cooked in a pit with hot stones covered in coconut leaves and ash. There was something very similar in PNG so brought back memories. The guys making it were very chatty - their English is fantastic and they are really friendly.

So all in all a good, quiet time with a couple of exciting dives as well as improving my diving skills.

Back to Auckland tomorrow to spend the weekend with my good friend Tina who is flying over from Melbourne so that will be lovely to catch up.