I was woken up by a man shouting "Marisaan, Neel Marisaaan" I stumbled disorientated from my drunken stupour and fumbled with my backpack while trying to open my sleep encrusted eyelids! I realised my boat was leaving for Mana Island so I rushed over all bleary-eyed. I jumped onboard and put my contacts on whilst in a moving speedboat (mission impossible!). It was just after 9am and we arrived in the beautiful bay of Ratu Kini. We were greeted with "Bulas"and also given a welcome song. Checking into the Ratu Kini resort must have taken an hour and there were only 4 of us but the staff are operating under Fiji time so it's not surprising. There's really no rush I suppose as we're only going to snorkel and lie on the beach. I spoke to an Austrian guy called Wilfred (from Vienna mid 30s) and a German girl Esther who was still getting used to Fiji time. There was also an American couple from Colorado who were a little spooky but I don't know why just got a creepy feeling about them. Esther asked myself and Wilfred if we wanted to go snorkelling somewhere around the island, we both agreed that would be fun. I shoved my stuff in the bure (a big hut) and the heat was stifling!! The electricity is only on from 5pm to 1am! We all met up and walked through the thick undergrowth (could really have done with a machete) until we reached a secluded bay with rocks that jutted out into the astounding coral reef. There were big crabs scuttling around between the rocks.Esther had the snorkel gear so she went first, then it was my turn and finally Wilfred's turn. The coral and marine life was amazing..it really was. We then walked into the huge beach resort (we low-life backpackers weren't allowed in) and used their complementary hammocks..aah paradise baby! I could really do with a bounty chocolate bar right now. We walked through the resort until we found the huge metal fence and then followed it to the shore to get back into our "resort" which is much better as it is surrounded by an actual traditional Fijian village. Later I had dinner with a funny Irish guy called Derry (no not Gerry, Derry! I called him Gerry for a while instinctively) He had come along way from Tipperaray (yeah bad joke...) Dinner was, Monty are you listening? Mystery meat, pasta and fried breadfruit (nice!) then fruit salad. I tried to capture the sunset with my camera but it sank so fast. I went back to the bure had a horrible cold shower, got changed and walked in on "the paper game" (you dance with a partneron paper but after each episode of music, the paper is divided while the couple must keep both feet on the paper, eventually the guys need to pick upt the girls as the paper gets smaller, last couple on paper wins). I joined in on a musical chairs style game later, dancing round in a circle; it was fun! We all sat out later under the spectacular Fijian starry sky! I spoke to everyone I'd met earlier and a Russian guy called Roman (who looked like a KGB agent). We played a card game, lowest card picked out has to tell a joke. They were so bad, for example: Why does Michael Jackson love twenty-eight year olds? Because there's 20 of them. All the Fijian staff wore flowers behind their ears which looked really cool but then I was drunk...