We caught the yasawa flyer back to the main port in Nadi and had arranged a transfer from there to our next destination. We were to spend 3 nights in a place called The Arts Village in Pacific Harbour which can be found on the south of the main island of Viti Levu. The intention had been to get a local bus to the hostel however with it being a Sunday and the boat not docking until after 6pm there were no buses running so we arranged a transfer with one of the infamous Fijian mini buses. It took us about two and a half hours to get to Pacific Harbour and that was with our insane driver called sonny who I am sure had a death wish so I think it would normally take much longer. We arrived at the hostel at about 9pm and not having eaten anything since our 12pm lunch on the island we were starving. We checked in to our room and went straight to the only restaurant still open in the Village, the poolside bar. Having spent 2 weeks eating whatever you were given we were like kids in a sweetshop when we were given a menu and had to choose what we wanted. There was not a bone curry in sight and as predicted we ordered far too much food for our shrunken bellies but god it all tasted good! I think it took about 15 minutes for me to notice that there were quite a few mosquito's buzzing around our legs and given my previous history of getting bitten on the islands I wasn't keen to hang around and see if I tasted good to the mainland mozzies so we were both pretty tired and headed off to bed!The next day and as sad as it sounds the first thing we were desperate to do was laundry!! We had two weeks on the islands were Mike only had one pair of shorts, I had two bikinis and we only had one beach towel each. I should probably explain that the problem actually lay in the fact that the humidity in Fiji meant that for two weeks our wet swimming things and our towels had never properly dried and as a result smelt really horrible and damp. Then having to pack them every time we moved islands meant that the majority of our stuff smelt the same. So the first stop was the arts village laundromat and we both felt terrible as the girl in the launderette insisted that she unpack our stuff and load the machines we felt terrible because for want of a better word the clothes were rank! Nevertheless she took it all from us and we headed to have a wander round the village to see what it had to offer. It seemed to us that when they built the village they obviously intended for it to be really busy but maybe due to the time of year it was really quiet and many of the units within the village were vacant. There were a few craft shops selling Fijian woodwork, jewelry, sarongs and other tourist bits and pieces. There was a post office a supermarket and a gym. The swimming pool area was lovely and had a really nice swim up bar however due to its location in the middle of a jungle setting it was just full of mosquito's. I was already nursing around 10 bites on my legs so was not keen to risk getting anymore for the sake of a swim in the pool! After checking out what the village had to offer we crossed the road and headed to the beachfront to see what it was like. Again it was very quiet mainly Fijian local children playing and only a couple of people sunbathing. At the top of the beach there seemed to be a big ditch full of stagnant dirty water which you guessed it attracted more mosquitos. It was getting to the point that the every time I looked to my legs there were even more bites on them so after a quick wander along the beach we had to make our way back to the room for me to get a rest from getting bitten. Eventually after about 3 hours our washing was done and sorted into 2 bags, one for each of us and I have never been so happy as to open the bag and be able to smell clean and not disgusting damp clothes. Its funny how the simplest things make you happy when your away from all the comforts of home! I cant really see me back in Edinburgh rolling around in all my clean clothes marveling at how wonderful they smell! We spent the rest of the afternoon watching some of the Olympics on the TV in our room. It might have been nice to watch something else however we only had the one channel so it was Olympic sailing or nothing at all! We had takeaway pizza for dinner collected by Michael as I was in the room nursing the 30 or so bites that I had on my legs from the previous night and walking around earlier in the day.The next day and the sun had been replaced by rain and grey sky. It was still really warm but not really sunbathing weather (not that I was bothered as I couldn't sit out without being eaten alive). We had a very lazy morning watching more of the Olympics this time women's football and then hockey. Then in the afternoon I put on my jeans and a long sleeved jumper and we went to see the fire dancing show put on by the men from a local village. It is believed that their ancestors were given the gift of being able to walk on fire from the gods. The gift has been passed from generation to generation and now twice a week the tribe come to the arts village to showcase their god given talents. It was a really impressive show, they burn a load of wood and rocks for about 2 hours before the show. As you would expect the rocks get really hot, when they threw a piece of metal from within the fire into the lake it hissed as it entered the water. They then flatten the stone, bless themselves and the stones and then like total nutters they one by one walk onto the stones and stand for a good 30 seconds before getting off and letting the next man have a go. The stones were genuinely roasting and the men didn't seem to flinch at all as they walked on them. After the fire walking the tribe then did some dancing to showcase some traditional Fijian dances. The dancers were all really good and the information given to us from the commentator as the show progressed was really interesting, we both really enjoyed it and it was a great way to pass a rainy afternoon in Fiji. We had dinner that night in a restaurant within the village and then chilled out in our room with a DVD that we were able to rent from the reception of the hostel.Our last morning in pacific harbour and we have definitely saved the best till last! Before we left Mantaray island we were persuaded by our dive instructor to sign up for an amazing shark dive which is done by a company called aquatrek from pacific harbour. Feeling all confident and hyper from our island diving we had paid a deposit and booked up for the morning of August 20th! Not surprisingly I didn't get much sleep the previous night partly because I still get nervous about the actual dive but the fact that this time it was a shark feeding dive somehow made it worse! Before going on the dive I had intentionally stayed away from any of the specifics of what actually happened on a shark feed dive. Michael had been on the aquatrek website, watched the promotional video and read all about what to expect on the dive, I however was clueless! We arrive at the dive shop around 8am and are given the usual comforting declaration to sign whereby if you die for any reason on the dive the company are by no means responsible! Next we had to get our wetsuits and all the other diving gear required. Previously because the weather on the islands had been so lovely we had not needed wetsuits so it was a hilarious sight watching Michael and I try to shoehorn ourselves into two very tight wetsuits. We then take all our gear and board the boat along with about 5 big buckets of dead fish, blood and fish oils so I am sure you can imagine the smell. (not a patch on dead rat though)! The boat takes about 30 minutes to get to the feeding sight and we are then given our briefing. Basically they chuck a load of fish guts into the water to attract some of the smaller sharks to the surface then when everyone is ready we all jump in with the sharks and descend in the water to about 26m. At this point we all stand behind a submerged rope on the ocean floor while the dive crew open a big bucket of blood to attract some of the larger sharks to come in and feed. We then watch as the sharks and some pretty big fish all feast on the goodies! We then have an hours rest on the boat before going back in this time to 16m to do some more feeding and hopefully at this point attract some of the really big scary sharks to come out to play! When the crazy south african dive master shouted that the sharks were now ready for us we all jumped into the bloodbath and began our descent to the bottom. Once on the bottom they opened the big wheely bin of blood and guts and as predicted the sharks came in to feed thick and fast. We were all clinging to a piece of rope trying to take in what was happening before our eyes. There were massive sharks, smaller sharks and hundreds maybe even thousands of pretty big fish with even bigger teeth swmmming all around us. After watching for a while the dive masters took us one at a time under the rope to stand in the middle of the feeding frenzy and it was at this point that you were allowed to stroke one of the larger sharks! I couldn't believe I had even managed to jump out the boat and here I was touching a shark! I am not really sure what I expected it to feel like but I would say it felt like rough rubber and the shark was too busy scoffing the fish to bother about trying to eat us! We could only stay on the bottom for about 20 minutes before we had to come to a shallower point for another 15 minutes swimming with some of the smaller sharks. There was also a ship wreck on the site so it was pretty cool to swim around a sunken ship and another first for us diving novices. We were just about to come to the surface for our safety stop when one of the other divers who had swam the wreck with us was waving and pointing at something. When we got closer we realised he was pointing at a lion fish. I am not sure if you know what that is but it is a really poisonous and funky looking fish (google it for a picture)! We then came to the surface for our hour break in the boat. This was the worst bit of the dive the sea was really choppy and by the end of the hour I was green and more than happy to get into the shark infested waters. The second dive was much like the first however this time the big daddy bull sharks had come in for a piece of the action. We had hoped to see the tiger shark which occasionally puts in an appearance however he didn't want to play today! We were still more than happy with all the sharks we saw including nurse sharks, silver tip and black tip reef sharks, nurse sharks, bull sharks and lemon sharks to name a few. Even to be surrounded by so many fish in such close proximity was an experience in itself. They all swim so close to you but somehow none of them ever touch you! At one point one of the dive masters threw a fish head over to where we were standing and as it floated towards our faces you could see the shark coming towards us with his mouth open to devour the head. It was one of the scariest and most amazing things we have ever seen, like something you see in a Hollywood film! After all the excitement was over we made our way back to the boat and then back to the harbour to dry off. So that's another two dives for our dive log and what a two dives they were! Its not every day that you meet someone who has been diving with sharks.