Nanuya Scenes

"Our" beach

At the Blue Lagoon point

Around the point, back side of Nanuya, Turtle Island on the
right

Prime snorkeling area off the point

Thus (we'll have snorkeling pix when the sports camera photos
are developed)

The supply ship  arrives

Swimming fuel barrels to the shore (for the generator)

Alas, it rained on and off all Saturday

But traffic to and from the resort continued

Thus; take-off is at http://youtu.be/SJtBaPOfq3w

Farewell serenade for departing Melbourne guests; on
YouTube at http://youtu.be/4bSO6vj1OqU

Dinner On The Beach

Friday night we had dinner by ourselves on the beach...Vicki's idea, like most of the neater things we do...

Thus

And thus

Us, perhaps a bit sun-burned after a busy day's touring and
snorkeling

Green mussels

Steak and potatoes

New Facebook photo?

Fun occasion

Sawa-I-Lau Caves

Aka the Blue Lagoon caves. We visited them Friday morning along with the two Swedish couples here we have enjoyed getting to know. Staff member Moses was our guide. All this involved a 40 minute boat ride past a variety of islands, and back, including a fair amount of "open" sea. Lots to look at. We were rather less impressed with the caves themselves, but that's often the case with travel. It's the getting there that's important, the company, and incidents along the way. We purchased a "sports" camera--a disposable, good down to 30 meters or so, like the one we used kayaking at Milford in 2009 that I didn't get developed until 2013--and I'll include some shots from it in the cave, as well as snorkeling later, whenever we can get them developed.

Moses at the helm, as it were, speeding us away from Nanuya

Reefs and shoals along the way

Sea-faring Vicki

To me it looked just like Tom Hanks' island in Cast Away; Moses informed us,
with a wicked grin, that it was called "Cannibal Island"

Some of the islands we passed were clearly volcanic in origin, recently; others,
not

Approaching the island of caves

"Righty tighty, lefty loosey"...a mechanical interlude a mile off-shore, as Moses
re-attaches the motor to the boat

The Blue Lagoon Caves Centre...steps to the right leading to the caves, to the left,
the market, with beads, necklaces, etc., to the extreme left, the toilet, behind a rock
("pee only")

Someone else's photo of the large cave...I'll have my own in the following post...
soon...

It's all this weirdly-eroded limestone (plus beautiful waters surrounding the
island)

Pretty, if tiny beach

We took a different route back, on the outside, looking westward to the Coral
Sea, still hugging the shore, where possible, and enjoying the reefs 

Schools of jumping fish (I swear they were...)

And the many different shore features

Matacawalevu Village Visit

Thursday one of the staff members here, Joji, took us across the channel to Matacawalevu Island and his village, Matacawalevu. (He also does tours of the local school, fishing and other minor excursions). We walked most of the village, 30-40 houses, met some people, looked in at the church and elsewhere, and had an introduction and visit with The Chief (not pictured because I forgot to ask), a well-spoken and well-traveled Fijian (he'd been to NYC and DC) about our our age. Apparently the chief is elected by and from the elite families. All the resort staff are from one or another of the four nearby villages, and we wanted to have some experience of the native culture here; and do a little to directly support the local people.

Looking toward the village, across the channel, from Joji's boat

On the beach; Matacawalevu translates to "long beach"

Houses facing a village green

Some of the houses, nearer the beach, did not fare well in last year's cyclone

The church (Methodist)

Interior

Village ceremonial drum

Cooking is done in a shed away from one's house

Piglet herd

Joji shows us a local tuber, kava

Bread fruit: think Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian

And papaya, one of my least favorite tropical fruits

Boating back to Nanuya...the Blue Lagoon beach again

Nanuya Update

Tuesday we got here in the afternoon, checked in, moved in, reconnoitered, and then just relaxed until dinner, which was an hour after sunset. Wednesday we had really good intentions, but before we could get our face-masks, snorkels, and fins, the tide went out, and, of course, we didn't want to go snorkeling at low tide. So, somewhere between breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we went for a walk on the beach. That was about it for Wednesday. Oh, I did read Ian McEwen's Sweet Tooth. Today was more productive: we visited the village across the channel, went snorkeling for more than an hour (first time ever!), and then took another walk on the beach. And I started reading Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries. Tomorrow we visit the Blue Lagoon.

Wednesday's walk

What much of Wednesday looked like

Sunset skies

Ditto

The resort, though tiny by any standard, does really nice stuff: here, dinner on
the beach for a young Oz couple celebrating a birthday

A hundred feet away, the elders were doing OK...here, Vicki's steak (I had
lobster)

That's how clear and calm the water is

This is approximately what we looked like snorkeling today (actually it's another
couple from Oz); we were out for about an hour, all the more experienced guests
offering advice and encouragement--we had never done this before; the coral and
fish and what-not were beautiful and captivating; Vicki loved it and really excelled
(much to her surprise; and mine); I still prefer the Monterey Aquarium but have
committed to at least two more sessions here

Of course the big daily event is the arrival of the boat from
Denarau...new guests

From today's beach walk, a bit of the beach where some scenes from Blue
Lagoon were filmed; tomorrow we do the main locations