January 2

We left early this morning along with the Whiteheads, Sister Klinger, and Megan Klinger to see the spinning dolphins.  Bless Scott for his willingness to drive.  The van is a beast, and he always drives because we can take a crowd.  He never complains.  I married a wonderful man.

It took us an hour and a half to get to Takapuna the resort out of which the boats leave for the half moon reef where the dolphins are. We were to be at Takapuna by 8:30. We arrived a little bit early and then waited and waited and waited. It seems that another group was coming from Suva and they wanted them to go out to the reef with us. At 10 we finally insisted that they take us out which they did.

STRANGE EVERGREEN ON
THE WAY DOWN TO THE BOAT

THE WHOLE TREE
 SCOTT TAKING A PICTURE

I love Fiji. Commercial most often does not mean grandiose. To get to the boat we walked down a hill (about 3 blocks) on an unimproved, muddy path through the Fijian bush. To get on the boat as you can see below one must wade. The 16 passenger motorboat we rode was not it great shape even though this company advertises all over Fiji and on the internet. We were not told to put on life jackets until we were well on our way out to the reef and then we were only told after two of us put them on first. The boat was a hull, a podium from which the boat was operated, a motor which did not work very well, and slats on which to sit. We had to step over the snorkeling equipment to get to our seats.  Fiji!

PAUL WAITING TO GET INTO OUR BOAT

The reef was amazing. Because the reef is shaped like a half moon, really more like a 3/4 moon, the dolphins swim into it to rest from the waves and the currents. There is only an opening of just over a standard street block. As we entered the inside of the reef we were surrounded by dolphins almost immediately. The dolphins would swim in pairs and sometimes threes along side the boat just under the surface of the water. Some would swim in front of the boat. Wild dolphins swimming close enough that one could reach out and touch them although we had been cautioned not to do it. After a while another boat came out to the reef, so we left the inside of the reef for the outside of the reef to snorkel.

This reef is protected which means that we can not swim inside the reef nor can we feed the dolphins. All we are allowed to do is sail into the reef and watch.

INSIDE HALF MOON REEF

MORE DOLPHIN FRIENDS

PAUL'S FEET OFF THE BOW OF THE BOAT

Kristin, Paul, and Scott snorkeled for at least 45 minutes. Me, I have a water phobia--drat myself! Everyone in the boat which included two ladies from Australia or New Zealand said that it was the best snorkeling they had ever done. The coral was every color and the fish were amazing. After the snorkeling the captain--I use that title loosely--ask if we wanted to go back into the moon reef and everyone agreed enthusiastically. This time we sat on the bow of the boat as we slowly sailed through the reef watching the dolphins. We spent another hour watching them. After a while they began to perform for us. Really perform. We watched one dolphin breach four times in a row. Every time he would jump we would cheer and clap. Not many minutes later another dolphin or maybe it was the same one being a ham breached five times. Amazing. Now I am not sure what spinning dolphins do, but I never saw a dolphin really spin. What I did see were dolphins breaching and then twisting so they came down on their sides which made really big splashes. We were sad to leave.

We ate the lunches we packed at the resort and then drove further out of Suva to the Seven Snakes cave.

ENTRANCE TO SEVEN SNAKES CAVE

To see the cave one must find the village chief and then he sends for someone in the village to come and lead the tour through the cave. We found the chief and while we waited we met his new wife (3 months) and sat on their lovely deck. We were privileged to get two guides; one young man from the village and the chief's wife. Lighting was a kerosene lamp and a small torch. Because we did not have enough light, Megan and Sister Klinger decided they would use Megan's cell phone light. The cave was not very pretty as caves go, but there was one stalactite that looked like a huge fat snake that ended in seven snakes heads hence the name. The monologue we got was mostly about how the natives used the cave; keep hostages, kill enemies, eat enemies, and keep safe during cyclones. The ceiling of the cave was filled with bats. Another interesting fact was that the villages water supply comes from inside the cave.  There was a large, open stream running through the cave. At the entrance the water is forced into a pipe, up a small hill and into a cistern. When the cistern is full which it was, the water just runs down the sides of the cistern and into the ground. We think it is the drinking water for the village. Bat guano?  I'd die of thirst first.

THIS IS THE SEVEN SNAKE HEADS STALACTITE

CHIEF'S WIFE IN CAVE
OBVIOUSLY PRESERVING THIS CAVE HAS NOT BEEN A PRIORITY

As we talked to the chief no mention of money was every made, but we had read that a small donation was expected. We offered the chief, not the guide or the wife, the donation in one large bill, but he asked us if we had smaller bills which we did. I think he gave some of the money to the young guide who told me he wanted to go to university and was trying to get enough money together to go.  All things come from the village chief if one lives in a village.

PAUL, LANAE, CHIEF'S WIFE, CHIEF, SCOTT, KRISTIN

We were so tired when we got home that we bought Fijian pizza. UGH! And ate it while sitting by the seawall in downtown Suva. Except for the pizza it was a great day.