BULA!!!!

Where did the summer go? For me, it was way to short this year. Next week I report back to school and another school year begins. I can honestly say I'm not ready to go back yet. This is one of those times I wish we started after Labor Day. Oh well.

The summer was nice. At first I thought it would be another wash out due to all the rain but the heat and humidity came in with a vengeance. I'm ok with it but I know it made it miserable for others. I can say I was very happy with having AC especially with baking for the markets.

We choose to do the Cohasset Market on Thursdays and the Hingham Market on Saturdays. This commitment along with working at CSCR kept me busy a majority of the summer but in a good way. I had a great group of kids to work with at CSCR and they had a great time mucking in the marsh collecting data. The markets have been good and hopefully this will continue into the winter season when things get slow. We shall see.

Ohio the end of July was nice. I had a great time visiting my sister and her family and got to see my folks. Dad's had a rough first half of the year. First surgery to correct a torn Achilles tendon, then surgery for a dead and gangrene gallbladder. Just when we thought things were better, Mom breaks her wrist while at Abby's bday party then Dad has to go back in for surgery because a gallstone blew the clamp off the bile duct from the gallbladder surgery. Thankfully Mom didn't have to have surgery on her wrist. But come on, how many times can these two people spend at the hospital or doctor's office?  Abby had a great first friend birthday party to celebrate turning 5. I made sugar cookies in the shape of princess crowns, tea cups, teapots, and flowers and made her birthday cake. She loved everything and had an awesome time.

After getting home from Ohio, I had one day to do laundry, square the house away, and pack for Fiji. Thankfully all the scuba gear was packed before I went to Ohio. We headed out to LA the beginning of August. It was nice to have a day and a half in LA. Bob was happy to have In-n-Out Burger. IT was an adventure finding it but once we did, he was happy. At least we were able to walk off the burger on the way back to the hotel. We were able to hook up with Corinne and Bill, fellow divers we met while in Cozumel one summer. They took us to a great Thai place and we were able to catch up on all the dive adventures they have been on. It was really great to see them. Being able to have a lazy morning and lounge by the pool before boarding a flight to Fiji was nice. In the future, I'll do this on the return flight also just to break up the flying.

It took 10.5 hours to reach Nadi, Fiji from LA. Bob slept a little and I was able to catch a little sleep also but none like we would have liked. If we were rich, we would have upgraded to business class or first class but not this year. As Bob said, maybe our 20th anniversary. Once we got to Nadi, we got our transfer and traveled 2.5 hours to the Pacific Harbor. We traveled along the Coral coast on Queen's Road and enjoyed the view. Rohan and Simone, from Australia, were also with us on this journey. They were married the month before but waited until the Honeymoon villa was available at the resort. Once we reached the harbor, we got our boat from Lalati Resort and Spa and took a 45 minute boat ride across Beqa Lagoon to the resort. Finally we arrived at the resort and were greeted with a Fijian song, coconut drinks, and a flower lei. While checking in, we were given foot massages that used shredded coconut to exfoliate and coconut milk (from squeezing the shredded coconut) to moisturize. Even being tired, you enjoyed this nice surprise.

We stayed in Oceanfront Villa #1 appropriately named Bambale, which means dolphin. The room was amazing and would be our home for the week. We decided to take a walk along the beach and look for shells and Bob took pictures. Eventually Bob took a nap and I took a Fijian cooking lesson. Our first night we experienced a traditional Fijian dinner and the Kava ceremony. Kava is definitely a drink I will never have again. It looks like muddy water and tastes like dirty socks, too much causes your tongue to go numb and can cause you to hallucinate. Kate and Max, also from Australia, got married on the day we arrived so the Fijian dinner was technically their wedding dinner/celebration. The food was amazing. We had a coconut/tuna cold soup before having fish, casava, tarro, and other goodies that were  cooked in the Earth Oven (a hole in the ground). We found out that all the other couples (5 in total) that were at the resort had just been married, got married within the week or within the month. Bob and I laughed and said we were celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. Yep, we were the old farts at the table.

Our main purpose for going to Fiji was to DIVE. Most days we were the only ones with the Dive Master. The Dive Masters, Kirstin and Paul, both from England, were cool. They met in Mexico and have been traveling all over the world working as Dive Masters. Now this is a job I could really love. They had a dog named Dogg. Dogg was friendly and loved to be petted and even enjoyed extra muffins.

The diving was amazing. The first day the current was strong and it was an interesting time at the beginning of the dive but once you were underwater, you could hide around coral crops. Our first dive in Fiji we saw a White Tip Reef Shark and every dive after that we saw at least one shark. Pretty cool. Seeing soft corals, tons of coral species I don't know, many fish, lots of nudibranchs, flatworms, massive sea cucumbers, made the trip amazing. Some of the pictures came out great but I need to get better at using the strobe before we head to Utila in Feb.

We did a Shark Dive on our second day. Aqua Trek does the feeding but you are 10 feet away from the action. We saw 6 of the 8 species that usually come to the feast. We saw the Bull, White Tip Reef, Black Tip Reef, Silver Tip Reef, Gray Reef, and Nurse Sharks. We didn't see the Lemon or the Tiger Shark. I guess the day before the Tiger Sharks showed up. Oh well. We did purchase the DVD to show to friends and family later and you can see us. Bob and I waved every time the camera came our way. IT was amazing and something I would definitely do again.

The rest of week was spent diving. In the afternoons we would either hang at the pool, read, hang with others during Happy Hour, participate in activities or scour the beach for stuff. The last day we were there we decided to get a spa treatment, which was heavenly. 

Leaving Fiji was sad but all good things must come to an end. We highly recommend the Lalati Resort and Spa if you are looking for a romantic, secluded, remote place to be. We will definitely go back if we can.

So next week school starts and I'll be back to the grind. At least we have things to look forward to like seeing friends from Switzerland, going away for our Anniversary weekend, seeing my dad and this is just in Sept. Before we know it, we'll be gearing up for another dive adventure to Utila. Hopefully we will see Whale Sharks!

When I get some time, I'll post some pictures from Fiji. You can access them on my facebook page.
Until next time, CHEEERS (as Ala would say).