Kuata and Swimming with Sharks

Our last Island hop brought us to the small island of Kuata, where I spent more time lying in hammock and finished the 622 page book that I brought with me at the beginning of the island hop! The next morning I was sharply awoken by some birds in our dorm-hut-thing, they looked a bit like crows but sounded like dinosaurs which is why I was sharply awoken! I spent another day relaxing and watching crabs on the beach dig holes in the sand. It was time for another Bula dance after which we got talking to some guys who went on an snorkeling trip and snorkeled and swam with sharks. We thought this sounded so cool so the next day after waking up at 5.30am to watch the sunrise (very pretty) we set off on the boat trip, snorkel and flippers in hand!

The boat trip out was long, and Kuata got smaller and smaller into the distance. Eventually the boat stopped just in the middle of the ocean and the driver said, "OK, jump out!" I was mildly nervous, as jumping out into to the water where there's no hope of touching the bottom makes me a bit nervous and then with the added choppy water conditions I was a bit freaked. But I did it and after a mild panic I got the hang of the snorkel and off we went. The reef was gorgeous, the best I've seen and so so deep and blue. There was great crevices under us and so many fish, I even saw a trumpet fish! Then we saw the sharks, "White-Tip Sharks": 5ft in length but rather cute and not dangerous (only if you anger them or they're hungry, but these guys were about to be fed by our guide so no worries there - We heard afterwards of two guys being bitten by White Tips but they had had fish tied around they're waists so they were idiots!). They were amazing creatures and it was a fantastic experience being with them.

There was a panic when getting back into the boat I nearly lost my necklace and then another panic when we got back on shore and realised our bags were missing. They'd been put on the boat in the morning but when we learnt we would be reunited with them at 4pm it was OK, that just left time to laze in the sun and get dry then burnt (forgot no sunscreen). So we got back on the Yasawa Flyer (a bit red) and were soon back on main land Viti Levu. We said goodbye to the Japanese girls we'd been travelling around the islands with and other people we met and headed back to Nadi Bay Hotel for a nice shower and to watch a very cool Fijian dance and fire show.