Hammocks and Caves and Dolphins, Oh My!

Our last days in Fiji were really great - after getting a taste of the Mamanuca Islands, we decided to venture off to the Yasawa Islands too. It was a long trip - 5 hours each way via boat but it was oh, so worth it!

Among the Yasawas

Waiting for our boat transfer to Coralview Island Resort

We arrived to Coralview Island Resort on Tavewa Island with a warm welcome from the staff on Thursday, January 24.

Bula from Coralview!

After a quick lunch, we headed towards Blue Lagoon Beach to snorkel (yup, where The Blue Lagoon was filmed). But we stopped to feed some fish first...

They were hungry for bread

There were tons of them!

The water is so clear, I was able to get photos without an underwater camera

@ Blue Lagoon Beach...Paul relaxing after some snorkeling

When we got back to Coralview, we relaxed in a hammock - one of Paul's favorite things to do.

Chillaxin'

One of the other guests were nice enough to snap a photo of us

Bright moon during a starry night at Coralview

On Friday morning, we signed up to swim in the Sawa-i-Lau caves...also the location of a scene from The Blue Lagoon. The description of the cave experience from Lonely Planet said, "They’re accessible with a torch and a guide (and a shot of courage) by swimming through a short underwater passage from the cave’s main chamber" but I guess Paul and I didn't quite comprehend what that really meant. I think we did but we didn't really think about it until we were in the cold water of the cave.

Sawa-i-Lau Caves

As our guide, Ben, explained what we had to do, Paul and I were too preoccupied with our fears to listen to or understand his instructions. After Ben went through the underwater passage three times, we decided we couldn't do it. When we told Ben we couldn't go, he simply looked at us and said, "why? come, it's easy" and slipped away again. Paul took a deep breath and went first. I immediately followed. As I tried to hold my breath/kind of breathe through the snorkel gear, I bumped my head on the way. After coming out the other end, both Paul and I realized that Ben said to wait for him to shine his flashlight before going. The passage is narrow and he needed to help Paul out first before I went...oh well! But we conquered our fears and did it! I'm still proud of us despite the bump/bruise I got.

See the bump on my head?

Paul swimming in the cave - to his left is the "Brooke Shields Rock"

Heading back to Coralview Island Resort we ran into a school of dolphins. Many thanks to our guide Ben, from Coralview for getting us close for pictures and videos!

On the boat

Dolphins!

Flipper, is that you?

More dolphins swimming along with the boat

There really were so many of them!

Thanks Ben!

Check out the video of the dolphins:

We snuck in one more time in the hammock before leaving Coralview...

STOP, hammock time!