Second to Last Day

Hey guys, second to last day for us.  While it seemed like a long time to start, it has gone by a little too quick.  However, we cannot wait to get home and see everybody.  Being this remote really puts in perspective the things we take for granted.

Tuesday we visited the local school.  No a/c and no creature comforts.  The kids study and learn in the heat, no flushing toilets and ants/bugs abound!  We have some great videos of the songs they sang for us.  Afterwards they competed for a bunch of Oreos that an Australian couple had brought.

Both yesterday and today have been rainy and cloudy.  It rained most of last night.  Still, it is a fantastic place.  Today we learned how to make a basket out of the coconut frond (the top part with the leaves).  We made them for what they call "lovo," which is a big feast.  Meats and fish are placed into the baskets and then buried with hot stones in the sand to cook for an hour or two.  We are about an hour from the feast.

Tomorrow will be our last full day here.  Everyday we see friends that we made here leave (they sing a song and give out leis on the way out) and it reminds us of the journey home.  This is probably our last post (at least from the resort).  Love and miss everyone.  Hugs and kisses to all.  Love...

Love from Fiji!

Boat launch of Navutu Stars

Mangrove island off of Navutu Stars

Tofu - our little companion

The resort - boat view

View from our Bure {our hammock & chairs}

Porch view of the Bure

The gorgeous palms

Greetings (finally!)

Hey guys, this is our first chance to get working internet since we arrived!  The islands are beautiful but very very isolated.  There is a small village on this island, and that is where most of the people that work at the resort come from.  We have had several adventures, including an all-day picnic and getaway at a beach by ourselves today.  We went snorkeling after the picnic and saw some amazing fish and beautiful coral.  We also saw two bright blue starfish that were huge, and recovered a nice conch shell.  No sighting of any sharks, stingrays or even menacing barracuda.  The sand here is nowhere near as nice as Florida due to all the shells and coral.  The live coral reefs are quite amazing.  We wish we had brought an underwater camera with us to document it all.

Unfortunately, we cannot post any pictures because the "internet boutique" has only two computers and no wireless!  Our cell phone service is also spotty -- it comes and goes during the day.  Tomorrow we go to visit the village and see the school.  Afterwards we apparently load up on crafts made by the villagers. Otherwise, it is enjoying the lazy days of sitting by the beach, reading and enjoying the solitude.

The trip over was exhausting.  On top of the thirty flight hours, we piled on a four hour boat ride that was long but we did get to see all the islands as we came up.  It was like a water taxi service as we made several dropoffs and pickups on the way.  We when got here, we were welcomed with drinks that were inside of coconuts.

To the kids, all of our love and kisses.  We miss you guys alot and cannot wait to see everyone Monday night (at WTB's game)!