Back to Fiji - Last Snorkel With Sharks

Since there is no direct flight from Samoa to the US (my next destination), I had to fly back to Fiji for a layover. That said, the layover would have been 10h and when I booked the flight, I decided I did not want to just sit around in the airport for that long - especially when I am in paradise. So I decided to stretch out my layover and stay two nights.

Why two nights? Because there were two more things that I wanted to do. The first one was one last dive in Fiji, and the second one was to snorkel with reef sharks. Both these things I could do on Kuata Island (the same place where I did the bull shark dive).

However, once I landed in Fiji in the evening, I realised that I made a big mistake. I actually did not book an accommodation for the first night. So I quickly booked some random place/homestay on booking.com, hopped in a taxi and prayed that it was a decent accommodation. The place existed on the website, but not in real life (luckily my card was not charged). But I had no place to stay. So the taxi driver - very friendly indeed - offered that I could stay in the spare bedroom in the house his wife and he lived in. I gladly accepted.

But, in a great turn of events, I had two travel friends (Meshi and Tijman) that I met in Vietnam staying at the port where I would take the ferry from the next morning. While they did not have a free bed or couch, they told me to just stay over with them and we all would figure something out. So, I stayed the night with them and it was nice to catch up with them, relive our times in Vietnam and Laos together, talk about all things travel, life, and so much more. What started as a disastrous night turned into a very lovely one. Again, it is nice to have 'friends' all over the world.

Anyway, the next day I hopped on the ferry to Kuata Island. And again, at the port I randomly ran into another travel friend who I met on the 3-Day boat expedition in the Philippines. He was also heading to Kuata. How small the world is.

So, Kuata. I obviously was here before for my shark dive, but this time, I wanted to do a
'normal' dive. So I signed up for the afternoon slot. We were a total of three divers and just had a short boat ride to our dive spot. Essentially, we were diving along the reef wall of the island with its colourful corals, beautiful fish and wonderful underwater wildlife. Even spotted a turtle in the distance. While not spectacular, it was a very lovely last dive in Fiji and I was very happy to have done it.

The rest of the day, I just spent chilling out at the resort, reading my book, talking to people, and really enjoying my time in Fiji. I simply love this place. Also, the travel fatigue took a pause as I was full of energy and enthusiasm to be in this place again.

The following day was all about snorkeling with reef sharks. It was the main reason I extended my layover. So in the morning, we again hopped on a boat for a short ride, and jumped into the water, where the reef sharks were already swimming around. These types of sharks (black-tip and white-tip sharks) are not dangerous and one can safely snorkel in between them. With only limited feeding to prevent the sharks getting used to it, we were in the water for a solid 35-40 minutes with the sharks swimming around, through and with us.

My heart and my soul was filled with happiness and gratitude. Being among the sharks, observing and snorkeling with them was just the best thing that I could imagine for a 2-day layover. I was in awe and smiling to myself about the fantastic experience, location and creatures. I never wanted it to end, so fascinating I found these animals. What a brilliant thing to do.

Once back at the resort, I relaxed, processed what I just did, had lunch, and then went for one last snorkel off the beach. I practiced a little bit of free diving (something I wanna learn next year) and in an amazing stroke of luck saw another two reef sharks during that last snorkel. I couldn't believe it. Ah, what a really brilliant way to end my time here in Fiji.

I have said how I feel about Fiji before and the short layover only reinforced my newfound love for the ocean. What a place. Paradise. I need to come back one day. For sure!Leia mais