Tropical Paradise

We made it safely to Fiji! Landed at 5:15 this morning (Thursday), got on a bus to the marina, to a boat to MantaRay Island! This place (Fiji is general) is incredible. It is PARADISE. The water is the most amazing blue -- you know how in the Caribbean the water is turquoise and it's so gorgeous? Well here, in the deep part of the ocean, it's cerulean, just like the crayon!! Wild. The island I am staying is small, part of the Yasawa group on the far west of the Fiji Islands

There was another "backpacker" at the bus stop with me and we were on the same bus and boat so we got to chatting. I was very excited to be meeting my first world traveler.. I wondered where he could be from... Australia? New Zealand? Maybe somewhere in Europe?

NOPE. Princeton, NJ.

Crazy!! Then at the resort I met a kid from Toms River. We're everywhere! But my roommate is from Germany so there's a little culture there hahahaha.... oh, Devon wants to say hi!

Hi guys! I did my first Scuba Diving class today -- unbelievable. Instead of doing it in a pool, you actually swim in the lagoon and get to see all the fish and it was like being inside the tank at the aquarium or even like being in Finding Nemo! I didn't think swimming in the ocean could get any better but diving is pretty freaking fantastic, especially when the water's so warm you don't even need a wetsuit. It was a very different experience for me, the eternal shutterbug, to be looking at beautiful things and not be thinking about taking pictures, just experiencing them "in the moment". Still though, I wish I could have taken pictures to share with you!!

I wish I could have gone scuba diving, too, but they couldn't find a weight belt to fit.

Plus, I think you have to be bigger than the tank. And have a mouth to put the regulator in.

Details, details.

Oh, and the food is fantastic too!
Love,
Swatchy Prep and Dev
xoxoxo

P.S. Happy early Thanksgiving!