Mantray Resort

April 9
Had a real crummy sleep last night. I had dozed off to be awaken by someone walking on the handrails of my deck, they jumped onto my deck and turned the deck light off. Then cranked up the music. I was not a happy person so I went out on the deck and dealt with it, Thunk I only got an hour of sleep.

Met a wonderful lady named Sally from the UK last night. We had many things in common. She's been travelling since October. Hi Sally!

Had a nice quiet morning in the beach after I packed my suitcase. Checked out and had breakfast, then boarded the tender to take me out to the ferry.

I spend the next 2 days on Manta Ray Island. The ferry was full, people sitting everywhere....floor, stairs.... It took approximately 1.5 hours to get to the resort. Manta Ray Island is part of the Yasawa Island group. It's tucked away in sheltered bay and the beach directly in front of it is a marine reserve.

I was assigned a treehouse (#10). It's built around the trees on stilts... Only a bedroom and a deck. There is communal bathrooms (not flush toilets) and showers. Food is amazing here.... The chef used to work for a five star hotel before. It's gourmet lunches and 4 course dinners!

I spent the day on the beach snorkelling and relaxing. I booked 2 dives for tomorrow morning. Met new people and chatted with them.

I was signed up to go on a tube sunset cruise.... Wonder what that is? It's exactly that... You sit in am inner tube, off the island and watch the sun set. It was great fun.

After dinner, I headed back to my treehouse. Turned on the light and talk about moths and mozzies (along with a few geckos)... All over the room. Now most of you guys know, I am not a bug person! This didn't sit well with me, I actually contemplated sleeping on the beach. But I persevered...threw the sheet over my head and attempted to sleep. Finally feeling comfortable amongst my new friends I finally fell asleep.

April 10
Woke up to watch the sunrise... It was beautiful. This is my view right now as I write this....

I'm scheduled to do 2 dives this morning....we headed out to snorkel with the Mantarays before diving. Wow! What an experience... At the boat we get our snorkel gear on and wait.... Turn off the engine and we all scan the waters. The boat driver spotted one as it swam past our boat . We all enter the water and start to follow it. They are approximately 7 meters wide. We spend most of our time looking for them. They swim and flip around grey side then white side. Truly amazing creatures, it was a once in a life time experience.

We headed off for the first dive..... 45 mins at 18 meters into a CAVE!! Yikes! I tell the guide I'm claustrophobic, he looks at me like... And you scuba dive? Explained the cave isn't deep and dark, you can always see light. So off I went, my heart in my mouth...... I did well. It really wast a deep dark cave, more like we had to squeeze between two reefs.

Surfaced and waited an hour in the boat. Ready for the second dive.... 45 mins 13 meters. Once under water, our guide took a plastic bottle and squished it... Making a noise under water that attracts the reef sharks. We saw 3 of them swimming around us. Then we headed off to "the wall". It was awesome.... Saw huge clams, nemos, dorys, popcorn shrimp(Gerald used to have them in his tank), rock fish, so many colourful corals. I took some pics but the camera just doesn't capture the vibrant colours. The dives were awesome.

image

Back at the resort, had lunch then headed off to the beach for some relaxation. Met a man, Justin, that lives works at the resort as the engineer. He is responsible for the heating, electricity, etc. here. He was with his friend, Chris, from Phoenix. Well, Justin kept trying to get me to have a drink, told him I don't drink. Then he wanted me to play beer pong. Finally I gave in told him I would play but he would have to do the drinking. He agreed.... We lost and poor guy drank it all. He then bought me a drink and invited me to watch the sunset. Now... I'm a sucker for sunsets so I went and sat on the beach (other side of the island) with him. There were other people there so I felt safe. He was definitely trying very hard to get me drunk.... But I didn't buy it. I left him at the bar after the sunset.

After dinner, the resort has a dance show so I stayed and watched it.

I find as I move on to other islands Internet is getting harder to get. So if you don't hear from me you know I an not connected.