Day 17: Final hurrah in Paradise:

We woke up to another gorgeous sunrise. You know you are in one of the most incredible places on earth when Amy is just as willing to hop out of bed for a sunrise viewing as Georgeann. I (Amy) didn't even moan and grown to watch the same spectacular view from the bed which was practically floating on water in the actual sunset. We were just so happy it was nice again, up we got, hit brew on my coffee and watched the sunrise over our own private section of coral reef. Right as the sunrise was almost over we jumped in for an early private snorkel right off the ladder of our deck in the overwater bure. It was rush hour on the reef as it was high tide. There were tons of beautiful fish. We saw three clams, a bunch of colorful fish, and a nudibranch-or three. The water feels like bath water in the morning. It was a perfect way to wake up, and no wet suit required- less gear than our dive trip! Dunkin' is going to have to work hard to match my new morning routines ;) To rinse off, we took advantage of the giant tub. We opened the full panel sliding windows and Amy drank more coffee while we looked at the fish swimming on the reef from the tub. Really? What the Fiji...is this really our life? We headed for breakfast, saying bula to Suliasi and our blue spotted sting ray friends. It was delicious, but we would expect nothing less. Amy enjoyed eggs Benedict on the greatest small biscuits in the land and homemade and scrumptious whole grain bread with honey ham and cheese- it blew Spain's tapas out of the water! Georgeann enjoyed citrus french toast with fresh fruit and maple hot cakes. We also tried a variety of delicious pastries and fresh granola, fruit, and jams. To digest, we walked back to our overwater humble abode and did a power snorkel off our deck to burn off some breakfast. We took advantage of every second of complimentary late checkout thanks to Timoci; having until 2 pm sure beats only 11am, allowing for this extra snorkel trip! We went past all the overwater bures and down the reef. We saw a sea snake, octopus (which are so cool when they slowly slither across the coral, our chartreuse finned male parrot fish (thought of you-Judy), gorgeous tripod fish (no idea what they really are), puffer fish, wrasse, clownfish, schools of trumpet fish, a baby panda clownfish, and a myriad of others that we don't yet know by name. When it was time, and we had no extra stolen moments, we showered and packed up, taking some goodbye shots on our deck and saying goodbye to a life we will probably never encounter again. We don't regret a moment. We worked our tails off and saved hard for the last two years, we deserved to reward ourselves with a spectacular graduation gift! Anytime you can enjoy something on your bucket list, don't over think it, life is too short. We hopped in the golf cart (it was so Fantasy Island but without Tatoo) and headed down to lunch, our final five star meal. We couldn't imagine eating like this unless Judy and Jim take us out to dinner. We would never order this stuff, not sure what half the items in the dish even are, but it was all fantastic, like a little party in your mouth. The highlight of lunch was the chocolate tart with raspberry sauce and sorbet. Yum! We should have then hit the gym, but we hit the infinity pool instead, after all, there are plenty of gyms at home. The pool was gorgeous. In most places the only way you could tell where the pool ended and ocean began was when you began to see the light green coral reefs! After our swim, we sadly headed to the dock and had a good bye passion fruit ice tea- amazing :) We took a few final pictures as the clouds were rolling in. Not that anyone would ever want to leave Likiliku, but if you have to go, at least we enjoyed the best two days we've seen on our whole trip, and it was a little less painful to leave as you knew a front was moving through. We could still hear the staff singing the goodbye song as we waited in the little boat for our ferry back to reality. We are currently sitting on the ferry watching the storm roll in as we prepare for a crazy long trip home. First we fly to Sydney (almost five hours in the wrong direction) to fly back past Fiji, over the international date line to Los Angeles. It will shake out to be about 20 hours plus a layover to get back to the states. Those are the flights you get when you are at the whim of your miles and not a cash paying customer. Good times, but really, right now we feel like we can never complain about anything for a long time. We are so grateful for what we have and to choose to live our lives the way we do. In L.A. we will spend about 4 days with our sister, brother-in-law, and awesome niece and two amazing nephews. Can't wait to see Riley, as we missed him on the way out. We then fly back to JFK, get picked up by Mom and Dad Bossers (thanks in advance for that) and spend some time with the G'Ville side of the fam, get our boy Diablo who's been living it up at doggie summer camp (thanks again Gabby, Diane, and parents) and drive back to Boston. All in all, it will be a long, really long, trip home. The scenic route was on sale!