Day 7: Tui Tai Day 3- Manta Daze

We slept much better last night as we stayed anchored for the night. We headed out at 5am towards our next island. Georgeann was on morning duty to scout out the conditions for our possible manta dive. Outlook was not good as we were pretty much socked into clouds and we continued to have a ridiculous amount of wind. Our first dive was pretty lame at the beginning, as we were already a bit disappointed, however half way through the sun came out and really lit up the reef. Amy won the nudibranch competition by spotting two- and those things are tiny! We also saw a lobster and an awesome and color changing octopus. Even though, yesterday was much better, it turned out to be a good dive. After the dive we had another exceptional hot breakfast of scrambled eggs with veggies and french toast. We were all anxious to hear Isoa's official report on the manta spot as this was our most likely place to see these magical creatures which lured us to Fiji in the first place. We all had a bad feeling as the weather was not being kind. Isoa returned to share the official bad news. We were incredibly disappointed to say the least, and rightfully so. However, with the unlimited dive package we figured we would check out the underwater world in a different spot, after all, we did a manta dance last night and could get lucky. So, we decided we had nothing to lose and asked Owen to take us out on a dive. Once in the boat, headed to some other dive site, we asked if we could go to the manta spot and just go on a hunt for them. After all, it was just the three of us on a private dive! Regardless, it was great to have some alone and not crowded time. So, Owen and George agreed, Georgeann and I did our lucky manta ray dance again and fully loaded with gear we took the dingy out in search for the mantas. About 10 minutes in, Owen spotted one. Then two. Then three. They were insane. Right on the surface, waving to us with their wings, as if inviting us to come in and play with them. We threw on our mask and fins and slid off the dingy like a wet seal. We spent what felt like an hour, but realistically about 10 minutes swimming with about 12 mantas. When they drifted away, we not so gracefully heaved ourselves back into the boat (technically named a wet exit, but it looks more like a whale beaching itself). We motored around until we spoted more. Without hesitation, we slid back in and continued swimming with another school of manta rays. It was incredible. I (Amy) had seen a few of these creatures before, but not like this. They were everywhere. Watching them swim up to your with their horns and mouths was magical. Despite the crazy intense and choppy waters, we were as focused and mellow as can be. When that school left us, we decided to just do a dive right there and look for more. What a great call. We descended into manta ray heavens. Every minute or so you saw another one on the descent. We settled at about 7 meters and started filming. They were right above us. It was fantastic! We got to see tons of mantas on the surface saying bula, from the top, straight on eye to eye, and from below. It was crazy! We stayed down for 40 minutes just watching the mantas pass overhead, taking turns trying to catch each other swimming with them on video. We sure got some great stuff! It was one of the top two dives of my life (and I've been diving since I was 11- in at least 12 different countries). It rivaled the school of 150 hammerhead sharks in the Galapagos and took the win because I was with my beautiful wife! We were like kids at six flags flying from batman to superman. It was truly exceptional. Words simply can't describe these creatures. If you have never seen them you must add it to your bucket list. It was perfect- idyllic- better than perfect!!! We literally shared the ocean with each other, Owen who we love, and the manta rays. We must have easily seen 40-50 mantas, one of the better days on record. We ended our dive, it was the first time I (Amy) ran out of air in as long as I can remember. I was just so excited. Not to mention, the current was strong and we had to work hard for our view- or hold on for dear life! When we hit the surface we couldn't stop smiling, laughing, and doing the happy manta dance. Owen and George (who has been bumped up to George 1 due to finding the rays) were laughing at us. It has been a long time since we have been that naturally happy and in awe of the world! As we returned to the boat we tried to stifle our excitement as we did feel guilty the others missed out, but so grateful at the same time. If more had come, we never would have gone in search of them- or even of we did, it wouldn't have been the same. It really couldn't have been better, even if I (Amy) planned it myself, and for those of you who know me, that says it all! That's worth a million photos! So, if that wasn't enough, we had a scrumptious lunch of mackerel kabobs with tomatoes and pineapple- delicious! Then, due to our sighting, they decided to pack the dingy and head out with everyone for a snorkel with the manta rays. We were so hopeful that they would see them too. We wanted everyone to take part of this magical experience- especially considering we already had a private showing! This is a not miss- that's for sure. We headed out, packed like sardines, and hopeful. We did the famous manta ray dance- everyone was looking to us as if we were manta ray goddesses. We didn't mind :) After about a 15 minutes on the boat, we spotted them. Everyone was overjoyed. We suited up, masks and fins, and dove in. This time it was awesome for a different reason. Not that we would change the photos and video for anything, but sometimes you can enjoy things more in the moment without a camera to worry about. We saw about 15 more. All different. Some black, some white, some spotted. The coolest part was when we saw them come right at us. I mean they literally swam at our faces until they were about 5 feet away. Crazy cool- fantastic- increíble!!! This may have been our best experience since our wedding. It is tied with the exhilaration of heli-boarding at Mt. Potts where they filmed lord of the rings, sky diving over the Abel Tasman in New Zealand, and roo hunting on a homemade buggy by the Great Ocean Road of Australia, not to mention the shark feed on the great barrier reef or the hammerheads on our first dive in Fiji! Wow, even thought we've been a little bored and down and out with grad school these past two years we are so lucky- we lead awesome lives and are really grateful that the travel and adventure bug lies deep within both of us as it makes us better, stronger, and richer people (worldly people I mean, if we want to be richer, we would have to change our beloved teaching careers and become lawyers or surgeons- or marry rich- and we are all set on that!) :) One would think that the day would have been done there but we still had more. We were shuttled off to shore in our sarongs one again but this time we were headed to a village school. The villagers are originally from Micronesia and they have maintained this unique culture. The whole school performed songs and danced for us. It was truly amazing and we couldn't stop smiling the entire time. At one point students got up and asked us to dance. We of course had some pictures taken with the locals and checked out the school. While we were in a classroom we made a nice connection with two boys in class 3-4. We asked if we they would like to exchange letters with our school back home. They were excited and the addresses were exchanged. A RALI sticker was left at the school and hopefully a connection in Oceania was made. We kept the fun going into the wee hours of the night, 9 pm. When you are awakened by an anchor at 3am and doing two dives and many snorkels that are as highly charged as todays were, exhaustion sets in early. Dinner was buffet style tonight with fish that was caught on the boat and other local dishes including a great coconut pie. Tulia took out her guitar and we accompanied her. We sang songs like "manta ray," "octopus," and "night diving on the Tui Tai" we may have been pitchy but we sure laughed a lot. Kava was brought out by the staff and a few of us tried it out. It is a root that is pulverized and then water is added to it. It tastes earthy and dirty but we wanted to try the drink of Fiji. Tomorrow sounds like a mostly land based day where we will check out some waterfalls and play around. Moth-ey (good day and good night in Fijian.)