Day 6: Tui Tai Day 2 (We call it day 1)

Today was a good day- great all in all, with a few moments. Georgeann got up before I did to be the first person in the world to see the sun rise as we had just crossed over the international date line. We (Amy really- as G was already up- shocking!) woke and started our day with a dive, which I will admit, even gives my sacred Dunkin' ice coffee a run for its money! We began the day at rainbow reef, one of the classic and best sites of Fiji. Blew the tail off yesterday's dive. We returned to the boat for a hot and delicious breakfast. The food is AMAZING- but really, I can nearly fit in my clothes. I can't remember the last time I had breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert in one day. People actually do that?!?... And they are skinnier than we are-not cool:) We then went ashore mainland Taveuni. We did a nice, short hike up, and played with the local kids in a natural waterside. From there, we walked out and visited the 180 degree line. We jumped back and forth from yesterday to today and got some good footage to use in our classroom- really?!? Do we ever take a break??? We are even working in Fiji. Maybe we can write this off as a work trip:) We returned for a lunch of fish and chips with local tera root as opposed to potatoes. Took a breather to digest and then hit the water again. This dive was AMAZING! Best corals I've (Amy) seen since Belize when I was 11. There were fish everywhere as the currents kept changing. We saw lion fish, parrot fish, and many, many more! We spotted a cool blue ribbon eel. My favorite part of the dive was this small cave full of bright white coral. It looked like snow. It was instantly discovered why the rainbow reef got its name. I mean the reef has some serious pride- in both coral and fish colors! Georgeann lit up when we saw our first baby reef shark, which got even better as we saw more. Near the end of the dive Owen and Georgeann spotted one at the same time hanging in the sand. We nearly made our masks leak when shrieking there's another, and another. We were happy as can be- like kids in a candy store. After this second dive we got showered and put our sarongs on to go to a local village. We went to a Polynesian village named Kioa. We were greeted by the locals with a traditional dance ceremony and learned about how this entire island of Fiji is Polynesian. We watched a few dances which were supported by a village wide drum circle in the middle and introduced ourselves before we were invited to learn how to dance. It was such and incredible cultural interaction. We then, of course, ran around trying to get pictures with the locals, especially the kids. As soon as the dancing was over, they instantly transformed the room into a market where we bought a few souvenirs to continue the support for the village. When the visit was over, we hiked our skirts- who knew I had to take Georgeann to Fiji to get her to wear one- hopped in the dingy- and headed back to the boat. We had a delicious dinner of chicken and steak with a banana cake and ice cream for dessert. We enjoyed the company and a few cocktails before calling it a night for another big day tomorrow.