Saturday, April 5, 2014

Parry/Jackson Visit, Day 6–March 29, 2014

Saturday dawned beautifully. Blue skies and sunshine were in abundance.  Our plan for the day was to take a day trip out to Mana Island.  Mana Island is a resort, but also has day trippers come in each day.  We waited in the lobby for the bus to pick us up and deliver us to the Denarau port to catch our boat.  We were not alone – there was a large group that left the Sheraton that morning heading out for a day in the sun.

We were crammed aboard a boat that was like a bus – it stopped at different islands and unloaded people at each stop.  We finally got to Mana and walked down the most rickety jetty I have ever seen.  It had caution tape everywhere and pieces of plywood covering the holes.  Needless to say we wondered how the rest of the day would go.

It went very well.  Our first stop was at the semi-submersible vessel. It was painted bright yellow and you went down inside where there were glass panels that allowed you to see the reef.  It was a relaxing ride and a good view  The highlight of that little trip however, was the little girl that kept singing “Baa bah black sheep”, she was adorable.

After our submersible trip we headed over for lunch.  Lunch was included in the ticket price – drinks however, were not!  $58.00 and 2 Diet Cokes each later, we were happy we had paid the price – they included all the ice we wanted.

We headed out to the north beach to snorkel.  It was great snorkeling – after you got out past the sea grass.  The water as almost too warm, but the views were great.  They even found a number of tables where they were growing corals, interesting.

Kara and Jeff wanted to parasail, but the wind did not cooperate, so we settled for time in the swimming pool and ice cream treats.  Also available were sea kayaks, water skiing, jet skis, banana rides, all of which we could do at home, so we opted for lazy by the pool.

Time arrived to head for home and along with it came a sky full of dark clouds.  It began to rain just as we boarded the boat.  Kara and I opted to sit inside in the air-conditioned comfort – can you say freezing in our wet clothes?  The guys opted for a more “manly” ride outside in the rain.  Needless to say they were the only ones out there in the driving rain.

It rained so hard that they put on their snorkel goggles to protect their eyes.  They were joined by 3 other diehards, who they found out were from…wait for it…Utah!  Where else?  The pictures were uploaded to Facebook under the heading “Hummmmmmm, I thought we would see more fish”.  Signed by Lloyd and Harry of course.

After changing from our freezing wet clothes, we headed back to the Hard Rock Café for dinner and did a bit of swimsuit and Bula clothes shopping.  We were finding that it takes more and more energy to have this much fun.  We were ready to hit the hay that night.

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