Mango Bay - Fiji
The second morning of our stay the seas were very rough.
The rough seas destroyed a significant amount of the coral reef and left the beach littered with shells, sea creatures and coral.
Chris with a hermit crab on his arm.
Sea cucumber
We'd never seen bright blue star fish before.
Chris kindly saves the sea cucumber from certain death.
Brave, isn't he?
Moments before this picture was taken Carolyn was standing right there.
The waves crashing on the coral reef were pretty powerful.
Every shell in this picture is a hermit crab.
This crab was impressively large.
You can almost hear Carolyn saying "Chris put your hand in there to give it some scale!"
Coral that was ripped off the reef by the surf.
Oops, Chris got caught by a big wave.
I don't think the hammock is supposed to be over the water.
Our room at Mango Bay.
Our outdoor shower
Sigatoka Sand Dunes
Us at the Sigatoka Sand Dunes
The photos don't really convey just how fierce the surf was here.
:)
A chapel on Mana Island - Fiji
The view from the patio at the back of the church
See, we could have gotten married here.
We walked around the entire island.
The north side of the island was really lovely.
Unusually shaped star fish. In the background you can see Fido the dog who followed us around the island.
Ok, Fido wasn't the brightest dog ever...
Unsurprisingly, the crab won.
Fido walks away, dejected.
awww, Fido.
Newly wed footprints.
This is Fido's girlfriend who we called "Mom."
She had 7 puppies. They were so cute.
Fido :)
Tongo - Taro field. Taro may be the worst food on the planet. It is like the worst potato you've ever had but with less flavor.
Tongo - cassava field. Another terrible root vegetable.
Saint Peter
According to our guide Tony this is the only multi-headed palm tree in the world.
Giant Taro!
Palm field
Did you know this is how bananas grew?
How cool!
Fruit Bats. They are gigantic!
Recognize the bush?
It's a poinsettia.
Our lovely tour van with Chris and Tony (our formerly English, now Tongan tour guide) in the foreground.
It's easy to recognise a Church of Tonga just look for the rainbow colored building.
CSAL in Tongan waters.
Blow holes on the south coast of Tongatapu.
Tongan cemetery - They decorated the graves with bottles.
Kava ceremony for the king's coronation.
Kava ceremony
Vegetable market in Nukuʻalofa
Giant Taro
Our teeny tiny plane for our flight to 'Eua
CSAL in our teeny tiny plane
Tonga from above
Yup, that's a humpback whale which we could see from shore in front of where we stayed.
The rough seas destroyed their dock a few days before we visited.
More humpback whales.
I mean, it looks fake, but that's really the sun set behind us in Tonga.
In another episode of "Wow, we live in a small world" we met Hannah and Krzys on 'Eua. Hannah and Carolyn both grew up in Concord and Hannah knew two of Carolyn's bridesmaids.
More whales!
Tapa cloth made from bark.
We went for a nice hike on 'Eua.
Dolphins!
'Eua was stunningly gorgeous.
Gives you a new appreciation of the "primordial slime" from which we came.
Brain coral!
Sea cucumber!
CSAL found a new love of climbing trees.
We learned how to dehusk a coconut with no tools other than a big rock.
I hate spiders, don't you?
Ewww.
The tongan family with whom we had dinner.
Humpback whale! Look how close it is!
'Eua's airport was a little small.
Yup, that's a hair dryer. The surf was so strong that an occasional wave hit our evenings performers.
The King's coronation
Some of the sights were a little strange.
The new king of Tonga.
Who knew Tongans have such a keen sense of irony?
Tongan King's house
Our tour of the highlands in Fiji
Pineapple!
Our 13 year old tour guide climbed a tree to bring us fruit.
He's hard to see but he's very high up in the tree.
That is the biggest grapefruit I've ever seen.
Fruit Bat! According to our guide they are better to eat than chicken.
One of the "sleeping giants" -- She is lying down with her head at the right side of the picture.
The village's church
"You want us to eat all of this?!?"
Ok, so there was some down time before riding horses and CSAL started acting a little silly.
When we signed up for the "horse riding" we didn't know the horses would be walked by teenagers.
Well, if you're on a horse but not riding it, you might as well act silly, at least that's what CSAL thinks.
Chris concurs.
Digicel's marketing strategy didn't involve a lot of capital expenditure.
We learned to weave.
"What time is it?" "It's Fiji time."
Making Kava
Our next stop was a therapeutic warm mud pool.
Chris blends in with the tree very well.
Fijian fire dancing
CSAL was tired.
Did you know that the largest Hindu temple in the southern hemisphere is in Fiji?
Murals on the ceiling tell religious stories.
Black sand + CSAL feet + white flip-flops = funny picture
Braised whitlof? Chris and the waitress had a very nice conversation about whether or not whitlof was, in fact, "salad."
Port Vila harbor in Vanuatu
Where we stayed
go coon! ;)
Pidgin english is amazing.
Chris was the co-pilot!
So, this isn't a great picture, but the day before CSAL ran around this island.
Unfortunately, we got a flat tire on our way to Mt. Yasur...but not to worry...
Chris manages the situation.
Mt. Yasur in the background on the island of Tanna
Mt Yasur
Traditional dancing probably would have been better if there had been power and thus light to see it by.
Chris enjoying Kava.
If you had to choose someone to sing a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire" would you have chosen this guy?
