Going back on Reef Endeavor!

Two weeks on my ship until it comes out of the water for Dry Dock. Hooray!!! I love it. Just waiting for the bus now. In other news, I'm starting to write a children's book for Reef Safari. It's about a mermaid and her underwater friends who need to help save the reef. It's going to be awesome. And when it's finished we're going to get it printed and sell it! I'm going to be an author! Wheee!!!

And i found this:

South Sea Island

So i'm currently stationed at South Sea Island, the smallest island in the Mamanuca group of islands in fiji. Its very small, and during the day it gets jam packed with day trippers, mostly asians who cant swim, and then at night there are like 3 other people here besides me. It's very basic here. I dont think i like it very much, but i'm only here another five days and then i'm off to Reef Endeavor again! HOORAY!

Here's how things work on South Sea Island:

High Tech Stereo System

Heavy Duty Broom

Detailed Map of the Island

Backyard

Even my shitty days are awesome. Love Fiji!

Shark Dive!

I had a few days off so i spent one of them at the Shangri-La Fiji and went on a shark-feed dive. Mind you, this is the mini dive, and not the Super Big Awesome Shark Feed that will happen in the future. It was fun. Here's some photos.

Black Tip Reef Shark

Black Tip Reef Shark

Fish!

Remora

Moray Eel

I had the weirdest dream last night....

I dreamed i was in an art gallery and i saw a sculpture on a pedestal: a nautilus combined with a horse, and it kept falling over, so i kept righting it. And then there was a loud pop! and it turned into a donkey and then another pop! and it turned into an alligator and then it kept popping and turning into different animals and then chasing me around the gallery, which was now a house. And it was really scary at the time. I guess it doesnt really sound that scary, but trust me, it was!

And then i woke up with a sore throat and a stuffy nose. Excellent.

Happy 2k11!!!!

Me and Edward, a super tall Brit

No caption necessary, i think.

Me and Jim, my second-favorite gay guy (after Nathan, of course!)

Happy Christmas!

I spent X-mas 2K10 aboard my Fijian House Boat, Reef Endeavor. It was fun! We had Christmas carols and Secret Santa (I got a spa kit from Ala the current Seinika Spa rep on the ship), and a Christmas play, and a delicious Christmas dinner which was like the Thanksgiving dinner I didn’t have, so that was good. (It started with a Zucchini and Blue Vein soup (soooo good!) and finished with turkey, pumpkin and cranberry sauce!). I also traded dive masters: Dan for Tue and Sepa. The cruise we just started has 95 passengers aboard, and  over 75% of them are Indian Fijian, meaning they don’t even know how to swim. Which is why we had to perform a rescue mission yesterday:

A Drowning! Well, a near drowning anyways,  but is there a difference? We were coming back from a lovely dive at the Waya Sewa Pinnacle (Tue, a cert, an intro and me), when we come upon the scene: two Japanese snorkelers struggling to stay afloat, while Fijians throw things that float in their direction. We have to move slowly, because we are crossing a very shallow sandspit, and we try to figure out what is going on. We see Sepa in the water, helping a male snorkeler to get to a point where he can stand; we see some of the boys helping the woman to stay afloat and get her into the boat. I just in to help Sepa, who is by himself but he seems to have it under control. I jump in one boat, and tell the boat captain to take me to the other, where the woman has been pulled aboard. As soon as I jump aboard, I tell the captain to head slowly toward the ship. Then I check out the scene: The woman is laying on the deck of the boat, and she’s been put on oxygen,  and I talk to the passengers aboard. The intro turns out to be a nurse and the cert is a dive master: the perfect team to have in these circumstances. We arrive at the ship with the other boat not far behind (they’ve meanwhile picked up the man and Sepa). We get victims aboard Reef Endeavor and they them in the recovery position breathing oxygen and wrap them in rescue blankets. We call the helicopter to pick them up and take them to the hospital, in case they have water in their lungs. The man is vomiting blood. The woman is vomiting water. I feel like vomiting. But no, I keep cool in a crisis and help to control the situation which has now been somewhat taken over by Florian. It went on from there, a lot of waiting for the helicopter, and then getting them up and away. It turns out they’re both alright and are now in the hospital in Lautoka, but it was certainly a change from the daily routine! 

You would think that the Japanese, coming from an island country, would be better swimmers, but no.

In other news:

This is the Captain’s last cruise before he has his time off, so we’ve been hanging out. I’ll miss that guy.

In the meantime, Dan and I have a bet going that I can’t lose 5kg in a month. I’m not quite sure how we’re going to measure that, since we don’t have a scale, but I’m going to attempt it anyhow, so I’ll have to give up my new favorite hobby, Coconut husking!

Coconut Husking (A guide)

Step one: Make sure your coconut is a good one! Shake the coconut. It should be heavy but you should not be able to hear the juice sloshing around inside.

Step two: Find a machete and make ninja-type moves.

Step three: Use the machete to chop off the butt end of the coconut, being careful not to pierce the inner fruit, assuming you want to drink the juice.

Step four: open a small section of the fruit so you can get to the juice.

Step five: Drink the juice. The proper way to drink it involves spilling half of it on your shirt. I have perfected this method.

Step six: once the juice is drank, chop the coconut in half, lengthwise.

Step seven: scrape out the meat with a spoon or piece of the coconut shell.

Step eight: eat the meat! enjoy!!!

Wananavu = Wonderful

And everything is! I'm back on Reef Endeavor, my cruise ship, and I'm happy! More on that in a bit.

The weather cleared up and we were able to attend our staff christmas party last week, and it was a lot of fun. We started out with a show in the workshop, where each Site had to come up with a performance of sorts. Seeing as I was at Amunuca for the week, me and the A-team showed off our sexiness to a standing ovation!!!

Then we all traveled to Ice Bar for some dancing, where the boys all ended up watching Rugby on the big screen and there was all sorts of drama. I won't bore you with details. Then Mike, Jerry and I ended up heading back to the marina at 3 in the morning and camped out in the boat. Okay, i know it's fiji but let me tell you, at 4 in the morning, in an aluminium boat, with no blanket, it gets pretty freakin' cold! Mike and I snuggled for warmth, but to no avail. We nearly died of frostbite. We woke up in the morning and found Dean sleeping in the boat next to us, which I thought was hilarious. I guess you had to be there.

Anyway, here's the cast of characters:

Me and Dominique

Me and Dan

Maddy, Dean and Me

 

Me and Mike

Things are wonderful. I am Happy. Come visit. Stat.