Dre Dre - Smile (Coral View)

When talking to people differentiating between Korovou and Coral View was tough due to the similarity in their names.

I loved the word of the day idea, I surprised many a fijian with my command of their spoken tongue

Accounts from seasoned fiji island hoppers (I was becoming one myself by this stage) also warned of the similarity of the food quality served at the two resorts (low). Korovou did leave a lot to be desired, and my first meal at Coral View actually frightened me. When I first arrived I was a bit down because I met some fanatstic people at Waya Lei Lei and Korovou.

The resort from above, geez those clouds look ominous

The calibre of individuals at Coral View seemed to be somewhat lacking. However it was here that I met Debbie, a South African who had lived in England for twenty odd years and was now in the process of moving to Australia. This was her first stop on the Fijian islands and so she joined me in a few activities until she settled in. Our afternoon was spent snorkelling at the beach the movie Blue Lagoon was filmed at. It was a lovely beach with too many tourists. This was followed by volleyball and the dinner.

The beach and ocean from the Movie "Blue Lagoon" in the background of the photo. Thre was a really expensive resort on that island. I bet they had hot water.

Dinner was an unexpectedly awesome meal, and despite the common myths the rest of the meals were lovely. Dinner moved quickly into drinking, drinking games, card games, and card tricks - all led by the plethora of englishmen. The drinking games failed miserably as there were too many of us, but the card games were fun. We played a game similar to one called Angels and Yakuza I've played at Fenner. Its all about getting others voted out by accusing them of been a yakuza/killer (secretly pre selected before the game). I pretended I had never played before and pleaded ignorance to the strategies involved - I won all the games. That night I also became friends with Mata, the barmen (and I also think the resort supervisor).

The beginnings of a coconut tree from a coconut

The next day I set off on Joe's Water Taxi, with two other Aussie's (Shayne and Paige) - newly weds on their honeymoon. We had a delightful time visiting the underwater caves, you actually had to swim through a cave that was completely submerged without breathing appartus.

It was spooky swimming in the cave. From the second you enter you realise their is not enough room to turn around, if you run out of breath its just a bit of bad luck I guess. Not much in they way of safety precautions

Inside the cave. The light is coming from the sole torch the guide has. You spent a lot of time an absolute darkness.

That was fine for Shayne, the Navy Diver, but I was a bit apprehensive about it. I returned to find Tom had arrived, and so we set out exploring the island, meeting the absolutey gorgeous English girls on one of the trails.

Tom, Debbie and I enjoying cocktails, this activity can never grow old.

The evening followed the usual pattern; bountiful drinks (beer, cocktails and bounty rum) interspersed with fijian dancing with the staff, stories of the night before (Debbie had a couple having sex in her bunk even after they knew she was awake), I tried the card tricks I learnt the night before (to no avail - I now owe Debbie a beer whcih she collect when she comes to Canberra), plus card games with Mata (he taught us an awesome game called Golf that I was terrible at). My last day on the island was a morning spent reading inside, the bar area with nearly all the tourists. The good weather had finally turned and it was bucketing down...

So I lied, there were safety precautions at the underwater caves, unfirtunately they were in place to protect the rocks and not the tourists