First stop Fiji

The short trip to the resort gave us the first taste of the big island. It was not very touristy as you would expect from a town of fairly poor inhabitants. The route from the airport had a third-world feel. It is a somewhat unkempt town, but with a friendly no-worries?attitude. The island is heavily influenced by aussies, which makes sense considering its a short 4 hour flight for them. As for the natives, it is made up of indigenous Fijians and East Indians. The latter of mostly run the businesses there. Although the Fijians are slightly darker, it can be difficult to tell them apart. (the red dot on the forehead helps if they wear it)
The Fijians are a friendly bunch, giving off a sense of sincere joy to make your acquaintance. The service staff seem to lack an expectation of a gratuity, providing a refreshing appearance that they want to make your as stay enjoyable as possible.
The last part of the road to the resort was unpaved and laden with potholes, so the driver much to our surprise turned off the road and opted to drive along the wet sandy beach instead. When finally arriving at the resort, it had a decidedly rural feel to it. All the surrounding land, except for the other resorts around, was mostly overgrown with vegetation. The diving was absolutely spectacular. With sea life that is similar but still very unique to anything I have seen on my other dive adventures. I got to see carpet anemones with clown fish swimming in and out. Something I have always loved to watch, but never before was able to see in the wild. On our second dive, Dennis lost his dive camera after taking about 30 photos, it drifted away, maybe due to a faulty strap. In any case, Dennis spent the rest of the dive looking for it, trying to retrace his movements, but to no avail. So, alas, up to this point there are no underwater photos. However all is not lost. When we were exploring the town of Nadi, we ran across a photo shop, and they had a very nice Olympus and underwater housing. It was a good price, so Dennis bought it and is now back in business. Hopefully we will have some pictures when we get to Bali, our next dive location. Until then we are on to Sydney and Melbourne.