There are many great things about living on a small island.
Most people are friendly and you get to know lots of people. It is easy to get
around (there are no roads or vehicles on this island). It is nice and relaxed.
Everyone helps each other out when they can. Unfortunately it can also mean
some bad things. Such as if people don’t get on with each other it is hard to
avoid them. Rumours abound everywhere, about all sorts of things. Any little
accident or incident effects the whole island. Unfortunately we have had a few
incidents over the last week or two such as a bungalow catching fire, luckily
no one was hurt.
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| Sunset. |
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| The jetty at sunset. |
As for my diving, I have finally finished my open water dive
course and have been going on fun dives around the local reefs. There is so
much to see! Every time I go down I see something new and interesting. I have
seen several sharks, moray eels and jellyfish and so many other things that I
don’t know the names of. The coral itself is huge, very old and lots of
different shapes and colours. The water is really warm and often the air
temperature is the same as the water temperature. Sometimes the water is clear
and you can see for tens of metres, other times it is murky and it feels like
I’m swimming though soup. One of my favourite things to do is the backwards
roll out of the boat. It is amazing to lean backwards and fall but
feel like you are cushioned, to still be able to breathe and to look up and see
millions of bubbles, both big and small rising upwards. Unfortunately my ear
infection is playing up again so I have had a few days off while it gets
better. I am very frustrated by this as there is so much great diving to do around
here and we are here only for a few more days.
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Nick, my instructor, and I diving.
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| Doing the running man underwater. Not a very good photo of coral unfortunately. |
Here are some general observations I have made so far: I
hate eating the same thing everyday. I hate white bread and the smallest piece
of brown bread makes me happy. I miss olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I miss
fresh green food, and am tired of everything being fried. I love watermelon!
When there is nothing to do I get bored after a few weeks of reading and lazing
in the sun. I hate sunburn. I love
diving! I hate it when two large, brown, hideous, cockroaches crawl over my
head in the middle of the night. I hate large flying ants that invade our room.
Unfortunately this has happened twice. I miss the birds singing. I love being able to read heaps without
feeling guilty about not doing other things. I love the fact that we are not
surrounded by yucky Auckland winter weather. Admittedly I do miss my family and
friends there. I like that the sun shines almost constantly. I also really like the huge thunderstorms we have had. They make me feel alive!
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| Restaurants and boats. We eat at Mama's (the place on the left) almost every night. The food is some of the best on the island. |
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| Another brilliant sunset. |
