Atama here (Adam in Fijian). Time is flying by; days are occupied with two building projects on the go, sporting in the afternoon, homework evening classes and plenty of UNO and Cheat playing! I’m finding majority of the time is spent eating “Kana Vakalevu” (eat a lot!). At first washing was also time consuming with the fear of having to tip a cold bucket of water over you, but this soon became quicker with the thought of mosquito’s lurking nearby ready to pounce.
I have grown to love rocks! This week has been spent quarrying rocks to mark the foundations of our beautiful pathway/second bridge. Previously a journey across the stepping stones involved getting very wet but now you can cross and be nice and dry, until your onwards journey where the path finishes and the mudslides begin.
Spear fishing the other night was awesome…
I was petrified whilst cruising out, the thought of snorkelling in the dark, with thunder and lightning, in the freezing Pacific surrounded by Sharks, Jellyfish and Stingrays whilst having your team fire spears all around. After about the fourth “get in Atama” I threw myself into what is another dimension, and a warm one too. The sea was surprisingly warm and all my fears soon vanished. All the coral glowed from a single torch with the aid of the lightening, the sea life asleep and my fellow spear fishers well clear of me. You spear at night whilst your prey sleep and cruise round searching mainly beneath coral. When you find dinner, you load (well my Fijian friend did) and fire. I thought it was going to be long range firing requiring the skills of a sniper however it was simply a case of leaving a little gap between the spear gun and the little thing and firing. So close you would think it’s difficult to miss but I managed 8 misses to 7 kills. If successful the fish would remain on the spear otherwise he would make a dash. If too close you risk poking the fish and awaking him. With my Fijian dad a fisherman and with my 7 kills, I am finding I’m consuming a lot of fish, for breakfast too.
Everyone here is beyond friendly with Bula (hello) being thrown about a few thousand times a day!
Adam
Tags: gap year Fiji, spear fishing
