Last night was a pretty good nights sleep, getting a solid 10 hours after finally getting a proper early nights sleep. It was also nice as the 32 bed dorm I was in had little box sections which gave each bed a bit of privacy. In addition to this I had my own mosquito net which meant I wasn't worried about getting bitten like I did at Beachcomber where you were completely exposed to the elements. Breakfast this morning was a cracking buffet, in my case consisting of eggs, beans and toast to start with, followed by a plate of pastries with pancakes, finished off with a plate of fresh fruits. All this was washed down with many glasses of juice!
After my mammoth breakfast the a member of Mantaray staff came up and promoted the activities on offer to us, which are pretty similar day by day which means I don't have to worry about missing out each day. With so much to choose from I decided to take the relaxing approach to the day, laying back in the hammock and writing up a blog. It wasn't long however before I started my first activity of the day, bracelet making. With an array of craft based activities each day, this is the one that appealed to me most as it involved sawing apart coconuts and sanding them down into shape. I was pretty content with my effort in the end although I gave it to the woman behind the bar in the hope of getting a free drink later!
After finishing the bracelet making I relaxed inside. It was weird because after having breakfast at like half 8, lunchtime was first approaching being scheduled for 12. It was pretty cool whilst chilling in the shade though to watch this plane land next to the resort, the quick and expensive way of island hopping. This plane had water ski things on the bottom and we even watched it take off, going metres from our heads after doing a loop! After this I somehow got into a conversation with one of the Danish guys about design, and from here we had a drawing competition. Being really bad at the artistic side of things, I just chucked in some of my technical drawing techniques and showed off a bit with them!
This brought us nicely up to lunch, today opting for the club sandwich and chips. It is frustrating because all 12 dishes on the menu seem so nice and I am only going to get to try 4 of them! After lunch I spent a while relaxing in the hammock, although the fact there are a lot of building works currently going on in the resort meant I soon left my position to go somewhere a little quieter. I instead ended up back in the dorm where I took the opportunity to write up my postcards which I kind of hadn't written since my rainy days in Kaikoura! I haven't really got many for Fiji though as they barely sell them!
Come the later afternoon I decided to go and play a bit of volleyball, managing to get enough people for a 4 on 4 game which got slightly competitive. I only played this for an hour or so however as I had booked myself onto this sunset tubing trip as I didn't want to go the whole day without doing anything physical. Getting taking out by boat I soon realised by the really clear waters that the corals and fish were so diverse and perhaps the reef system as a whole was better than the barrier reef. I say better in the respect that it is less damaged.
In terms of the tubing we got taken right round to the other side of the island nearby a beach which I had not seen yet. I got my first proper idea of the size of the island too, being bigger than I thought. After settling down just off the shore, we were each given a rubber ring thing which we were to float in whilst watching the sunset into the horizon which just happened to be in just open seas. I made sure I was furthest out and to be fair the sunset was pretty impressive. It was a shame I couldn't realistically take my camera out although I still got some photos thanks to the boat driver.
When returning and having a quick shower which was after a long queue to get in funnily enough, it came the time for another 4 course dinner. With a pea based soup for starter shortly followed by these tortilla things, it was a far quicker service than yesterday where it took us about an hour to finish dinner. There were four choices for main again and for some reason I went for the vegetarian option for the second consecutive night, opting for the vegetable pasta which was the dreaded tagliatelle which I am awful at eating. Dessert however was perhaps my favourite dessert of all, being papaya cheesecake. I even managed to get an extra piece as someone didn't want there's. All in all it was a brilliant dinner once again.
Come evening there were more activities, tonight being pub games. The first two games revolved around this stone and pushing it as far you can without crossing the line. At first it was done in pair where one person had to hold the other person whilst they pushed the stone, and pull them back without crossing the line. It was then done individually, although one hand could touch the floor for support this time. It was won both times by this really tall girl who obviously did gymnastics. The final game was simply a game of balance where you had to stand on one leg and pick up a box which gradually got smaller just using the mouth. I was dismal at this game! After finishing the games most people headed straight off to bed again, following suit once again. Mantaray island isn't really a party kind of island.
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