We had decided to escape the city and have an island hoping adventure; Andy, Alana and myself had managed to negotiate a good price with a animated local travel agent who kept referring to Andy as Mr Downies, and would exclaim 'good boy' whenever we made a decision. The only vice was the boat would be much smaller than what most would be sailing on. At dawn the next morning the skies were clear and we waded into the sea to meet our boat, halfway through our trip the engine cut out so we sat on the bow for a few hours drifting towards the volcanic archipelago looking at the clear waters and occasionally a turtle would surface, we tried to incise them with banana skins bait. Eventually our boat was rescued by another equally small one and we hoped ship with our precious backpacks and some island supplies following.
Our first island was Mana. It was split into a expensive gated resort (complete with landing strip) and the far more fun backpacker part where you could knock coconuts from trees, drink the milk, relax in creaky sandblasted hammocks and swig on Bounty while watching the locals perform fire and knife dances by night. We circled the island perimeter walking over its rocky fringes made slippery by the ocean spray and on the outer most fingers crabs would scuttle at your presence and we startled a banned sea snake who made a hasty retreat. A coral shelf encompassed the entire island and a good way out you could hear the roar of waves erupting against it, a fine mist was pulled from the crest of each wave and taken by the wind. Mana was incredible for snorkelling, if you persisted in the gauntlet of shallow sharp coral you eventually came to more expansive reef shimmering with as many scales and aquatic life as some of the best dive sites. For a while we watched on the edge of the surface as trumpetfish tried to snatch at a school as individuals broke the surface and glided from danger. We were in the water for a long time and Alana tended to stayed closer to the shore whereas Andy and I followed the reefs contours towards where the waves broke on the search for bigger fish. It was when we were focusing our attentions on a particularly mesmerising porcupine fish when below we saw a long slender shadow glide towards and under our feet. It was a Backtipped reef shark, just over a meter long but stocky and it slipped directly beneath us completely unfazed by our presence and disappeared into a fissure in the reef. During the encounter we had both tried to convey excitement which was essentially muffled high-pitch gargling so pulling our heads from the water both amazed, we communicated this emotion in English, high-fived and duck dived down to try and follow but our big fish had gone.
We had even greater luck on Beachcomber an absolutely minuscule spec of earth that you can walk around in 10 minutes flat, the kind of place postcards are made for and the resort catered equally well for both honeymooners and grubby backpackers with airy timber cabins surrounded by palms and choc full of bunkbeds. We were fed all you could eat buffets throughout the day however I failed to take advantage because there was far too much going on under the sea. Once flippers were snapped on and masks polish with fresh spit we plunged our faces into the water, at first the floor was sandy with stingrays and trumpet fish but further out the coral slowly emerged from the sand until it stepped down a level and it was here on the outer limits between the shallow and deeper water where the reef sharks patrolled. They cruised so close to me I felt a ripple of agitated water made by the caudal fin, so close I could have reached out and grabbed it. Throughout the snorkel we saw about four Whitetips and one Black. I pushed hard to try and follow the Blacktip but it clearly didn't want to be chased and was a sizeable creature so I decided it was best give up. One of the Whitetips did allow me to be its shadow as it prowled the reef, it moved over the reef effortlessly almost lazily but now and then would turn with sudden agility sometimes heading straight for me. It fascinating to see it negotiate the coral searching and I saw it burst for the coral and feed on something with white flesh that crack between its jaws. In the evening we sat in a corner of the main building that had view to the shore whilst a band played, It was a good time to for three friends to talk about nothing. Later we walked around to the island's most isolated point, a fresh wind was stirring the sea and the night had settled and shrouded the island causing the occasional stumble but to look up the night was so bright with stars, they always amaze me, we sat for a while sipping from beer bottles, gazing.
The next day I felt like Robinson Cruisoe as I stood on the shore and waved goodbye to Alana and Andy, they were continuing their island hopping further North, my funds were all but diminished so I couldn't follow. It was strange to be suddenly alone but in a way liberating, after eating my first solitary meal in seven months I rented a kayak and paddled to a unexplored location, tying one end of a rope round my ankle the other to the kayak and dived in to see what I could find.
By midday I was on my way to Bounty, my final island in the Mamanuca, of course I spent most of my time snorkelling here too, I found that just relaxing and swaying with the motion some wildlife would reveal themselves to you; I saw Green Sea Turtles, Bicolour Surf Parrotfish, Painted Rock Lobster, Titan Triggerfish, Blacksaddle Coral Grouper and even a Lionfish, I had never seen one before and it was a shame there was no one to share the find with. Back on land I got chatting with couple of Israelis and later a girl who was just starting out on her travels, she asked for advice and I gave what I could, it felt like everything had come full circle from that time that seems so long ago when Surinder had given two wide eyed travellers his advice way back in Goa. But on the whole Bounty was a fairly uneventful but reflective time for me. I was acutely aware that this journey was nearing an end. The few nights I stayed I sat in a hammock until nightfall; reading, thinking, writing and watching a bloated sky pregnant with light slowly extinguish.
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