Fiji Day Week

Three weeks into my six month marine internship, I have definitely settled well into island life. As interns this week we were given more responsibility around base, including helping with food and medical stock supplies and social media duties. When new people come to base next week we will also be expected to help settle them in and show them round base.

This week was a particularly busy week for us. We had EFR (Emergency First Response) training which is needed for when we do our search and rescue dive qualifications in a few weeks. Also, some of us have started learning survey techniques with the intention to start surveying Monday afternoon, the information we collect is to help local communities create and monitor Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). On Wednesday I went to school with two other volunteers and gave a lesson on conservation of turtles, and after played a game of volleyball with the children. At the end of each week we have fun dives, this week some of us were lucky enough to see white tip reef sharks and a large school of barracuda swim right by us! Fiji day was also this week, where Fijians celebrate their independence, this is a national holiday and on the Friday we were able to go and watch a rugby tournament where local village teams from the Yasawa Islands competed against each other, we were able to enjoy local food and kava with villagers throughout the day.

This weekend most people on base visited the caves on Nabukeru where we got to swim through different caves, swimming underwater through to the spitting cave, which was pitch black, then we had free time to jump off ledges, some were braver than others! Saturday evening was spent with the local families on base, where we had a lovo, which is a traditional Fijian way of cooking food. The food is placed on hot coals in a pit in the ground, covered by leaves and cooked for several hours. The food was amazing, lots of chicken, sausages, pasta and cassava, which was followed by lots of kava late into the night.

So far so good from Fiji, the friends I’ve already made are amazing and in such short space of time we already have many memories! Life is definitely good!

Becky Payne, England

Marine Intern

Fiji Day Week