Past, present and future
Three weeks since my last update and so much has happened. For a start, I'm now sitting in an air conditioned internet cafe in Suva typing this rather than scrawling it on a flimsy aerogram. So here are the highs and lows of the last few weeks outside of civilisation.
First of all of course is the diving. Two weeks of intensive surveying allowed us to gather all the data they needed. To survey, we went down in teams of 3; one person laid out the measuring tape along the 50 meter transect marked at either end by a metal bar implanted in the substrate then all three of us traversed the length of it twice. On the way out we recorded fish (to species level) under 10cm, between 10cm and 40cm and over 40cm respectively. On the way back two of us recorded the substrate under the tape at 50cm intervals while the other recorded any invertabrates within 1m either side of the tape. Then we had to wind in the tape and surface, all in under 45 minutes. It was tough and twice we had to come back to finish the substrate survey after running out of time, but we got them all done.
In other diving news, Adam and I continued our night diving, one of which was my 50th dive on the island; as is traditional for a 50th dive I was of course wearing fancy dress - Heidi very kindly lent me her pink bikini. And then of course there was also the naked night dive just because, well, when the water is a permanent 28 degrees, why not? And yes there are pictures and yes there are fins/dive torches placed in strategic locations.
In total I racked up 65 dives on the island; 4 of these were done on one awsome day (our second to last diving day) during which I saw 5 turtles, 4 of which were just on one dive (to give you an idea of how special this is I only saw two other turtles during all my other days of diving). On one of these dives I almost bumped in to the turtle; I was swimming along looking at a school of large snappers when I looked down and there not more than 20cm straight below me was an 80cm long hawksbill turtle. It didn't seemed concerned by me at all and just hovered there for about 30 seconds before swimming off at a leisurely pace, allowing me to follow closely behind for a while. Absolutely awesome.
During these last weeks I also got the opportunity to try some new activities. I went spear fishing twice with Tino, a man from the local village. The metal spear was about a meter long and fired from a gun powered by a very strong piece of elastic. Snorkling through the water and occasionally free diving down to around 5m, you had to try and creep up on the fish so you could get close enough to shoot accurately; it was pretty difficult as the fish moved so fast, especially when a metal rod was hurtling towards them through the water. I managed to catch a few lined bristletooth surgeon fish and a couple of parrot fish; very tasty. I also got to try a bit of bare back horseriding. Cantering up and down the beach was fun, if a little uncomfortable, and controlling the horse was slightly difficult at times - if it wants to go on to those rocks it's not going to let some inexperienced foreigner on top tell it not to!
With the last of the fresh fruit and veg going two weeks before the end of the expedition, everyone got a bit tired and run down in the last few weeks; I managed to drop my mask into the deep blue swimming back to the boat after a dive and while I could easily borrow someone else's for my remaining dives, none of them had my prescription fitted in them. I also managed to remove a nice line of skin from the palm of my left hand; I was hanging off the side of the boat holding on to a rope attached to the front trying to watch the dolphins swimming in the water just in front of me. When I let go, the carabina on the end caught on my hand and ripped off the top layer of skin, about an inch long and 3/4 cm wide. Happily, now I have returned to civilisation this is healing quickly.
For the last fundraiser at Navatu village however, I had a bit of difficulty as in a traditional kava ceremony one sits cross legged and claps loudly before and after receiving a bowl. My injured hand combined with a very unfortunate and painful rash on my rear side (which has thankfully almost healed as well) made both of these requirements extremely tricky (ibuprofen is my new god, I'd never have survived the evening without it!). I didn't have any problems playing volleyball with the villagers earlier though, although the torrential rain and sloping, muddy pitch with no boundries marked made playing an experience like no other (and yes I did slip over and get very dirty).
It felt like we'd only just arrived but, come last sunday, 9 weeks had passed since we first stepped upon Navatu island and it was time to leave. Emotional goodbyes were said on the beach and practically the whole village was in tears as we departed, not to mention a fair few of the volunteers and even the staff who will be back in two weeks time. Then after a few last lingering looks, we were taken across the channel to the mainland and loaded in to the back of a truck for an express trip back to civilisation which would see us go staight on to the overnight ferry from Savusavu to arrive in Suva early Monday morning.
So now it's time to look to the future and my plans have changed slightly from my original intentions. Oli and I will be going to New Zealand on thursday and there we will be parting, at least for a while. Oli has a new girlfriend (Mel) from our Greenforce expedition and he wants to join her on the month long trip she has planned , taking a Magic Bus tour around NZ, going from Auckland to Christchurch. After that he's got no idea what he's going to do. I'm going to be heading straight down to Christchurch with a cheap flight then heading further south so I can go walking in the stunning southern alps before winter makes then impassable with the gear I have. Then I'll be heading back up north, working my way back to Auckland over a period of about two to two and a half months. After that, I'll probably try and find a job in Auckland for a couple of months, but who knows? Plans are flexible and I'm still considering hopping over to Australia for a bit.
Last weeks at Nukubulavu
All too soon, I seem to be nearing the end of my stay here at Nukubulavu. Our letters will be going out with the last ration run to Savusavu, which will supply us with enough food and fuel for the last three weeks on the island. These promise to be very intense as on Monday 6th March the proper surveys start: 30 transects we need to follow in teams of 3, recording fish species and size, invertebrates and substrate. The data will then be processed by both Greenforce and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to assess whether the marine protection areas set up (preventing fishing in certain areas) are working to conserve biodiversity and a healthy ecosystem, as well as providing a breeding ground for fish, increasing the yield in areas where fishing is permitted.
The last few weeks have been quite eventful. A couple of Saturdays ago we finally got to play the Fijians at rugby. Touch rugby, that would be, as we value our lives. It seemed like the entire male population of Navatu joined us for a mammoth 2 hour game on the playing field of the district school, half hour's walk away on the mainland. I believe the final score was something like 65-60, probably to the Fijians, but as I got bored after 3/4 hour and wondered off to chat to people on the sidelines, I'm not quite sure; if only we had been playing something more interesting like football! Probably not a good idea to say that to the rugby-mad Fijians though.
Training is now complete. Having finished my EFR course, should I meet an injured person I'm now qualified to say, 'Hello my name is Neil. I'm an emergency first responder. May I help you?' I then may or may not be able to save their life. I've also had to learn the various types of coral and completed an exercise where I had to estimate the length of several pieces of plastic tubing strung on ropes beneath the water, meant to simulate fish size estimation.
The number of dogs on camp increased dramatically recently from 4 to 16, as Busty gave birth to 5 puppies in the corner of our bure (where they remained for a day before we moved them out due to the smell) and another dog - three legged Peggy - came down from the village to give birth to a further 6 puppies behind one of the staff bures. At the moment they all have their eyes shut and never stumble more than a few yards from their nest, but soon they'll be trotting around camp, tripping people up and annoying everyone by being overly inquisitive. But we'll love them and then they'll be taken to the village to be disposed of as we can't have any more dogs on camp.
Another fundraiser was held recently at the village of Nakorrou, which was an hour's truck ride in to the mainland (plus 2 and a half hours sitting on the shore waiting for the truck to arrive - Fiji time in full force). We were greeted by what seemed to be the entire village in their huge community hall for a great night of dancing, kava and, wait for it....cold beer!! This had been brought in an ice box from Savusavu, especially for us. We also managed to raise $321.20 to go to the local school.
Just about all of us have now been diving in Namera, a marine protection area a couple of miles across the sea which is supposedly one of the top ten dive sites in the world. On my visit there I saw several big fish of all varieties and swam next to a stunning coral wall but compared to the 2m Giant Manta Ray, turtles and bull sharks that have been seen on subsequent dives, this feels a bit lame.
On the way back from setting up a transect at Namera a couple of days ago, Wayne (a guy from WCS) and Heidi (our stunning assistant scientist) went fishing and surprised us all by arriving back and heaving a huge 1.5m great barracuda over the side of the boat. This went to the village to be eaten, but we kept the two 70cm yellow fin tuna that had also been caught (which by our reckoning would have fetched about £200 in the UK) and baked them in a fire. From being caught to on our plate in less than 5 hours - absolutely delicious.
On two consecutive nights this week, Adam and I decided to go on a night dive. We can go shore diving whenever we want - just grab a buddy, kit up and write your name on the dive board. However, the reef just in front of our camp is rather poor with sparse, mainly dead coral and little fish life. At night, however, it's a different matter. Just swimming out to one of the dives we saw a small blue spotted ribbon tail ray in the shallows and underwater we came across a black blotched porcupine fish just sleeping on a ledge, a 70cm blue spined unicorn fish asleep in the coral (I got so close I could have reached out and tweaked the scalpal-sharp spines at the base of his tail) and to top it all two iridescent cuttle fish - transluscent purple with electric blue spots, they were quite a sight to see swimming through the dark ocean.