My next 7 days at Barefoot Manta flew by! I spent all of Sunday doing more marine conservation volunteering – I started the morning by tending to my little mangrove propagules, watering them and tidying the bed they are planted in.
I then set out for a COT dive with some staff at Backyard Reef, which is on the far side of the island. We found heaps of COTS amongst the coral, much to my disappointment, but I was glad to get out and get so many off the reef. The reef hadn’t been checked for weeks, so it was good to bring this small outbreak to the dive shop’s attention. After we got back from the dive, we headed up to the burial grounds to lay the COTS to rest (after being measured of course), and then I grabbed a quick lunch. After lunch I went out with a group of guests who were going on a snorkel safari, but I had my dive gear in tow. The guests were headed with Paul out to the reef adjacent to Backyard Reef, so I figured it’d be good to check it for COTS – sure enough, there were quite a few COTS along the reef, which I gladly picked up. Back at the dive shop, while I was taking care of the COTS with some of the crew, I had a wild realization: I would be doing my 1000th dive the very next day! It was a massive milestone in my diving career and I was incredibly excited to be celebrating this accomplishment at Barefoot Manta! But what would we do? I spent the rest of the day debating how to celebrate this dive in style and how I could make it memorable. . .
Monday came and I woke up excited! Today was my big day – bigger than Christmas, my birthday, graduating from college (?!) Today I’d be doing my 1000th dive! For my 999th dive, I went to kill some COTS on Backyard Reef, which was fun as always. After lunch I sat down for a mad brainstorming session with the crew, I had not finalized my ideas for my 1000th dive and needed their help! In 30 minutes, we had a great idea and executed all the preparation to get ready for the big dive, much to my surprise. I doubted we’d be able to pull off a good stunt for the dive, but it looked like it was going to happen! With no guests diving or snorkeling that afternoon, most dive staff was able to come out for the dive, where we’d be removing COTS on a reef not very often visited. I donned my costume of Fijian warrior Princess and hopped onboard the boat. To celebrate the dive, I’d take a few pictures in traditional grass skirt with ceremonial beheading club underwater! It was a great idea and I was excited to get some awesome photos. After the briefing, we hopped in, and I got a few pictures with my buddy, Semi before we set off to kill COTS in style. We managed to only find 2 COTS the whole dive (which is good, but I still felt disappointed I didn’t find more) and cruised back to the dive shop, feeling quite Proud and happy after completing the dive.
Tuesday was back to the normal grind (though I felt like now I was a proper grown up diver) with killing COTS. The dive shop had a new volunteer, Sarah, who was learning the ropes of killing COTS as well as the other projects going on at Barefoot Manta. In the afternoon, after our COT dive, Dan asked us to transplant some mangrove babies to the river bed on the island, whose mangroves were uprooted a long time ago, and this lack of mangroves was causing erosion and soil displacement on the riverbed. Sarah, Dan, and I took about 16 propagules over to the river bed where we dug up the sand and gently planted the green and perky looking plants into the small holes. We covered their roots with sand and soil, then watered them all before heading back to the dive shop. I was optimistic for the little mangroves: they had grown so well behind the dive shop and I wanted them to all survive and grown up to beautiful and critically important mangrove trees along the riverbed.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday went all in a similar pattern – staff meeting in the morning plus any random chores around the dive shop (such as watering the mangroves and tidying the shop in preparation for guests), then a morning dive where I scouted for COTS on local reefs. After lunch I would either do a coral planting dive or tag along for more COT killing to preoccupy my afternoon. In between dives I’d goof around with the dive staff, who are an amazing group of people to work with. I felt that this second time around I was no longer just the strange Rolex girl, I’d become a part of the team and it was definitely going to be difficult to leave. This second trip to Barefoot Manta I had spent a whole 10 days on the island, which was longer than my first trip of seven days, but this time it flew by so much faster than I expected it to! Before I knew it, my last night at Barefoot Manta had arrived and I was packing to head back to Port Denarau on Saturday afternoon
Saturday came and I was in major denial that it was my time to leave Barefoot Manta. I had such an incredible 10 days with the dive team; I was really not looking forward to leaving. However, I couldn’t fight the inevitable and with my bags all packed, I spent the morning squeezing in my last dives possible. I did one last COT dive off Sunrise Beach, nabbing a few more of the rascals before I left the island. I begrudgingly packed up the last odds and ends of my gear, ate my last lunch, then awaited the arrival of the afternoon catamaran ferry down to the mainland. Just around 2:30 they called everyone to the main bure for the farewell song, then all my hugs were given to the staff before I loaded up on the boat and began the journey back to the mainland. I spent the night at a hostel, getting a great sleep in my empty dorm room (which never happens!!)
Sunday I spent most of the day lounging around the hostel, waiting for my evening flight. I spent the day coloring in my ocean coloring book, sending emails, and working on other random tasks to preoccupy myself before my flight. Just around 3 I caught a taxi to the airport, soon on my way back to Sydney and about 2 weeks with Jayne before my next adventure to Papua New Guinea at the beginning of February. Although sad to say goodbye to the beautiful Fiji, I had lots to look forward to in the upcoming weeks, as I’d heard incredible things about Papua New Guinea! At least I had another trip in the South Pacific before I had to head back to North America.
