See the "best of" photos of the Galapagos.

As if Troy and I have not dived the best the world has to offer, there are still a few places (believe it or not) that we have yet to conquer. A few weeks ago, we marked one of the big ones off our dwindling list: Galapagos Islands! We tried to work this into our year trip but the timing of available diving liveaboards just didn’t work out. Let me tell you, the diving was unbelievable. We ranked it side by side with Cocos Island, Costa Rica as far as shark life goes but when you add in the overall fish and marine life, Galapagos is off the scale! There was a 15 year old diver with us and her family and we told her, “You got nowhere to go from here! You’ve seen the best and you’re only 15! Stop diving now!”

Before we got on our dive boat we spent a few days in Quito, Ecuador. As we’re heading to the hotel from the airport we received our first impression of Quito right away. You know when you pull up to a stop light in a busy city and little kids run up to your car selling newspapers or Chiclets or try to wash your window? Not in Quito. The little kids are flame throwers! Our taxi is at a stop light and we look over and see this kid spitting alcohol into a lighter and out explodes this huge flame! If we had been in the right lane I would definitely have paid $1 to see that again!

We met up with our dive group the next morning to take a walking tour of the city. Our first stop was in Old Town to go see The Basilica del Voto Nacional or in simple terms The Basilica. But first we had to get our entire group onto the packed trolley. When I say packed I mean the people of Quito could put the people of Tokyo to shame when it comes to how they pack themselves onto their public transportation. We missed the first two trolley’s because our group was just not forceful enough. Troy and I (the experts when it comes to packed transportation) told the group they were going to have to be brutal if they were going to get anywhere. The look of absolute horror on their faces was priceless when they realized they were going to have to give the old lady next to them a swift elbow to the ribs in order to get on the trolley. They did it, only to get off on the wrong stop!!!

Anyways, back to the church: it was gorgeous. It sat on top of a hill in the center of the city and could be seen from everywhere, considering it was the tallest thing around. Most of the city consisted of square, flat, boring buildings so anything that was not square stood out. Although i do have to say that in Old Town and around our hotel there were some great old colonial buildings. The first thing I noticed about it was the gargoyles. Actually, instead of gargoyles, there were turtles, iguanas, and birds lurching out of the side of the immense building. This church was enormous and completely open to visitors to climb and crawl all over it, which we did. There were steep ladders and wire mesh platforms that led up to the highest points of the tower. The part I thought was the craziest was once we got to the very top, there was a gate “open” that allowed us to crawl out onto a 2’ wide ledge that allowed an amazing, uninterrupted view of the whole city. I’m sharing this 2’ ledge with our friend, listening to him tell me about the last time he was up there pieces of the church broke off when he touched them. Ok, so maybe we shouldn’t be standing out here anymore. I’m not scared of heights but standing on that ledge definitely gave me the heebie jeebies! We spent the rest of the afternoon hop, skip and jumping around the town, throwing in a grande beer here and there. Oh, and paying $2 for a postcard stamp! What?????

A trip to Ecuador is not complete without a visit to the equator which we did the next day on our way to a local market in a small town called Otvallo. I found two things to be quite interesting: 1) At the equator both hemispheres star constellations can be viewed at night; 2) Ecuador is considered truly the center of the Earth because it is the only place (in ancient times) where the movement of the sun can accurately be monitored. Everywhere else the equator crosses is either in the ocean or is deep in the jungle. The things you learn!

Finally off to Galapagos Islands! After getting settled into our cabins on the Aggressor II and getting our dive gear set up we had our first dive of the day which is normally fairly boring because it’s mainly for everyone to get their gear straightened out and to see if there are any problems. Day after next we were going to be a long ways from civilization and if anybody needed a dive shop, today is the day. Like I said, usually it’s a boring dive but when you dive with sea lions nothing is boring! You never know when they were going to grab our fin, knock our mask off and play keep away with it or try and bite our face for a bit of entertainment! Gotta love an open mouth racing towards you at full speed and then turning away at the last minute! I swear I heard them laughing.

All of our time in Galapagos was not spent diving. We were allowed to have four land excursions. I know you’re thinking “You were allowed? And only four?” Let me explain… The Ecuadorian government keeps a tight rein on the islands (as they should) and are always changing rules regarding what tourists are allowed to do. Right now the government is in the process of changing policies so that if you are there as a diver, you are not allowed on land. If you are there as a land tourist, you are not allowed to dive. They have been trying to implement this for many years and luckily for us we were allowed to do both. Until we actually got on land to do our excursions we never knew if things were going to change on us at the last minute. One of our excursions we were allowed to do was to see the giant tortoises (more about them later). A few years ago when our dive shop went, they were not allowed to see the tortoises. This is what I mean by things changing.

Our first excursion was to see the sea lions on land, the marine iguanas, the frigates and the Blue Footed Boobies. The landscape was very desolate with bare, skeleton trees since the area does not get a lot of rain. When it is stated that the animals are not afraid of humans, it couldn’t be more true. We had to step over sea lions that were lying across our path, birds nested right next to the trail and mothers were not overly protective of their eggs. It was birthing season (is that right?) for the Blue Footed Boobies so we saw tons of babies everywhere. We saw babies that ranged in age from only a few hours old to several months. The babies that were several months were incredibly fuzzy and white and looked a little pathetic as they flopped their wings around as if they were alien appendages they didn’t know what to do with. What I want to know is why the Blue Footed Boobies have blue feet. Does it have something to do with attracting a mate? Is this natures version of Elvis’ blue suede shoes? I have to say, they were pretty cool. I kept telling Troy “Get a picture of their feet, get a picture of their feet!”

I loved going on the islands because they were all different from each other both in animals and in landscape and we never knew what to expect. Where one island had mainly marine iguanas (black, small, flat tail) another island had land iguanas that were much bigger with colors that varied from brown to yellow to orange. They were also fat which made me want to grab one and squeeze it. I don’t think our naturalist would have liked that! “Senorita, put the iguana down now!” The islands landscapes varied from looking as if we’re on the moon (did the moon have a boardwalk on it?), to islands with giant cactus with Mickey Mouse ear leaves and ground covering bushes with greens, reds and oranges. I did get tired of the smell quickly though. Between bird guano and seal poop it was enough to make us be glad we were back on the boat. One island did have a small colony of penguins. When I say small, I mean like 40. How lonely is that? We had an opportunity to go snorkeling with them but Troy and I did not want to get geared up in our drysuits just to go snorkeling so we tagged along with the other swimmers on the panga with beer in hand.

After our diving and before we headed back to Quito was our last opportunity to do a land excursion and this was to see the famous giant tortoises. We could have visited the Charles Darwin Research Center but our trip leader (who has been to Galapagos before) said that going to a tortoise farm would be better. He was right. When I say farm, it’s not a farm where they are raised in captivity. These tortoises are wild and just happen to be on some man’s farm. They don’t move fast or very far so they have been here forever. We saw dozens of them with many being over 100 years old and the huge ones weighing in at 500 lbs. They definitely didn’t like people too much. As soon as we got near them, they pulled in their giant heads as much as they could and made this evil hissing sound that made us think twice about getting too close. Even though we would be able to outrun them (I would pay to see them run), they could, without a doubt, tear a limb from us with one tug. Like their name says, they are giants and utterly fascinating to look at up close. From the patterns on their shells, to the scales on their legs, to the drool coming out of their mouth, they were absolutely gorgeous in their own way. I suppose Troy could be gorgeous in his own way if he had drool coming out of his mouth!!!

Onto the diving! This is what we came for and paid a lot of money to do. Not to mention making fellow divers envious. I already told you about our first dive with the sea lions. It only got better from there. The most famous places in Galapagos to dive is Wolf and Darwin Islands. Only four dive boats are allowed there and we figured roughly 3000 divers a year go to these two islands. It’s about a 12 hour ride out from San Christobal and no one is allowed on the islands so the only people that go here are divers. There are no day boats with tourists with floppy hats, sunscreen, guide books and loud voices asking where the bathroom is. It was only us and the other Aggressor dive boat. Our first dive on Wolf Island lived up to the Galapagos reputation: dozens and dozens of Hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks (which are huge), Spotted Eagle Rays and an annoying number of eels. Everywhere Troy and I have dived, eels are always hidden away in their holes in the reef. The only thing you see is their head or their tail. Only rarely will we see them out free swimming. Not at Wolf and Darwin Island. They were out swimming everywhere and they were fat! “Senorita, put the eel down now!” There was so much else going on that they actually got to be a little annoying as they swam around us as we’re trying to watch the Hammers.

There was one point on a dive we thought a huge storm cloud came in and blocked out the sun because it got very dark all of a sudden. Troy and I looked up and a massive school of Jacks was swimming by. They were so thick they blocked out the light of the sun. We’ve seen big schools of fish but nothing like this. The best part was when we swam away from the reef into the blue. At the end of every dive when we did this, almost the same thing happened every time: We would be about 30’ deep when coming toward us out of nowhere is 75 -100 silky sharks. They’re not scared of us so they start circling around us coming closer and closer with each pass. They’re not aggressive so we were never in any danger but it was a little unsettling knowing we’re in the middle of nowhere, hours from civilization and there are about 100 sharks circling us! It was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!! We didn’t want the dive to end. And then on top of that (as if that was not enough) here comes a huge school of Yellow Fin Tuna. These guys were monsters. Seeing them actually made me sad because I love sushi and I don’t think I want to eat it anymore! Oh wait and then there are the dolphins. Troy and I have always seen dolphins on the surface as we’re going to the dive site, but as soon as we get in the water, they’re gone. Not here! They were everywhere. We could hear them chatter, we would stare at them as they zoom by, watch them leap out of the water, we could even hear them fight as they would tail slap each other. Now that is a weird sound.

But unfortunately there were times where we were at the wrong place at the wrong time. The other dive group saw a Whale Shark three times. A Whale Shark is the mother lode of diving. People dive their whole lives without seeing one. Our dive group saw one but only for a short time until one of the other annoying divers got too close and scared it off. Ass. We were also at the last dive site at the end of the trip when the other dive guide saw a school of about 50 rays swim by. We were at the wrong place by 80’ and the wrong time by mere minutes. But that is the nature of diving.

Before we left Quito, we had one last little bit of excitement (if that is what you want to call it). As most of you know, Troy and I collect masks from all over the world. In Otovallo we got an awesome one that had six bullhorns on it. When we left Quito for Galapagos I didn’t think about leaving it behind at the hotel we would be staying at upon our return. So as soon as we arrive in Galapagos and start going through customs I think to myself “There is no way they are going to let this mask in since it has animal parts on it.” They didn’t even give it a second glance since it was wrapped in paper. I thought I was home free after that. Not so. We get to the Quito airport to fly to Miami and that is where I ran into problems. As it comes out of the x-ray machine, a security agent pulls it aside and shakes her head. She then escorts it and us to our departing gate where there is a more thorough security screening. I ask Troy if the problem is because it’s made of animal and he says no, they think it could be a dangerous weapon. "Headline: LAN Ecuador Flight Hijacked By Man With Bullhorns." Anyways, she has a discussion with the gate security agent, both of them looking at the horns and shaking their heads. I’m getting mad because this mask wasn’t cheap and I wanted it. Troy on the other hand is keeping his cool and a constant smile on his face (if there is one thing he has learned in all his travels is that getting angry does nothing). I’m thinking they’re going to confiscate it. Instead the security agent tells us to follow him. We follow him through a secure door, down stairs and outside to where the baggage is getting loaded on to the carts that go to the airplanes. Troy and I are a little shocked because this would never be allowed in the states. So we walk over to where the heavy hitters of airport security are with their camouflage (camouflage at an airport?), big guns and heavy, black boots. They’re looking at the mask and laughing at it. At this point I’m relieved because even if we can’t carry it on, our checked bags are nearby and we can pack it in them. Next thing I know one of the security police takes out his Swiss Army knife, cuts away the paper and starts digging into the glue that is holding the horns onto the wooden mask. All of a sudden things are not funny anymore as I realize he is checking for drugs. Troy and I are both thinking “If they have any doubt at all, we’re screwed! We are totally f**ked!” I’m holding my coffee cup with a shaking hand and Troy is wiping the sweat off of his brow during all of this. The police tastes what he has scraped off and nods his head. Ok? What does that mean? Ok, there are drugs, arrest them. Ok, it is nothing. What??????????? He hands the mask back to the first security agent and tells us ok. OK, what????? I’m still not getting an answer to this very important questions. He then says, it’s ok, you can go. Whew! Talk about excitement that really wasn’t so funny!

Well folks, this is it. This is the final blog from our round the world trip. We know we were making a lot of people jealous and pissing them off with our travels so we decided to come home! We appreciate the faithful followers and readers who stayed with us, and for those of you who for some reason are reading this but didn't read the rest of our blog postings ... well you missed out on some great stories!

As for what's next, we have decided to put our roots down in Denver, Colorado. Troy got a job at Qwest (which is a huge communications company in Colorado) and will start in another week. He actually got offered the job while we were still in Vanuatu so that was one huge stress off of us. As for me, I will be working too although that will be hard after not having to for three years. (I know, I know I have had it so rough.) We are a bit stressed out having to get settled back in. We have no cars so we have to shop for one, we have to find a house, we have to get our taxes done, we have to cook for ourselves, we're not diving today and we have found that drinking at 10am is frowned upon.

Along our travels we accumulated a few interesting facts we would like to share with you:

• Number of miles traveled: A crap load
• Bottles of suntan lotion: 8
• Pairs of shoes: 3
• Shitty hotels: Lost count
• Run ins with the law: 3
• Lonely Planet guidebooks: 7
• Pairs of underwear: 8 (thought that might interest you)
• Hitch hiked: 7
• Number of currencies: 15
• Number of countries: 21
• Number of nights slept at airport: 3
• Lost: Camera lens cover, dive knife, dive safety sausage, rain jacket, 2 socks, wedding ring (I lost mine white water rafting in Costa Rica)
  
• Not enough money to pay: 2
• Deepest dive Troy: 205', Shelly 209' (and Troy is pissed I went deeper)
• Number of dives Troy: 323, Shelly 320
• Number of hours diving: 283 or 11.8 days
• Most expensive internet: Vanuatu $15/hr
• Cheapest internet: Cairns, Australia .90/hr

The most amazing things:

• Missed flights: 0
• Visits to doctor or hospital: 0
• Lost luggage: 0
• Bouts of diarrhea: 0 (thought you would like that one too)
  
• Lost or stolen money, wallet or passport: 0

We have met some amazing people on the road, seen beautiful countries and have experienced some extraordinary cultures. All of which will be a few of the many things we will miss. But we will not miss the disgustingly long flights, the August heat of Egypt and bad hotel beds. But our travels are not over, they are just on pause. We just have to save our money again!

To see Troy's fabulous photos of Vanuatu go to our photo website.

Unless you have watched Survivor from almost day one, most people have never heard of Vanuatu: It is a country consisting of about seven islands that sit between Fiji and Australia. Oh, they also had cannibalism up to 1969 - gives a whole new meaning to "mystery meat". Troy and I have also found it to be home to the worlds most expensive internet - $15/hour - and the worlds most expensive postcards - $4 to mail a waterproof postcard from the worlds first underwater mailbox. I about shit my pants when I did the currency conversion and realized we spent $24 on six of these things!

Remember when I mentioned the kava in Fiji and how it was realtively weak and that after eight bowls all I had was perma-grin? Well on our way to Vanuatu we were told by several people that kava in Vanuatu was ten times as strong as in Fiji. Oh lordy, let me tell you, they were not kidding. Three bowls for me and I was blitzed! After a day of diving we met up with our dive guides and some fellow divers to go to a very local kava bar. We originally all met in front of a small hotel then proceeded to walk down a very dark, unlit street. We had a choice between the red light kava bar and the green light kava bar. Hence denoted by the green and red lights right outside the entrance. We were told the red bar was better so in we went. The bar was nothing more then a packed dirt floor, a few wooden planks nailed to the wall for benches, plywood stacked on concrete blocks for tables and the kava bar. This was by far the sketchiest place we have ever been in and we have been in a few. It was so sketchy we felt like we were doing something illegeal. The only light was from a small tv in the far back corner and a single bulb burning over the bar. We could barely see each other, not to mention the people sitting next to us. The most we could see of them was the end of their glowing cigarettes. The funniest part was when you ordered. It is ordered by price, 50 Vatu, 100 Vatu or 200 Vatu. Being the brave bunch we ordered the medium size, 100 Vatu. The guys behind the counter then proceeded to act like he was working at a hamburger joint. Instead of yelling out "5 hamburger, 5 hamburger, 5 hamburger" it was "5-100, 5-100, 5-100"! Nevermind the fact the guy pouring the kava was two feet away from him, he still shouted it out. So two bowls of this filthy stuff later, we decided to head across the street to the green bar. When we saw how small the 100 Vatu pour of kava was here we started complaining amongst ourselves. "There is hardly anything in my bowl! What a rip. I want more kava!" Ten minutes later when I am trying to keep from falling off the bench, I decided to shut my mouth about how small the pour was. Unfortunately for Troy, he felt nothing. For some reason he had a tolerance to it while the rest of us just got rippped!

Vanuatu is also home to the cult religion of John Frum which is an adaptation of "John from America". He is depicted as an American World War II serviceman who will bring wealth and prosperity to the people if they follow him. On the island of Tanna, a native named Manehivi adapted this alias and told all the islanders he was a god who would bring people houses, clothes, food and transport if they followed him. The religion gained traction when large number of American troops were stationed in Vanuatu during WWII. The islanders were impressed with the American wealth and power and started seeing Uncle Sam, Santa Clause and John the Baptist as mythical figures. (Who doesn't see Santa Clause as a mythical figure?) Followers of the cult started building symbolic landing strips in the hopes that American airplanes would bring them "cargo". The native islanders believe that John Frum will return to them on February 15 so each year that day is celebrated as John Frum Day. See, there are some places in the world that like Americans. Even if they live in la la land and have no idea what we are really like!

And of course, the main reason we came to Vanuatu was for diving. During WWII, the island of Espiritu Santo had the largest American naval base outside of Pearl Harbor with over 300,000 troops stationed here. It was on the edge of this island that the S.S. President Coolidge sunk. Built in 1931 it was a 655' long passenger ship used mainly by wealthy Americans for travel. jn early 1942, just after the bombing of Pearl harbor, it was refitted and adapted to carry large number of troops and was dispatched to the South Pacific. On Oct 6 it set sail for Santo. On Oct 26 it approached the island that was surrounded by friendly mines. There was only one narrow channel that was not mined but upon seeing a wider channel the captain decided to go this route. When the naval controllers realized what the captain was doing it was too late to stop the massive ship from going forward. After hitting the two mines the ship was able to get close to shore where the troops could climb off the ship and make it safely to land. The captain left the ship and decided to go back the next day to retrieve things left behind. 90 minutes later the ship had sunk! Today the Coolidge is the worlds largest accessible shipwreck with the ship laying on it's port side (yes, I know what the port side is) with the bow starting at about 40' at the bottom of the stern about 240'.
When we were in Chuuk diving the WWII wrecks, we were hesitant everytime we approached 150' in depth thinking it was way out of our diving limits. On the Coolidge half of our dives started at 150'! We definitely did some things that went beyond our training, but as you can see I'm writing this so we made it out of the ship and back alive. Because the ship is laying on it's side, divers are able to go all the way down the B, C, D and E deck with out having to get super deep. Some of the rooms we saw were the doctors office, captains toilet, first class dining room with the carpet still on the floor (or what is now the wall because of how the ship is laying), lobby, galley, barber shop, engine room, bathrooms with rows of toilets and cargo holds with dozens of trucks and tons of ammunition. We even saw the swimming pool which still had water in it! (How many sorry souls are sitting there scratching their heads because they didn't get that joke?) It was an absolute maze twisting and turning through all the rooms, bending our bodies around doorways, getting stuck on miscellaneous protrusions all the while not trying to not lose our guide because we stopped to look at the massive potato peeler in the galley.

The main hazard of doing these kind of dives is keeping your wits about you. Personally I tried to not think about where I was. I tried to not think about the fact that I'm at 190', deep inside this ship at deck Q or something ridiculous, way back in the stern looking at the gigantic gear mechanism for the rudder or the fact that if we lost our guide we would be.... well.... let's just not go there. The other problem about being so deep is you get nitrogen narcosis which starts happening after 100'. Basically you are drunk from the nitrogen in the air you are breathing. You see absolutely no problem in giving your air to a fish, you have this sudden urge to tear everything off of you and swim naked and you are overjoyed to discover that 4+4 does equal banana. When we were at the pool, which is at 180', our guide told us to count the number of different color tiles to see if we could do it. Honestly, I could have cared less. I gave up after counting a blue and red tile. Then when we went to the stern at 209' to see the name "Coolidge", we were so narced we could barely spell it. C...O...O... wait...C... O.... ooooh, look at that pretty fish! Our dive computers were also not happy we went so deep. After a certain depth they started beeping, screaming at us "What the hell are you doing down here? I don't like it so deep! Go up, pleeeeaaaaassee!" The scary thing is when they stop screaming at us. You're not so sure if they have died or if they have given up on you and assumed we have died!

The best dive on the Coolidge by far was the night dive. In fact it was probably the best night dive we have ever done. I know a lot of divers will say they've done great night dives but there is no other night dive like the one we did on the Coolidge. Troy and I have talked about how best to describe it but we have agreed it is almost impossible to get across to readers exactly what we experienced. I will try though so hold on to your shorts. Hidden in the deep, dark holes of the ship are thousands and thousands of flashlight fish. They are about 4" long and have a gland under each eye filled with bacteria. When they breath, the flap opens and the bacteria glows. They don't like the light so they are only seen when it is absolutely dark. So for our night dive we were to descend into the ship when it is completely dark out... without lights. That was unnerving to say the least. It's one thing to dive without a light, it's another thing to go into a wreck without one. But it was unbelieveable. As we enter the ship there are thousands and thousands of these "lights" swimming all around us. It's like being in the solar system with all the stars flying by you. Because it is pitch black you can't see anything else but all these lights zipping right past your eyes. It gave you a horrible sense of vertigo because you felt like you were moving but you were not. I'm laughing and screaming with excitement at seeing this that all Troy had to do was follow the sound to find me. Then as we're leaving the ship it is now dark enough outside the ship that all the flashlight fish are leaving. So there is this waterfall of light pouring out of the ship and flowing away. The ones remaining in the ship are so dense that the ship looks like it's alive with the low glow of light emitting from the portholes. As we get farther away from the ship and turn back, the flashlight fish swimming around looks like a big city viewed at night from an airplane. It was absolutely unreal! Then to top it all off there is tons of phosphorescence (glowing plankton) in the water so whenever you agitate the water with your hands and fins it swirls with glowing particles. We looked like a bunch of tinkerbells with trails of sparkles coming off our fins. Not to mention how stupid we looked swirling our hands all around us like we're some sort of spastic flamenco dancer.

One last thing before I let you go. There was one last very unique dive site we had to go to. It's called Million Dollar Point. At the end of WWII there was a surplus of army equipment that no one wanted. The American Army didn't want to take it back to the states partly because of foreign soil on the equipment but also because it would hurt the economy. They tried to sell it to the local government for pennies on the dollar but they didn't want the equipment. So the local American base built a ramp running out to the sea and they drove millions of dollars of equipment into the sea. Today there is a gigantic pile of cranes, bulldozers, trucks, semis, ambulances, fork lifts and cases of Coca-Cola just a few hundred feet off the shore. Troy in fact found a Coke bottle dated 1942. If you can get over the fact that all this crap was dumped in the ocean it is defintely a one of a kind dive site.

Before our long flight home we had one last stopover in Fiji for three days. When we were in Australia a fellow diver told us about a shark feeding dive in Fiji. We have done shark feeds before but when we learned there would be bull and tiger sharks on the feed I decided we had to go. We never saw a tiger shark (which is a good thing since they are man eaters) but we did see about 15 different bull sharks. These sharks live up to their name "bull" by being absolutely enormous. Their girth is...well enormous! They are completely unlike any other shark we have ever dived with so we were very excited. A little side note about them: they are known to dwell in shallow waters so they are more dangerous to humans then any other shark species. Nice comforting thought. To keep our group safe we had several dive guides with us that had long metal poles that they used to discourage the sharks from getting too close to us. I don't know what it is about these island countries that think long sticks will protect us from dangerous creatures such as bull sharks and Komodo dragons. Personally I would opt for a big ol' gun!

We just spent a very short eight days in Savusavu, Fiji. Because we were not here very long we have only a handful of photos that you can view on our photo website.

Even though we were here a very short time we absolutely fell in love with the Fijians! In fact I think they are our new favorite nationality. As you walk down the street they would yell "Bula! Bula! Bula!" which is hello. They wave at you so much that you kind of feel like a movie star. They're so friendly and want to say hi that they tuck their giant machete under their armpit as they wave hello to you! The only downside to Fiji (and I hate to say this) is that 40% of the population consists of Indians (from India). A few hundred years ago when the English ruled the islands (I swear the English must have ruled the whole world at some point or another) they wanted the local Fijians to work the sugar cane fields. When the Fijians refused because they were happy fishing and working their own farms, the English decided to bring in the Indians to work the cane fields. They never left. I say that they're a downer for Fiji because they are just not very nice. You smile and say hello and they give you this blank stare in return.

The Fijians are a little quirky though. While at a local bar a gentlemen came around to see if we wanted to enter a raffle that was to help support the local youth group. One drawing was to win $200. The other raffle was to win a chicken. Hmmm.... let me think about this.... which drawing do I want to enter? Do I want to win $200 or a chicken??? Kind of bizarre. We also noticed several of the men are just a little to in touch with their feminine side. We noticed this right away upon arrival at the airport. As one of "these guys" is explaining to us where to catch a shuttle to our hotel, he is slowly massaging Troy's shoulder and fluttering his eyes at him.

Of course coming to Fiji we wanted to do some diving. It didn't turn out quite the way we expected but that is ok since we basically have had a lifetime of diving experiences this past year. We met a fellow diver several months ago that said to come to the island of Vanua Levu because there was a fantastic marine park. That sounded like a great endorsement so away we went. Upon arrival we found there were not many dive shops to choose from and since it was low season no one was going to the marine park which was about a 2 hour boat ride away. So we were disappointed about this but oh well. Then after one of our dives, everyone is on the boat taking off wet suits and Troy's expensive dive computer accidentally got knocked out of his hand and into the water it went. He jumped in right away but since he didn't have his mask or fins on there was no way he could catch it in time. So that sucked big time! We thought we were drifting in a current over 700' of water so we decided it was long gone. That evening we tried to soak our sorrows away in a few beers but it didn't help much. The next day the same boat guide asked if we wanted to look for it. He said when it went overboard we had just come off the mooring and we were still over 175' of water and he had a very good idea of where it might be. So we said we would go look. Back to the dive site we went and four minutes into the dive the guide found the computer in 165' of water on a very small lip of the reef before it plummeted to the extreme depths!!!!!!!!!! Talk about happiness!!

There wasn't a whole lot to do in Savusavu so we rented a little Rav4 one day to explore the island and find some deserted beaches. This didn't go so well either. The roads were horrible! There is only one paved road on the island and is only about 50 miles long. After that it is just shit, shit and more shit mixed with mud. Not to mention dodging goats and cows on the side of the road as we slip and slide everywhere. Our goal was to get all the way around the island but we gave up once we realized the roads were getting worse not better. Funny thing, when we got back to the paved road we remembered that the SUV had 4 wheel drive! Whoops. But that probably wouldn't have helped too much since the tires were bald - at least that is Troy's story. We did manage to pick up a few hitch hikers to pay back the hitch hiking god since we have hitched a few rides through out our travels. At one point on our road journey we came across an area of road that stretched for 100 yards that had been washed out by recent rains. We were amazed at the amount of road construction machinery that was fixing the problem.....two guys, a shovel and a wheel barrel. As Troy says "Those guys have a job for life!"

Fiji is also known for their Kava which is a drink made from the Kava root which is part of the pepper leaf family. We had heard about it so of course we had to give it a try. Kava is such a huge part of the Fijians social life that as you walk down the street you can witness groups of neighbors sitting on the front lawn drinking it. The Fijians drink so much of it that when it is made it is mixed in a bowl large enough to do a load of laundry in. At this point everyone sits around this large tub while small bowls of Kava is passed around. Anyone can buy the powder in the store and mix it up yourself but the more fun way is to drink it with the locals at a Kava ceremony. Our last night in Fiji found us joining such a ceremony at our hotel. There is not much to the ceremony. Water is poured in a big wooden bowl then the powder is wrapped up in a cloth to soak in the water. When the Kava is ready the Kava Master says some mumbo-jumbo in Fijian then we are ready to drink. A series of claps happen before and after the drinking, bula is shouted a few times then the mouth numbness sets in along with the perma-grin. It was all very entertaining. Especially when "Chief Troy" didn't clap at the appropriate time and had to drink extra servings. There were also two young Japanese girls drinking with us who really didn't know much about Fiji's history. When the Kava Master, Taiku, told them that his ancestors used to be cannibals, the expression on the girls faces was absolutely priceless. They thought he was joking but were horrified to learn he was not. By the way, Kava does not taste good. Probably why it is served in a plastic tub is because it looks and tastes like dirty dish water. There are definitely worse things we have tried but this one is right up there.

After Vanuatu we will come back to Fiji for three more days before we head back to the US because our year trip will have come to an end. How sad is that?

New Zealand is just too gorgeous of a place to not check out Troy's photos of South Island on our photo website.

We just spent close to three weeks in South Island, New Zealand and we loved it especially since it reminds us of Colorado, of course without the ocean and the gajillion sheep. Both are beautiful with huge mountains, snow capped peaks, gorgeous sunsets, rolling farmlands that are brown... excuse me... golden, high fire hazard, chilly nights, and perfectly clear skies. We did our fair share of driving, covering over 2300 miles in 18 days. Honestly I didn't know the South Island was big enough to drive that far. But drive we did and we saw as much as there is to see.

Spending three weeks in NZ Troy and I decided to rent a camper van instead of staying in hotels every night. As we found out a huge number of tourists do this so we were not original in our thinking. You would probably feel like the lonely fat kid on the block who has no friends if you were driving around in a little rent-a-car instead. Troy and I are not very good campers. We have discovered there are certain comforts we like to have while out in the big bad wilderness such as a refrigerator, toilet, shower, and a soft comfy bed. We are a little ashamed of ourselves but at least we can admit it. We definitely were happy with our shower/toilet combo since it's cold at night and the last thing we wanted was to have to do our business in the woods while we froze our ass off! Originally we planned on staying at camp sites every few days to use the power. But once we realized it was not essential to have the power to run our microwave so we could have popcorn we headed off the beaten path and camped every night next to rivers, lakes and beaches eating chili dogs (mmmm chili dogs), NZ green lip mussels and enough local wine to open our own liquor store. The beach was the best until Troy's handy dandy GPS told us it was full moon with high tide at 2am and the ocean tide got a little too close for comfort to our camper.

Speaking of the gajillion sheep, they are not very smart animals. We're driving down a dirt road and the fields on both sides of us are packed with sheep. Some how a lot of them were outside the fence so they were crossing back and forth across the road as we approached. It is amazing how quick they panic and freak out. We're driving as slow as we can so they can get out of our way (and to cause them the least amount of panic) but there is this one lone sheep that can't figure out what to do. "Which way do I go? Do I go this way, no I'll run this way. Oh wait, no I'll go back across the road. Oh shit, the truck is still there, where do I go, what do I do? Somebody help me! Ahhhgggh, I wish my brain wasn't so small so I could figure out what to do!" The sheep is running faster and faster as he criss crosses back and forth across the road until he finally manages to find the side of the road only to run full speed, face first into the fence. You could only laugh at the poor animal!

One thing we planned on doing when we got here was some hiking. We have become quite lazy on our trip so we definitely needed some exercise. Only we became a bit over ambitious on our first hike and ended up doing a 17 mile/28 kilometer hike. Considering over the last few months our main form of exercise consisted of walking from the train station to the hotel with our backpacks, climbing a few church steeples and swimming against current while diving, this hike just about did us in. But obviously we survived and didn't go quite as far on other hikes. One of our hikes ended at the base of a glacier with dozens of waterfalls running down the rock face with the bright sun shining everywhere. It was one of the most beautiful hikes we have ever done. We were feeling quite special since we were alone and thought we were the only ones who knew of this hike. That is until we turned around and on our trek back we must have passed at least 75 people heading toward the same glacier.

We also wanted to tackle some white water rafting which is one of our most favorite things to do and whenever there is an opportunity to go, we go. Unfortunately since it is not spring there is no snow run off so the rivers were not running very fast or high. We almost decided to not go until we were offered a little two person rubber duckie raft. This was a hoot!!!! In a normal raft that sits about six people, you sit fairly high above the rapids. And unless they are class three, four or even five (four being scary huge rapids) you don't get very wet nor is it horribly exciting. You just kind of putz along the river looking at the scenery. We love scenery and all but we can get that out of the windows of our camper van. So we wanted something a little more exciting. This little duckie turned class two rapids into class three+ rapids which was wild. We were down low in the thick of the rapids and were getting drenched at every bump and turn. Loads of freezing water gushing over our heads, water forcefully splashed into our faces, water going up our noses and filling our duckie with water. It was also a lot more work then on the big raft because Troy had to steer (instead of the guide steering) while I paddled us through the rapids before the rapids paddled us. We're both yelling at each other "PADDLE! PADDLE! GO RIGHT! PADDLE HARDER! GO LEFT, GO LEFT, GO LEFT! PADDLE PADDLE PADDLE! WATCH OUT FOR THE ROCKS! OHHHHHH SHIIIIIIT!" Seriously, it was a blast!!!!!!

If we thought we got close to the water with our rubber duckie, we got even closer when we went river sledging. We have never heard of this before we got here so we definitely had to see what it was all about and give it a go. What you do is you put on a really thick wetsuit, fins, helmet (mandatory to avoid getting your head smashed by a boulder) grab a glorified boogie board, jump in the river and ride the rapids just like you're riding a wave at the ocean. Talk about a face full of water at every turn not to mention the adrenaline of not having a raft to protect you from running into the rock walls. Our first run down the river wore us out because we had no idea what we were doing even though we were given instructions. It is definitely one of those things that looks easier then done. But our second run down was much easier and more fun since we had figured things out.