As we sat after dinner recieving instructions for this assignment, I thought back to all the things I could write about. The plane and boat rides into Kadavu were incredible, the food was delicious, and the kava ceremoony was an amazing cultural experience. Of course, on top of all of that, the diving was spectacular. There was so many interesting things I wasn’t quite sure which one to write about. As it turns out, I’m not going to write about any of that, because while there’s 2 weeks of diving, kava, and food, I had a unique experience after everyone turned in for the night that I’d like to share.

I’ve always had trouble getting to sleep at night, so when everyone else decided to go to bed, I was still wide awake. To kill some time, I went down to the dock to check out the stars and the scenery. I sat there for about a half hour before I started back to my bule [ed: that’s Fijian for hut]. On my way there, I saw a crab on the ground pretty far from the water. I took my phone out to take a picture but it quickly retreated into its burrow. Disappointed, I decided to wander for a bit to see what else I could find. Eventually, I came across a tree with loads of crabs in the branches.

A crab sits in a defensive posture in a tree.

I began taking pictures and even found a massive hermit crab.

A hermit crab wanders around by the base of a tree.

While I was taking pictures, I noticed a light approaching from behind me. It was Kevin, one of the Fijian employees at Matava. We chatted for a bit, talking about our cultures and learning about each other. I found out he was 20 years old, from Suva, and had just started working here in December. I had a bag of kava that I bought in the Nadi marketplace, so we returned to my bule where he mixed the drink. We sat and talked and drank kava until about midnight before turning in for the night. It was a really genuine and unique experience to get to hang out with someone from Fiji and to learn so much about their culture.

– James