Sun kissed shores of Fiji

Another 11 hour flight, a day lost - the international date line is a real mystery - and a 45 minute trip down a dirt track road all combined to get us to our destination of Sea Shell Cove on the island of Fiji. With the sky getting lighter we arrived at our resort at approximately 5am. Of course we were wide awake so we dumped our bags in our room, left the ceiling fan spinning and went for a exploratory walk. Some of the workers were up and about getting ready for breakfast and as we were supposed to be diving later in the day decided it would be a good idea to try and get some sleep. We managed a few hours before the excitement of getting back in the water got the better of us.
The diving was excellent. We were extremely lucky to have the boat to ourselves both days and with no one else even closeby we were able to enjoy the temperature (bathwater at 27 degrees), the huge amount of beautifully coloured fish and the coral which is in the most amazing condition. Unlike the Red Sea we were not given a time limit so we were able to enjoy 60+ minute dives and our last one with our guide freezing his gonads off, we had a fantastic 70 minutes.
The evenings were spent at the bar with happy hour commencing at 5:30pm and what more could you ask for, as you watched the beautiful sunset, than an ice cold Fiji Bitter - so, it goes without saying really, we had several!
As we were due to fly out of Nadi at 4:15am on Saturday we thought it best to get at least a couple of hours sleep (our transfer to the airport left at 1am). You will find out why in the next update.....

Lisa searches for bears ....

Having spent a day in Napa Valley we needed to do some de-tox so where better than Yosemite valley for a bit of hiking. I won't say much here, just let the pictures do the talking.

The view from Sentinel Bridge in Yosemite Village

El Capitaine from the valley floor

Half Dome from Glacier Point walk

Half Dome from Sentinel Dome (8122ft)

Lisa at Taft Point (honest, that is her on the right)

Enjoying the view from Sentinel Dome

Mazzie, we've tracked down Fatso for you, he says "Hi"

Derek tries his hand at tree hugging

The view from our bar in the evening ;o)

And so onto Fiji .....

Live to you from the Green Tortoise in downtown San Francisco

Oakland Bridge from the Coit Tower

I always knew I'd make it to Broadway! Oh all right, it is Broadway in San Francisco and it may be a hotel room, but it's a start. We spent today being tourists, walking to Coit Tower and over to the crookedest road in the world. I'd love to see Mazzie getting the Black Panther down there.

Lombard Street aka The Crookedest Street

We then hired some bikes to cycle over the Golden Gate Bridge or as Lisa refers to it "her bridge". Going over the bridge was very cool with clouds covering the tops of the towers.

Lisa and "her" bridge

From there we went onto Sausalito and through to Tiburon to catch the ferry back to SF. We're now being treated for sun stroke and sore arses. Time to go for a few margaritas and some Mexican food, so here are a few more photos from today.

Alcatraz

Chilling after a hard day's touristing

Where have we been?

Egypt is the quick answer. The Red Sea to be exact. We decided that as we had spent the summer diving then what better way to relax then go on a diving holiday!

We had a week on the live-aboard "Sea Serpent" on the Deep Southern intinerary and then 10 days lounging by the pool and doing boat dives in Sharm-el-Sheikh. It's a tough life. Fortunately, Kevin, Anne, Marion, Dave, Andy and Nick joined us, just to make sure that we could get up to no mischeif.

Here's a few wee shots to let you picture the fish and divers we met ....


A starfish.

Derek being his usual active self

One word - Muppets!

Turtle, dude!

Kevin being all masculine

Dave and his new friend Fergal

Annie and Lisa