Blue Lagoon Resort, Yasawa Islands, Fiji

2nd November – 3rd November 2017

As I was dropped off by my homestay family a little early at the Blue Lagoon Resort, I wasn’t able to check in straight away, as not everyone had checked out yet. I could leave my bags in the office though, so I did and I head straight for the pool area.

I had to sit by the pool, instead of on the beach, as all the sunbeds on the beach were taken. It was too hot to sit out in the sun anyway, so I chose a sunbed in the shade, by the pool. My original plan was to stay out of the water until I had checked in properly, but I was so hot, even in the shade, so I had to jump in the pool to cool off.

At around 12ish, I was able to check-in to my room, so I dumped all of my things and head back towards the pool area. Lunch wasn’t ready until 1, so I stayed in the shade, determined to try and stay cool for the day. For lunch, it was a barbecue, with salads and sauces to go with the meat. After only being at the resort for an hour or so, I had bumped into some of the people that I met at Octopus resort, so I sat with some of them for lunch – I think that everyone does pretty much the same route around the islands, just sometimes in a slightly different order.

After lunch, I went straight back to my sunbed, but as it had now moved into the sun, I was curled up in a ball right at the top. I went for another swim, before deciding to move to a shaded sunbed. The rest of the afternoon didn’t really consist of much: I lay on the sunbeds, I swam some lengths in the pool and I just chilled out. At one point, I managed to drag myself away from the pool to take a walk along the beach, but the tide was so high, so I couldn’t get very far at all.

Just before the sun set, I went back to the room to shower and get myself ready for the evening, which didn’t take me very long at all. I stood on the beach and watched the sunset, kind of: I couldn’t actually see the sun but it made the clouds go pretty colours, so it was still nice. After the sun had set, I went into the dining area and chilled out until dinner was ready.

For dinner, I sat with a new group of people who had also just arrived. We could choose from the A la Carte menu for dinner and the choices were quite good. I had soup for starter and gnocchi for my main, but my favourite part of the whole meal was the dessert (obviously): I ordered sticky toffee pudding and it came as three pieces of warm cake, with vanilla ice cream on the side – it was so good!

Very soon after dinner, the restaurant seemed to empty, which was weird, as it was also the bar area. We couldn’t understand where everyone had gone, we thought there must have been another area that we didn’t know about, but it turned out that everyone had just gone to bed early. We stayed around for a little bit and played some cards, and ended up going to bed around 11.

It didn’t take me very long to fall to sleep, but I was then also awake very early, as I thought it would be a good idea to hike to watch the sunrise. At around 4.30, a couple of us in the dorm woke up (well, I woke up because they did) to set off on the trek. Two of the people got up earlier than the others and weren’t for waiting around for anyone: they set off as soon as they were ready, only to find out that the gate was locked, so by the time they found a security guard, we were ready too.

We set off on the track, up the hill. Some others had previously been up to the top and they said it wasn’t hard, so I set off in my flip flops, as you do when you’re hiking. The flip flops weren’t the issue though, my fitness decline over the last three months was the issue for me, as I really struggled on the steep inclines, but I made it to the top in one piece.

As soon as I got to the top, I knew straight away that we wouldn’t be able to see the sun actually rise, as there were far too many clouds. We stayed up there anyway and the clouds changed into some pretty colours, but there wasn’t a visible sun until it was well and truly risen, which was a shame.

After the ‘sunrise’ we began walking back down. Looking at the path, it looked like we could continue in the same direction to complete a loop, rather than going back on ourselves, so a couple of us did that. It was a risk, as we were heading into a rainforest, but we made it back to the resort, on much flatter paths than the way up.

It was only 6am when we got back to the resort, so I didn’t really know what to do with myself. I originally planned to go back to bed for a little bit, but I couldn’t once I was up, so I chilled out and facetimed for a while, while I waited for breakfast.

Breakfast started at 7.30, and when it did, I was so hungry because I had already been awake for so long. It was a breakfast buffet, with cereals, fruit and cooked foods on offer. I knew I wouldn’t be getting lunch, as I was going to be on the ferry, so I ate so much to stock up until dinner – I probably ate too much, but oh well.

After breakfast, I packed up my things, but didn’t check out straight away, as I had until 10.30. I got changed into my bikini and went for a walk along the beach – the same route I tried to take the day before when the tide was too high. I wandered to the end of the beach and had a bit of a sunbathe, before getting back up and walking back to the resort to check out.

Once I had checked out, I went to sit by the pool. I didn’t want to do much, as I knew I had to sit on the ferry all afternoon. However, after sitting in the shade for about five minutes, I couldn’t handle the heat, so I was straight into the pool. The rest of the morning was spent chilling out and switching between the shade and the sun to try and catch a last tiny bit of tan; I couldn’t really handle the heat though, so I spent most of my time in the shade.

Around 12.30, the drums were played and it was time to board the island boat. There were quite a few people leaving, so we all had to meet by the dive shop and board the boat together. We stood and waited for a while, as we couldn’t see the ferry yet and there was no point in us sitting on the boat when we didn’t need to. As soon as the ferry was in view, I boarded the island boat and drove over towards it, ready to head back towards the main island for my last stop in Fiji.

It was nice to have one final day relaxing in Blue Lagoon before heading back to the main land. The weather held out beautifully and it was nice to see some familiar faces. Although resort life isn’t usually for me, it’s been nice to island hop for the last ten days and stay on the different resorts and get some well needed rest, on Fiji time. Time to stay on the main land for a few nights, before I fly to New Zealand for the next, exciting part of the adventure!

To travel is to live, Katie x