We arrived for work on October 30th. Mike met us at the airport and took us to his home in Nadi ("Nandee"). We showered and he supplied us with some work uniforms. Then, he drove us three hours across the main Fijian island of Viti Levu.
We were told about Rai, who isthe office secretary and Tai, the resort manager being our contact people for the resort-side of things. Sharon was the previous manager (who has expressed an interest in buying the dive operation) here at Caqalai after she returns from college in Ireland. Her husband is a local villager named Jioti ("Georgey") and our main boat captain. We were warned that he is grumpy and is actually more reliable now that Sharon is away. We started taking notes.
We were so exhausted from the eleven hour flight and the jetlag that we stopped writing things down as Mike pointed at landmarks and telling political stories and whatnot. I asked if there were student waiting on us. In the back of my mind I was wondering why we were rushing things a bit. Mike said just the Divemasters in training needed teaching. So, I said, we have nobody trained as a Divemaster at the resort? The answer was no. So much for having someone qualified to help teaching and running dives.
When we arrived in another crazy town, filled with the chaos of market day, we were given an advance on our wages and instructed to buy some groceries because we would have to cook for ourselves while on the island, if we wanted to save money. We could pay for the food from the resort if we wished, but most of the others have just cooked in the resort kitchen and gotten along fine, Mike said.
He left to drop off his car somewhere and thirty minutes later, he met back up with us in a taxi. Lindsay was so lost in that store, not knowing what to grab, totally overwhelmed by the busy store and generally by the situation and the jetlag, I went into survival mode and started grabbing staples and tuna and pasta. We went through the checkout without a clue as to what we would need.
The driver said we had too much weight and we needed to get another taxi. We got into a taxi, Mike gave our driver directions and he got in the another cab. We were concerned when Mike's cab stopped for fuel and ours continued down the road. We had no idea how long the trip was, where we were going, the name of the place to get to, and without any way to all Mike!
Half an hour and many incomprehensible answers to my questions later, we arrived at a concrete bridge with what looked like an abandoned building next to it.
Apparently this was somewhere!
"Wyndy-leethee River" - will we ever work out how to pronounce the names??!!
We were now at the Waidalice Bridge for the 3pm resort boat. It had left without us. He had failed to remind anyone on that day that we were coming. We were picked up by the Viti Watersports dive boat several hours later. Mike downplayed the delay and laughed about “Fiji time.” When we finally boarded the boat, I was wondering how far away from civilization this resort could be. I asked how long the boat ride would be. He said 20 to 30 minutes.
As we came out of the mouth of the river 15 minutes later, strong SE winds greeted us and I was completely soaked in seawater by the time we arrived at the island 40 minutes after getting on board.
It was getting dark and I was pretty unhappy. We off-loaded and were shown the dive shop. As we were getting concerned about our frozen foods, we were then taken down a trail to "Sunset Point" to see our accommodations, or “bure” (hut) where we would reside.
We carried our packs and food down the 300 meter path, tripping over the roots. When we arrived at the shack, Mike shouldered the dragging door open and took our bags from us. He tossed them inside and said it's time for dinner. I was still wet and our food was now 300 meters from a refrigerator. I started to raise my voice and said I needed to change for dinner and why did we bring our food down here! (to keep it out of the reaches of the local dogs... hmmm! I think the it would have been safe in the fridge!! back up in the kitchen!!!)
I put on some dry clothes and found a flashlight. Lindsay and I peeked into the bure, cobwebs and clothesline were crisscrossed from end to end. There was a bed, some large wooden chairs and a low table. There were no lights, candles or a lantern in sight. We didn't see a mosquito net for the bed, or sheets. I was muttering something about how different this whole experience is turning out to be versus what I had in mind, as I walked my head into the five foot door opening. It was time to get to dinner. We backed away from the bure and headed back up to the dining hall.
There were a few guests at a long table, that were apparently waiting for us. We joined them at the end of the table. Mike sat down to my right. My anger and regret was starting to build inside me as I sat there, silently, not participating in Mike's conversation.
The food came. It was cold and wet and in a pile on my plate. I couldn't eat it. I just stared at the table, between my plate and Lindsay's. I didn't say a word. Mike was looking at me. He said something about us being tired and suggested we go to bed. He took us down the path to the other bures on the East end of the island, about a 100 meter walk. He pointed out the view of the moonlight and walked us back down the beach. Crabs ran from our flashlight beams as we walked West. Mike bid us goodnight and said that we could meet him in the morning at the dive shop after breakfast and he would show us the papers and such for daily operations.
I told Lindsay that as of right then, I was confused and angry and if I had to choose right then, I was going to quit this job. However, I said, I'm going to withhold judgement under morning.
We felt awful for not asking enough questions. How could our living conditions be so far from our expectations? Didn't the website for Caqalai mention flush toilets and a generator for power? Why did we not get that much? There was sand all over the floor mats, and in the bed. We were so exhausted that we climbed onto the mattress and slept in our clothes. When we woke, we realized that we were never shown where the bathrooms were. We went outside our shack and peed in the weeds. Okay, time for breakfast....
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