July 25, 2013
Rich woke me up while it was still dark. “It’s really pretty outside; we should go watch the sunrise!”
Generally when one of us wakes the other to see something; it’s worth getting up for. I groggily climbed out of bed. Rich gave me a cup of coffee and we headed outside. The first thing that hit me was the morning smell of tropical Fiji. It smells like water and damp earth, like a rushing river. I never think of water as having a smell, but it does.
It was still dark out, a near-full moon hanging above the tree line, reflecting in the water along with a few bright stars. We sat outside and watched light slowly fill in the picture around us. The light over the trees was dusky pink fading into the blue above, the moon still bright. Bats started to come into view more and more as they were headed “home” to their tree. Birds began to call in the trees around us, making a soundtrack to match the scene of jungle. In the distance we could hear the constant rumble of the surf on the reef, the squeaking of bats, and the occasional splash from a fish.
We sat and took this all in: the smells, the sounds and the sights. The air was cool but pleasant, comfortable for shorts and a T-shirt.
When it was light enough, we headed over in the dinghy to visit the bats again. They were very active, screeching and squealing and just adorable! We couldn’t believe we had all these wonderful bats to ourselves! But it was time to say good-bye to our little friends and head east before the trade winds picked up again. –Cyndi
