Trip to Sigatoka & first foray onto the reef (7/14)

This morning Zach and I caught the local bus to Sigatoka (pronounced “Sing-a-toe-ka). It was only $F1.30, but very slow. Also, we felt like we were on an Indian version of the “Party Bus.” The driver was Indo-Fijian and blared funky Indian tunes as the bus bumped and bounced along the winding road. The seats were cherry red and the décor consisted of bright gold, red, and green flowers interspersed with random figurines. There were curtains instead of windows. It was a fun ride, but we caught a taxi back.

In Sigatoka, we stocked up on field supplies and groceries. Coolers here are ridiculously expensive - $F150.00 for a medium sized, plain cooler! We also looked for a water filter. A stander filter to hook up to the faucet was $F180. I guess we’ll just continue to boil our water and drink it brown. I also mailed off some post-cards. If they get to anyone, I’ll be amazed. Sigatoka is a lot nicer than Suva, but it’s also a lot smaller.
We made our first foray onto the reef today. It was low tide though, so we didn’t swim… we walked. The water was literally inches to a foot deep. I was amazed. There were corals! Tiny branching corals and small clumps of mounding corals. The water was warm, like bath water and HAD to be oxygen poor. The light was also intense. None of this usually bodes well for coral existence, which may explain why they were all really small. The starfish here are really cool. They’re super abundant and a regal purplish-blue. Brittle stars are everywhere as well, but tend to hide up in cracks and crevices. Our Fijian friend, Sambu (or Sam) went with us. He had eyes like and eagle. He caught a ton of little crabs for Zach (who uses them in his feeding assays to test algae palatability). He also kept pointing out dozens of poisonous eels. He would prod them out of their hidey-holes and send them slithering in the shallow water, leaving a cool snake-like trail behind them. I kept my distance… those things are deadly! He showed me a baby eel though. It was really cool.