August 10, 2006

Amy threw up the other night. She projectile vomited purple spew halfway across the bedroom. It looked like someone had murdered Barney with a blender. (Eggplant stir-fry). We’re not sure why, but most of the time we both feel like we’re on the verge of throwing up. I’ve puked in my snorkel 3 times. That’s disgusting. No matter how much you try to clean it out, you still taste the vomit for the rest of the dive. I even feel like puking right now. It’s a constant sensation of acid bubbling just at the top of my stomach. The same thing happened last time I was here. I attributed it to eating eggs. I thought my stomach wasn’t used to the amino acids, etc. At least last time, I puke one the way to snorkel and never IN my snorkel. But, I guess it wasn’t the eggs since I haven’t eaten any this time. Oh well, it’s livable just uncomfortable. Maybe some chocolate will help. *grin*

Yesterday Amy spent most of the day in bed. She was still feeling ill from the night before. I felt fine when I first woke up. I even did some yoga. I would have gone out to the ocean to collect algae, but it was raining hard. It’s been raining hard for the past several days. I ended up watching Ice Harvest with Kenyi and Namani (the guy from next door who likes her). That was an uncomfortable experience since most of the scenes took place in a seedy strip club. Kenyi and Namani kept making jokes in Fijian about the nudity and sex. Anyway, I talked with Namani for a while after the movie. He’s really nice. His father abandoned his family when Namani was a little boy and his youngest sister was only three months old. It was probably a blessing in disguise since his father was an abusive drunk. I’m sure it was difficult at first, but his mother is now a successful teacher in Suva and his brothers and sisters seem to be doing well too. Unfortunately his mother is now dating another drunken idiot, who also happens to be married to her cousin. Namani got in a huge fight with his mother about her poor decisions, so he moved to Tagaqe to live with his cousins, from Taveuni, who temporarily live in the lodge next to us. I hope it all works out for him and his family. Anyway, after Kenyi went to work and Namani left, I decided that regardless of the rain, I’d go out snorkeling. But, as I was getting ready, I began to feel really sick. I was overcome with nausea and had severe pain in my lower abdomen. It was terrible. I lay in bed, sheet white and tried not to vomit. A few hours later, Akisi came home and was determined to feed us oily stir-fry and “sweet potatoes”. We protested, but she persisted. I finally talked her down to just the “sweet potatoes”, which look like large plantains and taste like a mix between a potato and kasava. They are bland and starchy, so I thought I might be able to hold it down. I was wrong, not long after dinner I hurled off the front porch. It was terrible. I went to bed at 7:30 and slept a restless 11 hours.

It’s raining again today, but Amy and I were determined to get out and do some work. We both feel better, a little weak, but better. We dreaded heading out, but it wasn’t as bad as we thought. The visibility was poor and it was bone chilling cold, especially after almost 2 hours in the water, but we got stuff done and we both feel better about that. I even saw an octopus today! We were heading back in, but still searching for a particular alga to collect on our way. I was checking out a large, dead head of coral when I noticed something moving in a small hollowed out portion of the coral. It was a huge eye watching me! It took me a minute to realize that it was an octopus… a rather large octopus based on the size of its eye (more than an inch, 3 cm, across). I tried to show Amy, but it squished up into the crevices of the porous coral before she could see it. Then, when we were almost back to land, in only a few feet of water, I swam right up on a big eel. It was completely out of its hole, exposed. I almost put my hand right on it! It didn’t see me right away either, but as soon as it did, it was gone. We’re back for lunch now and processing samples. We’ll head out to a different site in an hour. I hope the rain lets up. It’s pouring. It’s raining so hard that we might drown without ever putting our heads under water! I hate going out in weather like this, but the prospect of seeing another octopus is more than tempting.