It’s difficult to narrow down the best of the best from all of our amazing experiences but here we go. This is our highlight reel.

Mr. Mike: It was crazy to see how well Mike was known at all the islands we went to. A lot of the Fijians would call him Mr. Mike, one thought he might be a movie star. By the end of our trip Mike loved to tell us he was just going to be the chief in one of the villages by the time we came back next year. We kinda believed him though see how they loved him there.

Fiji Time: We learned right away how our vacation was going to go when our cab driver John explained to us Fiji Time. We were anxious to get to the marina and meet Mike and Marnie but he was just kinda poking along, getting passed by other cars and he let us know he that he was in no rush, no worries, we were on Fiji time now so we just sat back and relax and got there when we got there. After that I don’t think we really looked at a clock the rest of the trip. It was nice just eating when you’re hungry and going to sleep when you’re tired.

holding hands with Kuki (pronounced cookie): Since Jenn and I were a little freaked about scuba diving so soon with very little instruction Kuki felt it necessary to hold our hands the entire dive. Jenn kinda liked it but I tried to let go at a few points but Kuki must have had a little crush on me and wouldn’t let me let go. I got used to his big ol’ soft hands so it was ok.

lomi lomis: The massages in Fiji were so cheap yet so weird. They mostly just smeared Pure Fijian Coconut Oil on you with a little rubbing. Don’t get me wrong, it was great but not a massage you’d be used to in the US. The best part was opening your eyes through the face whole and seeing there nasty toes. They only had about 3 toenails out of 10 so you just closed your eyes and tried to focus on the massage. Also, Jenn was in the next room that was only blocked off by a small wall. The ladies kept coughing and grunting weird and once me and Jenn got done we both asked each other at the same time if we thought they were talking in code. We decided they were.

kava: The kava ceremony is a traditional welcoming ceremony for new people that come to Fiji. The kava looks like heroin and they put it in a muslin bag and dunk it like tea to make this dirty looking water. It’s a hallucinogen that numbs your tongue right after you drink it. If you drink enough of it it will really mess you up but we only had two bowls so we were fine. What messed us up with the 2 bottles of wine with dinner!

didn’t catch any fish: The only thing we didn’t get to check off our list was that we didn’t catch a single fish the entire trip. Every time we set sail again for a different island Marnie assured us that they had caught fish on the way to where we were going. By the end of the trip I was pretty convinced they don’t actually have fish in Fiji and they just fly it in from Australia. I do have to say though, that all the other unexpected stuff we did that we didn’t even know we would do more than made up for the lack of fish we didn’t catch.

manta rays: One of the resorts we anchored next to was called Manta Ray resort and it really lived up to it’s name. We took the dingy over to this channel were the manta rays swim back out into the ocean to feed. Me and Jenn jumped in the water and were right on top of 2 rays. They have a 15 foot wingspan so as soon as Jenn saw them she started screaming in her snorkel. She calmed down and got to enjoy them.

10,000: Learned the coolest dice game besides craps. If you haven’t played it you definitely need to check it out. It’s called 10,000.

mike’s butt: This has to be the funniest incident of the entire trip. Jenn and I went ashore with Mike to lay by the pool and have a few beers while Mike went to get his lomi lomi. Mike was finished so we were leaving to go back to the Shellette. Jenn and I got in the dingy while Mike was pushing us out into a little deeper water. He trip to jump in over the side but didn’t make it so he jumped a little harder. Since he was so lubed up from the massage he managed to slide half way in but his shorts didn’t make it with him. His white ass was flashing everyone on shore but especially the Fijian guy in his fishing boat right beside us. The guy was just laughing and pointing at Mike’s butt as Mike wiggled himself into the dingy and pulled up his shorts. Mike was finally all the way in and clothed so he gunned the dingy back to the Shellette.

lobster dinner: This was by far the best meal of the entire trip. Mike and Marnie shared a plate and Jenn and I shared a plate. Each plate had 4 spiny lobsters, shrimp, mussels, calamari, fish filets, and an assortment of salads to accompany it. The meal also came with two bottles of champagne which we made sure to finish! There really isn’t much else to say, it was an amazing dinner and you just had to be there to understand.

sulus: To really get into the Fijian spirit all 4 of us wore sulus to the BBQ the last night. Sulus are basically skirts for those who were wondering.

chicken: To let everyone know how much fun we had and how exhausted Jenn was at the end of the trip. She literally only spoke one word the entire flight home. That little gem came when I woke her up to eat dinner and I asked her what kind of sandwich it was we were eating. “Chicken”

It’s hard to thank Mike and Marnie enough for sharing their lifestyle and letting us join them on their adventure. Thank You!!