Day 4

After a night of rain we woke up to sunshine and a breeze to start the day. At breakfast we noticed it was high tide so we decided to experience the beach that way for once. It makes a huge difference when the 30 ft of white beach we had been walking on in previous days was all under water creating mass pool to swim in. In low tide the water is shallow for quite a ways out, including the reef that begins about 50ft from shore.

Kyle and I went paddle boarding and were amazed to see the reef 5ft under water when normally it is hard to swim over without touching it. I swam and the boys snorkeled for an hour or so.

The previous night's rain had made the sand perfect for building castles and most of the beach is in the shade at that time of day (we were still keeping Thomas' sun hours to a minimum and Kyle was now on mandatory hat duty with burnt ears and neck from so much snorkeling). Amazing how different the temperature of the water is depending on the tide too. Almost hot and nearly 90 at low tide and more like 80 at high tide. Still warm, I know :)

The boys took part in an egg toss on the beach and did fairly well seeing the only caught one toss from each other. The egg didn't break each time it landed in the sand! Finally Kyle threw it and it hit Thomas' leg and that was the end of it. The staff are really great about creating activities for the kids here. We went back to the pool for a bit before lunch and reconnected with the 4 families we have spent a great deal of time with. They are lovely to chat with and as I mentioned, we are the 'in' family with the cool water toys so all their kids hang out like hungry puppies waiting for us to arrive.

There are so few people here we don't have to arrive early to the pool and fight for lounge chairs. We deposit our things once a day and then take what we need to the beach and back between the pool. We don't worry about leaving things and everyone seems to watch out for each other.

It must be getting close to Christmas as more guests are arriving. Today was especially busy with a large group from the main island here for the day. I have to say I like having less people and enjoy the quiet at 3pm when they all leave (apparently Castaway is a day trip option for other resorts and from the mainland). The lack of sleep and time change, waking up at 4:30am every morning finally got to me today and by 2:30 I couldn't keep my eyes open or even finish a sentence. I slept for almost 2 hours solid (in the shade thankfully) and am still ready for bed early.

Tomorrow is a big Fijian Celebration day with many activities on the go. We are booked on the tennis court in the morning as well so there should be lots of exciting news as we complete our last full day on Castaway Island!