Base life is challenging but rewarding. We wake up every morning at 6:00 to do chores. Some of the chores are: cleaning the bathrooms, cooking, loading the boats for the day, cleaning the dive shed and recycling. The base itself is very basic and small. We sleep in bures, traditional Fijian thatch huts.
The bathrooms are located behind the bures. We have an open common room on the beach connected to a small kitchen. The dive shed is right on the beach so you can go on shore dives easily and board boats easily. Lastly, there is the Kava hall which is an open room connected to another kitchen for the Fijian staff.
There are two island pets, an unnamed cat and a dog called Reena. No one knows how they got here but everyone takes care of them regardless. The cat sleeps in the common room and Reena sleeps outside the staff bures.
The island we live on is called Caqalai, pronounced “Than-ga-lai”. Caqalai is owned by the Fijian Methodist church so we are not allowed to drink or build any new facilities. There is also a resort for tourist on the island owned by the church. However, it is temporarily closed.
Caqalai itself is very small, during low tide you can walk around the island in less than 20 minutes. During low tide you can also walk to snake island which is right off our island, about a 45 minute walk there and back. Across from Caqalai is Moteriki where all the Fijian staff are from. Moteriki is a relatively large island with many villages.
Overall base life is very relaxed and fun as long as everyone works to maintain it. I know I will be very sad to leave when I go in three months.