South Pacific Projects – Marine Conservation, Fiji

The time I spent in Fiji is and most likely will be the most breathtaking and exciting three months of my life. I remember getting off the boat onto the beach at Leleuvia for the first time and thinking I would never get used to this place, now more than anything in the world I want to go back again. Leleuvia Island was the most beautiful place I have ever stayed. From the lush jungle paths to the cascading echoes of laughter from the Island staff, Leleuvia seemed to be bursting with life. I spent my time on the Island establishing sustainable fisheries and marine protected areas, which is what I tell people when I want to impress them! Now in layman’s terms, that means every morning we would wake up, go diving, and use special techniques to map coral cover and measure fish and invertebrate populations. Now I won’t bore you on the exact details behind the techniques because I want you to focus on the part where you go diving every day! And what diving it was. The reefs around Leleuvia are pristine, and the fish are bright and plentiful. Every time I descended into the blue, I was guaranteed to see something spectacular, be it a shark, ray, turtle, barracuda, or a giant school of fish.

The South Pacific Projects team are wonderful people. Before I travelled to Fiji I had never been SCUBA diving, but thanks to the expert teaching of their Dive Leader Helen McGrath, I am not only SCUBA certified but also a PADI Rescue Diver! The weekends were just as wild as the weekdays, and after a fun dive on Saturday morning we got to kick back and relax in the sun with some of the coolest people I have ever met. Then when Saturday nights rolled around, we all let loose. We had a Lovo feast for dinner, a traditional method of cooking gorgeous food underground for the whole afternoon. Then we got busy dancing in the sand and with each other. I had so much fun; I don’t even know how to begin to describe it. Finally there are the other volunteers. This project appears to attract a certain type of positive person. People who love to have fun, love adventure, love travelling, in general just love to live life to the fullest (I may have taken that from a Miller Light commercial). On the expedition I met people from England, Scotland, America, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Australia, Germany and New Zealand. All the volunteers I lived and worked with for those twelve weeks were wonderful and I left Fiji having made some lifelong friends.

Like I said, Fiji was the single greatest experience of my life, and I can’t wait to volunteer with South Pacific Projects again.

Wesley Langston – Texan (and proud of it!)