Activities and Crab Races - Fiji Style

Life at Mango Bay can be as relaxing as you desire or as action packed as you can manage!

Each day the Activities board is filled with ideas for your pleasure and indulgence.

The spar offers amazing massages, facials, pedicures, manicures, braids and specialised treatments for days of self indulgent luxury.

Warmth and aromas fill the air as you lie on the table, smooth strong hands teasing away the stresses and strains of life.

Deft fingers draw scented oils through your hair soothing, relaxing, releasing strains you had not even been aware of until their departure.

Jewellery making classes take place beneath a thatched roof next to the Dive Shop.

Coconuts are de-husked by Wise, one of the many gifted multi-talented staff, before being sawn, drilled and shaped into delicate pieces to adorn newly bronzed bodies.

For those feeling more active there is volley ball, touch rugby, egg tossing, pine-apple bashing.

All are team building events bringing strangers together, forming friendships between lone travellers, bringing groups into contact with other groups, until the entire resort becomes a family, ever changing, ever growing, always evolving as people depart and new faces take their place.

Some guests come with gifts of their own. The arrival of Dedrrie and Brock saw our coconut jewellery class leap into a new dimension.

Simple shapes were first turned into simple waves before morphing into exquisitely balanced and designed sharks, eagle rays and the sweetest turtle ever carved with a blunt hack saw.

Inspired I began to carve my own shapes from the discarded coconut shells that lay scattered around the grounds as people, having sampled the smooth fresh insides each day, opened more and more of the fallen coconuts beneath the palms.

Coconuts are a joy to work with as they not only give you a refreshing drink at the end of the vigorous de-husking process but also provide you with creamy white nourishing flesh to eat as you cut, sand and smooth the shell into a beautiful piece of jewellery with nothing more than a piece of sand paper and a blunt saw or lie prone upon the golden sands watching the waves trickle along the shore.

Alan, a retired Londoner living in Scotland and travelling with a long term friend of his sister who now lives in Australia became the expert de-husker of our family while he was here. Each day coconuts were gathered by family members from outside their rooms and deposited by the husking stick until Alan rose for breakfast.

I hung my hammock outside the Dive Shop, swinging gently in the shade, sanding and crafting shapes of my own as Alan wandered back and forth with new people to demonstrate, teach and open coconuts by the score.

By mid morning Brock would drift over to help someone with a shape or to cut a new design of his own and so an impromptu gathering would form. His finished creations adorned Derdrie's wrists, ankles and neck as she performed her daily yoga routine on the beach. A woman of magnificent enthusiasm and flexibility she soon had more members of our family reaching, bending, stretching along side her, patiently explaining and guiding us as she worked her routine.

Caseys arrival into the Resort brought a wave of energy that infected us all. Travelling alone from the US she had come to Fiji to see her father who lived aboard his boat in Suva. Having lived for a week or so in the compact quarters of the boat she had ventured further down the coast for a week of sun and relaxation. A masseuse by trade she quickly added her gifts to our collective, rubbing out peoples little aches over a beer by the pool.

Casey turned out to be the same age as myself by a week, both our fathers were also the same age and both had sailed the Pacific at the same time. We compared notes, swapped e-mails, wrote down boat names and laughed about the way the world had led us so perfectly through our lives.

Elaine, the best friend of Alan's sister, became our companion as we discussed life, children and dreams. The days drifted by, the sun shone down and a quiet energy settled over Mango Bay.

In the evenings we gathered in the large restaurant to discuss the day, our individual adventures and our plans. Beer flowed as did the Bounty Rum, laughter and excitement infusing those around us with the merry mood of hospitality and joy.

Evening Activities were as varied as the days events. Ping-pong competitions, Killer pool, Team trivia, Frog races and Crab races were organised by our smiling team builders.

Crab races drew everyone together as Hermit crabs, gathered from the beach 20m from the restaurant were placed under a bucket for safe keeping, each shell now bearing a number in glossy felt tip, each crab hidden from view from the expectant crowd.

Names and countries were allocated to each of the crabs and placed upon a large board, a quick look at the guest passport origin tending to guide the country selection, a wicked sense of humour, directed usually at patriotic trait’s, gave them their names.

At the designated hour our family gathered together in the large Race Hall ready for the moment the crabs would be auctioned off. As each crab was introduced on the board and offered to the highest bidder our family of universal travellers disintegrated into individualistic territorial possessors, the room becoming a frenzy of excitement and laughter as people out-bid each other by a dollar at a time, usually as the cry “Going Three Times …..?” was called from our enthusiastic Auctioneer, Oni.

All moneys collected from the now 'Sold' Crabs was put into a kitty which was used to form First and Second Prizes. The more people paid for their crabs, the more there was in the kitty and the higher the prize money became!

Once all the 'bets' had been collected, the Kitty divided, the race began.

In Crab Racing the course was circular, starting point is at the centre and the first crab to cross the line is deemed the winner. No physical interference is allowed, no crowding of the race course is permitted as the upturned bucket covering the so far unseen contestants is removed following a tumultuous crowd chanted count down.

Crabs scuttle here and there racing off in all directions. The Fijian crab was always placed No 10 upon the board and during my time at mango Bay always seemed to be the largest of the selection hidden beneath the bucket yet crabs, I have learnt, are unpredictable and a thick white chalk line on a smooth painted floor tended to confuse even the biggest of our race contestants as crabs veered to the left and the right along its way. Others would cross the line without a backward glance only to be swooped up in the comforting hand of our referee as the remaining race-crabs were returned to the bucket.

Winners were held aloft for all to see, Prize money was paid and all race contestants were returned to the wild as our international family reformed to partake in the celebratory drinks!

Celebration drinks changed to social drinks as the crowd thinned allowing those of us who needed it to sleep while those who didn't talked late into the night reducing the Resorts stock of beer and rum to dangerously low levels!