We recently discovered that you can check out Fiji and our island if you visit Google earth.
You can download Google Earth for free through http://www.earth.google.com/ or click link on the left.
Below are some images we copied so those of you who are computer challenged can see some satellite pictures of our island.
This is the Fiji Islands (minus a few small outer islands).
The large circular island is called Viti Levu and this is the main island we travel back and forth from by boat.
This is Korolevu village on Viti Levu Island.
This is the reef passage our boats travel into from Vatulele. It usually takes anywhere between 1 hour- 3 hours depending on the weather. Our boats are 20-25 foot fiber boats with one outboard engine. The open sea passage can get a bit rough, but don't worry because Peace Corps equips us with a gps, life jackets, and a satellite phone.
This is our island Vatulele. The whole island is about 7 miles long and at it's widest about 4 miles. There are 4 villages on the island with 4 separate chiefs. The chief in Ekubu Village (located in the North east, see picture below) is also the paramount chief, and he makes final decisions for all of Vatulele.
This is Lomanikaya Village which is located about half way down the island on the east side. Our village has about 75 people year round and around the holidays about 25 extra family members (mostly children who school on the main island.)
You can see our church at the north end, our newly finished dispensary where the red cross is, our house just below, and even our old village boat (which was repossessed a few weeks before we left.) Our house is the only home located on the other side of the road so our backyard is all rain forest.
This is the north end of Vatulele Island where the school and health center are located. Liss rides her bike here everyday and Drew comes to work at the school about 2-3 times a week to paint his World Map with the children. You can see many houses because Ekubu village and Taunovo village blend together creating a small town with about 650 villagers.
This is the other side of our island (the same side as the infamous Vatulele Island Resort.) It takes us about 30 minutes to hike across to the white sandy beaches and turquoise water. We usually do a lot of fishing on this side because the coral reef is much closer to shore making it easier to catch fish. We try to hike across with our dogs about once every couple of weeks.
We hope to keep this post updated as Google earth updates their satellite photos, so stay tuned :)
