Once on board the Fiji Aggressor II we were shown to our cabin and given about a half hour to settle in before being summed to the dinning area for a safety briefing and to go over the itinerary for the upcoming week. We were told that the weather last week had been quite sever and now that the storms had past the radar was showing favorable conditions for at least the next 5 to 7 days. As a result, the Captain and crew had voted to take us up North to Bligh Waters to dive on two of Fiji’s best known photographic dive sites ‘E6′ and ‘HI8′. These two dive sites are actually enormous sea mounts right in the middle of Vatu-i-ru Channel that come up from the sea floor (3000+ feet below) to within 10 feet of the surface at low tide.

A view from the Aggressor as were leaving Suva Harbour

James and Marnie laid out our time line for the week and told us all about the dive sites we would be visiting while the rest of the crew cast off the lines an got us underway for the crossing to Wakaya Island. After the briefing, while underway and still in the protection of Suva Harbour, we sat down for a nice dinner where we had a chance to chat with the crew and get to know the other guests that we would be diving with for the week. I was so tired that I don’t even remember what I had for dinner the first night. All I wanted to do was slip into my bunk and hide from the world. Before dinner was finished James told us that the ‘crossing’, as it is called, to Wayaka Island was about 110km to the North and with any luck we should reach it sometime around 3 or 4 in the morning. That meant a rolling nights sleep for yours truly… I’m glad I don’t have the same problems sleeping on a boat as I do sleeping on a plane!

My Underwater Camera Rig – Nikon D200/Ikelite Housing & Two DS125’s

I finished up the glass of wine I was sipping on and headed down to the dive deck to setup my underwater camera housing for tomorrow’s first dive which would be at 7am. While I was there I also unpacked all my battery & strobe chargers and lock down a spot at the charging table where they would hopefully stay dry. I’m not sure what time I actually climbed into bed, but I do know it was well before 9pm and the boat was already in open water by the side to side rocking motion that was being afflicted on my drained and overly exhausted body. I’m excited that the diving start’s tomorrow, but right now I need sleep! More to follow…