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This morning we awoke to the sound of the Fiji Aggressor’s twin diesel engines warming up to move us out of the lagoon and take us just off-shore of Makogai Island. It was a truly beautiful sunrise and the waters were as clam and flat as a sheet of glass. The crossing last night had gone smoothly and with any luck we would finish out our week of diving with the same excellent weather we’ve experienced so far. We would have to make our bottom times shorter today, on our third and fourth dives, so as to have enough time to prepare for our shore visit to the village on Makogai Island this evening. More on the village visit later!
Diving at Rick’s Place just off Makogai Island…
Our first dive was on ‘Rick’s Place’ and it was an Awesome Dive! The word “WOW” comes to mind, but just doesn’t seem to do it the justice it deserves! It must have been the early morning lighting that made it so special for me. The way it shimmered on the surface and made the soft corals just come alive with color was truly amazing. The beautiful sea fans were also a treat as they swayed in the slight surge of the oceans current. This is what a healthy coral reef should look like… a true underwater photographer’s dream site! The top 30 feet of these two pinnacles are covered by the most incredible coral gardens which are home to Lion Fish, Leaf Scorpion Fish, White Tips, Painted Cray Fish, Hump Head Cleaner Shrimp and a vast amount of bubble coral. Nice Dive!!
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Our first dive of the afternoon was on ‘Chimneys’. This is a big dive site with way too much to see on just one dive! The bommies on this site are kind of spread out, but with the good visibility one could just make out all the other pinnacles and ridges on the site. This allowed for easy navigation from pinnacle to pinnacle during the course of the dive. On this dive we saw Dancing Durban’s, Humpback Cleaner Shrimp, Spotted Sweetlips, Oreo Groupers, schools of Hump Head Snappers, Pipe Fish, Anemones and millions of other small reef fish.
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Here are a couple more photos from our morning dive on ‘North Save-a-Tack’ in the Namena Marine Reserve… Enjoy!
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After breakfast it was off to ‘North Save-a-Tack’ once again for another fantastic drift dive! On this dive I decided to follow James, who said he knew of a good place to hangout and wait to get some nice shark photos (if we were so lucky to be graced by their presence.) After dropping in on the wall and drifting to the first turn at the sand flat, we swam slowly up the sandy bottom to the left side of the first bommie. It didn’t take long before we spotted them; Several White Tips and a large Gray Reef Shark! WOW… what a sight!
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Marnie shooting video of Schooling Jacks – ‘North Wall’
This morning started out much the same as the others so far this week… Perfect! With a fresh cup of coffee in hand, I made my way down to the dive deck to be briefed on our first dive of the day; Another of Fiji’s fantastic dive sites, this time it would be ‘North Wall’! The visibility on the wall was outstanding and even though we didn’t see any large sharks, there was more than enough small stuff to keep our camera shutters going for the entire dive.
Marnie shooting video on ‘North Wall’
Stay tuned… there is still more to come!
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Sorry, but I only have time to post a very small selection of my photos each day. The diving here keeps me pretty busy, so I will only edit and post about 18 pictures a day for now. When we return home I’ll have time to post more, but until then I hope you enjoy what I consider to be some of my better pic’s from each day here in Fiji.
Adult Blue Ribbon Eel close-up – ‘Black Forest’
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After lunch we dove on a site called ‘Kaenens’, which is a pinnacle that starts at about 70 feet and comes up to within 10 feet of the surface. This was another very nice site for soft corals and sea fans. During the dive we were also happily entertained by Juvenal and Adult Lion Fish, Pipe Fish, loads of Anemone Fish (of all different kinds) and several different species of Nudibranchs.
Our last dive for today was on ‘Black Forest’, which gets its name from the large amount of black coral that’s found there. Another pinnacle, this one also starts around 70 feet of depth and rises to just below the surface. What did we see, you ask? What didn’t we see! This site was a big hit after running into a large White Tip Shark, Lion Fish, Pipe Fish and two Adult Blue Ribbon Eels!
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Our next dive would be a nice easy drift dive on ‘North Save-a-Tack’. During the dive briefing, James took the time to drawl a very detailed map of the dive site on the briefing board. This would give us a better idea of where the current would take us and what we should be looking for during the dive. The map looked more like an obstacle course than a drift dive, but you have to figure that these guys have done this before… right?! We dropped in on the seaward side of the channel and found ourselves on a beautiful bottomless wall at around 100 feet of depth. As we drifted along the wall we saw all sorts of small critters and schooling fish; there was even a small White Tip Shark hiding in a small cavern under an outcropping on the wall.
A view of Namena Island from North Save-a-Tack Passage.
We quickly came upon the cut-out or channel in the wall that James had mentioned earlier in the briefing. You could easily see the white-sand seafloor that gently sloped upward and onto the reef which we were suppose to follow for the next leg of our tour. Before moving on with the dive, we spent a few minutes hanging out on the corner of the wall taking pictures of the schools of Barracuda, Jacks and Tuna that were every where. We also spotted several Gray Reef Sharks and a couple of large White Tip Sharks patrolling the waters just off the wall.
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This morning we gathered on the dive deck for yet another beautiful morning sunrise and dive briefing. Our first dive today would be on a site called ‘Kansas’, which is a shallow bommie or pinnacle that sits in the channel of the North Save-a-Tack Passage. This site gets its nickname for the prolific coating of a species of leather coral that resembles a wheat field swaying in the wind. ‘Kansas’ is frequently current-swept and today was no different; the current was running at about 2 knots which made it difficult to work our way around the entire site. The soft-coral growth covering the sides of this pinnacle was truly spectacular! This site is also host to a feature known as the “Window of Dreams”, which is a large opening clustered with soft corals, bubble coral, sea fans and various types of whip coral.
Julie in the “Window of Dreams” – Namena, Fiji
As for the marine life, well let’s just say that there’s no shortage of it here in Fiji. It’s almost like diving in a giant salt water aquarium. This site was absolutely covered with a variety colorful reef fish including Coronet Fish, Clown Triggers, Spotted Groupers, Pipe Fish and tons of Anemones.
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