Dr. Pygmy And Lady Fishface In Lau: Exciting Sightings!

Our last Lau Expedition just finished, and we cannot believe the exciting sightings we had, and the incredible great luck with the weather. Dr. Pygmy and Lady Fishface dragged Chuck, David, Janet E and Lilian back to NAI’A only 7 short hours after their last departure. With them, they brought return guests Natalia & David and Janet C & Doug. First timers Katsuko, Audrey and Laila completed the group, and we got them up to speed on the whos, wheres and hows as we made our way to the Sea Mounts.

E6 and Mount Mutiny were the perfect choice for our first day. Mild conditions above and underwater let the newcomers ease into the diving surrounded by astonishingly beautiful hard corals as well as the vibrant chyronephthya soft corals. We saw all sorts of wrasses, schooling barracudas, a beautiful hammerhead, a shy turtle and all sorts of small, colorful reef fish.

Classic Katsuko photo: Tunicates

Photo by Wendy: One for the nerds

Photo by Doug: A smiley hawk anthias

We moved to Nairai and explored the island we had never been to before. Throughout the day we dived the northern passage, the southern passage and a small bay surrounded by mangroves and muck. We saw a couple of sea kraits, some juvenile mimic filefish, pygmy seahorses, a hairy shrimp, a ribbon eel, shaun the sheep nudis, white tip sharks and beautiful gobies. A great exploratory day, followed by an early departure for the long haul to our next stop: Navatu Reef.

This special reef system in the middle of Fiji is home to some unusual fish and offers rare sightings. When Janet E has 3 lifers in one day, you know it’s serious! I could not name the new fish she saw, but I can name others that the non-ultra-fish-geek can appreciate, such as more pygmy seahorses, pacific anemonefish, a marbled stingray, plentiful bluehead tilefish, bundoon fangblennies, turtles, whitecap shrimpgobies, multibar angelfish, barracudas, scorpionfish and a fancy pipefish. Each corner of this massive reef offered different sightings, and the weather was absolutely perfect.

Photo by David: Mimic filefish

Photo by Mike: Navatu Reef

Photo by Laila: Pinhead pearlfish

Photo by David: Pacific anemonefish

Photo by David: A fancy pipefish. Janet and Pygmy will know which one.

Another long journey delivered us to paradise on Earth: Fulaga Island. With sevusevu duties to be taken care of before our first dive, we toured the island after our beautiful entrance through the narrow channel. The limestone island, the turquoise green water and the white sand beaches are the most gorgeous we have seen in Fiji. We did a dive on the northeastern wall as well as on the channel, and Fulaga remains our favorite diving in the Lau group. Stark’s damselfish, several flame hawkfish, gray and spotted crouchers, black butterflyfish, boxfish, reef sharks, an eagle ray and an octopus. Schooling snappers, trevallies and emperors. Incredibly healthy and abundant hard corals. Fulaga is paradise for fish nerds and scenery-divers alike. We wished we could stay longer, but the following morning it was time to move to Ogea.

Ogea was beautiful, and the topography of the wall varies so much from site to site. Fish nerds, photographers and cruising divers all got something to enjoy. Some more black butterflyfish were seen, redfin flasher wrasses, blueline damselfish, pearly dartfish, dusk gregorys, pipefish, hairy shrimp, multibarred angels, humphead wrasses, a turtle, reef sharks and some really shallow silverstreak anthias. On the mantacams left supervising the cleaning stations, unusual activities of mantas coming in for only a couple of minutes at a time, adding to a grand total of 6 individuals. Five of them we had seen before (August 2022 and February 2024) and the other we could not get a good id shot from. All good data for the Manta Trust.

Photo by Mike: Stunning Fulaga

Photo by Mike: Fulaga skiff tour

Photo by Mike: A gorgeous day for a skiff tour

Photo by Mantacam: Notcho Manta, showing great healing of the wound that inspired his name

Photo by David: A big longnose butterfly fish trying to turn black

We cruised North to Lakeba, the island with the village that holds the rights to Aiwa, where we wanted to dive all day. Traditions and customs followed, we were given permission and got in the water only a few minutes behind schedule. Aiwa provided a great playground for everyone, with a wide variety of terrain between the dives. A few lucky divers saw a tiger shark. Other sightings included more whitecap shrimpgobies, Marilyn nudies, juvenile peacock razorfish, rockmovers wrasses, a turtle, an eagle ray, some very colorful giant clams and pinstripe angelfish, a rare sight in Fiji. Also spotted from a safe distance, 5 humphead wrasses hanging out together.

Another long, calm crossing delivered us to Vanua Balavu, and we decided to do a dive by the northern reef and head out to Trigger Rock after breakfast. What a great decision, one that led to a remarkable 1,400th dive for Laila! We spent half an hour with five manta rays feeding and checking us out, and Lucky Lefty got them for the second half of their dive. With footage from our guests, the Manta Trust now has 5 new mantas to their database and we got to name them! Also on that dive, a leopard shark, a tawny nurse shark and dotted butterflyfish. At Trigger, many spotted crouchers, flame hawkfish and some false blackfin coralgobies. A few lucky divers saw the silvertip shark that swam by a couple of times and the oceanic triggers gave another meaning to the dive site. For the 3rd dive, we explored the passage with interesting formations, a couple of blacktip and whitetip sharks and a bluespotted ribbontail ray. Before dinner, we set out for a nice sunset cruise and got amazing views with the smiling moon and the fruit bats.

Photo by Chuck: Silvertip shark

Photo by Doug: Manta ballet

Photo by Doug: Purplequeen anthias

The crossing to Taveuni ran smoothly and we dived Champion Rock and the Rainbow Reef. We saw turtles, a couple of octopuses, a few sharks, some special nudibranchs, fairy wrasses, peppered squirrelfish and Dr Pygmy found two rumengani pipehorses! Semi found a couple of flatworms and after some guests departed, we then realized they were starting their “penis fencing” activities. Absolutely amazing!

The voyage to Namena Marine Reserve was as rough as advertised by the forecast, and we rocked and rolled all night. We knew it was only a matter of time before the weather finally caught up with us, so we were happy it didn’t happen until the very end of our trip. We tucked next to Namena island and dived the slope all day. There were some interesting sightings, including the barracuda school with a hunting Giant Trevally, but the day was about celebrating something else. Janet E. conducted her 3,000th fish survey at the end of the day, and we celebrated her achievement with much enthusiasm (and fish!). Congratulations, Janet!

Photo by Audrey: Nudi time!

Photo by Katsuko: Black and gold sapsucking slug

Photo by Laila: Boobie attacks after diving Namenalala

Photo by Katsuko: Seahare

Then we moved (more gently than the previous night) to Nukurauvula, and the shelter from Viti Levu allowed us to dive great sites. Although the surface was cold and windy, the dives were gentle, pleasant and scenic. The blue velvet angles were everywhere, and a few pinkeye gobies too. A huge marbled stingray made an appearance at the very end. And we leisurely cruised the twisty topography and enjoyed the massive sea fans. It was a great ending for an outstanding trip with remarkable people. We have learned so much from our trip leaders and guests, and we saw the Lau Group one last time before our departure from Fiji. It was absolutely perfect!

Photo by David H: Blackspotted puffer

Photo by Doug: Semicircle angelfish

Our beloved group!