Sota Tale

The last charter of 2024 has been absolutely fabulous in so many ways! It was our last trip as NAI’A’s cruise directors, and if that wasn’t emotional enough, our guests made it even more so. The fierce group leader, Karen (SportsCo from Arkansas), and three of her guests (Don, Pete and Nancy), were last in Fiji in 2016 during Cyclone Winston. They were on the trip that helped the village of Makogai rebuild after the devastation from the cyclone. As the cruise directors back then said “You can go diving while the crew goes to help the villagers”, they replied with “There is no way we’re diving, we want to go help as well”. And so they did. It was an absolute honor to know we’d be the ones bringing them back to Makogai for the first time. But it wasn’t all tears and emotions, our trip also had jaw dropping sightings. Aside from all our regular encounters, we saw  friendly manta rays, an enormous guitarfish and over 100 hammerheads schooling. The best sendoff we could ask for.

We spent our first day of diving at Vuya and UndeNAI’Able. We had moderate(2 muffins) to wild (4 muffins) currents all day, finalizing with a surprisingly mild last dive (no muffins). The health of the corals in this area really is outstanding, and our guests sure appreciated starting the trip on such a high note. We had a brief glance at a massive oceanic shark, we’re not sure what shark, only that it was HUGE! We also saw several nudibranchs, flatworms, reef sharks, schooling snappers, barracudas, surgeonfish, unicornfish, a big lobster and many, many anthias. It was indeed a day for very orange safety stops.

Photo by Karen: Soft corals

Photo by Bel: Hard corals

Photo by Gary: UndeNAI'Able cuts

Photo by Don: Crown of thorns

We moved to Namena Marine Reserve and spent two full days there enjoying the benefits of the conservation efforts put into the area for the past 24 years. Schoolhouse had manta rays on both days, and on the first encounter we had a very close view of them both. They turned out to be new to Fiji and we named them BatManta and SuperManta. The third visit to Schoolhouse was even more surprising, with a 10ft guitarfish swimming from 150ft up to the top of the reef. It was like watching a prehistoric creature. Grand Central Station didn’t disappoint either, with a school of 100+ hammerheads (NOT dolphins, Ana) paying a visit to the divers on both days (but getting much closer the second time). A couple of turtles showed up, but with all the snappers, groupers, trevallies, rainbow runners, milkfish, barracudas, triggerfish, grey reef sharks and surgeonfish around, it got minimal attention from our guests. Kansas also shined in its own way with pygmy seahorses and NAI’A pipefish.

The South end of Namena wasn’t bad either. As the current there ran very mild on all dives, our guests got a chance to catch their breath from the North passage dives. Caitlyn found a leaf scorpionfish, the guides found several nudibranchs (and more NAI’A pipefish), Anna mastered the art of going round and round the bommies and the Butter twins enjoyed the freedom to take the dives at their own pace with Sheila and Pete. The night divers were shocked with the feathermouth sea cucumber, and struggled to believe it was in fact a sea cucumber. They are kind of freaky. Our kava party on the first night was great fun. Margarita joined the band and played with the crew, the goats screamed loudly and the animal song once again made everyone laugh endlessly.

Still from Karen's video: Mantas come up to meet us

Still from Karen's video: Female and male giving us a full Id picture (with sordid detail) and Bel's beanie in the corner

Photo by Nancy: Double rainbow!

Photo by Karen: Pink anemonefish

Photo by Don: Spadefish

Photo by Doug: Beautiful blue clam

We had to pull anchor earlier than expected due to increased winds, but Wakaya welcomed us with much calmer waters. Three manta rays showed up for Lucky Lefty (the recently named Mighty Lucky, the shy Dragonfly and Snoot, who stayed for the entire dive), and one for Mighty Righty (who had already collected their good manta karma at Schoolhouse). Lefty saw two enormous blotched stingrays getting cleaned, Righty saw three hammerheads and everyone saw reef sharks, barracudas and huge humphead wrasse. The visit at Makogai was very moving. As our last one, and the first time Karen, Don, Pete and Nancy did after the 2016 visit. Kind words were exchanged all over and tears rolled all around.

Photo by Mantacam: Snoot and Lucky Lefty

Photo by Mantacam: Surface interval with Snoot and a turtle

Photo by Mantacam: Snoot posed A LOT!

Photo from 2016: Karen's group (including Don, Pete and Nancy) helping the villagers get a wall up for shelter. Note how bleak the background is

Photo by Chris/Clau: The island has recovered for sure

We headed to Vatu-i-ra Marine Reserve and spent our last two full days there. We had smooth, relaxing dives (1 muffin) at Mellow Yellow, Maytag and Charlie’s Garden. The lack of current did not mean boring dives, as schools upon schools of fusiliers, anthias, chromis, barracudas, trevallies, snappers and surgeonfish surrounded us everywhere. We saw scorpionfish, lionfish, disco clam and moray eels. Coral Corner and Howard’s Diner were a little wild, but even more fascinating with all the action brought on by the current (3 muffins). It was among those great conditions that Keith celebrated Dawn’s 200th dive. The night dive was the girl’s first on a wall, and they enjoyed it despite feeling a little unsettled by weird things in the blue (that turned out to be each others fins).

We spent a second day at the Marine Reserve. Starting with an extremely mild (no muffin) and exceptionally vibrant dive at Coral Corner. Bel ditched her break and went fun diving. She met up with Shirley and Susie and the three got engulfed by bluestreak fusiliers. The second dive was a fly down the Whole Shebang (named by Mark in 2008) followed by a cruise through the coral heads where Lisa, Gary and Karla found a clown triggerfish protecting its eggs and Anna saw a massive bumphead parrotfish. Jeff followed it all from the shallows for these two days and claims to prefer snorkeling to diving now (he likes to be able to keep an eye on the fair maidens from above). We finished with GoMo with a current that went from nothing to 4 muffins in 30 minutes. The vibrance, fishiness and abundance made it worth all our efforts, even if we finished a little early. And so it was the perfect trip, the perfect encounters and the perfect company to end our 3 years in Fiji. We thank each and every one of our guests for making this so special. Also our amazing crew for making these three years unforgettable. Sota tale (until we meet again).

Photo by Karen: Coral Corner

Photo by Jeffy: Margarita and Mark

Photo by Bel: Fusilier time

Photo by Bel: Coral Corner

Photo by Karen: Anemone field at the Whole Shebang

Our last group. Until we meet again, firends!