Monterey Bay Aquarium New Year Charter

Destination: Central Fiji

Trip Date: Dec 30th - Jan 9th, 2011 - Comments

Author: Rob Barrel

Welcome Back: Steve, Sarah, Heidi, Tami, Julie, Kirsten, Art, Bob, Darlene, Karl, Russ and Shawn

Congratulations: Lucy Shelley for Youngest Diver Ever!

What a great adventure: New Year on NAI'A in Fiji with my family and a great group of people!

Steve Webster and ten other return passengers joined Cat, me and our girls to welcome renowned filmmaker and conservationist Mark Shelley (Strange Days on Planet Earth, The Shape of Life) and his family aboard NAI'A to celebrate the New Year and learn about conservation film making. With so many trained fish-heads from the Monterey Bay Aquarium aboard, all with three or more NAI'A charters under their weightbelts, we couldn't help but find neat critters and rare beasties. And the three girls, aged 5, 6 and 9, bonded immediately and took to the water like fish. All three snorkeled with grownups Cat, Mark and Ann while Lucy even completed some open-water dives under Steve's supervision.

Eye in the Sky by Art

Endemic Fiji Flasher wrasse by Bob

Sea Snake by Art

Plurobranch by Tami and Billy

Rufous Ghost pipefish by Bob

Scorpionfish by Darlene

Night crab by Tami and Billy

Pygmy seashorse by Bob

Anemone Fish by Art

Lizardfish by Darlene

Eel and pals by Tami and Billy

Pirates by Cat

Noddy Tern by Dave

Cat with injured tern by sarah

Injured Tern by Cat

Whip coral shrimp by Dave

Coral battle by Julie

Gorgonian by Karl

Jellyfish and friend by Dave

Cling fish by Julie

Nudi by Sarah

Booby by Cat

Turtle by Karl

Cleaner shrimp by Julie

Whip coral by Karl

seakreit illustration by Kirsten

Mermaids by Cat

Mark and Lucy

Village kids by Sarah

Garden eel by Steve

Meanwhile, during our rare dry moments, Steve taught us all there is to know about various non-fish with radial symmetry while we gave him our strictest attention. (note the bubble wand in Malia's hand!)

Kirsten put pencil to paper to sketch and paint her dive discoveries, while Mark regaled us with screenings from his films. Heidi, mentally exhausted from naming every fish in the sea, relaxed by cribbing the cadence of Robert Frost's Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening: