Thankful for Fiji

What a memorable experience our last trip with Bluewater Travel has been! As the season is changing and warmer waters arrive, our sightings start to shift and it is great to see fish friends we hadn’t seen in a while. We found new pygmy seahorses (perhaps inspired by Dr. Pygmy), saw ghost pipefish, spotted the tiny endemic red-tailed flasher wrasse and encountered manta rays in unexpected areas. Some weird weather system lurked South of us, but we mainly enjoyed very calm seas. Our guests had a fantastic time, whether they were diving or just relaxing and enjoying exquisite meals and great company. We all had plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

The first day of our journey was the only one with some serious wind, so we sheltered at Nukurauvula. It was nice to have the easy dives to make adjustments to gear and cameras. It was a macro day for nudibranchs, flatworms, funky shrimps and fish portraits. Wayne and Mim even saw a manta ray! The area’s big sea fans, hard corals and swim-throughs made for a great background, but our photographers were craving some soft coral action. Our last dive was cancelled due to extreme wind, so Mike Chiado did an extended workshop with the guests.

Photo by Mike Chiado: Composition is everything!

Photo by Sarah: Fish SSSPLOSION

We moved to Vatu-i-ra, to share our soft coral sites with the guests, but the currents were a bit too enthusiastic. As long as you managed to stay on the split, the scenery was unbeatable. Once taken behind the bommie, it was tough. It was still great fun and Keith, Kathy, Jim and Diane got to hang out with a very high turtle. Mike and Mo found a disco clam at Maytag. Mo and Bel showed Julie, Robert, Erik and Brendan a chevron manta ray, cruising right by Coral Corner, everyone’s favorite dive site for the day. We dived it with both skiffs at the sweet spot combination of mild current, open soft corals and great action.

We followed that with Wakaya, and the mantas seemed to have left in search of food. Lucky Lefty got nothing, but Mighty Righty got 20 minutes of great interactions with Clarita (she brought tears to Kathy and made Janice squeal) and a quick pass-by from a new manta, which we named Manta Del Ray. We also saw grey reef sharks, turtles, big tunas and 5 humphead wrasses hanging out together. The macro dive at Vatu Vai had 3 new pontohi pygmies, freckled seahares, seaspiders and several other nudies. Brandon gathered courage for the night dive and really enjoyed the various cowries and the huge crab he saw.

Photo by Mike Chiado: Coral Corner magic

Photo by Randy: Anemone party!

Photo by Keith: Fiji colors

Photo by Keith: Greetings from Clarita

Photo by Mike Chiado: New pygmy discoveries at Wakaya

The trip to Gau was smooth and we started the day with two Nigali dives. We had a few schools of bigeye barracudas, hundreds upon hundreds of snappers (close to the surface, better enjoyed by Maxine on snorkel), about 15 grey reef sharks, a sea krait and a shy octopus. But the photographers were truly enamoured by the cabbage patch, however challenging it was to not be blown away by the current! The outer ridge was clear, full of fire dartfish. Keith got a special shot of a very tiny juvenile leopard wrasse. Our village visit in Somosomo was very emotional, being our last one before we leave Fiji. There were tears, there was a big pig and there was a lot of dancing. Another remarkable visit and a dive into Fijian culture and customs.

Photo by Brendan: Anemonefish at Nigali

Photo by Mike: Somosomo

Photo by Mike: Could it be Julio???

A long but smooth crossing delivered us to Namena Marine Reserve and two days of jaw dropping dives. The crittery South had mostly mild currents and we found most of our usual suspects: golden mantis shrimps, leaf scorpionfish, ribbon eel, whitecap shrimpgobies, squarespot anthias, decorated dartfish, morrison’s dragonets and several nudibranchs. We also had two nice new findings: an ornate ghost pipefish and a little group of red-tailed flashers. But it wasn’t all critters, we also saw a few grey reef sharks, barracudas, sweetlips and an absurd number of fusiliers and anthias. Sarah asked us: “Is it always this fishy here??” Yes, Sarah. Yes, it is.

The North passage was no less magnificent. With challenging currents at The Arch, our photographers got creative with how to handle things. Grey reef sharks, barracudas and bigeye trevallies were everywhere. Mike saw his first (and all the way to 40th) palette surgeon fish. Randy took flight. Schoolhouse was much milder, but still full of colorful soft corals and overcrowded with fish everywhere. Erik placed that dive “above the best dives in Raja”. We agree! Snappers, barracudas, surgeonfish, bannerfish, sharks and three eagle rays. Kansas didn’t disappoint either. Hundreds of longface emperors surrounded the dive site, with grey reefs coming and going. But the pygmy seahorses were the main act, with 5 of them spotted on the second day there! The wide angle photographers didn’t lack for soft corals to aim at, and Brendan seemed like a dolphin bouncing from one spot to the next. The kava party on the first night was an absolute riot, but our tired photographers gave in and retired to bed early.

Photo by Keith: Planet Fiji

Photo by Keith: Twerking shrimp

Photo by Sarah: In love with Schoolhouse

Photo by Sarah: Red

Photo by Keith, Snoot by Kathy: Pontohi pygmy seahorse. Gorgeous!

Vuya greeted us with an enthusiastic current for dive 1 and followed with the mildest you could ever have. The soft corals responded and they do, vibrant for dive one and sleepy for dive two. Humann nature was a little milky as the corals at the top decided it was a great time to spawn. We had critters and big game. Nudis, pipefish, tuna, mackerels. But perhaps the turtles took the prize for favorite sightings. At UndeNAI’Able the visibility was also milky, but our guests enjoyed the windows, the “Alice in Wonderland” topography, the huge fans and soft corals. It was a good day for Tom to join the divers and he certainly chose the best, fishiest dive to do that. A surprise storm had us move right after the 4th dive, but made the following day very mild and sunny.

Photo by Sarah: Turtle at Cat's

Photo by Sarah: Cat's vibrance (and current)

Photo by Sarah: UndeNAI'Ably beautiful!

Mount Mutiny and E6 brought some of those Raja comments again. “Their hard corals have nothing on yours”. The vibrance, the variety, the lack of a spot with no corals to hold on to and steady oneself. The chyronephthyas’ at Mount Mutiny. The Cathedral at E6. With the sun in full blast, it was the perfect combination. Add hundreds of oceanic triggerfish, huge tunas and schooling (150+) barracudas, and you have yourself the perfect day. We moved to Vatu-i-ra for the last dive, as the name Coral Corner kept being brought up again and again. Encountering a strong current there, Righty opted for Charlie’s Garden, where we still had a weird sideways current and slingshot surfacing (all very safe, surrounded by a hard coral garden). Lefty voted to dive Coral Corner with the strong current and had a slingshot dive, through and through. Semi guided them to the “pockets of peace”, but those who dared to explore flew to the back of the site and surfaced a little wide-eyed. Keith still absolutely loved the site and begged for another chance there the next day. We complied.

With milder conditions, we hit Coral Corner again. Except the first dive was only a little milder than the slingshot. Randy says we should call it Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. However wild, the dive was fantastic, full of fish and vibrant with colors. For dive 2, four guests decided to go back there, and we hit it at 100% the perfect setting once again. The others joined us at Mellow Yellow, which had the rare combination of mellow and yellow. Signs of “mind-blowing” were passed around at the end, as we floated around with clouds of fish. We finished diving the slope of Vatu-i-ra, rubble and hard corals and absolutely teeming with life. We saw turtles, reef sharks, juvenile sweetlips and three eagle rays. Bright sunshine awaited us on the surface. The images speak for themselves, it was absolutely fabulous.

Photo by Brendan: Mount Mutiny

Photo by Sarah: Lionfish

Photo by Sarah: Mellow Yellow

Our enthusiastic group