Uncle Pug goes to Fiji ~ daily blog

Day Zero ~ Getting There
Thursday the 21st to Saturday the 30th, October 2004

Thursday morning the 21st NetDoc informed me that I was going to Fiji and had one week to get my affairs in order (as well as getting a US Passport.) The Fiji Visitors Bureau was sponsoring the trip but beyond that I knew nothing of the itinerary… and didn’t get a hint until the day before I left!

Friday morning I went to the Seattle Passport Agency and had the first of many pleasant surprises: my US Passport was ready to pick up that same afternoon! By the time I arrived back home FedEx had delivered the Air Pacific tickets. I still had no idea what I was going to do in Fiji (other than hopefully dive) but at least I had a round trip ticket so I knew it wasn’t a permanent re-location.

I spent several days packing and repacking after all the wonderful and sometimes conflicting advice from our Scuba Board friends. Then I noticed the dress code on the back of the Air Pacific ticket and had to repack again. On my next trip to Fiji I will leave the sport coat at home and take more T-shirts to leave behind as gifts.

On Wednesday I received an itinerary from NetDoc. It gave me hope that I would indeed have food and lodging. Little did I know how grand the lodging and how incredible the food would be during this trip! I can’t believe I didn’t gain 30 pounds! :tongue:

Finally, after a sleepless night, Thursday arrived and I took a flight from SEA to LAX arriving at 7pm. That only left four hours to wait for the flight to Fiji. Boarding the 747-400 I finally met my three US travel companions: photographers Barry & Ruth Guimbellot, contributors to Dive Training Magazine, and Andrew Sallmon, contributor to Sport Diver Magazine. Ten hours later I had seen Shrek2 several times, we were in Fiji and it was 5am Saturday morning!

Day One ~ The Yasawa Group
Saturday the 30th, October 2004

After clearing Fiji Customs and Immigration we were transferred by Rosie Holidays to the Sheraton Fiji Resort on Denarau Island where we changed clothes in a day room and then left our luggage in the lobby. We wondered all day if it would still be there when we returned.

Anare Senibulu, our host from the Fiji Visitor’s Bureau, had arranged for us to tour the Yasawa Group of islands while we waited for the other four members of our party to arrive in Fiji.

We were taken to the Denarau Marina and at 9am boarded the Yasawa Flyer, a very large and very yellow catamaran. The Yasawa Flyer makes stops at the various islands and resorts in the Yasawa Group where passengers are on and off loaded via smaller skiffs that come alongside.


At 11am we transferred to the Wana Taki Cruise boat MV Taralala near Naviti Island where we joined them for lunch and then snorkeling. The Taralala is another catamaran but set up as a floating hostel. The main deck is the dorm room and the upper deck is where guests lounge and food is served. Each day the Taralala anchors in a different location. Guests can snorkel or kayak with the equipment provided. Earlier in the morning they had seen mantas moving through a narrow passage between the islands. Snorkeling in this passage during the afternoon I saw an unattached remora, a very large puffer fish, a white tip reef shark and the ankles of a guy standing on a coral head while spearing fish… but no mantas.

At 3pm the Yasawa Flyer picked us up on the return trip through the Yasawa Group. I spent most of my time sitting on the bow with my feet hanging over the edge letting the warm air blow over me at 25mph. We made our way back to Denarau Island arriving just before 6pm and from there rode the shuttle bus back to the Sheraton, found our luggage still in the lobby, checked into our rooms, changed into decent clothes and then off to dinner at the Ports O Call restaurant. I had the Salmon Medallion & Double Lamb Cutlet with Takatala spiced potato cubes & fresh green vegetables.

After dinner I was tempted to take a swim in the ocean in front of my room… but weariness set in and I crashed onto the bed instead. At 3am my internal clock told me that it was 7am and I was instantly wide-awake. (This pattern continued for several days... when it is 3am daylight savings time in Fiji it is 7am standard time in the PNW... the previous day! )

I got up and walked the beach, enjoying the warm air and letting the equally warm saltwater wash across my feet. The moon was up, almost full and framed by palms. I strolled beneath them blissfully unaware that world wide more people are killed each year by falling coconuts than by shark attacks. Other versions of the story have more people being killed by flying pigs or falling pianos.

Day Two ~ Off to Venua Levu and Koro Sun Resort
Sunday the 31st, October 2004

This morning we met two more of our travel group who had arrived at the Sheridan the previous day while we were out on the Yasawa Flyer: Graham Older from Auckland, New Zealand with Dive New Zealand magazine and Marta Ticha from Sydney, Australia with Dive Adventures.

We left the Sheridan at 7am and headed for the Nadi Airport where we met two more of our travel group: Hayley Hosking from Melbourne, Australia with Allways Dive Expeditions and *World Famous Photographer* Katsuyuki Sugimori from Japan.

Our Flight on Sun Air in a De Havilland Twin Otter took us first to Taveuni Island where we dropped off several passengers at the Matei Airport and then back to Savusavu on Vanua Levu.

During the flight we were able to see the clear water and beautiful reefs with drop-offs into the deep blue that awaited us. There are so many places to dive here that we could have spent a whole month and still only barely scratched the surface!

Landing on the small strip near Savusavu we off loaded all of our luggage into a waiting van and headed for the Koro Sun Resort.

After settling into our bures we had lunch: grilled tuna main course ~ coconut ice-cream for dessert!

Our itinerary mentioned a saltwater kayak trip but the tides were not right for that and the diving director had already been out diving and didn't want to go out again. Two days now and I've only been in the water once... and that with a snorkel!

On Sunday the resort offers to take their guests to a local village to attend church services if they so desire. We had already missed the morning church service but the activities director, Dick, took me to a village anyway hoping for an afternoon church service. There was none however I was able to tour the village with Dick's cousin Joe. Most of the Fijians are Christians and each village has a church, which seems to occupy a prominent location in the village. The setting was absolutely beautiful.

Back to Koro Sun and dinner followed by a presentation from the managers of the Namale Resort.

Getting sleepy... very sleepy... so off to the bure and to bed. Wow... it was too warm for a PNWer. I had a difficult time sleeping all night even though I was very tired. It was just to warm for me. Finally, in the early morning light, looking up at the ceiling, I noticed the very large industrial strength oscillating fan... that I had not turned on.

Day Three ~ Koro Sun/Cousteau/Tui Tai
Monday the 1st, November 2004

Finally a dive day!!!

After breakfast we headed across the road to the Koro Sun Marina and Dive Center for our first dive of the Fiji trip. After setting up our rigs on the boat we began to don our wetsuits as the dive site was close at hand.

I was wearing a full 3mil suit and using a standard Luxfer AL80 so decided to go with a 4# weight belt along with my 6# SS backplate as a starting point.

The channel that leads out of the marina into open water is... interesting... I wouldn't want to be the skipper at night during low tide with a side current. The color of the water is a wonderful azure blue... in the channel.

Shortly we were at *Purple Gardens* but as the deck hand went forward to hook the mooring buoy we learned that the mooring had broken free. Rather than anchor and damage the reef the skipper chose to move to another site called *Dream House*. This site isn't name for the dive itself but for the house built on the shore nearby.

I kept thinking I was forgetting something... like a neoprene hood, drygloves, HID canister light, ect. Wow... really nice to dive in warm water.... what a joy!

The dive details are a blur now even though I wrote notes afterward.
Basically my notes read: WHITE TIP REEF SHARK!!!
I do remember color... lots of color. 86'max (avg 52') 51 minutes.

Back for a wonderful lunch at Koro Sun Resort and then off by van through Savusavu to the Jean Michel Cousteau Resort and a dive off of the resorts 37' dive boat L'adventure.

The dive site this afternoon was *Dreadlocks*... twin bommies. Bommies are coral pinnacles that rise from the bottom to usually within 15' of the surface. This was a live boat drop and pickup with plenty of wave action. Upon dropping in I found myself in the midst of a herd of beautiful blue jellyfish. It was surreal.

We circled the first bommie on our descent. The sides of the bommie were a vertical wall and covered with soft and hard corals as well as fan corals. Fish were everywhere. At 62' we reached the bottom and crossed over to the second bommie and spiraled up. The top of the bommie was covered with various types of corals and looked like an aquarium there were so many fish!

Getting back on the boat with the wave action was an adventure. The stern was heaving and the ladder was sawing the water with every wave... but we managed to board without losing any body parts.

Back at the JM Cousteau Resort we changed into dry clothes while the crew rinsed our gear. Then we had a special dinner outside by the pool. Actually they probably have meals like that every night but to me it seem extraordinary! Filet Mignon main course with chocolate cream brule for dessert. YUM!

Anchored off shore there was a large sailboat with a string of lights running from bow sprit to mast to mast to mast to stern. It was a beautiful sight and soon we were on our way via their dive boat to board the Tui Tai.

Tige, the owner, had already instructed us on the first order of *business* aboard the Tui Tai... the kava ceremony with the captain and crew. We made our way up to the high stern and sat cross legged on deck in a circle with the crew around the kava bowl call a tanoa. As a small coconut drinking bowl called a bilo is filled and passed to you (either low tide or high tide) you clap once, say "bula", then drink the kava in one go and clap three times after handing it back. Once everyone in the group has had a bilo the strict formality seems to taper off and the claps and bulas come with less precision.

Much has been said about the effects of kava... but it had no effect on me whatsoever.

Playing the guitar and singing seemed to be an integral part of drinking kava on the Tui Tai... or maybe it was the other way around... I'm not sure. At any rate I took my turn playing the guitar and singing though no one else in my travel group took a turn... hmmm....

Woke up in my stateroom at 4am as the anchor chain rumbled aboard and we set off into the dark. I remember it turned into a rough passage but I soon fell back to sleep.

Day Four ~ Aboard Tui Tai
Tuesday the 2nd, November 2004

I awoke to the sound of the anchor chain clattering through the hawse pipe. We had arrived at Namena Marine Park within the barrier reef surrounding Namenalala Island.

Tui Tai was anchored in the sand well away from any coral bommies. Also anchored in the same area was the live-aboard Nai’a. According to Tige it isn't often that both boats will be at the same site on the same day.

Breakfast was cooked to order right in the dinning area and was very good. However I should have ordered something other than an omelet with everything on it… my notes specifically state *do not use Tabasco on a pre-dive breakfast again*.

Tige had set aside chartering for the week so that he could take our group out. Normally the Tui Tai can host a much larger group of divers. This time they only had to keep track of the eight of us. We were divided into two groups of four with either a blue or red ribbon tied to our regulators and each team was take out to the dive site in the 6.5 meter Niad RIB.

Our morning dive was *Grand Central Station* and it was live boat. The top of the wall was at 100’ and we had been briefed that we might drop down to 140’ to see if there were any hammerheads. Bugsy, our DM, went to the edge of the drop off, looked over and didn’t go any further. I swam out a bit and dropped to 110’. Looking back I couldn’t see any hammerheads moving along the wall. I also couldn't see any bottom to the wall.

I swam back over the edge of the wall and our group continued to the bommies where we saw white tips and schools of barracuda. Aptly named Grand Central we were treated to lots of colorful fish as well as fan corals, soft corals and hard corals. To me the structure of the bommies made the dive. Some had straight sides while others were undercut in places. This was a cool dive site!

We had gone in as a group but eventually only Katsu and I were left. He was busy taking pictures on top of a bommie and I was busy watching him. Then I heard the sound of engines and soon saw an anchor chain sawing away at the top of the bommie.

Another large steel hull vessel had dropped anchor and then drifted back almost on top of us! Soon I heard the roar of several out board motors and saw the bottoms of two RIBs flash by, their propellers churning the water 10’ above. Yikes… That was close!

When the RIBs were gone Katsu and I ascended and were picked up by Tui Tai’s chase boat. 110’ max (39’ avg) 75 minutes.

Tui Tai re-anchored closer in to Namenalala Island where we went ashore for a tour of Moody’s Namena Resort as well as a BBQ lunch on the beach.

Back to the Tui Tai we set off for our second dive in Namena Marine Park called *Deep Blue*. My notes call it *THE BEST DIVE YET*. Everything we had seen before only more of it. Soft and hard corals of every possible color, size and type as well as huge fan corals all alive with fish.

There were also white tip and gray reef shark as well as one lone and very large barracuda. The barracuda was holding motionless position mid-water between bommies. I don’t know if it was asleep or just waiting for the next bus but fish were swimming all around and it didn’t seem to pay any attention to them or to us.

Green water in the mask on this dive. Sinus squeeze. I’ve been taking 120mg Sudafed’s every twelve hours but the head cold I came down with just before leaving on this trip thinks it will win. It won’t. I’ll die before I’ll miss a dive here. 67’max (37avg) 75 minutes.

Back aboard Tui Tai, we changed and had dinner as the anchor was weighed and we made our way to Koro Island where we were supposed to go ashore for an *Island Night* at Nabouna Village.

We didn’t arrive at Koro until 9pm and it was too late to go ashore so we had a Kava Ceremony on board. I fell asleep sitting cross legged with my face firmly planted on the deck.

I understand there are pictures.

Day Five ~ Tui Tai & Koro Island
Wednesday the 3rd, November 2004

For breakfast I'm having coconut Pancakes covered with papaya, pineapple and freshly made cumquat syrup - hold the Tabasco, please.

It is still raining but the wind has let up somewhat. Tui Tai relocates outside the protective reef that surrounds Koro Island and re-anchors for our morning dive at *the Cliffs of Insanity*. I’m not kidding… they actually call it *the Cliffs of Insanity*.

A small rocky islet stands above water. Below we find great structure but less coral and fewer fish than at the other sites… at least today. This dive is really different than the rest… canyons wind in and out and there is a lot to explore. Toward the end of the dive Katsu and I see a green sea turtle. I’m still having difficulty clearing my ears and sinuses even though I took a 120mg Sudafed before breakfast. 116’ max (37avg) 85 minutes.

After the dive Tui Tai moved back inside the reef and we prepared to go ashore for a visit in Nabouna. Those who didn’t have sulas were issued one for the visit. A sula is like a… hmm… well… like a skirt. Wrapped around the waist it is supposed to hang low enough to cover the knees… and it is supposed to stay in place… somehow… though mine ended up letting go at an inopportune moment during our village visit.

We went ashore in the RIB and went directly to the Headman’s house. Each village has a Chief and a Headman. Protocol requires that visitors first visit the Headman’s house and make a presentation of kava root, which we did. The Chief was unavailable or he would have been present too but the Headman seemed very happy that we were there. Tui Tai is the only boat that regularly visits Nabouna and due to weather it had been three weeks since the last visit.

While the kava was being prepared we went on a self-guided tour of the village. I had a bag of little dresses, shirts and shorts and began handing them out to the kids I met. They were very happy to have them and I was very happy that I would not have to keep explaining why I had little girl dresses in my luggage.

Back at the Headman’s house, seated cross legged on the floor, we watched as the pounded kava root in a cloth was repeatedly immersed in water and squeezed in the kava bowl. (I'm really glad they no longer do this the traditional way! I understand it involved the women chewing the kava and spitting it into the bowl.)

When it was ready the passing of the bilo began and we each took a turn. Soon one of the women began smearing our faces with a white powder that smelled a lot like Johnson & Johnson. Another woman put flowers behind our ears. The next thing I knew we were dancing.

This was a really cool experience… and one of the things that made Tui Tai my favorite. At other resorts they would have Fijian culture presentations for the tourists… but here we were invited into the village and right into the Headman’s house!

Back aboard Tui Tai for lunch and then we needed to get underway for Taveuni Island, a four-hour cruise under good conditions. It was 3pm and we needed to be there by 6pm and the wind was building again.

Crossing the Koro Sea we took the waves directly on the beam. The Tui Tai was really getting lively underfoot but that didn’t stop the crew from enjoying themselves.

There they were on the back deck sitting around a square 5 gallon bucket playing guitars and singing. The bucket was their rough weather kava bowl and I was offered a bilo. I declined and made my way to the bridge to see if anyone was steering Tui Tai! Much to my relief two of the crew were still on duty and I spent some time with them as we battered through the waves. All of a sudden here they came, dancing around the deck in front of the wheelhouse, singing, playing the guitars and carrying the 5 gallon bucket; big grins on their faces! Man, I love the Tui Tai.

We made our way though Somosomo Straight in the dark and arrived to anchor off of Taveuni at 9pm… only three hours late… but hey… we were on Fiji time! Sega na Leqa.

As we motored in to Garden Island Resort we saw a flashlight waving frantically back and forth on the beach. We also saw waves breaking on shore. Fortunately we finally figured out that there was a reef between us and the resort’s breakwater. We followed the lead of the flashlight and made our way around the reef and up to the ramp where we waded ashore. They had kept the dinner buffet warm for us!

Day Six ~ Garden Island Resort & Rainbow Reef
Thursday the 4th, November 2004

Bats…. Huge Bats! They call them flying foxes and they are hanging upside down in the trees out front. I couldn’t see them in the dark last night but now in the morning light they are easy to spot. They are even easier to spot when they are flying since they have a two to three foot wingspan!

After a buffet breakfast we head for the dive center were we left our gear last night and analyze our nitrox. Garden Island Resort uses a Nitrox Stik to blend and the air station setup is the best I've seen anywhere. They have three well kept compressors and the room is clean!

A group of 24 divers from Ohio is also staying at Garden Island Resort. I had the pleasure of meeting one of them, Jim, who had read the Uncle Pug goes to Fiji thread before leaving the states. Hi Jim!

Since GIR wanted us to dive off one of their boats they *borrowed* another dive operation's boat to serve the Ohio divers.

GIR has two fast aluminum boats that are perfectly set up for diving. These folks obviously take the diving part of being a dive resort seriously! And well they should… the famous Rainbow Reef area is spread out right in front of them.

Our first dive was at *Rainbow’s End*. Diving in Fiji just kept getting better and this dive stepped it a notch up. In one square meter area I saw a blue and yellow ribbon eel, a gray moray eel and a lionfish! And of course the ubiquitous soft and hard corals.
76’ max (46’avg) 63 minutes.

Our second dive was at *Jack’s Place*. Again with the corals and fish but this time I spotted a large white tip shark hiding under a ledge and was able to sneak up behind it, jump on and go for a ride! Just kidding. After finding the white tip I went and found Katsu so he could take a picture of me riding it. OK… I’m kidding again. I brought Katsu over and then just held back while he did his photographer thang.
54’ max (28’avg) 90 minutes

After lunch at Garden Island Resort we were taken by van for an afternoon hike to Bouma Falls. The hike (more like a picturesque stroll) and the falls were beautiful… but more interesting to me was the van trip there and back. As the pavement ended and the dirt road began I understood why the hubcaps were ziptied on. We passed villages as well as people and animals walking along the road. I kept trying to take pictures by holding my camera out of the window but wasn’t as successful as I would have liked with all the bumping around. One shot I really wanted was the woman washing clothes while standing waist deep in the river. We stopped on the way back so I could take the picture and the wash board was still there but she was gone.

Note: pictures of Taveuni Diver and Rainbow Reef added courtesy of Garden Island Resort

Day Seven ~ Matangi Island Resort & Maravu Plantation Resort
Friday the 5th, November 2004

We left Garden Island Resort too soon! Two nights in the same bed (yeah!) but only one day diving Rainbow Reef.

Picture below of group at GIR ~left to right:
Andy, Ron, Katsu, Ruth, Graham, Barry, Marta, Hayley, Anare

Oh well, time to move on. Our luggage departed without us for the Maravu Plantation Resort and Katsu headed for the Matei Airport and home.

The rest of us were taken by van to Naivakacoa Landing where we waded out to a boat for the ride to Matangi Island Resort. This private island resort is exceptionally beautiful and quiet. We had a wonderful lunch and then toured the bures and resort grounds. We didn't get to do any dives with Matangi Resort so I can't comment on their dive operation.

The boat took us back to Naivakacoa Landing and a waiting van took us to the Maravu Plantation Resort. Our luggage had indeed made it there! We enjoyed a buffet dinner and a Meke, a Fijian song~n~dance show. One group sits on the floor and sings and chants while the other group does the dancing. Both song and dance are telling cultural stories.

Day Eight ~ Flight back to Nadi and trip to Beqa Lagoon
Saruday the 6th, November 2004

It is only minutes by van from Maravu to the Matei Airport but we had to wait a bit for our flight back to Nadi. I spent the time taking pictures including one of our travel group (minus Katsu) and one of the airport security team.

The flight from Taveuni back to Nadi took us over the Rainbow Reef area and I was able to get a few photos of a portion of it from the air.

Back in Nadi we had to say goodbye to Graham, Marta and Hayley. It is amazing how close our group had become in this short amount of time! We continued to miss them as well as Katsu for the rest of the trip.

It was a two hour ride by van from Nadi to Pacific Harbor where we boarded a boat for Beqa Lagoon Resort. We didn't arrive until well after lunch but they still had something for us. It was absolutely the best lasagna that I have ever eaten! Seriously. I couldn't quit making "Mmmmm" noises.

The bures here are really cool. Each one is surrounded by a water & koi filled moat with a little foot bridge to the porch.... very defensible. We each had our own bure and it was deluxe inside with carved doors inlaid with mother of pearl.

Dinner:
~Moroccan Spiced Carrot Soup
~Spicy Thai Chicken Curry with Pineapple Mint Salsa, Jasmine Rice and Baked Pumpkin
~Devils Food Cake with Blackberry Coulis

Days Nine and Ten ~ Beqa Lagoon Resort
Saturday & Sunday the 7th & 8th, November 2004

My Bure was deluxe and very comfortable... and the bed was going to be mine for three whole nights!!! Still... I had to get up and go diving... poor me. :11:

We need to be ready to board the dive boat at 8am sharp… but there is still time for breakfast. The choice is full breakfast, egg breakfast or light breakfast. I opt for the light breakfast of toast and fruit.

Our group of four is accompanied by four others for a total of eight divers with two DMs and a boat operator and a deck man. BLR’s boats are not high speed… they amble along at ~8kts or so but they are comfortable and all of the dive sites are reasonably close. We are on *Luna Sea*. Check out the picture of the map and see if you can find the dive sites we went to.

Our first dive site is *Soft Coral Plateau* and it lives up to its name. We also find shark and barracuda here. Because Barry wanted to take some pictures of me for an article I was wearing a clear skirt three window mask and, gasp, a snorkel with a large thing on top to keep the water out. I’m not sure why I needed the snorkel but I complied.

The second dive was a Dix’s Rock… at least that is what our DM Dix called it. On the map it was Gee’s Rock. Gee…. I wonder if the former DM was named Gee? I have a line drawing of two bommies in my notes, one larger than the other. Actually I quit taking notes and just started sketching the dive sites… I think I was getting tired. I do remember thinking that it was a very cool dive but that having a snorkel on my mask was inconvenient.

Due to the lack of notes I don’t remember when we had Mahi Mahi Taco… but it was good. And the Chocolate Crepe filled with rich whipped cream and dressed with Raspberry sauce and mint was impossible to resists. I’m a pig. I ate two.

It rained a lot Sunday in the afternoon but it was the warm kind of rain that you could stand outside in... kinda like a luke warm shower. The local folks probably don't think it is warm rain... but to a PNWer it sure was.

On Sunday afternoon I went to the neighboring village and attended a Church service. I wish I could have stayed longer. I really like these people. Three of the guys on our dive boat where also at the Church… in fact the boat driver was the keyboard player.

I received a tip from the DM on the other boat and requested that we go to *Fantasy* so that was our first dive on Monday.

It was great… but the second dive, nearby, was my all time favorite of the Fiji trip. *Side Street* is comprised of multiple bommies that rise from the bottom like chimneys. In my sketch I show six.

On one of these I found a cleaner shrimp open for business. I let him work on my fingers for about 5 minutes and then decided to save some money at the dentist. I opened my mouth and sure enough he swam up and went to work on my teeth. Whenever I needed to take a breath he would back off and then when I was ready he would go to work again. I called one of our photographers over and he got several pictures of my new hygienist at work.

On the way back to the resort we encountered some rough seas and the welds on the tank rack broke. We took off most of the tanks and I held the rack in place while the DMs sat on the tanks on the deck to hold them in place.