June 27 – July 04, 2009 : Fiji, aboard Island Dancer II

Well guys, I have just returned from my first ever dive trip to Fiji and what can I say beyond: “I was blown away!!” As simple as that!

We arrived at the dock where Island Dancer II, custom built in 1995 was waiting, a beautiful & intimate live-aboard accommodating only 10 discerning divers in her five en-suite guest cabins – four located below, w/ port lights and with a single upper bunk & double lower bunk, spacious & offering adequate storage for all plus one suite on the main deck offering picture windows, a queen bed and more space all around.

We were met by possibly the most experienced & competent crew in Fiji:

Captain Ned – aboard since 2003, Engineer Clinton aboard since 2006, Dive Master Moses aboard since 1995 (I think his feet were welded to the deck during construction), Chef Luke aboard since 2003 and Steward and all round “good guy” Bole aboard since 2008.

These guys are great, know exactly what they are doing & worked as a team looking after our every need for the week. Among our group of 10 we had four “newbies” to live-aboard diving (they are now all converts) so the weather the first 24 hours was particularly challenging for a couple of them w/ 25 – 30 knot winds raising the seas as a result of an unseasonal low pressure that was over  us – after dinner at the dock (nice & calm) we cast off our lines and commenced  the several hour crossing to Wakaya Island where we anchored in the calm for the rest of the night.

Sunday was spent at Wakaya Island where due to the weather we did only three very decent dives. After dinner we all elected for an early night to get over our jet lag and Capt. Ned & his crew hauled the anchor and departed for Namena Island at 4:00 AM Monday morning.

As we all made our way up for breakfast that morning our spirits soared as we were greeted by beautiful flat & crystal clear seas, blue sky & sunshine – we spent two incredible days at Namena Island and the surrounding reefs – a protected Marine Reserve – enjoying “mind boggling” dives on walls, pinnacles (bommies, per the Aussies,) and passes; sites such as  North Wall, Grand Central, Save-a-Tack North, Save-a-Tack South, Black Forest & Ned’s Head etc and we saw “everything” -  huge schools of fusiliers tumbling over the reef edge like a colorful waterfall, schools of banner, butterfly fish, and “thousands” of purple and of orange anthias blanketing the reef top & sparkling like so many diamonds in the early morning sunshine and … the list goes on  … Bigger pelagics too – an eagle ray, a lone, patrolling hammerhead shark, white tip sharks & grey reef sharks along w/ several very impressive dog tooth tuna, a large king fish, schooling chevron barracudas, schooling sonnets & even schooling Pacific coronet fish, schooling horse eye jacks, small groups of marauding trevally and more medium to large sized grouper (coral trout per the Aussies,) snapper etc than I can remember seeing anywhere in recent years and again … the list goes on!

Along w/ the fish life (the Marine Reserve is obviously a successful project) we were privy to many different nudibranchs, including the beautiful peacock nudibranch, razor clams, giant clams, spider oysters, crinoids, anemones w/ ever present & differing clown fish, ribbon eels & cowry shells hidden w/in the reef and pipefish, but our quest for a yellow, pygmy seahorse unfortunately, came up short – they are there – and again … the list goes on.

Fiji – “the soft coral capital of the world!!” We’ve all possibly heard this cliché before and it is well deserved but – Fiji offers so very much more, sure the reefs are layered w/ all the blue, pink, red, yellow soft corals & colorful sea whips but Fiji’s hard branching & stony corals and black coral trees have to apologize to no one/nowhere – the health and density of the coverage of these hard corals is impressive, to say the very least!!

Fiji may not have the incredible biodiversity of say, certain areas in Indonesia (Raja Ampat/North Sulawesi) or PNG in the “coral triangle” but this difference will only be noticed by the trained eye of perhaps a marine biologist or an u/w photographer specializing in macro subjects – Fiji stands proud w/ the best of them such as Palau, the Philippines, the Maldives etc.

From Namena we proceeded to Makogai Island/Village where we went ashore to enjoy the hospitality of Chief Watisoni (Watson) and his people – a great time was had by all – I was elected “Chief-for-the- Night” by our group and as such it was my job (after careful instruction from Capt. Ned about Fijian Custom & protocol) to present the traditional gift of a Sevu Sevu root to Chief Watisoni after which the kava ceremony started (also after careful instruction to me from Capt. Ned) and Chief Watisoni deferred his position of authority to me, the new, visiting “Chief-for-the-Night.”

Once the formalities were over – the fun started and Chief Watisoni did not let me shirk my obligatory Chiefly responsibility for even one minute which was to continually shout out “talo,” along w/ a single hollow sounding clap of the hands, that immediately resulted in more kava being served all round – all this while the kids and young people from the village danced & sang for us.

Once the performances were over we were all hauled to our feet by the villagers where we danced the famous “Fiji Two-Step” which again Capt. Ned had carefully instructed us all on, for several different songs and thank God the “Fiji Two-Step” was relatively easy to master, as I was born w/ two left legs and I was not anxious to ruin my image as Chief-for-the-Night by way of my clumsiness!

From Makogai Island we proceeded to Gau Island where we did an amazing dive in Nigali Pass – Capt. Ned caught the tide on the final stages of the rise, the current was mild and the visibility well in excess of 100’ and from the moment we entered the water we were accompanied on our drift through the pass by 12 – 15 grey reef sharks before coming to rest at a pre-arranged spot where Capt. Ned and Moses “placed” us all to enjoy & view the ever increasing shark population – by this time we had 30 + grey reef sharks w/ us along w/ some four to six very impressive Malabar Grouper ranging in size from 40 – 100+ lbs and truly thousands of red snapper plus, plus, plus!!

After we were done w/ the sharks Moses & Capt. Ned led the rest of the way through the pass to one of the most impressive stands of cabbage coral I have ever seen – and this includes the famous cabbage coral in Ulong Channel in Palau – and which coral was again, in pristine condition and from there back to Island Dancer II which was strategically anchored to receive us at the end of the dive!  A great dive experience!!

After Gau Island it was on to our last dive of the trip – and what a dive that was – Lake Reef in Beqa Lagoon!!!
This dive is offered only at the Captain’s discretion, only on a weather dependent basis and only at the availability of Brandon Paige at Aqua Trek Diving – www.AquaTrek.com - this is HIS dive and he & his staff conduct it for us – this is the “’mother of all shark dives!”

On this dive you have the usual grey reef sharks and nurse sharks etc but, the nurse sharks are the biggest I have ever seen, an occasional oceanic white tip [I saw none but Moses did] may show up, silver tips are frequent visitors to the scene but the main attraction are some impressively large bull sharks - 10+ feet bull sharks!!

Also part time members of the cast are a couple of tiger sharks and yes, we enjoyed the pleasure of the company of one – a big one – possibly 14 feet? Along w/ fresh fish heads she took an interest in Justin’s grey strobe that led to a few very exciting moments “behind the stage!!”

Along w/ the sharks we experienced huge grouper, schools of very large rainbow runner, giant trevally, tuna and others getting into the fray!

All’s well that ends well and two of the ladies aboard who had absolutely assured us they had “no interest” in doing the shark dives were talked into doing both and after their up close & personal encounters w/ these “Denizens of the Deep” are now shark lover converts – recognizing the amazing beauty of this marine animal, free & at ease in its own environment.

Island Dancer II has a standard itinerary as we enjoyed but w/ just a little better cooperation from our Weather Gods an alternate itinerary may be offered – taking you to the pinnacles of “Hi-8” & “East-6” located plumb in between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. Pinnacles in the middle of nowhere, rising from 3,000 feet to w/in reasonable diving depths from the surface – Island Dancer II is the only live-aboard in Fiji offering these two sites!!!

This alternate itinerary is at Captain’s discretion & is weather dependent only!
As an encore our crew provided us w/ an on-board Kava Ceremony on Friday evening w/ Justin being elected as “Chief-for-the-night!!”

Justin’s cries of “talo” were heard well into the night and Moses & Bole were there, w/ their huge smiles & traditional hand claps, to ensure we had all the Kava we’d (probably) ever need??

A good time was had by all!!

Saturday morning and departure came way too soon for any of us and I for one, am already looking for the first excuse I can dream up to return!

I hope, if you have already experienced Fiji you’ll do so again soon and if not – what are you waiting for … ? We look forward to the opportunity to welcome you aboard the newest addition to the Dancer Fleet –  Island Dancer II – Fiji’s most intimate live-aboard.

Thanx and as always … be ocean minded,
Peter

P.S. See my useful Information to the right!