PETER STEPHINSONS FIJI GALLERY
2005
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Bula!!! or
“Hello” from
Fiji
South
Florida Divers, Inc.
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Lay Over in Fiji,
December 2005
It’s 8:30AM, you’ve just arrived at the Seashell Cove hotel on Fiji’s
Coral coast after traveling about 30 hours from Fort Lauderdale, and have the
whole day ahead of you – what do you do ? Well, first things first, a shower
was a necessity and the breakfast was good. But on checking into the dive shop
Michelle, one of the owners suggested diving. What the heck, 3 hours after touch
down at Nadi international airport and I’m heading out for my first dive.
The friendly and helpful staff of SCUBA Bula
took me out along with Jim and Sally visiting from Washington State.
SCUBA Bula Dive the Navula Reef and Passage where they have over 20 sites
marked. Our dive was “Nursery”, a 60ft wall where we saw a Large Puffer, a
Moray and a turtle – the first of several over the 3 days of diving.
The second day, I took my Nikon digital camera. We did two dives, “Bat
Caves” to about 125 ft and “Arena”, about 60 ft, once again with Jim and
Sally. We saw a couple of reef sharks (white tips) and a 12 ft nurse. The hard
coral was very pretty and we enjoyed a good swim thru.
And on my third day, I was the only diver. Dive guide Api suggested we dive
“Deep Throat”, a vertical shaft which drops straight down before
turning horizontal to exit at the base of a wall. Api told me that he had seen
Hammerheads at the exit but I would need to return in Sept/October to see them.
It was a fun dive but I’ll have to come back some other time to see the
Hammerheads. After exiting “Deep Throat” we ascended up a gently sloping
wall to a shallow coral reef where we did an extended safety stop enjoying the
profusion of hard and soft corals – and the many colorful reef critters.
After about an hour long surface interval, we were back in the water at
“Lobster Caves”. A beautiful sloping wall with many pretty corals and small
colorful fish. I had my Nikon with me so got some good photos. We encountered
two reef sharks and a sleeping nurse shark. We also saw a large
lobster and a turtle - I got some good shots of the turtle.. We also saw
several grouper, a giant clam and a big green moray. A great dive to finish up
my time in Fiji.
My final day, I was flying out late afternoon. Diving was out so to pass the
time I arranged with the hotel to visit the local village. Along with two other
guests we traveled by van to the village, about 15 minutes away over gravel
road. After walking through the village we were introduced to the minister of
the village church who spoke with us explaining the challenges of maintaining
the traditional village way of life in the modern world. We were the introduced
to a village elder who offered us Kava, the traditional drink served at village
gatherings and offered to visitors.
It was with some regret that I departed Seashell Cove for my flight to New
Zealand but left with great memories and some good photos The diving is great
and the people very friendly and hospitable. I hope to return some day.
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to March 2005 Newsletter
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