Full House

England has almost conquered Nai’a for a week! 

A combo of rambunctious English divers (all from the same dive center back in the UK) and 3 uniquely funny and kind couples from the US… a powerful and entertaining cocktail!  

The sun got the message and started toasting us all this trip! Time to bring out not only the sunscreen but also the aloe vera after sun treatment, or a cucumber!

Hard coral garden ~ Carol

Drapey soft corals ~ Carol

Kicked off the trip with calm waters, amazing hard coral gardens and colorful drapey corals… yes, we were at the amazing sea mounts. 

Such a view with sea fans and soft corals ~ Carol

Schools of barracudas, white tips both swimming and resting, the fabled hammerhead shark, and schools of trevallies hunting their fusiliers. 

Barracuda, ta ta ta ta ~ Carol

Smaller stuff: blue dragons (if you can count some hand size as small); Morrison's dragonet; lemon coral gobies; long nose filefish; Randall’s shrimpgobies; scorpionfish posing; juvenile rockmover wrasses who seem to be growing out of their infant phase; AND two big fat stone fish! 

Such an amazing shot of that stonefish ~ Suzy 

Another great shot of a stonefish ~ Martin

And shark day!

Grey reefs all around, as well as various sightings of hammer heads scouting us out, are we food, are we game? Oh no, we are boring bubble makers. 

Grey reef shark with big eyed trevally ~ Suzy

“Miserable, I am done diving! Nothing to see!” - thanks for the sarcasm Richie! (Grand central station)

Schools of absolutely everything: surgeonfish, unicornfish, cornet fish, sweetlips (dotted, many spotted, diagonal-lined, oriental), milkfish, fusiliers, snappers, and schooling bannerfish! 

Long nose hawkfish ~ Carol

“That was a whole different world!” - Judith (she hadn’t seen her first shark until this dive, and promptly used her husband as a human shield for most of the dive, which was hilarious) 

Arc-eye hawkfish ~ Carol

On the other hand, your small suspects: pygmy sea horsies, dartfish, juvenile Dorys, pipefish, dragonets, and so many blennies! 

Muted leafy scorpionfish ~ Carol

Groupers in mating behavior and snappers having an afternoon snack of unborn baby fusiliers… sounds terrifying but it’s quite the show. 

After all that action; KAVA TIME! 

Had quite a bit of celebration this night: celebrating Joe and Carol’s 50th (!) wedding anniversary! And my (Clau) little birthday, which just meant more kava drinking. 

Semi, Chris, our chosen chief Richie, Clau and our Captain Big Mo ~ Carol

School of hammerheads out in the blue, so divers, fin! 

Divers gazing and enjoying the schools of fish! ~ Carol

"That is my kind of dive!"- Rod, who is color blind, so you'll see him out in the blue enjoying the silver motion. 

Devil ray passed some divers, surprising them! As well as an eagle ray on the next dive, sea krait swimming alongside them, grey reefs teaming up with tunas, and lots and lots of colors.

A full hour of diving with 3 big female melanistic mantas, with a smaller 4th one coming and going, interacting quite a bit among us. One of the best hours at the cleaning station we have had in a while; even a hammer head at the start!

Snoot, Dorothy, and Mantanomi were there, being gorgeous of course! And we got to identify Mighty Lefty!

Our first shot of Mighty Lefty ~ Carol

Shot of Mantanomi from another trip, but she is so gorgeous

While all that was happening, other divers had 3 hammerheads, marbled stingray and even a big manta!

And that continued during the next dive, adding on a leopard shark! Turtles, blue dragons, more hammers, and porcelain crabs.

So many hawksbill turtles around ~ Carol

Top of Kansas, with singularia coral and three tear drop butterfly fish ~ Carol

We are so ecstatic when everyone gets to enjoy all these beautiful encounters! 

We had a full house at the village visit, and we really had to wrangle them back to the boat as they were all carrying children (attempt at kidnapping) and talking with all the villagers. It was such a heartwarming picture. 

I scared you! ~ Carol

Such colorful children! Their personalities won over everyone, so we went to go search for even  more color (if possible) underwater.

Coral corner at its finest ~ Carol

Endemic Fiji anemonefish ~ Carol

Another typical Fijian scene ~ Carol

"The color on the top of that dive site is incredible!"- Sue (GoMo) 

“That was my favorite one yet! And the topography!” - Carol (Whole Shebang) 

Ummmm, frogfish at night! Such a nice spot Jona!

Pink anemonefish gazing lovingly at Martin ~ Martin

Tables of hard coral ~ Carol

Our amazing swim-throughs ~ Carol

Overall, this trip felt like a full Full House, in every sense of the words! 

Vinaka vakalevu everyone!

We really hope to “sea” you again!