I've fallen in love with Fiji. And NAI'A provides a wonderful opportunity
to do my work in absolute comfort; plus she attracts a fantastic clientele.
I've met wonderfully interesting people here over three expeditions.
I can't wait to come back!
- Dunckerocampus naia
- One Thousand Species and Counting
- Totally (Re)Fit
- Phoenix Rises
- Tonga HiDef Expedition
- Vinaka Discount
Dunckerocampus naia
The NAI'A family is very proud to introduce our newest addition, Dunckerocampus naia. Cat Holloway first noticed this shy little sweetheart hiding deep in a cave on the current-swept corner of Maytag. But when she shined her torch on it, it came out to say hello -- ever so briefly. That's when she noticed that it wasn't alone. It had a mate hiding back there too.
We hate to anthropomorphize nature – it does perfectly well without all the baggage we humans hang on it – but we can't help but imagine the happy pair, living in perfect harmony and visiting their cousins in the cave around the corner on the weekend, where they discuss how best to frustrate the strange big bubble blowers who come periodically to stare at them and try to take their pictures.
Dunckerocampus naia is a new species of pipefish recently named by Gerry Allen and Rudie Kuiter. Since Cat found the first one at Maytag, NAI'A divers have found several other pairs of them in nooks and crannies at various depths on current-swept reefs. D. naia has also been found in southern Japan, northern Sulawesi, Guam and the Solomon Islands and can be confused with D. dactyliophorus, whose caudal fin is different.
One Thousand Species and Counting
Dr. Gerry Allen, author of the most authoritive fish identification books for the South Pacific, is very close to finding his thousandth fish species in Fiji. By the end of his third NAI'A expedition this January, Gerry was only a few fish shy. His list is built primarily of species he has spotted himself but it also includes records of cryptic fish that he located in the collections of several international institutions.
Ichthyologists previously considered Fiji outside the "cradle of diversity", with only 500 or so species, but Gerry's work puts the kybosh on that idea. Fiji's thousand species compare very favorably with the fishiest place Gerry has ever worked, the Raja Ampat islands in Indonesia, where he has so far counted 1,200 species (although some additional cryptic fish remain uncounted).
Like other ichthyologists, Gerry overlooked Fiji for many years and was reluctant to dive here the first time, thinking it would be a waste of time in terms of new discoveries. But now he claims he has fallen in love with the place – as evidenced by three trips in less than two years!
Gerry is working with others, including Dr. Les Kaufmann (author of Fiji's Rainbow Reef, National Geographic, December '04) to apply cutting edge DNA analysis to sort out what he calls "odd-ball Fiji variants". The Fiji version of the anemonefish Amphiprion melanopus, for instance, may yet turn out to be a new species. Gerry is particularly thrilled with the new DNA techniques not only because they are far more accurate than previous techniques to differentiate species, but because they do not require killing fish. A tiny sliver cut off the caudal fin is all it takes to positively identify a species!
Totally (Re)Fit
NAI'A has just finished her most extensive refit to date and she is looking pretty fine! Todd Edwards and Steve Reilly, on the other hand, who oversaw a team of up to thirty workers, won't get the grime out from under their fingernails for another month or so. But by then the paint will have come out of their hair and Todd's ear won't be quite as ragged so their wives may no longer be embarrassed to be seen with them in public. It was a long haul…and expensive.
Much of the work – the most costly stuff of course – is invisible inside the bowels of the ship. But while you admire the new “tensile sail” awning that gracefully covers the aft deck, know that you are standing atop a state-of-the-art waste oil tank that not only keeps that noxious stuff well away from the ocean that sustains us, but is reasonably convenient to pump out when the waste truck with its odd assortment of fittings finally comes around.
And for group leaders and the rest of you who have talked us out of a free or deeply discounted trip in the past, the "FOC" room forward of the main bulkhead is no longer quite as unequal to the rest of the staterooms as it used to be. Steve, our Operations Manager, has spent several charters sharing that room and, wouldn't you know it, he came up with a brilliant idea about how to modify the whole forepeak so that the "FOC" room not only has more room, but it has its own ensuite head as well. In the process, all of the crew's quarters got upgraded too.
Phoenix Rises
NAI'A has visited the Phoenix Islands five times, three of them on charter to TIGHAR to look for evidence that Amelia Earhart crashed on Nikumaroro, and twice on "Primal Ocean" science/diving expeditions (see National Geographic, February '03). We have another expedition scheduled this year from May 12 – 31.
The Phoenix Islands are like nowhere else: the only tropical reefs untouched by mankind. They are so isolated – one thousand miles north of Fiji, fifteen hundred miles sou'sou'west of Hawaii – that no one, not even the ancient Polynesians, ever bothered to go there.
But we have recently learned that man's reach extends even beyond his touch. A coral bleaching episode, triggered by global warming, affected the Phoenix Islands more than two years ago and was only discovered last November by the vessel Heraclitus belonging to the Planetary Coral Reef Foundation. The crew reported that 60-85% of the coral was dead and covered in coralline algae. But they also commented that "the ocean here is exploding with life: sharks, dolphins, whales, rays, tuna, school upon school of fish…."
The Phoenix Islands are phenomenally prolific, due at least in part to their extreme isolation. Despite having suffered severe coral bleaching, much of the marine life there is apparently still in excellent shape. Reefs elsewhere in the world are exposed to so many other stresses – such as fishing and run-off from the land – that their recovery from bleaching takes much longer. The Phoenix Islands seem to be living up to their name: they are rising from rubble to soar again.
Tonga HiDef Expedition
Diving's most famous old fart, Stan Waterman, will once again grace NAI'A's decks during the NAI'A/Gates HiDef video expedition among humpback whales in Tonga, July 23-August 1. While Stan has done many NAI'A trips in Fiji and in Vanuatu, he has yet to swim with the whales in Tonga. And the lure for him this time is the chance to use the new Sony HDV camera and Gates housing. Humpback whales are among the most awesome creatures with which to look eye-to-eye, and Tonga's clear and sheltered waters are the ideal place to do it. But they are tricky to capture on film or video because they give you little opportunity to set up a shot. The new HDV camera combined with Gates' user-friendly housing should be the perfect solution: a broadcast-quality camcorder that doesn't require a team of techies to operate. Join Stan, Rob, and Gates owner John Ellerbrock for the rare opportunity to use the best technology to film the most impressive wild animals.
Vinaka Discount
Don't forget that NAI'A passengers are entitled to $200 off your first return trip, plus an extra $100 off each additional NAI'A trip. YES, it's retroactive!
Send-a-friend: for each new NAI'A diver you refer directly to us, claim $200 off your next NAI'A trip. Join your friends for their NAI'A expedition and claim your bonus immediately.
-- By Rob Barrel for the NAI'A family
the 2005 Dive Shows
| Mar 18 -
Mar 20 |
Beneath
the Sea in NJ |
| May 21 - May 22 |
Scuba Show in Long Beach |
| Jun 04 - Jun 05 |
Sea Space in Houston |
| Oct 04 - Oct 07 |
DEMA in Las Vegas |