Be Curious, It Pays Off

Buddy divers in Fiji!

Group led by Itai, youngest member of the group and amazing photographer!

He does not lead by example when it comes to leaving everything all around the boat… but by his good graces and lovely personality!

Thanks so much, the photos are fantastic!

Can you tell he is into macro?

Tell that to his buddy ;)

Ido and a beautiful red sea fan ~ Itai Grisau

We commenced with a fantastic sunny bright day; not a cloud in sight! 

Water is still cold but it is much more doable when you have the sun shining on you. 

Fish eye soft coral ~ Itai Grisau

We quickly averted a traveling issue on the first day and got all divers in tip top form to navigate the Bligh Waters. 

Starting small: nudis, small lobsters, small floral wrasses and pink eyed gobies. 

Batangas Halgerda ~ Itai Grisau

And continued on to bigger lobster and TONS of fusiliers!

Swimthroughs and the first glimpse of sea fans and golden soft coral. 

Lined Nembrotha ~ Itai Grisau

Night was full of grand plurobranchus; little scorpionfish; big shrimps; a feisty squid; hug crabs; schools of cardinalfish gathering above the reef; and a lovely active sculptured slipper lobster. 

And a lumpy asteronotus! I added the official name as it was such a cool and funky find!

Nudii reaching, maybe a dark margin glossodoris ~ Itai Grisau

Grand central station is one of those dives that makes our life easy… because when divers come up from the dive it's all uhhhhs and ahhhs. 

“That was so amazing!” - Hagit. And she was seconded by Nadav, Iris, Ido, Dan… and the list goes on and on and on. 

Zohar and soft coral ~ Itai Grisau

And to top all the general dive experience, one of the biggest octopus yet seen!

Fiji scenery ~ Itai Grisau

All of the small things! Pygmy sea horses, mini dragonets, baby (real baby) anemonefish, and juvenile ribbon eels!

Morrison's dragonet ~ Itai Grisau

Schools; schools of big eyed trevallies, flowing in the deep, in the shallow and mid water.

How many were there in total? It seemed like a never-ending flow. 

Pontohi pygmy sea horse ~ Itai Grisau

Black snappers racing away from divers; fusiliers; schooling bannerfish; rainbow runners; barracudas; and sharks in the midst of them. 

Two tone dartfish ~ Itai Grisau

“Can I do this divesite for the rest of the trip?” - Sima

Itai got his decorated dartfish; alongside his faithful buddy Ido. He keeps an eye on him in case the sea monsters come out while he is taking macro photos. Or worse, he finds the tiniest macro subject and forgets that he is still human and can't stay there indefinitely. 

Decorated dartfish ~ Itai Grisau

Hammer head shark came up the wall to say hi; beautiful turtle; juvenile rock mover wrasse; “And beautiful corals and deep deep wall!” - Hagit

More Fiji scenery in fish eye ~ Itai Grisau

Third time is the charm!

Man… these mantas were really on an early nap today!

We didn't see them until the third dive of the day, and that is fairly uncommon. 

Johnny swept by, Mickey Manta said hi, and three other big black mantas stealthily swept by divers. 

Flabellina, aeolid nudribranch ~ Itai Grisau

Micha and Nadav, cabin mates and buddies ~ Itai Grisau

Meanwhile; leafy scorpionfish, long nose hawkfish, manicure shrimps, huge turtle, hammerheads in the distance, enormous napoleon wrasse and peacock razor fish all around the channel!

Dan, adrenaline seaker, Itai's dear father and joins every adventure ~ Itai Grisau

Hagit and Looz, lovely couple who know when to dive, when to nap ~ Itai Grisau

Zohar and Sima, friends who met 7 years ago on another dive trip and buddies every since ~ Itai Grisau

“I could do that dive site all day!”- Ken

Juvenile rock mover wrasse ~ Itai Grisau

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but in this case, it brought Ken and Jaqui face to face with a humpback whale…

No, I didn't see it.

But yes, there is footage.

Worst of all, footage of the whale passing alongside the wall as an ignorant Ido and Itai search the reef… unaware of the majestic presence behind them…

Stripped fangblenny ~ Itai Grisau

Big eagle ray plus turtle for both Izhak and Maly on their almost last dive, while the rest were mesmerized by all the small bright fish eating and hiding among all those hard corals. 

Halgerda reticulidia ~ Itai Grisau 

Clau and Peni Junior ~ Itai Grisau

Orisi, Kathy and Davita ~ Itai Grisau

Vinaka vakalevu everyone!