Full Moon, It’s Time To Get Saucy

Aldora divers come aboard the Nai’a for the first time! 

Welcome home!

A happy bunch of divers ready to rock their colorful dive socks off in Fiji!

We have learned many things on this trip, but the most outstanding piece of knowledge is that Liang is a heat vest peddler… a successful one at that!

And we know EVERYONE who had their heated vest on were so much happier for it!

Un placer teneros todos abordo!

Horse tail whips ~ Michael Leach

“That was so beautiful… the color palette.” - Liang

Orange-finned anemonefish on carpet anemone ~ Cindy

The amount of fish inside the caverns, the sea fans inside the caverns, the soft corals inside the caverns!

Did we think that the twinspot lionfish was going to eat the little pygmy sea horse… no… but we weren't 100 percent sure, so it was still a disturbing scene. 

Rose tip anemone and Fiji tomato anemonefish ~ Cindy

Tunas hunting for their meal pre sunset; no, divers were not on the menu. 

Such a beautiful calm morning; with the morning sun breaching through the reef and illuminating the cracks full of sea fans, shining on the closed ball anemones. 

Fiji essence AND Virginia is in a DRY SUIT! It is cold, we are hoping the temp rises at least a bit ~ Michael Leach

Families of lemon coral gobies, leopard blennies, fangblennies (everywhere), blue dragons, long nose filefish, yellow variant goatfish, and slingjaw wrasse slinging his jaw. 

Pec's favorite fish ~ longnose filefish

Huge, as in, too many, schools of unicornfish! Can you really have too many unicornfish… debatable. 

Leopard blenny ~ the Kelleys

Plus so much parrot action; we are nearing full moon, so their mating behaviors are on full display. 

Two bumphead parrotfish (quite rare) as big as one of our dive benches! 

Longnose hawkfish ~ Pec

School of longjaw mackerel mingled with all types of fusiliers; chased by blue finned trevally and spanish mackerel. 

Remora came to play with us as we enjoyed unicorn fish getting cleaned on top of a coral head. 

Fusilier heaven ~ Michael Leach

Box fish kissing or punching

Violence was in the ocean; four longnose filefish were in battle as well. 

Fiji fangblenny ~ Michael Leach

Hawksbill turtle; excited Jen and chuckling Heidi

Resident yellow tailed leopard blenny sitting on fire coral

Robust ghost pipefish ~ Pec

Mo found a brown robust ghost pipefish inside the Cathedral for the divers! That is such an amazing find, I really hope those are territorial because we have to go again and find him next time around!

Regardless whether you saw the ghost or not, the day at E6 was absolutely fantastic! Clear deep blue waters; fish mingling in and out of the reef, healthy hard corals and blooming soft corals. 

Two types of sweetlips; diagonal and many spotteed ~ Michael Leach

“The diversity of the dive sites! It is absolutely fantastic!” - Maria

Mellow yellow ~ Maria 

From blue ribbon eels to very very pregnant pygmy sea horses to hammerheads in the deep! 

Schools of fusiliers running for their lives while being chased by giant trevallies. 

A conveyer belt of grey reef sharks coming and going. Don't forget to look around, you may miss a few, yet they will not miss you!

So very many unicornfish filling the top of the arch. 

Eagle ray sighting ~ the Kelleys

Octopus hiding from the hunting frenzy; blue trevallies alongside long nose emperors, as well as titan triggers rummaging through the corals. 

Three different species of sweetlips, many-spotted, oriental, and diagonal,  huddled together and patiently posing for Michael for a good thirty minutes… they were really compliant. 

Pontohi pygmy sea horse ~ Michael Leach

Fijian boobies causing havoc and chaos at the bow of the boat; between them doing their business all over the deck and their squawking, quite the entertainment. 

Blue ribbon eel ~ Michael Leach

A pair of hammerheads made our dive out in the deep. 

Michael was busy photographing two octopii attempting to mate… we believe they were not too fond of getting photographed in such an indecent scenario. 

Fiji essence ~ Michael Leach

Lots and lots of nudis early in the  morning, as well as two juvenile leopard wrasses! 

They are all around; single nudis and clusters.

Hopefully we will have a bunch of eggs soon!

“Did you know that the bigger nudibranch will eat the smaller one after mating?” - Jennifer. Thanks for that!

Beautiful shark! Zebra/leopard shark ~ the Kelleys

A beautiful zebra/leopard shark greeted the divers at the entrance of Nigali Passage and Mo found divers a leafy scorpionfish at the cabbage patch!

And Sheree found a different coloration one the next day!

“That was a gorgeous dive.” - Siobhan

Golden damsel babies ~ Michael Leach

On top of that, schools on top of schools of barracudas; bug eyed trevallies with zoomies; a very territorial orange-finned anemonefish; a stalking remora; and many sexy shrimp. 

Big eyed trevally ~ Siobhan Quinn

Threespotted angelfish all over the area; a cute medium sized porcupine fish that wanted nothing to do with us; napoleon wrasses; and so many rock mover wrasses busy alongside blue triggerfish. 

Colorful solander toby ~ Pec

Sun pierced the sky and everyone hummed in delight. 

After cloudy cloudy days, the hot sun was greatly appreciated. 

TUTUUUU TIME! Jen and Heidi's 200th dive! And Liang and Javier couldn't resist! ~ Siobahn Quinn

We did not have the best fortune with the flappy flappies (they have been behaving differently due to El Nino, yet lovely Shirley came around to say hi, with so many remoras stuck to her backside. 

Big Shirley ~ Michael Leach

The cleaner station was teeming with life; wrasses; cleaner shrimps; little tobies and mimic filefish; and huge puffers. 

White banded cleaner shrimp ~ Pec

Last day was more healthy reefs: “I just want to go down without my camera and stare.” - Michael Quinn

Texturized octopus ~ Siobhan Quinn

Vinaka vakalevu everyone!

Esperamos veros de nuevo pronto!