Highway To Fish Heaven

Are three Lauras too many?

Nah… we will make it work. Maybe they will even brings us luck!

Welcome back Joe and LJ and happy 25th wedding anniversary! 

Welcome back Sue as well! Even if she didn't realize she was coming back until she got off the bus… she is an OG Nai’a, going back all the way to 1998. 

Good news everyone; water temperature is slowly but surely going down. 

That is very much needed: the poor anemones are heat stressed.

Fiji! ~ Laura G.

So many many fish dancing, tiny nudis hiding, turtle gliding, tiny pygmy sea horse jumping, and wheat soft corals swinging in the current. 

Pink flabellina ~ Ken

Neon colored drapey soft corals ~ Laura G.

Neon colored drapey soft corals ~ Anthony

After the last dive of the day, skiffs and divers were welcomed by a pod of dolphins breaking the surface. They later entertained themselves by spinning around the boat, teasing all of us about their acrobatic abilities and our non-existing ones. 

“That reef was absolutely fantastic!” - Anne

“You can just keep me here for the whole trip and I will be happy.” - Sheena

Longnose filefish ~ Joe

5 decorated dartfish!

Baby scorpionfish falling out of the sky.

Hole mantis shrimp.

Blennies in holes.

Ghost gobies.

Dwarf hawkfish ~ Ken

Reef top pipefish ~ Ken

And all came together! Sharks hunting, snappers running, schooling bannerfish, well, yeah, schooling. 

Currents were just right to give us the wanted close encounters with these lovely big chunky animals, while not flinging us off the dive sites. 

Blue stripped fangblenny ~ Ken

“OMG did you see all those dartfish!?” - Julie. There was a considerable large meeting of two toned, spotted tail, and zebra dartfish, all in one small channel bay. 

“It is quite incredible that so many animals live in such a small space and we can see them all in action. You don't get that on land.” - Betty

Juvenile shark was eyeing a big Spanish mackerel, who was eyeing us divers… 

Longnose hawkfish ~ Laura G.

“You just kept on with the highway. If the highway stops we could stay all day down there. When it doesn't, you just enjoy it.” - Betty 

Common lionfish ~ Laura G. 

We did experience some gnarly currents, making the reef that much more animated. 

Orange finned anemonefish ~ Joe

Hunting sharks, baby sharks, and so many close sharks… “Where is David? I don’t know; I was looking at the sharks.” - Brad… let's face it, he was looking forward to taking over his roommate’s bed. 

Pink anemonefish ~ Joe

Whether it's a remora or a baby shark… in LJ’s and Omer’s eyes they are ALL baby sharks. 

Green leafy scorpionfish ~ Ken

Leafy scorpionfish to boot it all off; as well as a tiny tiny yet very busy combo of a whitecap shrimpgoby and its bulldozer shrimp.  

A bobtail squid! Bobbing in the sand to pass unnoticed. “Not on my watch!” - Chris during a fun night dive. 

Do you see him? Bobtail squid! ~ Ken

Fish and hard corals ~ Laura G.

Hammerheads, eagle rays, and a turtle using up all the cleaner wrasses at the cleaning station. 

Omer got terribly “wrassed” by a linecheeked wrasse: the image of a grown man getting pursued by a fish the size of his hand was, needless to say, terribly amusing. 

White banded cleaner shrimps ~ Ken

That was not the only hooligan wrasse of the day. 

Dollface was trying to get her manicure done by the shrimps and a crescent wrasse swooped in and ATE one of them! We identified the perpetrator as he is in many videos lurking behind her head… 

On our way to Makogai, a huge relaxed pod of pilot whales on what seemed a still canvas. So calm you could hear them breaking the surface before you saw them. 

Sevu sevu out in the open with our chief Ham ~ Sue

Sunset at Makogai ~ Chris

“That was like a lovely Sunday stroll in a garden. A flower garden.” Right after coming out of the Rainbow wall on the Sea Mounts, Julie had the most content face on her. 

Fiji soft corals ~ Laura G. 

Hammerheads in the deep; turtle coming around and lazily looking for food; scorpionfish not really camouflaging; so many Randall's shrimpgobies under the overhangs; and the biggest lizard fish ever, baring its teeth at us!

Raggy scorpionfish ~ Ken

Sea spider ~ LJ

What a ‘basket’ starry night! 18 giant basket sea stars; huge ones at that, all over Alacrity reef. 

They are fascinating! 

Bull shark cruising and hunting in front of us… God, that creature was thick. 

Sea fan ~ Laura G. 

Sea fans ~ Laura G.

So many blue dragons, sea fans, fusiliers and hard coral. 

Blue dragon ~ Joe

“That was a very Fiji dive!” - Noy. 

Vinaka vakalevu everyone, it has been a blast!