I’m So Excited; I Cannot Hide It

Welcome aboard the Nai’a! 

This time we have a few groups, each with their own instigator to come into the Fiji adventure. 

Regina, our return guest, convinced her friends Honami and Ed to accompany her, and the three have been diving together these 10 days and back home in Monterey. 

Chris, Laura, Dan, and Maureen make up another very excited group to be here. 

Laura instigated her friends to come with her; Sharon (first liveaboard), alongside Lily and Jesus. 

Other divers came along and immersed themselves well into the already made friendships: Sean, David, and Lynette. 

A lot of firsts, a lot of laughter, banter, sultry glances, and jokes (let’s not forget the cow jokes)!

Please divers; it is COLD. Water temp 24 Celsius and around 76 Fahrenheit; so please bring your 5mm, hoodies, vests, if you need to. 

As well as a nice jumper/fleece as we do have chilly winds. 

Dramatic. 

Diver's feeling ~ Laura S. Eder

That was the start of our trip. 

Dramatic walls that go down thousands of feet deep, and with that beautiful blue, you cannot not stare open mouthed into the abyss. 

Neon drapey soft corals ~ Laura S. Eder

We started at the sea mounts, and the dives just got better and better.

Fusiliers, trevallies, fish action plus scorpionfish, walking stonefish, filefish, hawkfish, wrasses flying in and out, nudibranchs, and even a juvenile marbled stingray inside a little cave. 

Even a big resplendent electric clam in a tiny crevice that had Lily going “Ohhh and ahhhh.” underwater. 

Arc-eye hawkfish ~ Edward Anderson

“No wonder you love it here!” - Tish

“That was just so WOW!” - Laura S

Usual suspects at night time; your shrimps and crabs plus a huge hermit crab and a curious white tip. 

Blue dragon ~ Edward Anderson

And the next day kept on giving. 

Gorgeous dive full of big tunas hunting and roaming; big majestic hammerhead shark showing off in front of divers; and all of the fleaty and active Dorys at safety stop level. 

Gorgeous common octopus ~ Edward Anderson

Even a big yet shy octopus on one of the dives and four pygmy sea horses on the other. 

And it is always a happy day to announce that all THREE ribbon eels; two blue and one black, are in their holes and hissing their way through the day! 

Semicircle angelfish ~ Laura S. Eder

Tish asked what are the probabilities for a hammerhead shark (she hadn't been witness to the one the other day) and BOOM, she and Chris saw one first dive of the morning. 

Wishes sometimes do come true.

Divers had a turtle encounter as well as two dragons that seemed to be canoodling. 

Square spotted anthias ~ Laura S. Eder

Big manta cleaning; we can only imagine it was big Shirley from her description. 

Humboldt made an appearance once again, as well as our little Mickey Manta. 

It looks like mating season is around the corner, as two males were cleaning together at the cleaning station; Johnny and an unknown big melanistic male. 

Mickey Manta ~ Edward Anderson

“I saw six mantas! Probably some were the same ones but still!” - Tish

Weird upwelling current had the white tip sharks surfing the streams, as well as a hammerhead shark hover above divers and go into the shallow reef. 

Flabellina ~ Edward Anderson

Big green moray eel accompanied Sean on his dive; as well as spotting a spider crab running for his life and a cute looking fangblenny, trying to show off his “innocence”.

Moray eel ~ Edward Anderson

“That was the biggest nurse shark I have ever seen!” - Regina. If you are expecting nurse sharks here to be like the ones in the Caribbean for example, you will be extra surprised.

Nurse sharks are the tawny kind and they are HUGE.

Grey reef shark ~ Edward Anderson

Hello? What happened? Two crazy sharks in Nigali Passage! A beautiful scalloped hammerhead; Tish & Sharon’s first proper sighting!

And a resting zebra shark! What is happening to the zebra shark population? It is the third charter in a ROW that we get zebra sharks… Absolutely f a n t a s t i c!

“I got bumped into by a shark…” - Maureen got booped by said zebra shark… it is on video, it is hilarious and a badge of honor to get booped by an endangered shark. 

This is the best shot of the zebra shark we could gather from the video footage ~ Rob Clayton

Adding on a big sea krait which many divers were super excited about, not Lynette. 

Hole in the wall ~ Laura S. Eder

And… Ok… here we go again… another zebra shark? Seriously! This was such a day! Let's not forget about TWO mantas as well added to the combo!

I could talk about the decorated dartfish and the ribbon eel but let's face it… those are known suspects in the area… the others were unexpected to say the least. 

Freckled hawkfish ~ Edward Anderson

All accompanied by the melody of whale singing underwater. 

Kiddies at Somo Somo ~ Laura S. Eder

Sneaky sneaky creatures. 

Hammerhead shark sneaking behind and in front of divers.

Manta sneaking in the blue while divers enjoy the reef. 

Even scorpionfish were sneaking away once you took your eye off them. 

Only creatures not sneaking around were turtles! 

Posing turtles. 

Look at lovely Gisele ~ Christopher Freigang

Lovely Shirley came around to clean and say hi a few times; with not one, not two, but three remoras inspecting the divers while she was attending business. 

Celebrating Regina's 70th birthday! ~ Edward Anderson

And the sun came out, just in time for an amazing colorful, lively, and active day of hard corals, soft corals and so many fish!

Common lionfish ~ Edward Anderson

Sean was heartbroken that his fellow divers did not accompany him, Laura, and Chris (the three night loyals) into the dark… He got over it but it was touch and go for a second.

“I have never seen a yellow scorpionfish on a yellow coral.” - Sean

Double ringed flabellina ~ Edward Anderson

“Wow… just wow.” - Lily after an amazing all encompassing Howard’s diner. 

That point in the dive in which fusiliers just “stop” mid water and time seems to stop. 

Red beautiful scorpionfish ~ Edward Anderson

Semicircle angelfish stalking divers; three clown triggerfish conspiring together; three-spotted dascylus attacking divers; and the color on some of those anemones! Deep and bright purple! 

Pink anemonefish ~ Edward Anderson

The great thing about the water temp lowering so much is that the corals and the anemones are flourishing! 

Vinaka vakalevu everyone!