Is Underwater Your Happy Place?

Welcome on board!

No matter the conditions on the surface, underwater paradise awaits!

An interesting combination of divers on this trip; some lovelies from Spain, Kiwis living in Fiji, Canadian traveller, lady from Italy, and many more from different parts of the US. 

Friends and family, coming together for a bucket list trip in Fiji; some of whom are their first liveaboard! 

“I already saw new fish!” - Holly, right out of the first dive.

Soft corals and anthias ~ Morgan Ashton

“It is like diving in an aquarium!” - Shelby

The famous "bird nose" / Pacific bird wrasse ~ Holly Alfery

Dive full of vibrant flabellinas, hanging off hydroids, alongside sneaky zebra lionfish. 

White Pontohi pygmy sea "shoe" ~ Robert Guild 

Nearby two of our dear white Pontohi pygmy sea horses. 

“I love those blue dragons!” - Jillian, already an expert at spotting them. 

Lovely fuchsia flabellina ~ Holly Alfery

“So many unicornfish on the top; if only they would cooperate for the photos!” - Morgan

Toothy smile, orange finned anemonefish ~ Holly Alfery

Feisty golden damselfish guarding their baby eggs; rose tip anemone with the Fiji tomato anemonefish; and little, long nose filefish feeding and fleeting. 

Baby golden damselfish on brush coral ~ Holly Alfery

Three brown/green (depends on who you ask) Pontohi pygmy sea “shoes” at Kansas and Oz.

Pipefish; long nose hawkfish; flatworms; Fiji clown blennies; bicolor blennies; square spotted anthias; decorated dart fish; blue headed tilefish; a couple of very extrovert masked groupers; school of barracudas… and so much more. 

Soft corals and anthias ~ Holly Alfery

"They look so much more purple underwater than in the book." - David, talking about the four decorated dartfish that owe enjoyed at 90 ft. 

Grey reef shark ~ Holly Alfery

“We saw a shark parade; back and forth, back and forth!” - Garland

Moorish idol alongside pink anemonefish ~ Holly Alfery

Two sailfish flowing through in the shallows; we believe only Diana actually got to enjoy them, everyone else were looking down at the grey reef sharks. 

Big malabar groupers joined the divers while they looked out into the blue; “What are you looking at?” - curious grouper.

Giant moray coming out to inspect his surroundings ~ Holly Alfery

Two lovely flame hawkfish in staghorn coral for both Chris and Steve, last ones out of the water. 

Have you ever seen such a pristine "sailor's eye"? ~ Holly Alfery

Night of singing, kava drinking, and maybe the first time in a long time: screaming goats!

More Fiji adventures ~ Holly Alfery

“That was maybe the best dive yet!” - Jillian at Schoolhouse

Hunting goat fish, longnose emperor, and blue finned trevallies ~ Morgan Ashton

Huge “fat” marbled stingray on the bottom chilling while Semi searched for the sea “shoes” in the area. 

Marbled stingray ~ Holly Alfery

And again, while everyone kept on staring off the wall at all the grey reefs patrolling the area, a big lovely flying gurnard made its way on the plato, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. 

A huge school of scad twinkled in the afternoon light, with predators merging through them. 

Flying gurnard ~ Morgan Ashton

Attention divers: family of hammerhead sharks coming to check us out! Big papa with his family. 

“Were those dolphins?” - Holly and Ines thought underwater. Regardless, that would have been a crazy encounter as well! 

Hammerheads! ~ Jillian & David

Manta rays cleaning and flying by, early in the morning. 

Johnny with the broken cephalic lobe was there. 

Nathan, new to us, is all grown up and was feeding at the cleaner station. 

One of the big mamas, either Shirley or Riley, as they both are huge with impeccable wings. 

And a big lovely chevron, but he or she did not remain to get cleaned. 

Such a baby anemonefish inside rosetip anemone! ~ Holly Alfery

Cleaning services included shrimp manicures for only 20 USD, yet dentist appointments were a wee bit expensive, and most if not all of us got denied services. 

FIji tomato anemonefish ~ Morgan Ashton

Cute as a button leafy scorpionfish; golden mantis shrimp, plenty of long nose hawkfish; and mimic filefishes, both big and small. 

Horsetail whip coral ~ Robert Guild

Joshua is from the belief that all fish are blennies: “I saw this blenny with a longnose…” Long nose hawkfish. “I saw this blenny on the coral…” it was a lizard fish. 

His dive buddies are very much amused. 

Dramatic cracks in the reef ~ Morgan Ashton

Full full house at the village of Makogai. All of our divers and two Aussie families who live on a catamaran, currently sailing around the Pacific. Needless to say, even more dancing and singing and kava drinking and amazing memories. 

Next, 

We jump from sea mount to sea mount to end up at Howard’s Diner and Yellow Not So Mellow. 

Drapey "droopey" soft corals at Mount Mutiny ~ Robert Guild

Amazing visibility and constant stream of fish diving around the sloping hard corals; to have the same conditions later through the drapey hanging soft corals. 

Shelby posing next to a huge fan ~ Robert Guild

“That was the best safety stop ever!” - Laura 

Robert has found his crux in life; pink anemonefish just don’t want to be photographed! 

Pink anemonefish ~ Robert Guild

The trip ended with tons of purple, yellow and pink soft corals; so many fish; and lovely swim throughs full of sea fans. 

Even shy wall turtles for some!

Orange finned anemonefish ~ Robert Guild

“It doesn’t get better than that!” - Diana

To finish up our trip, not only slideshow and video, but Alvaro showed us his magic tricks he had kept a secret for the whole trip!

Vinaka vakalevu everyone!