I'm back, luggage is on the way.
Fiji - Excellent dive location - even in bad weather.
Woidroka Bay Resort (www.dive-surf-fiji.com.fj) - Basic but nice. Recommended for divers, and only divers.
Fiji Aggressor ( www.aggressor.com) - Not bad. A couple of cons and a lot of pros.
Highlight of the Trip - Sorry but you have to read the report.
Departure Tax is 20 Fiji $, and you need Fiji $. When exchanging money, you get a better exchange rate with traveller's cheques than cash. In Nadi and Suva, it is just as easy to exchange Canadian $ as US $. Cost of meals, lodgings, souvenirs, etc is quite reasonable. Rental car was expensive as was gasoline. Driving on left side of road is not that difficult, as long as other motorists understand interpret moving windshield wipers as turn signal. February is in the rainy season.
This is a secluded resort carved out of the rain forest. The remote location keeps it crime free (Fiji has crime). It is run by a couple from Arizona (Ray & Nancy) and their son (Ray Jr), with the help of some local hired help. Our bure kept us dry (rained every day we were there) and the electricity and plumbing worked. Sometimes the tap water had silt in it, but they collected rainwater that we could use for coffee, teeth brushing, etc. The food was good.
The dive operation was well run. Departure time depended on the tides (Fiji has 6 ft tides) since the bay was very shallow at low tide. Most boat rides were about 10 minutes. The boat itself was very basic, it was an open boat with a motor on the back. It had the potential to be crowded, since its max capacity was 8 divers. However, the highest number of divers we encountered (not including Ray Sr) was 3. The diving was outstanding. The reefs were in great shape and the marine life was abundant. Most sites had small fish only but one was a place where leopard sharks liked to hang out. The diving was also easy. Currents were slight or nil, but it was still a drift dive concept. No need for navigation.
Non diving activities were limited. Snorkel sites were about 100 yds offshore. They did have kayaks available but we were not interested. We were content to sit around and read. They did have a book exchange, which was nice.
The boat itself is quite nice. The staterooms were spacious and had lots of storage space. The gear/bathing suit hooks were a great idea. The food was great, as has been the case on every liveaboard I have been on. They have even incorporated a couple of Peter Hughes ideas. One is the use of terrycloth robes and the other is the "no clanging seat" gear storage.
All diving was done from a skiff which entered/left the water with a hydraulic ramp. This concept has a couple of disadvantages (crowded, fixed dive times) but the advantages (navigation not required) prevailed. They provided all guests with safety sausages and Dive Alerts. The safety sausages were frequently used.
The Fiji Aggressor does not have a "dive til you drop" philosophy. The pre-trip literature mentioned that they do 4 dives per day (liveaboard norm is 5). During our initial briefing, it was mentioned that we would have a varied routine and that on Thursday afternoon/evening we would be visiting an isolated Fijian village for a beach BBQ and party. Also, on one day, they cancelled the night dive because only one passenger wanted to go. Personally, I think they should have taken him.
Nothing about our cruise was normal. One passenger was arriving on Sunday, so we spent that day off Wakaya Island, which has an airstrip. The diving here was absolutely superb and we made 5 dives. We did collect our missing passenger. On Monday, we also had a "normal" Aggressor day, but only had 4 dives. Since the missing dive was a night dive, I didn't mind. However, this is where the winds picked up and the rest of the cruise became a quest for calm water. This precluded us from diving the much ballyhooed E6 dive site and from doing the village visit, but we still got our dives in and saw lots of neat stuff underwater. This is where the safety sausages came in handy.
On Tuesday morning, about 10 minutes into my dive, I experienced a stinging sensation on both cheeks (the ones on my face). This lasted about 20 seconds and once it stopped, I forgot about it and enjoyed the rest of my dive. Then, at lunch, I left food on my plate, which is very unusual. In the afternoon I noticed my feet were a little cold and during the last dive of the day, I started to feel cold. Then at supper, I was stuffed after a couple of bites. Also, my face was breaking out, a la mosquito bite, not a la acne. This is when I started to suspect that all was not well. I also felt chilly and had to don long pants and my poly pully. On Wednesday morning I still had no appetite and was having trouble staying warm, so I didn't dive. On Thursday I was starting to get my appetite and body heat back so it was back to normal. I discussed the possibility of a jellyfish bite with the crew, mentioning the fact that I never saw any jellyfish around when I got stung. The consensus was that a loose stinger was floating through the water and I swam into it.
Milestones - Patti logged her 300th dive and I logged my 600th.
The early leader was the lionfish in full plume, but we saw so many more throughout the trip that it no longer qualified. Boating through a Sqn of pilot whales was another candidate, but other things came up that were even better. Watching a clownfish chase off a damselfish merited consideration because it is usually the damselfish doing the chasing. The 4 manta rays in Nagali Pass merited consideration, but they were fairly far away. First runner up was the juvenile manyspotted sweetlips. It was a-jukin and a-jivin like there was no tomorrow. Had I not found an even smaller one later on, this had a major chance at winning. Just when you thought that it couldn't get any better, there it was. Barely visible in the anemone, and so young that it appeared to have trouble swimming, was the tiniest clownfish ever. It was cute as a button but not as big.
Even with the rain, rough seas, and stealth jellyfish, this was a great trip.
| Trip Dates1999-02-07 to 1999-02-21 | Trip Report Index |