Fiji
I was able to travel to Fiji for the first time in May, 2013. We wanted to experience the different types of diving available in Fiji and were easily able to plan a trip accommodating 3 different areas. The people of Fiji were so welcoming all around, in airports, transportation, hotels and resorts and especially the dive masters. Although far from home in California, I never felt uneasy. We were able to coordinate a trip to include the Bequa shark adventure from Pacific Harbor, a week at Matava eco resort on Kadavu to dive the Astrolabe reef, and a week at Wananavu to dive the Bligh waters. ! This would be a wonderful destination for divers of any level as well as non divers to be welcomed by the Fijian people. The shark dive by BAD at Bequa was incredibly well run and lived up to the expectation to be close to big sharks and lots of sharks. The reef diving there at Cumbe reef was very pretty, but not especially colorful. For me, the time at Bequa should be for the shark dive and move on for other diving. We stayed at Matava on Kadavu which was a wonderful experience to begin to absorb the islands of Fiji rather than the city atmosphere around Pacific Harbor. This eco resort truly takes you away from day to day and offers a unique diving area. Diving the Astrolabe reef off Kadavu was large in scale with big, plentiful hard corals and the myriad life surrounding them. I really enjoyed exploring this area from the coral bommies literally covered in small life to the larger fish and clams among the more neutral hard corals. My favorite though, which would draw me back to Fiji is the Bligh waters. We stayed at Wananavu where it was a short boat trip out to the dive sites. The soft corals were truly amazing and the fish among them so bright. Purple and yellow corals were surrounded by orange and yellow, and purple fish! Each dive was a bit different but trulythe most colorful I have ever encountered. I felt like I was diving inside a kaleidoscope and am eager to return.
