11 August 2011 - Savusavu to Namena Reef, Fiji
Aboard s/v Equanimity

Roger rowed over at 7:30 a.m & I loaded up my dive gear & daypack, including sheets. I was very excited to spend some quality time with Sally & realized this is the first time I've ever spent the night on someone else's boat as a guest. I've done day trips, but never an overnighter. Sally had decorated my "nest" on Equanimity — the pilot berth behind the port settee — with a flower lei to welcome me aboard. Stowed my stuff & we were off on our adventure to Namena!

Roger had the boat rigged for a spinny, but there was no wind. We motored the 4 hours to North Save-a-Tack Passage & spotted a buoy just inside the reef. It had a nice big line on it, so we took it. Soon there were a couple dive boats outside, so we assembled our gear & decided to swim out to where the boats were. Bad decision, not only because Roger's not as strong a swimmer as Sally & me, but also, the boats were drifting with their divers, which we only realized when it was too late to swim back against the current. So we swam back to EQ (as Roger calls her), loaded our gear in the dink, & tried again, stopping to ask the dive boat where to dive. He said to begin at the point of the reef & look for a double shelf, then drift into the pass & over the bommies. This is also what Sally's dive Fiji book said. However, by now the current was really ripping & Roger was nervous about leaving the dink, so we all argued for a bit about who should man the dinghy. Roger won the argument. I know he gave up his dive for me since he thinks I might not get to dive again for a long while. Very generous.

And it was an awesome dive. The wall went by very quickly, but the water was wonderfully clear (although rather cool at only 79°), there were tons of fish, both big & small, & it was very exciting to hang over the edge of the wall with our hair & bodies streaming behind us in the strong current. I was glad I'd remembered my gloves, but sorry I'd saved space by bringing my snorkeling fins instead of my dive fins. I was severely underpowered, but managed nonetheless. I wanted to be on that edge when we saw the sharks in the pass & just outside in the blue water, so I swam hard & fought my way to the edge of the wall even though the current was pushing us into the lagoon.

Sally's eyes went very wide & she was glued to the spot, watching with wonder & fascination as the grays wandered past us about 25' away. There were never more than 3 or 4, but there was always at least one shark in sight, & there were also lots of tuna & other pelagic fish to watch. Sally hasn't seen all that many sharks in her diving experience — she was absolutely thrilled. She has a way of being able to convey her emotions underwater with very clear expressions & body language. She’s a lot of fun to dive with.

We stayed until our no-decompression time was 3 minutes, then ascended through the pass, struggling sideways against the ever stronger current to aim for the big bommies surrounded by millions of little orange (female) & purple (male) anthias swimming against the current. If we didn't swim hard, we would pass them right by.

We held on to a spot on each bommie & just took it all in — all the colors, the swaying soft corals, the anemones with their attendant orange & white fishes, the big groupers lurking under a shelf — so much to see! Throughout this dive, I felt like my head was on a swivel, so much so that I kept catching my snorkel on my hoses. Thus, on the next dive, I just removed my snorkel. I felt as though I always wanted to be looking in many directions at the same time.

While we dove, we occasionally heard the dinghy above us, but Roger admitted he'd lost us when he returned to EQ for his glasses & hat. The dive boat had pointed out our bubbles to him. Sally & I both had more air, but we couldn't see any more bommies & didn't wanna keep poor Roger waiting forever. The last bommie, called Kansas due to a huge field of yellow soft coral that looks like swaying wheat, has a post on top of it to hold onto for a 3-minute stop, so we took advantage of that — evidence that a lot of divers go thru here...

When we surfaced, Sally & I excitedly described the dive to Roger & assured him we'd find a way for all 3 of us to dive tomorrow.

We slipped the mooring & were pleased to find another substantial mooring at the end of the island of Namenalala, in front of the dragon's head point. We dinked to the resort & paid our fees to a guy on a quad (no roads or cars here). He gave us little plastic medallions which allow us entry until the end of the year. We walked up to the resort & met Mr. Moody, the owner. Sally wanted to ask him about the marine park. Moody told us the park is administered by the Suva Park Board & that our FJD25 (about $15 US) goes to the families who lost their fishing rights when it was made into a marine reserve. Moody has created a nice dive resort with just 5 bures powered only by solar. A bure is about $350/nite. He seemed anxious to talk about sailing, since he's dreamed of having a sailboat to pick up his guests from Savusavu instead of the powerboat. He wanted our advice on how & where to buy a boat, so we wrote down some websites for him.

We asked if we could walk on the island & he asked us to walk on the far side where we were moored, not around the resort, so Sally & I took off on the ridge trail while Roger returned to EQ to fill our dive tanks.

Sally works outdoors & knows her foliage, so it was fun to walk thru the jungly terrain with her as she pointed out various plants, fungi, seeds, trees, & flowers. The island has a colony of boobies, including some red-footed boobies, so we kept our eye out for them & saw a few, but mostly heard their weird grunts & cackles in the trees above us. At the peak, it smelled strongly of guano. 

It was nearly dark by the time we returned to EQ. We had appies with the nice bottle of NZ wine I'd brought, then dinner of pasta in the moonlight. It was almost a full moon — 2 more days, I think.

I crawled into my skinny little pilot berth, put in my earplugs to block out the fridge compressor noise & the early risers, & slept soundly until 7:30 a.m. when Sally put the kettle on.

says ADR