Diving in Fiji

  We're in the south Pacific. Some of the best diving in the world. We've done a lot of diving around the world and when people ask me "Where was your favorite?" I respond - Fiji. We were there in 2006. Me, Jim and Mom spent 10 days there on the Nai'a liveaboard dive boat and it was spectacular and fun! 

See our blog posts from 2006. I saved them in .pdf format to preserve the photos.
(Here are the original blog posts: We have to go back to Fiji and Part 1-Diving in Fiji and Part 2 - Diving in Fiji)

This time we joined a group for diving in the Namena Marine Reserve while the ship was anchored in Savusavu. It was a long boat ride to 2 very nice dives. One was called 'chimneys' because of the unusual formation of 2 coral heads sticking straight up and the other was Grand Central Station. I'll remember it more clearly as Grand Canyon for the dramatic walls. It was great, but it didn't live up to my memory. The comparison really isn't fair since, in 2006 we were on a liveaboard for 10 days, making at least 30 dives all over the Fiji area. Still, I figure I'm sure a spoiled diver when I go to a protected dive site in Fiji and come up saying ... "That was nice." 😜

Here's Jim's video:

Diving World War II Wrecks

There was a lot of activity in these here parts during WWII. We dove some wrecks near Honiara in the Solomon Islands (Guadalcanal) and in Vanuatu - the largest US base outside of Pearl Harbor. I asked Gemini to tell me all about the major battles of the war and the significance of the particular dive sites we saw. Here's the results - it's well worth the read: Diving into History

Here's a map of where we dove:

Solomon Islands

Guadalcanal is the name of the island that saw heavy fighting during WWII. Our ship docked in Honiara, the capital city of the Solomon islands and we booked 1 day of diving, 2 dives, with Emperor Divers. It was a long, bumpy drive to the first dive, then even more to the second. We generally prefer reefs to wrecks, but with so much history here, it's cool to dive the wrecks. 

The town of Honiara had lots of markets

Roadside stands further out in the country

the final stretch of the drive to the beach where we dove the Hirokawa Maru wreck.

Vanuatu

Vanuatu was not directly involved in any battles but it supplied much of the personnel and equipment to the rest of the South Pacific. The US military base in Vanuatu was second only to Pearl Harbor in size! The wreck we dove, the SS Coolidge, was an American ship with a very sad story. The sinking of the SS President Coolidge is one of the most dramatic "friendly fire" incidents of the war.
The captain had been told to wait outside the harbor for an escort but, due to security, he could not be told why - the the US Navy had heavily mined the channel to stop Japanese submarines from entering. The captain waited a while, but Fear of attack by the Japanese made him press forward before the escort arrived. The ship was blown up by 2 of the mines, but the captain boldly sailed the ship closer to shore and all the soldier/passengers and all the crew were able to reach safety on shore. There were just 2 deaths amongst the over 5,000 souls on board - the man in the engine room who took a direct hit and one soldier who went back to rescue others, then was caught himself. 

It's an impressive dive because it is such a large ship.

Diving the SS Coolidge with Allan Power Dive Tours. They own this property right at the beach dive for the wreck. Nice operation.

If you think the Coolidge story is interesting, wait till you hear about our second dive on Vanuatu! It's called Million Dollar Point. At the end of WWII, the US Military had accumulated tons of of surplus equipment : jeeps, trucks, bulldozers, cranes, and supplies. They offered to sell it all to the French and British colonial authorities for pennies on the dollar.

The local powers, however, were stubborn. They figured they could wait for the Americans to leave and take everything for free. The US military—rather than leave the equipment behind or deal with the logistical nightmare of shipping it back—decided to simply dump it all into the sea over several days in 1945. They used bulldozers to shove it all down a pier and into the ocean, they drove the bulldozers off the pier by putting a brick on the gas pedal, then they blew up the pier! 80 years lalter, it makes for a fascinating dive site.

 

Australia Dancing and Diving

 One day that we were in Cairns, Australia happened to be my birthday. What a treat! 

Cruise Port at Cairns, Australia

On board the ship we have a line-dancing group. They meet and dance every day when we are at sea. They learn new dances, and practice old ones. The teacher is Kathie and she contacted a line-dancing group in Cairns to see if we could have a joint session. 

Here's what happened

Kathie learned when the Cairns line-dancing group meets and where - turns out they dance at Hemmingway's Brewery which just so happens to be right at the cruise ship port! 

Kathie and the Australian dance group leader scheduled that location for a day that the Odyssey would be in port. For more than 2 hours, both Kathie and the Cairns group leader had us all doing line-dances to all sorts of songs. One of them is "Nutbush City Limits" by Tina Turner. I don't quite understand how, but that song is the backdrop for a simple exercise/dance that most everyone in Australia knows how to do. They learn it in grade school - The Nutbush!

The line-dancing group on the Odyssey learned the Nutbush and was prepared to dance it with the Australian dancers while in Cairns. It was GREAT! Then we also learned a couple new (to us) dances and performed them all together. What Fun! I just can't imagine a better way to celebrate my birthday than dancing ... in Australia ... doing an Australian dance ... with a group of Australians. I'm on the other side of the planet from my normal home and I'm having a fantastic time!

Scuba Diving on the Great Barrier Reef

The next day we had booked a full day of diving on the Great Barrier Reef. We dove on the GBR once before in 2019 and, due to bad weather, it wasn't great. We had low expectations therefore and they were definitely exceeded. Our dive buddy friends from the ship, Wayne and Donna,  were also on board for the day and we had a great time. 

Wayne and Donna leading the way with their creative way of transporting their dive gear. 

Lots of life this time

Happy Divers

Going home after a great day of diving!

Yap and Palau - Diving!

Those are island names right out of in-your-dreams dive destinations! We've known of these places, and known fellow divers who have visited (my mom for one!) for many years. 

Yap

Yap is known as the place to go if you want to see manta rays. It is also famous for it's stone money - wheel-shaped rocks that can be 2 to 12 feet across, that are actually used to store a family's wealth. 

Jim was able to get a last minute dive trip in while we were in Yap and he made this video

Palau

Palau is known for it's Rock Islands. They are mushroom shaped bumps above the water, sprinkling the area. Great for kayaking. Also some famous dive sites like Blue Corner, known for it's ripping current where lots of sharks and other critters fly by. The best way to see them is by using a reef hook. You find a solid place in the reef to hook into and attach the other end of the line to your gear. Then you put a little air in your BC so you raise up off the reef and let the current take you. Of course, it will only take you as far as your hook line allows, you feel like you're flying. At this point you can relax and watch the show go by. So cool.

Palau was a 'tender' port, meaning our ship was anchored and we took shuttle boats (tenders) to and from

What a gorgeous day and gorgeous scenery

Me and Donna, leading our group 😊

Diving in a River, snorkeling in the Gulf

 Now for something completely different. Our USA Dive Club arrnaged a 'mini-trip' to the Crystal River area in N Florida over a weekend. Saturday was scuba diving in the Spring-fed Rainbow River - which stays a constant 72-3 degrees all year long. That's chilly for me, since I am a card-carrying member of the 80-80 club! That means I'll only go diving if both the water and the air are 80 degrees or more. But, what good are rules if not for making exceptions. I wore my shorty/heavier wetsuit over my regular thin wetsuit and, after the initial shock when jumping in the water, I was OK. 

Swimming thru the grass-covered bottom of the river was a trip. I would bury myself down in the long, swaying grasses and it felt like I was in an other-worldly dream sequence, flying thru a never ending field of streamers. See video here. 

We saw turtles, gars, and underwater caves. No manatees because it's the wrong time of year, and no alligators because they were hiding. The most interesting thing was where the spring water bubbles up through the sand. There was not just one spring head, the spring water boil up through the bottom of the river all along the way. See video here.

After the river dive, we went back to our camper to change, then met the group at a restaurant for lunch. After lunch, we went back to the camper and crashed, ready for another early morning the next day. 

Our campsite at a Harvest Host location. Electric hookup and good Wi-Fi, what more can you ask. Oh yea, built in alarm clock for 6am from the rooster.

Sunday was booked to go 'scalloping' in the Gulf

It was a Gorgeous day, and I loved snorkeling in the warm waters of the gulf. No wetsuit at all, just swimsuit and rash guard, mask, snorkel, and fins. I haven't done that in so long I'd forgotten how to dive down. It was fun getting practice. The scallops are really easy to get. They are just clam type shells hanging out in the grass, when you find one you just pick it up and put it in your bag. I only found one scallop, but that's better than nothing. The others, including our guides got enough for an appetizer at a local restaurant who cooks your catch. They were DEElicious.

One more stop before going home. Our friend Linda Payne was performing at The Villages - it's on our way home, so we contacted them to get tickets. How cool, Linda, her brother, and her sister have been singing together since they were kids and they have wonderful harmonies. 

By the time her concert was over, it was way to late to drive all the way home, so we pulled into the nearest Cracker Barrel for the night and crashed with visions of a good breakfast awaiting us.

It was  bit hot and took us several hours before we fell asleep when the temperature got below 80 a bit after midnight.

What a cool weekend!

Dive trip is done

Little Cayman Beach Resort is paradise.  I mean look at this view! 

Back row L-R: Ryan P. Roger, Amy, Susan, Cassandra, Judy, Don, Michelle, Jim, Jeff
Front row L-R: Debra, Marie, Kathie, Patrice, Chris

And the diving is great if you like walls,  like I do,  this is heaven. It does seem wrong that,  on vacation, you have to be up and at breakfast at 6:30 am. The food was very good. After eating 3 full meals every day for a week,  I'm sure I gained a couple pounds.

 I came down with a cold on Thursday,  skipped the dives and slept on Friday,  and I'm now on the plane from Brac to Grand Cayman on Saturday and I feel fine.  Zicam baby! Good stuff.  It is distressing that I get sick most every time we travel,  especially dive trips. The one when I did not get sick was indonesia.  I'm wondering if the lemon grass/ ginger tea that they gave us after every dive had anything to do with that.?? When we got home we took a Covid test and it was positive - both of us. 😒However, we feel fine. Deja Vu.

I loved the "valet" diving where all you had to do was get yourself,  your fins and mask,  to the back of the boat and they brought your tank to you.  So easy and stress free.  I did not love that there were 20 divers in the boat - and therefore,  in the water.  That's crowded. 

One week is not enough.  It's enough for diving,  it's just not enough for being away. The ratio of getting ready,  packing, unpacking etc. To being there and relaxing is not enough for me. My favorite trip is the one to Italy in 2017 when we were gone for 6 weeks. 1 week is just not enough to be memorable. I've already forgotten much of the BVI trip that was just a couple months ago.  Part of that may also be the diving. As much As I like it,  the dives tend to run all together. There's nothing so memorable about one dive from another.  The special part of diving is the feel of it in the moment.  That's the memory. The memory of feeling weightless,  flying - slowly - over that grand canyon cliff,  feeling like some superhuman and thoroughly relaxed at the same time. 

Debra, on this trip,  tells us of her favorite dive resort in Belize - Turneffe Flats. It sounds really good. And then we could add a week or more and explore Belize.  Hmmm.

Now THAT'S diving

First of all,  the dive boat has low stools at the back where you sit and put on your fins while a crew member gets your heavy tank and gear and puts it on your back. All you have to do is stand up and then giant stride into the water. Love it.  ❤️ 

Then,  you're in the water and take a look around.  You can see! I mean really see.  The water is clear,  you can see the Coral heads (bommies) on the bottom and the white sand in between them.  As opposed to many of our sites in BVI where you'd jump in and see murky water.  You had to trust that if you descended far enough there was a bottom down there. The water is 84 degrees,  warm and wonderful. 

Then,  the wall! After a bit of swimming over the sand and around the Coral heads,  it just drops off.  Like being on the edge of the grand canyon,  it's a vertical wall.  But unlike being at the grand canyon it's OK to go over the edge.  It's like flying but even better.  So you go over the wall and descends a bit more you can reorient your body to a vertical position and just link of drift as you inshore the Coral,  sponges,  and critters that live on the all. 

Captain Robynne playing kissy-face with a friendly grouper

Then, my favorite! The dive master guides us into a recess in the wall,  like a cave.  Once inside the cave you see that it continues.  You just follow the fins of the person in front of you as you make a turn in this tunnel.  You see the light at the end of this tunnel and keep going.  What an adventure. 

As we make our way back to the boat,  we've acquired an escort. A very friendly grouper. He especially seems to like Jim,  but he gets close and personal with all of us.  You want to reach out and let him. I bet he would like a scratch under the chin, but we have been advised not to touch! I think there's something about about our hands that would wipe off important oils from his skin,  so I satisfy myself with taking my regulator out of my mouth and blowing him kisses. 

Oh ... and the name of this dive site?!? Marilyns cut! So,  you betcha I left some of her down there to play with the grouper. 

This is diving the Bloody Bay Wall on little Cayman. Some of the best Wall diving in the world. 

A week diving in British Virgin Islands

We signed up for a trip with our USADiveClubUSADiveClub. It's an easy one. We pick up a flight right in Fort Lauderdale Airport,  just 15 minutes from home.  It's an hour and a half to San Juan,  Puerto Rico,  then just 30 minutes to Tortola,  BVI. We get off the plane,  our group is picked up on a bus that takes us to the boat.  It's one of the Aggressor fleet of liveaboard dive boatsAggressor fleet of liveaboard dive boats,  we've been on several before so we know the drill. Get your dive gear out of your bags and set it up on the bench provided.  That's where it will be for the rest of the week. You take off your shoes and put them in a basket.  You pick them up at the end of the week. 

Then you take your empty dive gear bag and whatever clothes and personal items you brought and find your way to your cabin.  We signed up late for this trip so we got the worst cabin.  We lived in a small RV for 14 years, and now travel in an even smaller RV. Nothing compares to how small this room was.  And no window, not even a porthole. Now we know ... if this is the only room available in the future,  we will just say no. Oh well,  your room is not the most important part. 

The first night is a nice cocktail party where we meet the crew,  some of whom are newbies,  all are sweet and delightful - and throughout the week they worked very hard for this group of very experienced,  but also very old,  divers! 😅🤣 Some of us have been diving together for over 40 years! 

We are in the British Virgin Islands,  a gorgeous collection of over 60 mountainous islands in the turquoise Caribbean sea.  We had beautiful,  sunny weather all week.  It was paradise. 

The first day started with an easy,  checkout dive to make sure you had the right amount of lead weights.  A few of our group had recently lost a lot of weight which means they need less lead to keep them down.  This is a good problem! Each day you could go on 4 dives each day. The first one was at 8am then 11, then 2 or 3 and the last one was late afternoon,  or after dinner - a night dive. A total of 22 dives was possible. Jim did 16 and I did 9 because I caught a cold on the first day,  just a simple head cold (happens a lot when I travel) but it makes it hard to dive.  It's easy as can be to just float weightless in the sea when there is little current and lots to see but just getting your gear on,  getting in the water,  getting back out - takes a lot of of you.  

Every dive boat operation has slightly different techniques.  This one was about the worst. Some liveaboards are in areas where the big boat - the one were living on - can anchor right on the dive site. Then it's up to each diver to gear up and just jump in the water.  Most liveaboard boats have to anchor a ways away,  then have tenders/zodiacs carry the divers to the actual dive site.  Here's where the rubber hits the road.  In the Maldives they had a whole separate dive boat,  called a dohnnie. All dive gear was in the dohnnie.  Everyone who wanted to dive, transferred to the dohnnie and got geared up there. The dohnnie got us to the site and we jumped in.  In indonesia they were little zodiacs that carried 4 of us at a time. We had our gear on,  sat on the side of the zodiac and backrolled into the water.  When we can up,  a zodiac came to fetch us.  

Here on BVI Aggressor, they had two tenders,  to carry 10 divers each.  The crew put our gear on the tenders - a difficult job! - and put them in a rack in the middle.  We sat on the sides and rode to the site, where we had to be helped in to our gear before we could bankroll into the water.  The tender was tethered to a mooring ball,  so when we were diving we had to pay attention to directions so we could find out way back. Each group of 10 divers had one dive guide in the water with us,  but we didn't always stay together.  Some dives were easy,  no problem.  Some dives were total clusterf...

Jim took his Pixel phone underwater in a housing that has a gel surface so you can use the touch screen like normal.  See our Fun with Photos video #22 about underwater photos. He got some great photos and we went to some iconic dive sites like the Wreck of the Rhone that I've heard about for years. Although not a dive site, I also remember heating from my mom about a favorite place of hers called The Baths at Virgin Gorda. I figured this was a good place to leave some of her ashes.

If there's one thing divers share is an ability to deal with complications.  The crew was always cheerful, helpful. The food was out of this world.

We got off the boat early in the morning and had the whole day to kill before our plane left, so the organizers got us an island tour of Tortola. Just gorgeous.

We stopped at the only remaining Rum Distillery on the island - Callwood Rum Distillery. We got a tour and then tasted 5 Rums. We liked "Panties Off" the best!